How bad are Religious Stereotypes?

Hello Internet!

My name is Rachel Green. I’m your average every day young adult, with big dreams, and no money. I decided to take up blogging as a past time, because I want to make a difference in the world. I dropped out of college a year ago so that I could fulfill my lifelong dream to travel the world, and become a multimillionaire. Just kidding.

Really, I’m just here to waste time, and document my misadventures. Normally I’m pretty relaxed, and I don’t care what people say or think about me, because most likely it has some truth, but I found something out the other day. I have a pet peeve for stereotypes. Not all stereotypes are bad, but I was shocked at this.

I saw two girls sitting in Starbucks, and normally I would just be like, “Pfft, teenagers. Whatever” and go drink my coffee. What stopped me from doing that was what they said.

“I bet you she’s an atheist.”

Thanks guys. Like, I don’t have anything against atheists, heck I have a few friends who are atheists, but really? You’re that ready to judge me based on how I act and dress? What happened to “don’t judge a book by its cover”? Being me, I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by; I had to confront them. (It was my only choice, clearly.) The conversation went something like this:

Me: What makes you say that?

Starbucks Girl: Coffee, not Mormon. No cross, not Christian or Catholic. Obviously you’re not Muslim, you’re dressed normally, plus you’re white. I don’t see any sacrificial knives, so correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re not Wiccan. Plus, from that breakfast sandwich in your hand I can tell you’re not Jewish.

Me: I’m actually a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (It’s a real thing guys! Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster) Also known as a pastafarianist. Thanks though. (I’m not actually, but desperate times call for desperate measures.)

Then I snootily turned around and waltzed out the door.

Well, if we’re being honest we all know that’s not what actually happened. I’m pretty sure that I tripped over, like, a straw, on my way out. I claim to be a lot of things. Graceful isn’t one of them. Anyways, back to my point. I may not have been directly insulted by being called an atheist, but I can assure you I found what those girls were doing horrifying. Even if that didn’t hurt me, it could hurt others! Imagine how hurt someone could be if they were assumed to be, Mormon or something, just because they got a hot chocolate instead of a coffee. (I’m also not saying being Mormon is a bad thing, I just needed an example.)

There’s nothing wrong with getting hot chocolate. It doesn’t automatically change your religion. Have we really become such a judgmental society? Religious stereotypes are probably at the top of my list of things I don’t like. I’d like to point something out though. Well, two things really.

First, I know Christian girls who don’t wear modest clothing, the whole “skirts must reach below the knees” and all that crap. Shocking, isn’t it? Well it shouldn’t be. We shouldn’t judge someone, especially their religion, based on a way that they dress.

Second, I do realize that not all stereotypes are bad. I wouldn’t call it “bad” to assume that a little girl wants a pink pony rather than the black monster truck, or the princess shoes instead of the Spider-man ones. In my mind that makes sense, but of course if she tells you otherwise, go with it. Is it bad to assume that all Mormons are morning people, because they get up early for before school seminary (scripture study)? I wouldn’t say that it’s bad to assume that all Catholics wear crosses, because it’s just a necklace. That’s not really a bad thing. I’m sure they’ll quickly correct you on whatever you did wrong, and you won’t make the same mistake again.

Even the “air head blonde” and “dumb jock” stereotypes aren’t that bad. Well, I guess it depends on how it’s used, but really in the end whether or not a stereotype is bad is based solely on how much offense is taken. So the real question is should we be taking offense to religious stereotypes?

I think the biggest answer is yes. We should. How about that “if you’re Muslim, you must be a terrorist” stereotype? That one is probably one of the worst. I can only think of a few others that are pretty bad like that. Of course everyone reacts differently to different things, but in the end I think that these stereotypes hurt people.

I read an article once where a woman was accused of killing a man. She claimed it was in self-defense, but one of the police found her Athame, and said that since the summer solstice was coming up, they wanted to see if that had anything to do with it. (They assumed she wanted to sacrifice the guy.) The Wiccan religion is one of the most misunderstood, in America at least. They are believed to practice Satan worship, when in reality, they are kind of a group of magic believers (more or less). Is that really so wrong?

Thanks for baring with me guys, and I hope that I become so internet famous that I can earn money off of this,

Rachel Green