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School of Education |
Teaching Diverse Populations EDG 2701 Religious Intolerance J. McNair | |||
Personal Information Associate Professor, Senior |
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Introduction to the Lesson The purpose of this eighth lesson in this second unit is to introduce the education student to the specific beliefs, values and attitudes rooted in fear and ignorance and are known collectively as Religious Intolerance. The student will study the overarching concepts of religious intolerance such as religious freedom, religious persecution, religious tolerance, religious intolerance including inter-faith intolerance, intra-faith intolerance, intolerance by from a faith group against a secular group; and intolerance by a secular group against a religious group. Religious Freedom The freedom of individuals to believe in, practice, and promote the religion of choice without (government) interference, harrassment, or other repercussions - as long as practices based on, or resulting from, those beliefs do not break the law (e.g. do not encourage or result in fraud, tax evasion, murder, terrorism, acts designed to undermine the government or the constitution, the use of unethical persuasion tactics, etcetera). Religious Persecution The practice of discouraging religious freedom and the freedom to express and/or promote all or certain religious beliefs - with repercussions ranging from discrimination and harassment to prevention and prosecution (by legal and/or illegal means). Does not cover legitimate legal measures designed to prevent and/or prosecute illegal practices such as fraud, tax evasion, murder, terrorism, acts designed to undermine the government or the constitution, the use of unethical persuasion tactics, etcetera. Religious Tolerance Acknowledging and supporting that individuals have the right and freedom to their own beliefs and related practices, without necessarily validating those beliefs or practices. Religious Intolerance Refusing to acknowledge and support the right of individuals to have their own beliefs and related practices. Also, the unwillingness to have one's own beliefs and related practices critically evaluated. According to B.A. Robinson of Religious Tolerance. org: Webster's New World Dictionary (1995) defines intolerant as:
Webster's defines tolerate in part as:
Religious Tolerance.Org's working definition of religious intolerance is a combination of the above:
Types of Religious Intolerance: Religious intolerance can be divided into four types, depending upon the perpetrator and the intended target:
A given instance of religious intolerance may be considered inter-faith by some groups and intra-faith by another. For example, many Fundamentalist Christians do not consider Roman Catholicism, the Mormon church, liberal Christian denominations, etc. to be part of Christianity. Thus, an attack by an Evangelical group on Roman Catholicism might be considered inter-faith by the Evangelical and intra-faith by a Roman Catholic. The following actions may be considered examples of religious intolerance:
A group may be defined as being any identifiable organization, or any subset of humanity as defined by their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, language, nationality, political beliefs, age, or economic status... erc. What do religions teach?
Most other faith groups have similar rules of behavior. Unfortunately, throughout history, we see examples of such rules being restricted to members of one's own religion. People of other faiths (and even those of other denominations in the same religion) are sometimes actively discriminated against. The most vicious civil disturbances and wars often have a religious basis (as in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Middle East, Sudan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, and East Timor). Religious intolerance in the Bible: Jesus sometimes promoted religious tolerance of non-Jews by his words and actions. He is also recorded as having been severely intolerant of the religious beliefs and practices of Pharisees and Sadducees. There are many specific references in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), by St. Paul, and by the author of Revelation which teach intolerance:
On the whole, the Bible promotes intolerance of other faiths. There are only a few passages which promote religious tolerance. Religious intolerance among conservative Christians: A few conservative Christians have made statements that categorize other religious groups as evil, degenerate, sub-human and/or hated by God. Some examples are:
We have not been able to find any comparable statements by mainline or liberal Christians. It is important to realize that many of these statements do not come from any mean spiritedness or hatred on the part of conservative Christians. They follow logically from their very specific theological view, and are a natural result of the way in which they interpret the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 states:
