Racism Essay Sample: How Can Religion Stimulate Racism?
Religion and racism have an extended history to be present in societies, and both of them have a lot to do with human nature. Sometimes, especially in these days, religion really helps to deal with racism and other types of discrimination. Before, however , religion has usually been used as an instrument for conquering other people which have different beliefs than the conqueror. The shift in the usage of religion could be tracked through major historical events along with the change in attitudes using periods. The fighting between abolitionists and slave traders is a bright example of the shift in society, and how the meaning of religious statements can transform. The ways the religions were used to stimulate racism and intolerance, along with the justification of conquests, are widely studied by various historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. The answer to the question might be very easy, considering the simple set of responses that form the answer to the problem. This series of intermediate answer unearth the origins of racism and the historical, evidential analogies which explain how and why such benevolent phenomenon like religion is used such horrible ways.
The Origins of Racism as a Cultural Phenomenon
The study should begin from the worldwide perception of racism in human society. Before the countries and governments have formed, people have gathered in tribes and communities united by geographical, religious factors, and physical appearances. When individuals were a lot less civilized, the instincts of forming packs were very influential, and these instincts have dictated behavior patterns which may now be looked at racist and intolerant. Unity demanded common things, and skin color have provided this characteristic feature, so it is no wonder a tribe with brighter pores and skin have perceived a tribe with darker skin color “others, ” and had visual and obvious reasons to fight them. The instincts that stimulate people to divide into a group with easily distinguishable features are present right now in the form of languages, citizenships, national traditions, and also flag colors. Those who began a relatively recent World War II have justified their aggression by the racial superiority of 1 “race” over another, therefore the tribal wars have not disappeared yet. With the come of the web and positive global increase intolerance, it really is unlikely that such worldwide implications of racism may happen, so racism has acquired a place of an evil thing inside human minds. It is worth mentioning that some boffins make attempts to medicalize racism, meaning they have gathered arguments that show the biological roots of racism in people. In his article “medicalizing Racism, ” James M. Thomas provides research that gathers arguments to prove that some individuals are more “predisposed” to racism. Such researchers, however , have become controversial and so are not broadly speaking accepted by the world’s scientific community, but the proven fact that they appear shows that humanity moves further from racism tolerance.
Racist Misinterpretation of Religion
As any cultural change, racism has and always had its reflection in religion. The complexity of the question originates from the ambiguity of scriptures and the easiness of giving multiple meanings to the same words. In short, religious texts can both stimulate and prohibit people from being racist. The brightest exemplory case of the different usage of religion may be the fact that one of many commandments of Christianity prevents people from killing other people, but Crusaders have slaughtered 1000s of people “in the name of God. ” The examples which are directly related to the question of racism were highlighted by Karl Giberson, professor of Science and Religion at Stonehill University. According to his findings, folks have differently interpreted the area of the Bible that told the story of Cain, namely as soon as of Cain’s punishment by the Mark of Cain. Black skin was considered the Mark of Cain by some nations, so people had the reason to hate the “bearers of the Mark of Cain” (Giberson, Karl). Such interpretation of the scripture gives an idea concerning the ways religions can be used to encourage racism and beliefs about human inferiority and superiority.
Nevertheless , as the shifts in cultures happen, scriptures can be used to mark racism as a sin. Christopher G. Ellison, Marc A. Musick and Andrea K. Henderson, scientists that have studied the influence of racism on many sides of the lives of African American people. Their empirical studies have helped to observe improvements in the degree of life among this ethnic group, and levels of racism implications have decreased aswell.
Abolitionists were up against pro-slavery rivals that used the Bible being an excuse for slavery. When slavery has begun to emerge, people perceived it as an ordinary phenomenon, and the Bible was written at the time it simply happened. Surely, while the economies of countries during those times depended on slaves to a high degree, it was very theraputic for governments to mark slavery as a good thing. Moreover, Biblical justification of slavery has made anyone else feel less guilty if indeed they began to reconsider their attitudes towards forcing someone to benefit free and start to become a commodity. This way, religion has stimulated racism to the level at which even priests failed to disagree with it. When abolitionist movements began to gain power, they certainly were opposed by direct quotations from the Bible:
“They asked who could question the Word of God when it said, “slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling” (Ephesians 6: 5)” and “tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in most respect” (Titus 2: 9). As it can be seen, the direct quotation from the book all the Christians respect was disarming in discussions. Nevertheless , society has changed, and slavery has changed into a tabooed thing to practice and a popular thing to criticize. The possibility of misinterpreting scriptures and other religious artifacts, texts and art pieces opens endless options at stimulating such a thing, as it happened with racism. The main factor that prohibits people from misusing religion or encourages them to justify a horrible action is the state of the society, as scriptures don't have any direct prohibitions that can be used standalone and can perhaps not be reversed to bear the opposite a few ideas.
