Kinism is the belief that God has commanded racial segregation, and that to mix with, marry, or worship with people of other races is against His natural order. Kinism is not a particularly clear doctrine, but Kinists do make a distinction between their beliefs and the beliefs of the Christian Identity Movement or the Aryan Nation, who believe that only white races can be saved. Neither do they believe, like the Anglo-Israelists, that Britain and America are the natural descendants of the Israelites. They simply believe that God has placed boundaries between the races. This belief is based partly in an interpretation of the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9), and partly in the Old Testament laws that forbade the Israelites to intermarry with other nations.
Is there any truth to the claims of Kinism? Does God want us to stay segregated? It is true that God commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with other nations, but this command had a specific purpose. God wanted to keep the Israelites from being exposed to the gods and religious practices of nations who did not worship Him. All of the other nations were pagan nations, who worshipped other gods. This is made very clear in the law: "You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly" (Deuteronomy 7:3–4).
However, God's people are no longer only the Israelites. Christians exist now in all nations. For example, it is possible for an Indian man who is a Christian to marry a British woman who is a Christian, and for neither to be in danger of being drawn away after foreign gods. They are both Christians, members of "one brotherhood" (Luke 8:21). If there is a New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament law, it is the command to avoid being "unequally yoked" by marrying an unbeliever. "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14).
At Babel, God confused the languages of the people because they were working together to disobey Him. He had commanded man to be fruitful and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28; 9:1), but instead they were staying in one place. So, He confused their languages so they would be dispersed over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:9). This story is not about racial segregation. When the apostle Paul saw Peter separating himself from the Gentile believers, he opposed Peter's behavior (Galatians 2:11–14). Paul's "true child in the faith" was Timothy: a half-Greek, half-Jew who was a leader in the church at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:2–3; Acts 16:1). Paul himself was a "teacher of the Gentiles" (1 Timothy 2:7). None of these details make sense within the claims of Kinism.
In the end, Kinism is the product of scholarly extrapolation rather than a plain reading of Scripture. Instead of promoting segregation, the Bible tells us to "… maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:3–6).
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