Cherish diversity
Photograph by Roman Biernacki via Pexels
Rev. John Zehring
After we purchased a small woodlot on the coast of Maine, for Christmas my wife gave me a book about tending a woodlot. Our few acres hardly constituted a woodlot, but to us, it was a virtual forest. The basic premise of the book is that a diversity of trees on the woodlot leads to the greatest health. Biologic diversity equals biological strength. Woodlots, to be healthy, should be diverse. They should contain different kinds of trees, of different ages, growing in different conditions. Diversity helps to ward off disease and pests. Diversity of plants in a woodlot attracts different kinds of insects, birds, and animals. While disease may strike, diversity provides too many different kinds to permit the woodlot to fall ill.
For woodlots, and for all species, diversity equals health. Lack of diversity equals unhealth. I saw this played out when I once lived on a street renowned for its stately elms. The Dutch elm disease wiped them out and for years the street was nothing but dead stumps. I also remember the spruce budworm’s damage. If your woodlot contained only spruce trees, you’d now be mowing grass. Strength and health come from diversity. Numerous studies have confirmed Charles Darwin’s prediction in On the Origin of Species that “productivity increases with species diversity.”
The value of diversity is not restricted to trees, plants, and other organisms. It applies to humans as well. Gandhi counseled, “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” Is there anyone anywhere who loves nature and understands it at least a little who would deny that diversity leads to health and strength? It is surprising, therefore, that the new presidential administration seeks to undermine diversity. President Trump and Elon Musk are actively seeking to eliminate the encouragement of diversity in all of culture and wherever else they can. One international news outlet went so far as to assert that “Trump and Musk’s rampage against diversity is white supremacy in action.” By Gandhi’s standards, our corner of civilization is not faring well and does not point to health and strength.
Diversity is also a value in how we raise our young. Yet ironically, the current U.S. administration seems bent on undermining diversity in education. A New York Times article titled “The Department of Education Threatens to Pull the Plug on Colleges” told how
The Department of Education issued a threatening letter [in February] addressed to all educational institutions that receive federal funds. The letter offers an extreme and implausible interpretation of the law governing diversity, equity and inclusion policy. It demands that schools abandon not just affirmative-action-like programs that consider the race of individuals but also policies that are blind to individuals’ race if those policies were adopted, even in part, to promote racial diversity. The letter also claims that federal law prohibits schools from teaching or promoting certain ideas about race that the department deems unacceptable.
The American Council on Education holds the opposite position, writing that
Diversity enriches the educational experience. We learn from those whose experiences, beliefs, and perspectives are different from our own, and these lessons can be taught best in a richly diverse intellectual and social environment. It promotes personal growth-and a healthy society. Diversity challenges stereotyped preconceptions; it encourages critical thinking; and it helps students learn to communicate effectively with people of varied backgrounds. It strengthens communities and the workplace. Education within a diverse setting prepares students to become good citizens in an increasingly complex, pluralistic society; it fosters mutual respect and teamwork; and it helps build communities whose members are judged by the quality of their character and their contributions.
The worst thing that can harm a woodlot is to decrease the diversity. The same is true for our schools, our healthcare, our workplaces, our media outlets, our churches, our government, and our culture.
The National Institute of Health made the case, prior to the onset of the current administration, about the importance of diversity:
Public health agencies that employ a diverse workforce are better positioned to implement targeted approaches in communities where they are needed, create systems to support those needs, and supply a greater variety of effective solutions to help address health disparities. Greater diversity of experiences and perspectives yields innovative public health approaches… A diverse workforce is essential for the adequate provision of culturally competent services.
In short, whether it is my four-acre woodlot or the classroom, the whole lot is healthier and stronger when there is diversity.
The Bible makes the case for the health and God-likeness of diversity.
“There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). This verse emphasizes that in Christ, all distinctions are removed, and all are equal in God's eyes, reflecting unity amidst diversity.
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9). This passage indicates the diversity of God’s kingdom, showing that people from every nation, tribe, and language will be represented in heaven.
“For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” (Romans 12:4-5). This passage uses the metaphor of the body to illustrate that diversity is essential to the body of Christ, with each person contributing uniquely to the whole.
“In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!” (Colossians 3:11). This verse emphasizes the elimination of social and ethnic divisions within the body of Christ. In Christ, all are equal, regardless of their background or status.
The New Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word ALL. All is inclusive. Inclusivity is God-like. Exclusivity is not God-like. All is a good synonym for diversity. Some is a synonym for exclusivity. Jesus said: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32). Paul wrote the Romans: “God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32 ESV). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22 NASB). In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we read of God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” and of Christ Jesus “who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:4-6). Diversity is the way of God, and the way of God’s creation.
My woodlot has grown in its diversity. There are ways to help diversity flourish by careful pruning and helping the sunlight and rainfall to reach and strengthen a greater diversity. The worst thing that can harm a woodlot is to decrease the diversity. The same is true for our schools, our healthcare, our workplaces, our media outlets, our churches, our government, and our culture. For all, the lesson is simple and universal: diversity equals health. Lack of diversity equals unhealth. Wouldn’t you think that if diversity in all of nature leads to health and strength, and lack of diversity leads to unhealth and weakness, that diversity should be cherished, encouraged, and actively sought? Even in the face of opposition, let us as people of faith cherish diversity and, wherever we can, tend our cultural woodlot for the benefit of all. All.
Rev. John Zehring has served United Church of Christ congregations for 22 years as a pastor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. He is the author of more than 30 books and e-books. His most recent book from Judson Press is “Get Your Church Ready to Grow: A Guide to Building Attendance and Participation.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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