Religious Stereotypes
It wasn’t easy in our Faith Club Experience for Suzanne to admit she didn’t want to be mistaken for a Jew; for Priscilla to acknowledge that she stereotyped Jesus; and for Ranya to recognize that even she held stereotypes of her own religion. Do you think you hold stereotypes related to religion? Are you afraid to admit them? Why? Have you ever been in a situation where a religious stereotype was voiced? How did you react?
October 22nd, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Reading your book helped me see my stereotypes: religion tends to promote oppressing women, fundamentalists are most dangerous (of any religion), I mistrust those who think they know the most, any religion that fits neatly in the human brain is manmade, … I’m not sure how to be cleansed of my ill will toward these things. I am afraid to admit these stereotypes especially in the presence of those I have stereotypes against! Then I have conversations in my mind with these people, but nothing gets solved. Suggestions?
October 28th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
dial, i dont believe you need to be cleansed, nor do i believe those thougts are of ill will. there is too much to spirituallity to be able to fit neatly. my question is who are these people u are haveing conversations with in your mind?
October 29th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Sure, we all have stereotypes of people of varying religions, ethnicities, and cultures. I don’t think these are inherintly bad. We pick them up as we grow up in our given circumstances and hear comments by family, friends, teachers, and even media. I grew up, for example, in a VERY W.A.S.P. community, much like what we think of as the town in American Graffiti. We had no blacks nor Latinos nor Asians in our community. I had a best friend whose father would turn the T.V. station if a black person was on the screen! I had no way to relate to people of other races or ethnicities. I did, however, have parents who taught me to respect all people, and as I moved out of my local community and had chances to interact with a diversity of people I learned to love and respect them. I must adtmit, however, that stereotypes were still a part of me. I once found myself, quite by accident, lost and driving around the Watts area of Los Angeles one night and I was afraid. I don’t think anyone lost in my community would have felt fear, it was simply a by-product of the stereotypes I had been raised with. I have a Jewish friend who I jokingly tease about being “tight as a screw” when it comes to money. We laugh about it, but it is one of those ideas I had always heard growing up.
Since joining the Mormon church 30 years ago I have come to know what it is like to be stereotyped. I hear things all the way from “How many wives does your husband have?” to “Do you really have horns?”. These things were not asked of me in jest. I grew up being told that the Mormon church owned all of the Safeway grocery markets—don’t know where that one comes from. I could get angry or I could laugh and try to let it roll off my back. Mostly I feel frustrated that so many people are so ignorant of the facts and spout off without having taken the time to find out the truth about me or other members of my religion. The same can be said of all of us and our prejuducial remarks– knowledge is the key to understanding and the key to helping us be able to love everyone in our crazy world. That is why I so value my experience in reading Faith Club !!!!!
October 30th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
My “in my mind” conversations are with people of my conservative religious past who have judged me and have written me off as too worldly as I’ve sought to find my own way outside of their circles.
October 30th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Liahono said I don’t think anyone lost in my community would have felt fear,
I bet if they were of color, they would have been.
November 24th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Finding the word “fundamentalist” conjures up the sight of a Fred Phelps kind of Christian, A mob of young men in the middle east, A single angry Jew with a gun, a Hindu who would allow his child to be killed in a poor village in India - a series of angry people who wish for God’s hatreds to be theirs and feel a sense of relief in being connected to a God who hates. There seems a separation between fundamentalism - no matter which brand - and faith. I agree with the priest who told Suzanne that our faith is in the doubting rather than the certainty. My favorite quote: “If I am willing to bear the burden of being displeasing to myself, I will be a pleasant place of shelter for Jesus.” - St. Therese of Lisieux. I have always taken it to mean that if I am willing to see myself as I am - warts and biases, bad hair and pettiness, and to see my goodness as it is, I will be the person of empathy and compassion, ultimate love that I am called to be by Jesus. The need to form a mob of religious righteousness belongs to no particular religion - it belongs to violence and to the satanic energy that must accuse another to avoid looking at oneself.
December 14th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I am struggling with this idea of sterotyping. I believe we all do it whether we admit it or not. My struggle is after reading “THe Prophet of Death” I cannot look on or listen to anyone who is a Mormon now without feeling they are completely wrong in their beliefs. I listen to Glenn Beck often and just recently found out he is Mormon. That broke my heart for him, he has had such a difficult life with his struggles with alochlism, etc. Now I pray that God will let him have wisdom. But here is where by sterotyping kicks in- I just don’t see how anyone could believe what Joseph Smith espouses!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anyone know what I mean?
December 19th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I will be honest, I used to believe the stereotype that Jews are controlling the world, that they believe that they are the chosen people, that they all own their own businesses, and all the other things ignorant Muslims and Christians have branded them with.
Of course all these assumptions are absurd, and whoever came up with them probably hated the bully that used to pick on him when he was little and that bully probably happened to be Jewish.
But there is one misconcpetion that I would like address.
The diference between Judaism and Zionism.
Judaism is the Jewish faith of course. The religion that was revealed to the people from God, by Moses (peace be upon him).
Zionism, is a political movement.
Now I know that this blog is meant for inter-faith dialogue and discussion but I do think that this is an important matter to discuss, so that we can eliminate the stereotype that Muslims hate Israel because it’s a Jewish state.
The idea of Zionism was created in the late 1800’s.
