Religious Beliefs alter our Lens of Perception Khayla Lloyd

In all walks of life, whether walking down a busy street or walking around Clemson’s campus, various people represent the different religions and different backgrounds that they were born and raised in.

No religion is the same because regardless of the religion people are raised with, as they grow older, their perspectives may change depending on how they interpret the Bible or other religious books.

  • As people interpret or misinterpret their holy text based on the religion they practice, it allows them to have opinions or perspectives on social issues. As the internet evolves and social media becomes a dominating factor in everyone’s life, the perspectives of race change as people begin to over-generalize races based on the religion they represent. Despite the religion people were raised in, religion can alter the perception of race and cause racial bias due to various beliefs and interpretations of their holy text and the ever-changing portrayed images of different religions that over-generalize specific races or ethnicities.

Some people may argue that religion has no effect on the way people perceive race because religion does not make a person become racist. Although religion can not technically make a person racist, the different ways people interpret their religious texts can change their perception of race. However, the lack of being racist does not automatically mean that their perception of race is not tainted or influenced by their religion.

Accept those who are not the same as you
  • The culture people are born and raised in causes people to view the world differently from other cultures. This different view of the world can allow people to think differently about people’s race or other social issues. Although some people may argue that religion does not make a person racist or see racial bias, studies and research have shown that racial prejudice and bias have stemmed from the religion of people. However, covert or undetected, perceptions of race surprisingly are influenced by the culture and religion of people.

Religion not only affects people all over the world but it also affects students that walk among college campuses. Many students at Clemson represent different cultures and different religions, which is why there are various beliefs and perceptions about race.

Embrace that we are all different yet equal
According to studies done by Wade Rowatt and colleagues, research has found that American students, when religiously primed with Christian words, showed a negative shift in attitudes towards African-Americans.
As Christianity only represents one religion, the Global Terrorism Index shows that religious extremism in religions such as Islam has become the main driver of terrorism in countries all over the world (Arnett 1).

With the numerous amounts of students who have religious beliefs on Clemson’s campus, these studies clearly display the impact of religion on the way students perceive race. Although the perception of race seems to be an enormous social issue, it also seems to be affecting students here on Clemson’s campus.

Last fall in December of 2014, a fraternity at Clemson held a racially immoral party off-campus which led to the fraternity being suspended and racial tensions arising (Ward and Barnett 1).
  • This event not only offended other African-American students, but also the faculty due to the unethical racial perception this fraternity portrayed throughout the party. The issue with the perception of race is that it involves our religious belief system that enables us to make decisions.

Some may argue that religion does not have a direct correlation to causing discrimination in the perception of race. Moreover, this makes a valid point because there’s two sides to every situation and religion does not automatically make people racially bias towards other people.

  • Sometimes religion has no effect on people’s perception of race at all. The people that believe that regardless of skin color or origin, everybody is the same in the eyes of God or other deities people worship are those that fall in the category where religion has no effect on their perception of race. People are people regardless of the color of their skin. Although an understandable viewpoint, this is not always the case.
Being raised in a particular religion causes people to grow up trusting in the ideologies of their particular religion due to their faith (Bloom p.184).

With times changing, things that were once not socially acceptable in the past have become acceptable. Those that stick and trust their old ideologies because of their religion are people that tend to have issues with interracial relationships and dealing with perceptions of race.

Times have changed and the issues with perceptions of race come into effect when religious beliefs do not evolve to fit the current times. Most religions have a holy text in which followers believe their interpretation of it word for word. However, one of the biggest issues with religion and how it affects the way people view race is misinterpretation of their holy text.

