Research reveals Christian words associated with prejudice

Christian symbolic art

Carol Forsloff - While Christians speak of the importance of love, and cite the Bible and Jesus' words as references, a  study conducted by Baylor University  found a few years ago that those who are given Christian religious words in writing or conversation are more likely to express racial prejudice and negative views toward African Americans.

It is not uncommon for Christian words to be sprinkled on social media and in everyday discourse, so the research heightens awareness of how people might behind religion, using it as a defense as opposed to an instruction on how to interact with others.

Dr. Wade Rowatt, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor who led the study, looked at the results of the study which appeared in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science and said, "It could be that priming religious words activates cognitive representation of things like right-wing authoritism and a Protestant work ethic."

While politicians and researchers tell us that most Americans consider themselves Christian, the fact that Christian words are associated with certain prejudices might be considered particularly alarming in the wake of racial strife.  Research that outlines how words impact behavior offers us a glimpse of ourselves and how we really think when it comes to loving one another and whether or not that love encompasses African Americans.

Recent events, from the Ferguson, Missouri incident involving the shooting of an unarmed African American man by a white police officer offered a storm of controversy, and resulting riots.  It also revealed a division between white and black folks in terms of how they viewed the incident, with more whites identifying with the police and more African Americans siding with the African American family.  This division was heightened when an additional incident in New York of the beating of an unarmed African American man was also reported.

Given the fact that Americans use Christian words to explain how they feel about one another, further research might also identify how many of these people, following incidents like the recent issues regarding race have developed.

In addition, the response to Muslims following 9/11 was often negative, and statistics have shown that people are more fearful of them since that time, with a resultant increase in negativity, including insults and even the burning or defacing of mosques.

Again these incidents might also be explored in the light of those who identify with Christianity and how often they use Christian words or quotations to defend their actions.

While race and religion are often the areas of strife throughout modern history, learning how people speak and how verbal abuse can actually increase violence can be useful in teaching people that it is not what they say alone that is important, but the honesty of the beliefs they have in terms of how they are integrated into appropriate behaviors.

This type of scientific research allows people to see the uses of objective material in improving social behavior, including identifying for Christians where they might reflect on the language they use in speech and in writing specific to racial and religious groups.

African American and Gay Rights groups may be creating the opposites of inclusion, understanding

Martin Luther King preached inclusion

The impetus for civil rights in the 1960's came from protests about segregation and lack of equal opportunity, including voting rights, for African Americans.  Protests for gay rights have the same interest to promote equality and inclusion; but these objectives may not be met as groups, once identified as having dignity and worth, develop exclusive" clubs" of their own that reject others tacitly or obviously.

The first African American Miss America was crowned in 1984.  Although Vanessa Williams was to lose her crown because of photos taken in what was claimed as compromising positions with some nudity and with another woman, she was the first to be voted as America's most beautiful that year.  Since then other African American women have earned the crown, yet there remains Miss Black America that is exclusive to African American women.

Fraternities and sororities long ago were compelled to embrace students of all races and ethnic groups, yet on college campuses there remain quite separate fraternal groups and the designations that reflect them.

Media outlets also embrace that lack of inclusion in some arenas too.  There are "black" newspapers like The Root and The Grio and numerous local newspapers and magazines reflecting "black" themes.  The types of articles and orientation again make the pronouncement that these topics are exclusive and rendered primarily for a certain ethnic group.  What does it say when a media outlet pronounces its content as "Black News, History and Culture"  How many Caucasian writers have been embraced by most of them? The reasons given for this exclusivity is often that "white people" don't understand black people.  But do black people truly understand white people and does this exclusivity contribute to inclusion and understanding, which were the principal components of human rights issues stressed by civil rights protests.

The same issues have arisen with gay rights groups.  Gay rights parades decorate floats and signs maintain the value of the group as a cohesive one with integrity.  But there are organizations, special travel sites, choruses and all sorts of ventures that may superficially maintain they are for everyone, but the nature of the groups and their advertisements do not offer inclusion of anyone who is not gay.

So while society wrestles with its general problem of bad judgments, prejudgments and errors in human rights, perhaps some introspection needs to take place on the part of civil rights and gay rights groups that they not follow the same thinking they have declared they want to avoid---and that's exclusion that build prejudices of their own.