Conformity Of Religion

Conformity shapes our everyday decisions, whether it is acknowledged or not. How individuals are perceived by society and our peers puts an immense pressure on a person both in groups and privately, actively changing behavior that they may not normally take part in. An individual may change their behavior due to the chance of becoming an outcast. The ultimate fear or possibility of being an outcast influences individuals to conform to social norms. Psychological researchers have long been interested in the reasoning behind social conformity. Social conformity can result in the change of behavior or even the belief of an individual when it comes to them trying to fit within a group. The change can be due to pressure from a social group. By looking deeper into group size and familiarity, it is possible to accurately predict behavior for groups and individuals in the future.

Many individuals is faced with the decision of conforming or choosing personal desire, and it is not an easy decision. It is hard because being shunned by others for being different is not a good feeling. Choosing to conform over personal desire, often leads to loss. On the other hand, personal desire is what sets others apart and gives them joy. In the poem, “The Jackhammer Syndrome”, Al Purdy discusses the good and bad memories he has experienced. He goes through his memories of when he had fun and made mistakes, but he reflects on what he could have done better. The author of “The Jackhammer Syndrome informs against choosing the welcoming joy of conformity over the long-term gains of personal desire. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire may seem easy at first, but if the choice is to conform, the joy it gives will not last. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire Conformity may seem to give joy at first, but it does not last. When Al is playing pool with his brother, he wants to win badly, but losses. However when he did not care to win, Al wins! Conforming can lead to loss but personal desire has much to gain. If the choice is to conform, personal identity may be lost. In my life, I recognize several instances in which I found several similarities between Al and myself. I have made decisions that were not always good ones such as swimming across long distances with friends.

From the segregation and discrimination of African American’s to threats towards Muslims. Sadly discrimination in the United States is still happening today. These people that are affected are not equal to the other people who aren’t getting discriminated against. Studies show that it racism and discrimination is a big problem and it’s getting worse. “In a new nationwide poll conducted by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly half of Americans -- 49% -- say racism is "a big problem" in society today” (Shoichet, CNN). Discrimination is a big problem and it’s only getting worse. Racial tensions are on the rise. The Muslim community has been repeatedly harassed and attacked because of their religion. “They have been harassed, fired from jobs, denied access to public places, and otherwise discriminated against because they wear hijab” (ACLU). Society sees them as future terrorist because terrorist in the Middle East claim to be Muslim. Society plays a big role in discrimination. “Racism is inevitable in any society” (Shoichet, CNN). There is always going to be racism is society. It’s going to happen to different people. That doesn’t mean that it should be brushed over or ignored. Society can manipulate other people into thinking that what they say is correct. “They perpetuate certain ways of seeing the world and peoples within that world” (Jiwani, Racism and the media). Society can change the way some people

Religion and Racism Racism is prejudice against people of another race or ethnic group. Prejudice means pre-judging: making up your mind about someone or something when you have not considered the facts or the evidence. Racism has been around for a very long time, one of the first times that it happened on a major scale was when the Jews moved to Egypt, but were put into slavery because the Egyptians thought of them as inferior because their skin colour and religious beliefs. People are, or can be racist due to three main points, the first is that they were brought up by parents who were racist, and they automatically adopted the views of them because that was all they knew as right.

Race perhaps, can play a major role toward a person’s faith or doubt in the existence of God. For instance, the article by James Baldwin, “The fire next time”, he mentions that “I do not know many Negroes who are eager to be accepted by white people, still less to be loved by them; they, the blacks, simply don’t wish to be beaten over the head by the whites every day. Neither civilized reason nor Christian love would cause any of those people to treat you as they presumably wanted to be treated… (Baldwin, 1963, p.21).” This sentence may imply that, although the Christian faith claims the importance of “loving thee neighbors as yourself” (NIV, Mark 12 verse 31), some of the white supremacist Christian’s in America may choose to enslave the African

Duriez, B., & Hutsebaut, D. (2000). The relation between religion and racism: the role of post-

religion to racism in the United States of America? Is there a direct impact from one to the other

As Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don 't matter and those who matter don 't mind.” Through this quote, the foundation of conformity is uprooted from its murky hovel and is disputed with. Despite, though, how many people preach these words, they still succumb to the mind numbing effects without even realizing it, because they are not fully aware of the causes of this topic. That is why one needs to understand the causes of conformity before preventing the effects. The three causes of conformity include: changing how one acts to avoid the rejection of their peers, depending on other people 's’ opinions because they are oblivious to a certain topic, and conforming to something based on social characteristics.

