Introduction to Social Behavior: Religious Prejudice - Essay Example

Religious Prejudice Race and Prejudice Name of student: Student No: Name of supervisor: Date: Introduction According to the United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (2011) discrimination against an individual because of his religion involves viewing them unfavourably because of their religious faith. It is against U.S Law to discriminate against a person because of these beliefs whether because they are a member of an organised religion or else have other ethical, moral, or spiritual principles. This essay shall be examining how Islamophobia has grown in the United States since the incident that happened on September 11th, 2001 when the Twin Towers were destroyed by Al Qaeda terrorists. It shall examine what factors has caused this rise in discrimination against Muslims including the sociological theories that could be used to explain these. A shortfall that has been identified when religion has been legally delineated is the definition of religion to those who are opposed to it. The law therefore does not provide for those who are prejudicial due to differing motives such as antipathy toward religion per se, antipathy toward specified religions or else, they wish their religion to proliferate and impose their beliefs upon others. It is important to comprehend the motives of those who practise prejudice in order to gain a wider knowledge of the meaning of faith and why persecution occurs. In order to find the underlying cause of religious persecution, it is important to understand it. However the question arises as to whether producing evidence of the motives of persecutors is pertinent to establishment of religious persecution. An illustration of this is whether prejudice results from racial rather than religious differences especially in the case of Islam. Millar (2001) reported various attacks that occurred on Mosques and Arab communities in the wake of 9/11. One individual interviewed claimed to have ‘always hated’ Arabs. UN Special Rapporteurs have examined the link between religious and other forms of prejudice and have come to the conclusion that they are intermingled. Indeed Professor Elizabeth Odio Benito, discovered that the concept of religion is not limited to faith but is often the nucleus of the cultural tradition of a community leading to the conclusion that the reasons behind prejudice are usually political, historical or stereotypical (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1987/26, 1986). This was followed up by Professor Abdel-Fattah Amor in 1994, who added the conclusion that the difficulty in establishing distinct delineations between double, sometimes triple discrimination, that is, race, religion and sex, is proof positive that individuals culpable of prejudice do not necessarily target one of these characteristics of their victim. The whole is intertwined in their minds and they completely reject the victim due to all characteristics or are confused (U.N. Doc A/CONF.189/PC.1/7, 2000). In more exceptional cases, the divide between race and religion is less clearly defined and many times, prejudice is exacerbated by the consequences of more than one identity. Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right as is the right to identify with an ethnic group. Infringement of both these rights leads to a super-violation of ordinary offences which results in a new and more serious offence (U.N. Doc. A/36/684 (1981). The following discussion will focus on the different ideas and theories explain this phenomenon and an attempt will be made to gauge just how prejudiced the Americans are toward their Muslim brethren and their resultant behaviour. Discussion Justice O’Connor, formerly of the Supreme Court, penned as her last piece of legal opinion the significance of the American Constitution’s Establishment Clause which seeks to separate church from state and guarantee that freedom of worship. This idea of religious pluralism is currently undergoing attack from various groups. It has been established that a significant number of Americans are opposed to the Establishment Clause especially as pertains to prayers in school or display of the Ten Commandments in courts of law. There have been proposals to declare the United States a Christian Nation which have received passionate support (Merritt & Merritt, 2007). Public opinion polls conducted after the twin attacks on September 11th 2001 suggested that Americans had a more positive opinion of Muslims after the incident than they had before (Royer 2002; Pew Research Centre 2001; Pew Research Centre 2003). However, it is also true that Americans equate Islam with bloodshed and fail to find commonalities between Islam and their own faith (Pew Research Centre, 2003). They also believe that Muslims train their children to hate and are that they do not value life as much as other faiths do (CAIR, 2004). These views have resulted in efforts to block construction of mosques in some neighbourhoods as well as increasing incidences of persecution and attacks against practitioners of Islam and those that fit the Islamic profile. The twin attacks and resultant war on terror are certainly contributing factors to the antipathy Americans may feel towards Islam, but research shows that this sentiment is not evenly distributed among them (Pew Research Centre, 2003). This phenomenon might be explained by a couple of theoretical frameworks on prejudice which encompass religious beliefs and practises as well as perceived outgroup threat. The Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) proposes the opinion that self-esteem and identity are a factor of the sense of belonging that results from identification with a specific ingroup and derogation of outgroups. This is illustrated by a study that showed a tendency for Christian respondents to assess other Christians in a more positive light than an Atheist (Hunter, 2001). This extends to such activities as charitable acts, which tend not to include those whose religious views may oppose that of the giver (Batson et al, 1999; Jackson and Esses, 1997). This contributes to the conflict that results between people of differing faiths and is a major problem of religion (Exline, 2002). It has also been established that religious beliefs are themselves a source of prejudice. Research previously done points out that there is a connection between level of religious fervour and prejudice, and that a high level of one leads to a high level of the other (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005; Jackson & Hunsberger, 1999). This relationship may run across the board for a variety of measures of religiosity but it is highest where fundamentalism is apparent (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005). Fundamentalism holds that the belief that they hold is supreme and is the only faith that is valid (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1992). This scenario leads to increased prejudice according to Altemeyer (2003) because of the religious ethnocentrism it creates that encourages an ‘us vs. them’ way of thinking which emphasises the differences between ingroup and outgroup. The Runnymede Trust did a report which analyses key elements of Islamophobia which has been defined as the fear of Islam. These elements include the fact that Islam is perceived as being monolithic, unchanging and resistant to change; it is separate or ‘other’ which means that it does not share commonalities with other cultures and is not influenced by them; is considered inferior to Western values, chauvinistic, regressive and irrational; promotes terrorism, is aggressive, dangerous and violent; it is seen more as a political concept which is used to further political aims; Islam rejects criticism by the West with prejudice; this hostility towards the religion provides justification for any prejudicial occurrences and sidelining of Muslims in society; this hostility is seen as ordinary and innate ( The Runnymede Trust, 1997). When the Pew Research Centre surveyed 1003 adults in 2010, the results of the study found that a majority tended to express critical views on Islam as opposed to favourable views. 