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is racism and being against a religious group really that different

People will claim that being against a religious group is not the same as being racist but to be honest is it really that different? People who follow religions tend to have been born into it. I know people say you can chose your religion and chose to leave it if you want. But if you're born into something you've been programmed to believe it. So did they really chose it. Or is it a form of just an identity for them. I'd say most people in any religious group are part of that religion just culturally. In the same way they may be culturally indian or etc. Or you may argue that their scripture contains evil things according to you but then how do you know that a) they even know of those parts of the scripture and b) that they're not interpreting it differently to you? Most people in all religious groups don't know everything in their religion.

EDIT: alot of people are misunderstanding me, I don't think its wrong to criticize a religion but it is wrong to hate a whole religious group
(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
It depends!

Racism and being against the people of a religious group have similarities.

However racism and being against the ideas of a religion have no similarities whatsoever.



No criticism of ideas, no matter how severe, can count as bigotry against people.
Original post by Joe312
It depends!

Racism and being against the people of a religious group have similarities.

However racism and being against the ideas of a religion have no similarities whatsoever.



No criticism of ideas, no matter how severe, can count as bigotry against people.


of course I'm with you on that but then some people use that criticism to justify their hatred of the people and that's just unnaceptable
We have a word for that already: bigotry. No point conflating the two terms.

And yes, there is a difference. I can't chose to strip away the pigment in my skin, but I can choose to phase out of the beliefs I was taught as a child. If anything, there isn't enough awareness/protection of people who chose to leave certain religions in particular than those who chose to stay inside the fold.
Original post by urlocalethnic
We have a word for that already: bigotry. No point conflating the two terms.

And yes, there is a difference. I can't chose to strip away the pigment in my skin, but I can choose to phase out of the beliefs I was taught as a child. If anything, there isn't enough awareness/protection of people who chose to leave certain religions in particular than those who chose to stay inside the fold.


In what way is there not as much protection, as a muslim I've received death threats but my brother left islam and my family still show as much love to him as they did before and non of us try to force him to accept it again. We do try and persuade him but to be honest we've accepted now that he has made his mind up and nothing has changed in terms of our relationship with him. The craziest part is that when my brother first told my parents he wanted to leave even I was so brainwashed by the media I thought my parents would kick him out of our house. So the way they just accepted him really shocked me. So if I even doubted my own family I can understand how others can get brainwashed so easily I mean people without muslim family members
In terms of discrimination and spoken prejudice, I view them as the same. So I would say Islamophobia, for example, is a form of racism (even if it technically called religious prejudice, not about race).

Although I think there is a difference and it depends on the person and the situation. So I personally think it’s okay to be against a religion in your own mind (hear me out!) Most - if not all - religions will have some aspects which not everyone will agree with and it may go against their moral beliefs. Hence you can’t blame people for being against it if they think the teachings/actions are “bad”.

THAT BEING SAID, thinking these things and actually saying them to people are two very different things. Often you can’t help how you feel about things (even if you try and pretend you can) but you can choose how you act. Especially seeing as you may not understand the religion properly. Asking a religious person about the topic and learning more or respectful debating is okay but discrimination and hate is not.

I think the main difference is that with racism, a person’s skin colour isn’t a moral issue, whereas religions have actions which could be viewed as morally good or bad.

^No offence to anyone - I am religious myself.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by tammie123
of course I'm with you on that but then some people use that criticism to justify their hatred of the people and that's just unnaceptable


You are correct.

However some people also use what you just said right there to justify their preventing of the criticism of their religion, which is also unacceptable!
Original post by Joe312
It depends!

Racism and being against the people of a religious group have similarities.

However racism and being against the ideas of a religion have no similarities whatsoever.



No criticism of ideas, no matter how severe, can count as bigotry against people.