There are always problems in a society, and the roots of it are nearly the same for other societies in different countries. Negative stereotypes of groups of people tend to cause others to avoid and discriminate against them. The close-mindedness of people towards race and religion divides societies because their ignorance misinforms how beneficial diversity is in a society.

There is a distinct problem with religion in this country. The churches of America have become racially divided, creating inequalities amongst our populace. Racial divisions run deep, and there is an undeniable relationship between religion and racism. Since the inception of this country, we have been racially divided. These divisions continued throughout the 20th century, and continue to this very day. These divisions often include, but are not limited to social and political values.

There are many religious and racial persecutors presently. The number of victimizers is rising given many recent occurings. Events in France are impacting us here in the United States of America, 7,661 kilometers away. I am a Muslim and these events have impacted me, my family, and many other followers of Islam. Disasters such as bombings and shootings fuel ill-treatment towards certain races by giving racists evidence to back up their hateful claims.

Racism is a persistent issue directly threatening the values and teachings of Catholic theology and humanities advancement towards unity and peace. A destructive ideology such as racism debunks the entire foundation from which Catholicism is built. Catholicism follows the life and teachings of Jesus and the idea of solidarity, one of seven principals of Catholic Social Teaching; preaching for a single human family despite any national, racial, ethnic, economic, or ideological differences. Accepting or remaining silent when presented with an act of racial discrimination is equally as damaging as committing the act itself, as it contributes to an environment tolerant of racial prejudices. The Catholic church and its followers have a duty to acknowledge racism to its fullest extent and provide resolution. Through a collective stance against racism between the Catholic establishment and society while simultaneously providing education on the issue with realistic solutions, a progressed cultural environment can ultimately be developed that is reluctant to condone racism and all associated ideologies, utilizing peace, unity, and Catholic values as its foundational core.

: The article called Religion, Meaning and Prejudice was written by Bruce Hunsberger and Lynne M. Jackson and published in 2005. The purpose of this article is to analyze the links between religion and prejudice that have been interpreted to suggest that religion can both reduce and exacerbate prejudice and to provide an analysis of religion as a meaning system that illustrates how religion can affect intergroup attitudes. The target population the article is geared towards other psychologists. The article begins with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 and how people were affected while trying to understand what happened that day. The role of religion- based prejudice illustrates the

     Facing racism means facing your fears. They may be fears for your safety, for your family, for your culture or for your beliefs. Facing racism can be difficult but it can be done. That is not to say we should not be afraid but we should recognize that one race does not have the monopoly of evil or that culture has to mean the same thing to all people. We have to be prepared to listen to other views and, even more difficult, to allow that such views may be relevant. Most religions are about respecting the rights of others. We cannot claim to have a religion and yet close our eyes to racism. Truly religious people know that we should reach out across the racial

Popular religion over time has become very common, especially with how much our society focuses on treating ordinary things as if they are religiously significant to our life. According to Robert Ellwood, “Popular religion can be considered a sector—and a very important sector of popular culture. Two forms of popular religion present themselves: the mainstream religion it is understood and practiced on the popular level, and religious meaning embedded in ostensibly nonreligious popular culture, such as making pop culture entertainers or cinematic heroes into religious icons” (131). Baseball has become a huge example of this. Last year, for the first time in 108 years, the Cubs won the World Series. When this happened, the whole city of Chicago celebrated immensely for this huge honor given to them.