Racism as a topic has had many changing attitudes and beliefs over the years. People have tried to justify discrimination through religious texts, science, politics, music, and virtually any other means available to an individual. This in turn lends credence to the idea that the concept of racism is constantly evolving and it would be naïve to try to cling to ideas from the past when talking about it. Instead, it would be much more useful to examine how the concept of race and racism has developed into the current state it is in today with the recognition of ideas from the past. From what was taught in Political Science 356 this semester I argue that racism has been strongly influenced by two distinct areas of study. These are science and religion. The first section of this article will be a discussion of the role of science in racism and how people have tried to use its findings to justify discrimination. The second section will focus on the influence of religions on racism, specifically how different organizations use the Bible as justification for their racist beliefs. These explorations will show that no matter who the individual is or what the time period, science and religion have had an astronomical influence on racist thinking. Racism and Science History shows us that science has been an influential factor in racism. One of the first people who attempted to classify people into different human races was the French physician and philosopher Francois Bernier (Jackson 2004). His book titled The New Division of the Earth, published in 1684, “argued that the fundamental way to divide people should be by physical types” (Jackson p. 14). He reached these conclusions not by citing religion but rather by simply stating... half of the paper ......kson, G. M. (2002). Racism: a brief history. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Hooke, S. H. (1982). The Bible in Basic English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jackson, J. P., & Weidman, N. M. (2004). Race, racism, and the social impact and interaction of science. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.Ku Klux Klan: The Second Ku Klux Klan. (n.d.). Information, please. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/ku-klux-klan-the-second-ku-klux-klan.htmlSouthern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.). Aryan Nations. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/aryan-nationsTest-Score Gap widens between black and white students in Chicago. (n.d.). American Renaissance. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://www.amren.com/news/2013/12/test-score-gap-widens-between-white-black-students-in-chicago/