Brody's Notes... Religious People Can Be Racist-New Study Confirms This Hypothesis

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Mar 8 | A newly released report in February by the professional journal, Personality and Social Psychology Review, details a through review of past studies conducted in the United States, on the subject matter of religious dogma and the correlation to racism.  According to its authors;  Deborah L. Hall, Duke University, Durham, NC, David C. Matz, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN, & Wendy Wood, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA:

"A meta-analytic review of past research evaluated the link between religiosity and racism in the United States since the Civil Rights Act. Religious racism partly reflects inter-group dynamics. That is, a strong religious in-group identity was associated with derogation of racial out-groups. Other races might be treated as out-groups because religion is practiced largely within race, because training in a religious in-group identity promotes general ethnocentrism, and because different others appear to be in competition for resources. In addition, religious racism is tied to basic life values of social conformity and respect for tradition. In support, individuals who were religious for reasons of conformity and tradition expressed racism that declined in recent years with the decreased societal acceptance of overt racial discrimination. The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant."  [ Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, 126-139 (2010) ]

 In an article entitled, "Racism is linked to Religious dogmatism," John Shook, Vice President and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry Transnational in Amherst, N.Y., and Research Associate in Philosophy at the University at Buffalo, said; 

John Shook   Photo Courtesy of The University Of Buffalo

"Humanistic values, such as equal dignity and rights for all humanity, are often professed by many Christian denominations. But does this preaching make any difference to their members' actual prejudices? Apparently not!

This study finds that a denomination's demand for devout allegiance to its Christian creed overrides any humanistic message. By demanding such devotion to one specific and dogmatic Christianity, a denomination only encourages its members to view outsiders as less worthy."

He then asked; "Why would religious agnostics be more humanistic and less racist?" In answering he wrote that: 

"Religious agnostics would be people who combine a religious/spiritual attitude in living life with a humble admission that they don't know if their approach is the only right way. Religious agnostics are pluralistic -- they have no problem admiring how different people can enjoy different religious paths. And it is precisely this lack of dogmatism which permits humanistic values to shine through. Religious exclusivism defeats humanistic universalism, but religious pluralism enhances humanistic universalism. The message to humanists? It's not enough to ask religious people to be more humanistic. Humanists must ask for less dogmatism across the board -- if Christians would be more humanistic, they must surrender their conviction that their way is the only way. Humanism does not eliminate reverence, but it asks for a higher perspective -- something like "reverence for reverence." Revere your own religious path, but also respect and revere others' ability to devote themselves to a higher good in their own way. It is precisely that kind of universal respect for all paths which can reduce prejudice.
As for the nonreligious, this "reverence for reverence" is essential to humanism in the first place. We should all be able to create our own way of relating to the wide universe as we learn to understand it. And the humanistic ideal is that everyone can do this together in mutual respect and peace."

Partial source materials for this article were provided for by The Center for Inquiry, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, based in Amherst, NY [ Link ]  Center for Inquiry, P.O. Box 741, Amherst, NY 14226 E-Mail: info@centerforinquiry.net