This was what I was trying to explain - explained very well👍
Original post by tammie123
In what way is there not as much protection, as a muslim I've received death threats but my brother left islam and my family still show as much love to him as they did before and non of us try to force him to accept it again. We do try and persuade him but to be honest we've accepted now that he has made his mind up and nothing has changed in terms of our relationship with him. The craziest part is that when my brother first told my parents he wanted to leave even I was so brainwashed by the media I thought my parents would kick him out of our house. So the way they just accepted him really shocked me. So if I even doubted my own family I can understand how others can get brainwashed so easily I mean people without muslim family members


That's really nice to hear and I hope everything stays that way! But I'm afraid your anecdotal story doesn't translate across the board-- especially in Muslim majority countries, no matter how hard you try to whitewash it :/ What you call brainwashing is someone's reality, but I understand that when you yourself haven't seen anything of that nature it can come off as an exaggeration or smear campaign which I honestly wish was true compared to the alternative of it being the sad truth.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Joe312
You are correct.

However some people also use what you just said right there to justify their preventing of the criticism of their religion, which is also unacceptable!


haha that's true I've seen that, I don't think that's right either, there's always going to be idiots on both sides
Original post by tammie123
People will claim that being against a religious group is not the same as being racist but to be honest is it really that different? People who follow religions tend to have been born into it. I know people say you can chose your religion and chose to leave it if you want. But if you're born into something you've been programmed to believe it. So did they really chose it. Or is it a form of just an identity for them. I'd say most people in any religious group are part of that religion just culturally. In the same way they may be culturally indian or etc. Or you may argue that their scripture contains evil things according to you but then how do you know that a) they even know of those parts of the scripture and b) that they're not interpreting it differently to you? Most people in all religious groups don't know everything in their religion.


Yea one is about something you have no choice in the other is an ideology
Original post by paul514
Yea one is about something you have no choice in the other is an ideology


but if you've been taught it your whole life its very likely that you'll just accept it as in I have hindu friends and when they tell me about their religion I don't understand how they can believe it like it doesn't make sense to me but they could be easily thinking the same about mine. Why is it that most religious people were born into their religion?
Original post by tammie123
but if you've been taught it your whole life its very likely that you'll just accept it as in I have hindu friends and when they tell me about their religion I don't understand how they can believe it like it doesn't make sense to me but they could be easily thinking the same about mine. Why is it that most religious people were born into their religion?


But it’s a fact they can change faith or have no faith, you can’t change your race.
Original post by paul514
But it’s a fact they can change faith or have no faith, you can’t change your race.


I'm not saying they're the same of course racism is worse but I feel like being against a religious group is alot worse than how people perceive because of the psychological aspects of why most people have accepted the religion in the first place
Original post by tammie123
I'm not saying they're the same of course racism is worse but I feel like being against a religious group is alot worse than how people perceive because of the psychological aspects of why most people have accepted the religion in the first place


So what?

It’s tough titty, we’re supposed to criticise ideas.
Original post by paul514
So what?

It’s tough titty, we’re supposed to criticise ideas.


But there's a huge difference between criticising ideas which I'm not saying you cant and being against a whole religious group
Original post by tammie123
But there's a huge difference between criticising ideas which I'm not saying you cant and being against a whole religious group


Depends what you are against the group for.
Original post by tammie123
but if you've been taught it your whole life its very likely that you'll just accept it as in I have hindu friends and when they tell me about their religion I don't understand how they can believe it like it doesn't make sense to me but they could be easily thinking the same about mine. Why is it that most religious people were born into their religion?


I've been taught my whole life to be a Christian, but for the last few years I've been a certain atheist as I feel that religion is "unscientific balderdash" and I can't get behind the ideas and the practices. In fact, you can often see me on some website debatig the existence of a God despite my religious upbringing. Thankfully, I did not leave a religion that would have me torured and killed for losing faith.
Original post by paul514
Depends what you are against the group for.


No it doesn't depend because you don't know what they all believe or what they even know of their own religion
Original post by randomsheep11
I've been taught my whole life to be a Christian, but for the last few years I've been a certain atheist as I feel that religion is "unscientific balderdash" and I can't get behind the ideas and the practices. In fact, you can often see me on some website debatig the existence of a God despite my religious upbringing. Thankfully, I did not leave a religion that would have me torured and killed for losing faith.


but that's just your experience, why is it that most religious people were born into their religion, I feel like in order to accept a religion which can just sound like a fairytale today most of the time it would have to be because you were taught it from a young age. In the same way we all thought santa claus was real and only until we were told he wasn't we stopped believing in him

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