My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing women’s clothing comes into your assembly, and a man in men’s clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the women’s clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the man dressed in a suit, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1 …paraphrased)

Bigotry isn’t just for rich snobs. You can be bitterly prejudicial and dirt poor at the same time. The only thing you need in order to be an unrighteous judge is unchecked disdain for another person based on your biases.

In America, marginalized people are super popular. Marginalized people have their faces on beer cans. They are represented in television commercials. They publish best selling books. They get invited to The White House. They are guests on talk shows. In other words, we don’t understand the definition of ‘marginalized.’

The moment the ‘marginalized people’ gain public attention, they cease to be marginalized. When you continue to show them special treatment, you are a bigot.

What you call, ‘elevating the marginalized’ the Bible calls, ‘showing partiality.’ Christians are supposed to treat everybody the same way you would treat Jesus. The bad news is—that includes the people you don’t like. Oppressed people tend to be unlikable. That’s the reason they’re oppressed.

If your goal is to ‘lift up the oppressed,’ then you’re going to need to be able to recognize the oppressed. Fortunately, finding these people is easy. Take a gander at the news, or social media, or movies and ask, “Who is missing? Who is nobody talking about?” TADA!!! Those are the marginalized folks. Lifting up the oppressed means you’re going to pay attention to the people society ignores.

One last thing. If you’re getting tons of praise and applause for your advocacy work then it’s almost certain that you’re not helping marginalized people. Marginalized people are invisible. When you associate with invisible people, you’ll become invisible yourself.