I am Puerto Rican

Some snippets of conversations about race/appearances at the homeless shelter where I am volunteering

Conversation between Bryanna, a Puerto Rican-white mix and Skyye, a black-white mix after Bryanna sees Skyye's mum:
B: How come you're Puerto Rican when your mum is black?
S: I'm not Puerto Rican. I'm mixed.
B: No you're not! You're Puerto Rican!

Then Sally, a Puerto Rican mother of four kids-- two who look hispanic, one who looks white, and one who looks black but without the nappy hair replies:
"I'm Puerto Rican and so is she and she" (as she points to the girl that looks white and the girl that looks more black).

Then I ask the kids: So what do you think I am?
Kids: You're Puerto Rican. And if you're not Puerto Rican, you're white.
Me: No, I'm Chinese.
Kids: No you're not! You're Puerto Rican!
(This happens numerous numerous times)

Apparently my very white friend who taught kindergarden in the past encountered similar difficulties with explaining his race.
Kids: What are you?
White Guy: I'm white.
Kids: So are you African American or Jamaican American?

*In general, the kids are a bit confused too. Devin (white), Olivia (Filipino), and I (Chinese) are all volunteering and we're known as the "sisters". We told them we're sisters because we're all part of God's family, but I think they still believe that we're biologically related even though we told them that we don't have the same parents.

Sean says to Olivia: You and that other girl (aka me) look alike but you and Devin don't look alike.
Sean (after two minutes of staring): Actually, you two do kind of look alike.

God is not

God is not white.
He is not male. (Nor has he created female to be inferior to male).
God is not American.
He does not hate gays, transexuals, lesbians or women who have had abortions.
God is not a capitalist.
God is not a tyrant.
He does not want to deprive us of joy.
He has made sex to be good.
He turns water into wine.
God wants us to enjoy life and enjoy Him.
He wants to serve us.

Jesus hates religion

this is what Jesus said about and/or to the religious establishment of his day:

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries^[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

...

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

...

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

...

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.

...

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

~ Matthew 23

as christians, and today's religious establishment, we must very wary that we not end up committing the same sins and injustices.

and if not religion, then what is jesus about?