38% self-reported that they had a negative attitude toward Islam. This is underscored by both local and international current events such as the storm over the possibility of constructing a mosque close to Ground Zero (Goldman, 2010) as well as the Norway Murders carried out by Anders Breivik in opposition to proliferation of multiculturism in the country(Hewitt, 2011). A study by Wuthnow & Hackett in 2003 showed that immigrants of Islamic background to the United States have a higher probability of feeling estranged from community leaders, have a reduced probability of voting, and have a lower income than their Christian counterparts. A fundraiser held by a Muslim community in California in 2011 in order to alleviate homelessness as well as domestic violence met with opposition from the surrounding community as well as members of Congress. One council member known as Deborah Pauly went so far as to claim that she knew a number of Marines who would gladly assist the terrorists to an early grave (Barker, 2011). Oswald (2005) conducted an online survey to measure the empirical basis for Islamophobia using three theoretical perspectives; the ‘us vs. them’ or feeling threatened mentality of social classification, individual characteristics and social dominance orientation. The first theory which is feeling threatened originates from the integrated threat theory. This theory is of the view that prejudice is born of actual and figurative threats. The former are substantial and include fiscal, political, or material intimidation by an entity. In contrast, the latter represents more insubstantial disputes such as values, culture, tradition and worldview (Stephan, Diaz-Loving, & Duran, 2000; Stephan & Stephan, 2000). This research can be linked to recent utterances in the political playing field that are interspersed with ominous assertions about Islam. Such rhetoric has been heard from Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum who are known to have spoken negatively about Islamic Shari’ah as it pertains to the continuation of the American way of life and use this to justify utterances that are detrimental to Muslims (Siddiqui, 2011). This implies one source of Islamic prejudice is the assault on the tangible and intangible values of Americans that this group is perceived to institute. The second theory covered by Oswald (2005) covers the ‘us vs. them’ theory that separates Muslims from non-Muslims. The researcher draws attention to the increased pitch of patriotic rhetoric that emanated from the American people after 9/11. President Bush was documented as asserting that anyone who wasn’t with them was in support of the terrorists (Hirsch, 2002) which delineated the world into the ‘us’ that was America and its allies and ‘them’ as not only Al Qaeda but subliminally implied the involvement of all peoples of Arab origin (Hirsch, 2002) The self-categorisation theory is of the view that when people are classified according to social groupings, there is an escalation of differentiation between ingroups and outgroups. The similarities between members of the ingroup are emphasised as well as the differences with members of the outgroups which leads to negative effects and mind-set among the group whose ingroup is dominant (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). This means that since the U.S ingroup is perceived as the stronger in the war on terror as they fight against a terrorist outgroup, the emphasis on the differences that separate these two groups, that is, one that is fundamentally Muslim as opposed to American ‘pluralistic’ society are highlighted.   Conclusion and Recommendations This review has examined the origins of prejudice between other Americans and Muslims. It has been established that this prejudice may not be primarily religious but could be as a result of a mixture of factors including race. The events of 9/11 may have led to an escalation of this prejudice but this may not be entirely accurate as prejudice may stem more from the perceived differences between Islam and the religious principles of the prejudicial. Therefore, in order to minimise this tendency toward religious prejudice, then the monster to be battled is ignorance. Prejudice seems to come about as a result of ignorance coupled with fear of the unknown. It would therefore be beneficial to the society if the main principles of different worldviews were taught in educational institutions which would lead to greater cultural understanding. This would lead to greater sympathy between cultures with the similarities between them accentuated rather than the differences. As seen in the review, the main problem with religious prejudice comes about when fundamentalism seeks to argue that the one religion practised by the protagonist is the only valid religion. This can be tackled by preaching tolerance of others, whether or not one agrees with their philosophy. References Altemeyer, B. (2003). Why do religious fundamentalists tend to be prejudiced? International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 13(1), 17-28. Altemeyer, B. & Hunsberger, B. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2, 113-133. Barker, D. (2011, March 4). 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Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (2nd ed., pp. 7-24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall. U.N. Doc A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 (2000) Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Religious Intolerance, U.N. GAOR, World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, Preparatory Committee, 1st Sess., Annex, Provisional Agenda Item 7. U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1987/26 (1986). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Commission on Human Rights, Economic and Social Council, 39th Sess., at paragraph 184. U.N. Doc. A/36/684 (1981). Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, G.A. Res. 36/55, U.N. GAOR, 36th Sess., Supp. No. 51, at 171, United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (2011) Religious Discrimination. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/religion.cfm Read More