According to Bob DeWaay, the bible is the most published, quoted, translated and studied book but is also the most misused and misinterpreted.
  • With new religions emerging and the evolution of social media, people misinterpret or misuse the bible in ways to make their beliefs seem truthful or factual.
  • The misinterpretation and misuse of the bible and holy texts allows people to form their own belief systems about the world and the people in it.
Studies done by Deborah Hall at Duke University show that the aspect of religion that was strongly linked to racism were based on a measure of whether an individual’s religious beliefs were driven by social status or social conformity ("Why Religion can lead to Racism" 1).
  • People usually tend to conform to feel a sense of inclusion. Due to conformity, people begin to use groupthink which takes the ideas of the group instead of the individual and turns them more extreme through discussion. Using group phenomenons such as groupthink, groups can apply this same phenomenon to religion to enhance or construe perceptions of race.

Through time, racial bias and discrimination have become extremely relevant social issues that apply to every person. Although people may not see it or are able to understand it, people begin to form their perception of race when they begin to see the world through their own eyes. As times change, people can either alter their perception of race as they experience the world or stick to their childhood beliefs. When people choose to stick to their original religious beliefs, issues with perception of race begin to occur because things are not how they once used to be.

Studies show that religion tends to be practiced within race and when religious groups face other non-members they develop an “us” vs “them” mentality which begins to lead to issues with race (Hall, Matz, Wood p.127).
  • This “us” vs “them” view of the world provides people with the mindset that if other people are not similar to each other then it poses a problem. Although racial discrimination is very prevalent, most people find it hard to believe that our perception of race can be tainted by our religious belief or our urge to seek social status. People in religious groups tend to believe their social status improves if they conform with the extremist ideas of their religion.
According to studies conducted, those people who value extremist religious ideas value religion primarily as a way to achieve social needs and may be susceptible to prejudices shared with valued others (Hall, Matz, Wood, p. 127).
  • No matter where people come from, religious beliefs should not turn people against each other. Despite those that think religion has no effect over a person’s mentality or perception, religion is as equal an influence as social media. Social media easily misuses and misconstrues religious texts to benefit certain parties and despite where the information comes from people tend to believe it.
Determine what is factual or fictional

People tend to believe falsified information solely for the reason that it was posted on a social media outlet.

  • Not only do third-parties have access to social media and can easily make up information, but not everything people tend to find on the internet is factual information.
  • Up and coming religions promote their religious beliefs on social media due to the growing number of users and the ability of social media to give them an outlet for advertisement.

Although social media provides a platform for religions to connect to their followers, it also provides followers and users a way to discover other religions which sometimes overgeneralize races.

  • For instance, social media portrays that most Muslim people are terrorists which overgeneralizes an entire population.

As there are differences between factual and fictional information, followers and users of social media need to have the ability to understand that when others overgeneralize races or a group of people based on their religion, they are participating in racial discrimination or racial bias.

Even though religion is a huge part of people’s everyday lives, it can also inhibit our ability to see the world for what it is instead of seeing it how others perceive it to be.

People’s perspective and perception of race shouldn’t change solely because of a difference in religions, and religious followers should learn to follow their religion but practice their ability to see the world through a neutral lens.
Control the way you view our world

Works Cited

Arnett, George. "Religious Extremism Main Cause of Terrorism, According to Report." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

Bloom, Paul. "Religion, Morality, Evolution." Annual Review of Psychology Annu. Rev. Psychol. 63.1 (2012): 179-99. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Hall, Deborah L., David C. Matz, and Wendy Wood. "Why Don't We Practice What We Preach? A Meta-Analytic Review of Religious Racism."Personality and Social Psychology Review 14.1 (2009): 126-39. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Rowatt, Wade C., Megan K. Johnson, and Jordan LaBouff. "Priming Christian Religious Concepts Increases Racial Prejudice." Social Psychological and Personality Science 1.2 (2004): 119-26. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Barnett, Ron, and Robbie Ward. "Off-campus Clemson Party Increases Racial Tension." Greenville Online. N.p., 8 Dec. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

"Why Religion Can Lead to Racism." Review. Web log post. Patheos. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/epiphenom/2010/04/why-religion-can-lead-to-racism.html>.

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