Prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience, but what we usually encounter is the dislike, hostility, or unjust behaviour formed on such a basis of prejudice. Racism is just one form of prejudice.There is a question on one of the major tests of intelligence that a psychologist can give to his or her client, and it asks who Martin Luther King, Jr was. Whenever I ask that question as part of giving that test of intelligence, I wonder how fair it is to ask a Bermudian (or someone from the Philippines, India, Jamaica, England, or even Canada someone who did not grow up in the United States) a question about a person who was part of the fight against prejudice in the United States.Surely, there would be a corresponding person in Bermudian history one might ask about. In fact there are.Just as in the United States, however, the question should be asked about someone who fought against that certain form of prejudice called racism. Whether you come from the United States or from Bermuda, we can congratulate ourselves for the heroes we have who fought against racism.However, if we are consistent and not too carried away with our achievements, we should, I believe, hide our faces when it comes to dealing with the larger issue of prejudice.Paul of Tarsus wrote that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, meaning that there is no basis for hostility or unjust behaviour against another. Christ died for me. He died for you. Christ died for the black and the white, and He died for the Filipino, the Indian, and the Jamaican. He died for the guest worker and the Bermudian.Luke, in his gospel, related Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan. It is introduced by two interesting questions: Luke 10: 25-37.On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”“What is written in the Law?” He replied. “How do you read it?”The expert answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.”Jesus replied: “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him’, he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have’.”“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”The questions asked what a person might do to inherit eternal life and who might one’s neighbour be.In a country where there are more churches per capita than most any other place on earth, and in which the history of prejudice has played such an important role in people’s lives, one might think that prejudice would have been wiped out as each believer took to heart the issue of who, indeed, is his or her neighbour.The answer to that second question is that one’s neighbour is anyone to whom one takes the attitude of a neighbour. I make another my neighbour if I have in my heart the same compassion the Good Samaritan had in his, and Jesus relates having this kind of attitude to obtaining eternal life.Leaving the soteriology of that assertion aside, I am struck with the shift from wondering who might be one’s neighbour to realising that it is within one’s power to make anyone one’s neighbour.The fellow bus passenger is my neighbour if I make him or her so. The person with a huge basket of groceries in the checkout line is my neighbour if I make him so. The guest worker is my neighbour if I make her so.And if I don’t? If I close off my compassion from such others, pull away and withdraw my kindness from such others because they are not like me, have a different skin tone, wear what I regard to be inferior clothing, do not speak with the same inflection or reflect an education? What if they are just in my way as I am going about doing what I think best?What if they don’t do things the way I want them to? What if I am too much in a hurry to get important things accomplished to fuss with such people? What if they are dirty? What if I might get their dirt on me in some way? What if they don’t measure up to my approval?I cannot abide sitting in church and listening to the hypocrisy of people who congratulate themselves on overcoming one form of prejudice when I know from my practice that there are people laying metaphorically along the roadside, who have been disregarded, neglected, intimidated, used, and bullied.What must we do to truly overcome prejudice, in all its forms? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, love your neighbour as yourself.