PREJUDICE by Joseph Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 16, 1879

PREJUDICE

By Joseph Clarke

This term is usually used to express a settled dislike to certain persons, objects, or opinions, which, from impressions that have influenced us and given a previous bias to our minds, we hold as unworthy of our support and confidence. Prejudice, then, is a mirror in which we see reflected early education, and all that is calculated to influence the mind against that which is good, or against those who are worthy. A well-balanced and properly educated mind will not fall in with prejudice, however common, wide-spread, and popular it may become; but will wait for authentic and reliable evidence before coming to a definite conclusion on any subject which may present itself to the mind.

There is a vast field spread out before the candid inquirer after truth; and after a lifetime of study, careful research, and deep thought, many subjects will come before the mind, concerning which an impartial conclusion cannot be reached without waiting for additional evidence. There is no moral law or principle which can urge any intelligent person to form a conclusion in the absence of evidence. This is the virtue and privilege of superior and intelligent minds, to wait for evidence before making decisions; while weak and ignorant minds often rush to a decision without regard to evidence or right reason.

When an opinion is formed from proper evidence, in accordance with sound reason, we do not say that this is the result of prejudice; but it is the result of investigation, thought, and enlightened judgment. Persons who are intelligent, industrious, studious, and candid in their investigations and deliberate in their conclusions, are not liable to mistakes, misfortunes, and losses in the affairs of this life or those of the next; but their path is approved of God, who orders the steps of the righteous.

It is true that evils may befall good men. Even the man Job, who was a perfect and upright man, suffered misfortunes, yet his path soon led into bright and calm light. His misfortunes were not the result of his sins; but were to prove that man may not rashly judge his fellow when the chastening hand of God is upon him, and to prove to Satan that good men are not, like the fallen angels, subject to passion when troubles arise.

Prejudice has its strongest hold on the minds of the ignorant and wayward, who decide without the labor of patient study, or the calm process of impartial judgment. Such people often unite great authority of manner and a wide range of opinion; and you cannot offend them more than to doubt their decisions, upset their theories, or correct their modes of reasoning. They are teachers, and as such they are determined to be regarded.

But prejudice exists in various forms and degrees in many minds where we would not expect to find it. Sometimes it happens that those who are well-informed and candid on subjects in general are bigoted on religious matters. Even wise men, who would give a just decision in the courts, and in all worldly affairs would not think of deciding until they could get at the facts in the case, seem to lose all patience and candor when religious matters are discussed, and are prepared to decide without the least regard to evidence such as they would consider necessary in cases of a scientific, commercial, or legal nature.

It was prejudice which caused the opposition to Galileo, when he asserted that the earth revolves around the sun. It was prejudice which caused Copernicus to be despised and ridiculed for asserting the true position of the sun amid the lesser lights. Modern teachers admit the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo; but the same obtuseness of the human mind may yet sway the modern schools, and the gravest errors may be indorsed and upheld by those who in most respects are candid and well-informed. In this connection we would ask the reader if there is not a sin, a great sin against God, which is covered up by the popular theology of the day, and a theory advanced to cover up this sin far more absurd than the theories advanced by the enemies of Copernicus and Galileo.

JOSEPH CLARKE.