How Islam Has changed into a Tool of Racism Implications
Religions can also cause implications of racism due to the natural human weakness to be prejudiced about something or some body. If for instance , lots of representatives of one religion cause many problems, people might become prejudiced towards them, subconsciously thinking that every representative of belief can cause problems aswell. Islam is possibly the most prejudiced religion of them all because of the terrorist attacks around the globe, presumably in the pipeline and executed by Muslims. Jihad motivated these Muslims, the holy war from the believers in the wrong God, which is a typical example of a religion stimulating racism. Muslims have made 9/11 because they thought all the Americans believed in the false God, so they really have caused a catastrophe which took the lives of many people, although they are able to even rely on their God. At least, the mass media gift ideas Muslims to the world such ways, that might not represent the truth. The conflict indicates that this number of Muslims was persuaded that Americans deserved to die for their sinful beliefs. After 9/11, where the whole world was told that Muslims caused it for religious reasons, and people are becoming prejudiced towards Muslims thinking they are fanatical and dangerous people. The example illustrates two sides of influence religion will make, one that allows claiming others sinners deserving to die, and one other that makes people prejudiced towards whole ethnicities.
Why Islam Takes Important Invest the World’s Racism
Humans tend to derive those who are unlike them as a result of some noticeable features. Islam happened to be a really different religion from most of the existing ones on Earth due to their strict rituals, traditions, and ways of thinking. Christianity, Buddhism, and other religions are softer than Islam, which makes it easier for people to be prejudiced and feel alienated from Muslims. It is as yet not known if the Muslims undoubtedly wanted to wage Jihad on the rest of the world that believed in the incorrect God, nevertheless the specificity and uniqueness of Islam caused it to be much easier for millions of people to think that Muslims are fanatics that must be isolated or even destroyed to keep other world safe. The result could be the appearance of the vicious circle of the mutual feeling of hostility between Muslims and the rest of the world, where Muslims receive hate because of the actions of the few, and Muslims gain reasons to hate inturn. Of course, religion cannot simply take all the blame for the hard situation in the world, in this case, it has played a task of the catalyst for several deaths and complexity that shows in the world in these times. ISIS justifies its actions by claiming the other civilizations are not worthy and are infidels deserving to be destroyed. It is of no matter if individuals of other from Muslim ethnicities believe in their God or not. They may still get slaughtered in the name of Allah.
Islam can not only be an illustration of prejudice between two different religions but for example of conflicts, hate, and bloodshed inside one religion. The conflict between Sunni and Shiites is a complicated topic of the political fight for power and the use of religion to justify aggression also to kill in the eyes of people. The conflict inside Islam has appeared with debates on the succession of prophet Mohammad, and two major camps could not reach an agreement about the topic, which led to significant battles. Nowadays, politics use the disagreement to seize power and eliminate the opposing side. The example of Shia-Sunni relations illustrates how even minor disagreements can cause an incredible number of deaths inside one religion. Evidently, the conflict between two opposing powers isn't an implication of racism, but an implication of the ways at which any action could be justified and all the followers of a charismatic leader may be assured of fake things. The thoughts planted in human’s minds by charismatic leaders might not continually be false, but presented in their mind in a light which makes the conflicts desirable and the bloodshed unavoidable.
Most of the influence religion can make on stimulating racism can be based on the natural human instinct of dividing into “us” and “them” with consequent violence and prejudice. Religion can be used to justify and stimulate anything an individual with much influence desires, no matter how moral it's. It is not religion as a spiritual practice which makes people do horrible things, nevertheless the rulers of people’s opinions, which are chosen by people themselves. This way, the question “can religion stimulate racism” may have two answers. The first answer is positive, as scriptures contain statements that justify and stimulate racism. The 2nd answer is negative, as scriptures may possibly contain such a thing, and people regulate how they want to comprehend the information and apply it to people’s minds, which also serves as the answer for the question “HOW can religion stimulate racism? ”. In terms of the modern world goes, there are still other ways the leaders of the opinions find to justify racism, and the state of matters will continue to be until people realize the answers to the two questions above. If people don't understand the logic of thinking process, the interested groups will still be in a position to use religion in their interests, which may involve stimulating racism.
Works Cited
LEWIS, BERNARD. “The Historical Roots of Racism. ” The American Scholar, vol. 67, no . 1, 1998, pp. 17–25. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41212711.
Thomas, James m. “Medicalizing Racism. ” Contexts, vol. 13, no . 4, 2014, pp. 24–29. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24710579.
Giberson, Karl. “The Biblical Roots Of Racism. ” Huffingtonpost. Com, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karl-giberson-phd/the-biblical-roots-of-racism_b_7649390.html.
Ellison, Christopher G., et al. “Balm in Gilead: Racism, Religious Involvement, and Psychological Distress among African-American Adults. ” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 47, number 2, 2008, pp. 291–309. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20486913.
