Prejudice And Racism In Religion

Words: 1174
Pages: 5

Racism in Religion Growing up in a small town in the state of Texas, racism was all around me. Prominent individuals in my school, church, and community would not so much say the words exactly, but they would definitely imply that one race was held higher than a few of the others. In my small town, there lived (and still are) white Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans. However, the white Americans felt themselves more privileged than the other races. Yes we all went to school together, but heaven forbid you date someone outside of your race. You can be friends with someone outside of your race, but nothing more. The church that I attended was predominantly white, but there were a few individuals of the African or Mexican race that attended as well. However, the majority of the churches were still segregated. I grew up being taught that it was ok to “interact” with other races when it came to school or community events, but to not take it any further than that. Even though it was never said outright, we knew that there would be no co-habituating with other races when we got older. Small town views are considered …show more content…
Religious racism exists just as much in Judaism as in Christianity. Jews have been targeted just as much as any other minority race or religion. The term used for this type of action is anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a form of hatred, mistrust, and contempt for Jews based on stereotypes and myths and often invokes the belief that Jews have extraordinary influence with which they conspire to harm or control society (Anti-Defamation League, 2009). This type of religious racism has existed for many centuries and the negative stereotypes it draws on have taken hold in popular culture and thought of many societies. According to the Anti-Defamation League (2009) here a few of the common anti-Semitic racial myths and