Race and Religion

I'm glad that our most recent presentations (both of which have been excellent) have entered religion and religious-ethnic categories into our discussion of the history and philosophy of race. Organized religion has surely played a huge role in the development of the concept of race, as well as race relations and racial strife, over the last few centuries. I am reminded of a reading that we had for Philosophy of Film last week, in which British logician and philosopher Bertrand Russell concluded that organized Christian religion has always been and still is the primary enemy of human moral progress. Without delving too deeply into Russell's argument, I would like to expand on the similarities between the way that religious beliefs and racial concepts are formed within a human being.

It seems to me that, in the same way some people are convinced and sure in their belief of God (and subsequently, his existence), people can be brought up to to be sure of those biological differences in people of varying races that we know are not scientifically true. In the same way that churches, without need for scientific or logical fact, can construct a way of thinking about the world that is largely unchangeable- one person develops the same type of race-thinking from their churches (in extreme cases, i.e. Westboro Baptist)/church members, family, friends, etc. The obvious point that I am attempting to make is that environments affect people more than we realize; the underlying point is that religious organizations control those environments- to an incredibly large extent for some, and to less of an extent for others. I do not believe it is possible to claim that, in our society, one's racial thought has not been shaped in some part by these groups, regardless of whether or not the person is an active participant in a religion.

I was affected by Rochelle's comment in class- not because I hadn't heard it before, but because this type of remark always hits home for me- when she brought up the point that Israel is largely unopposed by other countries when it comes to global matters and conflicts. Whether this is because of guilt for the Holocaust, or some other strategy, the fact is that this reality manifested itself within my psyche in my upbringing as a Jew. I had never equated my religious upbringing (Sunday School until the age of 13, then a Bar Mitzvah, then Wednesday night school at the synagogue until junior year of HS) to any type of religious brainwashing. Now I realize that while Temple Emanu El may not have been as forward as other synagogues, and even though the Jewish religion itself does not lend itself to a brainwash-y vibe (all types of questioning are encouraged), I was still affected by my religious upbringing in a way that instilled a bias for my faith- and a sort of religious hierarchy that works like a racial one. My Temple lectured us many times about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, always with the notion that it was good vs. evil. I'm grateful for our class and what it has done to fight this bias. Has anyone else experienced similar effects from their religious upbringing? I'd be curious to know.