Sunday Reflections: Contemplating the DEI in the Imago Dei

I began working in libraries when I was in undergrad school working on a degree in youth ministry at a small, private conservative Christian college. The lore of Karen goes, the local small public library needed someone to work with teens. I walked into the campus employment office and they looked at my major and said, “hey, the local library is looking for someone to work with teens, you’re getting a degree in teen ministry, you should apply.” And I did. Funny story, they initially hired someone else and then a few weeks later they said they liked me so much they decided to hire two people to work with teens, offered me the job, and a teen librarian was born. Hi. It’s me. I was that teen librarian.

At the same time, in college, I was learning about a concept called the Imago Dei. This is the foundational belief that all people are created in the image of God. That’s literally what Imago Dei means, the image of God. That concept would shape everything about my world view, personally and professionally and yes, even as a Christian.

If you Google the term Diversity Audits and Public Libraries, you’ll see my name. Back in 2015 I began auditing my teen collections to determine what type of representation they had. That knowledge helped me worked to better improve the representation in my collections. You see, as a Christian who believes in the Imago Dei, I believe that every person deserves to be seen in books. And on their screens. And in board rooms. You get the idea. Because I believe every person was made in the image of God, I believe that every person matters.

Recently, I saw someone post an image of the Sistine Chapel with the touching fingers and they said you can’t have Imago Dei with DEI – Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. That image really spoke to me and lingers in my soul as we contemplate an administration that is pushing back against DEI, often in the name of Christianity. For me, as a Christian, there can be no Imago Dei without DEI. If every person is made in the image of God, then every person gets to be included. Every. Single. One.

Diversity asks us to recognize that we are all created differently – different skin colors, different religions, different genders, different experiences – and yet we all matter and deserve a part in our world. The world is a diverse place, and diversity must be a part of how we learn about and operate in our world.

Equity asks us to recognize that we all deserve fairness and justice in our world; it also also asks us to recognize that this has not always been the case and we have to actively work to make it so in the present and the future. Equity asks us to recognize that we don’t all start from the same place, so how can we help each other to get to the same place.

Inclusion asks us to stop, take a moment to look around, and make sure that everyone is being included in things like our decision making, our world building, and more. It asks us to make sure that everyone gets a seat at the table; or in the case of library collections, for example, that everyone gets a spot on the shelf.

There is nothing evil or bad or negative about DEI to me as a Christian. It is rooted in solid Christian foundations that ask me to love thy neighbor (Matt 22:37-39), give to those in need (Matt 5:42), and admonishes that whatever I have done unto the least of these, I have done to my God in and of himself (Matt 25:40). The Bible also claims that we can not claim to love God while also proclaiming to love any of God’s children (I John 4:19-20). DEI is, in fact, one of the most Christian operating principles I can imagine for myself as a Christian. And as a public servant, and make no mistake that is what public employees are, it is an imperative. Public servants serve the whole public, all of them. Part of the reason why I have found myself thriving as a public servant is that it fully aligns with my personal Christian beliefs.

I don’t talk a lot here about being a Christian. In part because that is the personal part of my life, the sacred part of me. But it IS a foundational belief that affects every aspect of my life. It informs who I am and how I operate. I understand, however, that when any one of us says we are Christian, that can mean a lot of different things. We don’t all agree on what it means to be Christian, which is part of the reason I believe the founding fathers make it part of the 1st Amendment to not establish a government religion. But at the end of the day, I serve and I serve inclusively because I believe that every teen who walks into my library has a sacred, fundamental human right to live, to love, to learn, and to thrive. And I believe that because they are part of the Imago Dei that I believe in.

But at the end of the day, human rights are not human rights because I say that my God makes it so, but because human rights are human rights. And humanity thrives when we are working together to meet the greatest good of the greatest number of people on this Earth that we share. DEI is just one of the frameworks that ask us to be conscious about who we are including, and who we are leaving out. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind – or my faith – around any scenario in which that can actually be conceived as a bad thing.

Please note: This is a personal blog and Sunday Reflections are some of my most personal posts in which I contemplate my life professionally and personally. These posts do not represent the views of other TLTers, SLJ or my day-time job. They are just my personal reflections as I try to navigate and ever changing world, profession and life.

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