Jesus’ Skin Color? Seems It Depends

What color is Jesus Christ? The answer isn’t black and white, but often depends on the race of the person asking and answering the question.

In fact, adults interviewed in a national telephone survey of black Americans were nearly twice as likely to say that they pictured Jesus as a black person when they thought they were talking to a black interviewer than when they believed their questioner was white, said Lynn Sanders, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

The color of Christ was only one of more than 100 questions asked of 692 black adults on the National Black Politics Study conducted in November of 1993 and February of 1994. The survey also asked respondents at the end of the telephone poll what race they thought their interviewer was. As it turned out, all interviewers were black. Still, more than 14 percent of those interviewed thought their questioner was white, and another 10 percent weren’t sure or thought the interviewer was of some race other than black. Results allowed researchers to study whether blacks answered questions differently when asked by “white” and “black” interviewers.

In fact, they did. Nearly a third of all African Americans, 31 percent, who thought they were being interviewed by an African American said Jesus was black, compared to 17 percent of those who incorrectly perceived they were being interviewed by a white. And the percentage who said they didn’t think of Jesus as either black or white increased from 55 percent for those questioned by “blacks” to 74 percent for those interviewed by “whites.”

Sanders also found that blacks who thought they were being interviewed by whites were far less likely to say, among other things, that American society is unfair to blacks, that black leaders best represent the black community, and that the legal system treats African Americans unfairly.

This study and others, Sanders said, suggest both whites and blacks express more moderate views on racial and other issues when interviewed by a person of the other race.

“If you have to announce your convictions before a black person, you tend to be more moderate,” as do blacks when they are talking to whites. “That’s a powerful argument for promoting racial and ethnic diversity in America’s political institutions,” Sanders said. “A mixed institution makes people less extreme. And that’s a healthy thing, something Americans should love.”