Some conservative Christians who believe in the inerrancy of scripture cannot ignore the very plain and unambiguous messages in the Bible concerning the followers of other religions. They conclude that non-Christian religions are of Satan, and that the Gods of those faiths are in fact demonic spirits. Most Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians believe that the only way to be saved is to repent of past sins and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Many see non-Christians traveling down non-Christian spiritual paths that lead to an eternity of torture in Hell without any hope of mercy or relief. This includes two thirds of the human race, some four billion people. It is unreasonable to expect these Christians to be tolerant of religions that they believe generate so much evil, and which guide their followers to destruction. We have been able to find only one large Evangelical Christian group which has a policy of promoting religious tolerance. That is Promise Keepers, a organization for men which encourages males of all faiths and races to join their rallies. "PK" has received a great deal of flak from other conservative Christian groups for those policies. In summary, belief in the inerrancy of the Bible requires believers to reject the validity of other faiths. Religious tolerance among liberal Christians: Many liberal Christians have beliefs about other faiths that are quite different from the above. They regard non-Christian religions as valid, alternative paths to God. They often deviate from literal interpretations of Biblical passages. Many view the religiously intolerant sections of the Bible as no longer being of value in a today's multi-faith world. They give little weight to the concept of a Hell where unsaved people are punished for all eternity. By viewing all of the major religions of the world in a positive light, they find it much easier to be religiously tolerant. Thus, we find that groups which promote religious tolerance tend to come from mainline and liberal faith groups. Religious intolerance in the media: Most "faith bashing" in newspapers, radio and TV can be divided into four types:
Here the media usually criticizes the actions of Christians but not their beliefs. Once any group attempts to change society lays itself open to criticism. The media's responsibility is to describe the group's actions in a balanced manner, giving all views equal and respectful treatment.
It seems that the media often treats clergy and other religious leaders differently from other people. Some surveys show that perhaps 40% of men commit adultery. This is hardly news. However, when a religious leader does it, his/her moral lapse is given great exposure - even to being reviewed on international TV. This is unfair and unbalanced treatment.
This type of faith bashing is in a class by itself:
This form of faith bashing is a serious concern. It is a continuation into the 1990's of the types of hatred which fueled the Witch burnings of the Renaissance, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Nazi Holocaust.
Religious intolerance outside North America: In spite of UN declarations on religious freedom, there is still massive room for improvement in some countries. Wars: Religious intolerance is a driving force behind many of the world's armed conflicts and centers of civil unrest. A few current and recent conflicts are listed below:
Missionaries: Religious missionaries are severely persecuted in some areas of the world. Most victims are Christians; most perpetrators are federal governments. Conversion: Some countries have declared that a religious conversion from the state religion to another belief system is a criminal act, sometimes punishable by death. These laws appear to be most frequently found in Muslim countries. Overview: Robert Seiple of the U.S. State Department reported to a congressional hearing on 1999-OCT-6 on religious freedom around the world. Unfortunately, the report did not include religious abuses inside the U.S. They found that seven countries exhibited "particularly severe" violations of religious freedom over the last year: Afghanistan's previous government, led by the Taliban, persecuted and killed Shiite Muslims in programs of mass murder that meet some definitions of genocide. The police often impose "severe physical punishment and imprisonment for deviations from codes of worship and dress." Myanmar (Burma) has imprisoned Buddhist monks who promote human and political rights. China suppresses unregistered religious activity "through harassment, prolonged detention and incarceration in prison or 'reform-through-labor' camps." Iran seriously persecutes the Baha'i World Faith by imprisonment of its members, denial of the right to assemble, and confiscating or desecrating their holy places. Iraq arbitrarily imprisons, and murders some individuals from their Shi'a Muslim minority. Serbia's government (primarily composed of Serbian Orthodox Christians) killed, tortured, raped and forced the emigration of ethnic Albanians (mostly Muslims) in Kosovar. Sudan 's government has engaged in killing, arbitrary imprisonment, violence, and forced conversions of members of minority faiths, including Christianity, Aboriginal religions, and minority Muslim groups. The Religious Freedom Act requires the President