I don't think that differences in race...

[Silverobama]

I can't provide the source of the following sentence because it was written down in 2012. It's probably from a Chinese-English dictionary.

I don't think that differences in race are important in a friendship.

Is this sentence grammatical and natural? If so, how do I understand "differences in race are important in a friendship"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Does it help if I paraphrase it?

In a friendship, I don't think that racial differences are important.

 

[Silverobama]

Does it help if I paraphrase it?

It helps a lot, emsr2d2. I appreciate it.

I wonder if the original sentence in the OP is also good. If so, I'll not strike it out from my notebook but I'll also write down your version.

 

[Skrej]

Is this sentence grammatical and natural? If so, how do I understand "differences in race are important in a friendship"?

Yes, it's grammatical and natural.

It's saying that if two people are friends, it's not important whether they are the same race or not. The converse it also true - you don't have to be the same race as someone to be their friend.

Note that by omitting the 'not' in your question, the phrase you're now asking about is saying that those differences are important.