Why Is Bigotry A Sin?

"Judge with righteous judgment" -- Christ, John 7:24.

Not every bigot is a racist, and some might complain that the literal word "bigot" isn't found in the Bible. But bigotry is a bigger sin than racism, and the principles of divine justice taught in Scripture forbid us to judge with unrighteous judgment, because our God and Savior is just.

Scripture is crystal-clear that in matters of justice God is utterly, absolutely impartial. In matters of justice He does not take sides.
This was the fatal error of the Jews. They thought that, because they were God's chosen people, they could do whatever they wanted, even though the Lord warned them time and again that wasn't true. According to Jeremiah, the people kept talking about the temple as if it were a magic charm that would make God shield them from all calamity.

God's moral law is eternal and all-encompassing. God does not show favoritism to one race over another, one nation over another, one city over another, one political party over another, or one individual over another. In the book of Amos, God included Judah and northern Israel among the nations with whom He was wroth. In our colonial days God was neither Loyalist nor Revolutionary, Union or Confederate, and He is not  Democrat or Republican now.

So, if we take sides in a dispute without regard to the moral laws of Scripture, we are sinning. God doesn't excuse this amoral bigotry, regardless of on whose behalf we side. My "tribe", as much as I might like us, could be wrong in individual instances. Their "tribe", as much as I maybe dislike them, could be in the right, in individual instances.

And it could sometimes be that everyone in a dispute is in the wrong, in some way. We don't like that scenario, since it's easier and lazier to treat every dispute as black hats vs white hats. What if sometimes there are no entirely good guys? What if there sometimes are no "white hats"? This is why we need to know and apply the Biblical laws of God.

God's will is that we use His law, motivated by reverence, and by using careful thoroughness of investigation, to arrive at just conclusions. Jesus told us to judge with righteous judgment, and this is what righteous judges do.

May the Spirit of God help me walk forward out of my blind spots and my ingrained prejudices. May He help me always reverence the Him, and have insight on how His moral laws apply to the disputes I observe, and the disputes in which I might play a part.  God calls us to be peace-makers, but peace is built on justice, even as personal peace with God is built on the justice of Christ upon the cross.