A man named Theodore Herzl a non-practicing Jew turned this idea into a political group in 1912.
The idea of Zionism revolves around the idea that Jews must have a country or a state of their own.
In 1948, the UN granted the Zionists 55% of the land that was formely the Palestinians. What happened was the Zionist forces moved in and massacred and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living on those lands, even though there was no reason for it, cuz the UN had already given them those lands. And whats ironic about it, is that many of them had been victims themsleves to Nazi Germany which was, not too long before 1948 if I’m right. Then later in 1967, Israel illegally occupied more Arab land. Their excuse at that time was that they did it in self-defense during the 1967 war. But, the problem now is that they are still occupying those lands, and the only problem the Arabs have now, is that they are STILL occupying those lands.
I think it is important to understand that the conflict is not between Muslims and Jews, but between Arabs, and Zionists. Religion is not an issue and has never been in that part of the world. Muslims, Jews, and Christians have been living together in that part of the world for centuries. And on the Palestinian side of the conflict, Muslims are not the only ones suffering.
So Muslims do not hate Jews. Those that do, are severly misinformed, and need to educate themselves. Further more, there are actually Jewish groups that are against even the existence of Israel. Now, I’m not trying to promote that belief, because Israel is a recogonized state whether anyone likes it or not; I’m just trying to show everyone, that an educated, good Muslim does not hate Jews, or anyone of any race or religion for that matter.
Thanks
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:57 am
AlNakba -
Thanks for the clarification on Zionism (not a religion but an important concept - I think there are a lot of Christian Zionists in the U.S. and elsewhere that have very strong beliefs based on their interpretation of the Bible. I think that is one of the really difficult issues that is clouding the peace process (or the continual breakdowns thereof) in the Middle East. I’m not sure if our elected officials are up-front about it or not, but I do think they feel a lot of pressure from the Zionists, still, to support Isreal right or wrong.
Back to the original question - I have had a problem with calling myself a “Christian,” although I try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, the stereotype of Christian includes many political agendas that I am not in favor of. I also disagree with many of the interpretations of the Biblical texts espoused by “official” Christian traditions. I probably differ from most people called “Christians” on gender issues, reproduction issues, Zionism, and other issues.
December 25th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
To ask about stereotypes is very timely; CNN is going to begin a special (I think tonight) called Racism in America. Looks like a good one to watch as it will probably cause all of us to squirm in our chairs to a certain extent as we look at ourselves honestly.
Stereotypes lead directly to prejudice. And, like freedom, the rejection of prejudice demands constant vigilance. Therefore, so does the rejection of stereotypes. To stereotype is to deny another’s humanity and individuality.
I think it’s difficult to NOT have stereotypes over the course of day-to-day living. We get them from the news media and even from one bad experience at a young age.
There’s so much to encourage the development of stereotypes and little to discourage them.
For example, it’s hard to remember that not all Christians want to convert Jews. It’s hard to remember that not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are Arabs. I don’t know but it must be hard for Muslims to remember that not all Jews are Zionists.
I was recently the “victim” of a stereotype. My black co-worker friend believes all Jews are rich; therefore, I must be rich too. This came up in a conversation with her. It hurt, and I resented her assumption. Because of what she said, I felt compelled to explain my finances to her though doing so also felt a bit like an invasion of my privacy, accounting to someone other than my tax preparer. Because she is my friend and is black and a single mom (and so no doubt the victim of more stereotyping than probably anyone), I tried to be more understanding than I would otherwise have been.
The history of the State of Israel is tough to address because I see it as being off-topic for this conversation. But if it’s going to be discussed, please may we define exactly what we’re talking about? My limited understanding is that all the land - from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean must be returned to Palestinian control or there will be no peace. Peace will come only when Israel lowers the Magen David for the last time. Is my understanding correct?
December 25th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
I just remembered an earlier experience with religious stereotyping. It occurred between me and my boss when I was in the process of converting to Judaism.
My boss came from a Catholic upbringing and did not know I was studying for Judaism. (It’s not something one broadcasts, not in a majority Christian country and not to one’s non-Jewish boss). She recalled to me a time when she was trying to rent a much desired apartment from a Jewish owner. Another candidate for tenancy was competing for the same apartment, and the two of them were shown the apartment together. The other candidate had brought first and last month’s rent with him and paid the owner on the spot. My boss had brought no money and later discovered the Jewish owner had rented to the candidate who had paid her the upfront rent money. The candidate who had paid the money must have been Jewish because, as my boss told me this story, she made some remark about Jews always sticking together. I acknowledge this unpleasant experience but I was also offended by her stereotyping of Jews. If she had only known the history of Jews in Christian lands, she would have understood why Jews stick together! Persecution has long, deep-seated ethnic memory. But, since she was my boss, I kept my thoughts to myself. I’m ashamed of myself for keeping silent and not speaking up. There are ways I could have done so without being rude.
But I did learn a lesson in the sense that now, when such a teaching opportunity arises, I don’t let it go by. I once overheard a woman describe Hanukkah as the “Jewish Christmas.” Without being rude, I excused myself and corrected her with a brief history of the Hanukkah story, that it happened 165 years before Jesus’ birth and so couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Christmas, that Hanukkah falls on or near Christmas is sheer coincidence and the result of different calendars, etc. She was very gracious and thanked me for explaining it to her. I felt blessed to have been at what I felt was the right time at the right place.