to react to this report by selecting "from 15 policy responses that range from private diplomatic protest to economic sanctions." Religious intolerance in North America: The wall of separation between church and state does not prevent judges and legislators from attempting to eliminate the rights of faith groups that they do not like: In 1986, Senator Jessie Helms (R, NC) introduced a bill in Congress to remove tax exempt status from existing Wiccan groups and prevent any new groups from being recognized. It never made it out of committee. Family court judges in the U.S. and Canada occasionally discriminate in custody matters against the parent of minority, high demand faith groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses. Various attempts have been made to modify the constitution in order to permit prayer in the public schools. This would have students recite prayers of the dominant religion. Students who follow minority religions would be given the options of either violating their own beliefs or risk later harassment and violence from other students. Society has made much progress in the past few decades:
The constitutions of the US and Canada guarantee religious freedom to all citizens, yet many hurdles remain to be overcome:
Religious tolerance does not seem to be heavily promoted in North America. Although there are untold numbers of:
Some random examples of intolerance: A few more detailed examples might be useful. The following are not presented as a complete or balanced list. Rather, it consists of just a few examples that we have stumbled across: Television: This is a major source of intolerance. Vision TV's Mosaic service in Canada features "paid time programs from a variety of faith groups and broadcast ministries". Because Vision broadcasts programs from all types of religions and faith groups, one can differentiate between those groups which are relatively free from hatred and misinformation from those which often exhibit intolerance. We have been given access to data collected by the Wiccan Information Network's Ontario Coordinator. He found that of approximately 35 episodes in the mid 1990's that included vicious religious intolerance:
Some of this intolerance is quite repulsive, and included:
We find this result to be curious and self-defeating for conservative Christians. On one hand, they are committed to fulfilling the Great Commission which is to preach the Gospel to all the world. At the same time, they are broadcasting so much hatred against various groups that many "non-believers" are becoming resistant to the message. A government regulatory body renewed Vision's license in the expectation that they would reduce the amount of religious bigotry on its network. They seem to have cleaned up their act in recent years. Religious Books: After consulting the records of the Wiccan Information Network's Ontario Coordinator found that:
Desecration of Cultural and Religious Heritage A photographer was traveling through the four corners region in the US. This is the area where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet. He came across a troop of Boy Scouts with hammers and chisels who were defacing centuries-old native petroglyphs (rock carvings) on a rock face. The horrified photographer asked the troop leader why they were destroying priceless native history. The leader replied that the Mormon church taught that the petroglyphs were Pagan symbols of Satanic origin. They felt that it was their religious duty to eliminate them for all time. Note: This action was a violation of the behavioral rules of the Boy Scouts Association rules and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The example is not meant to criticize either organization, but was intended to show how members of groups misinterpret the rules of their own groups. Attacks on Religious Leaders Singer Sinead O'Connor appeared on "Saturday Night Live" on 1992-OCT-3, and sang a protest song which implied that victims of racism, child abuse and other forms of victimization have a legitimate right to fight back by any means, including war. At the end of the song, she held up a photograph of Pope John II. She tore it into pieces, saying "Fight the real enemy." This lesson was developed to address elements of competency #2,#3, #4 and #5 on the functions of the educational process (teaching and learning) and schooling for education majors who are taking EDG 2701 in partial fulfillment of the graduation requirements for an Associate of Arts degree in Teaching (Elementary), Teaching (Secondary), Early Childhood and Exceptional Education. Competency #2 reads (in part) as follows: The student will examine the impact of diversity upon the educational process by
Competency #3 reads (in part) as follows: The student will examine barriers to understanding diversity by
Competency #4 reads (in part) as follows: The student will examine the structure and complexity of diversity by
Competency #5 reads (in part) as follows: The student will have the opportunity to develop intercultural competence and cultural relativism by
(A complete list of all the competencies for EDG 2701 is provided below by clicking on the link en titled competencies) | |||
