Diocesan Resources
Responding to the Sin of Racism: Civil Law as an Indispensable Tool Against Racism (2017)
Responding to the Sin of Racism: Civil Law as an Indispensable Tool Against Racism
Laws against racial discrimination—whether in employment, housing, education, voting or elsewhere—put into action our Nation’s guarantee of “Equal Justice Under the Law,” which is inscribed over the portico of the United States Supreme Court. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are two great federal monuments of a different kind—ones written on paper, not made of stone. The Catholic bishops of the United States have supported these laws since their inception—originally through the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and now through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops—out of their commitment to the inherent dignity of every human person, regardless of race.