I will sometimes interact with people who will prejudge someone based on their belief system. These same people wouldn’t dream of prejudging someone based on their skin color, gender, or nationality. “Belief systems are different,” they’ll say. “It’s not a fact of your birth that you can’t change; it’s the moral philosophy you choose to live by. So it’s fair game!”
Allow me to present to you two very good reasons not to assume anything about someone just because you know what religion they follow:
- Your experiences with that religion, especially if they’re negative enough to generate prejudice within you, were probably at the hands of people who were not following it correctly. If you got screamed at by the Westboro Baptist Church, and that caused you to automatically dislike Baptists, then you’re doing everyone (including yourself) a disservice.
- Even if the majority of the followers of a belief system actually practice whatever actions you find so negative, this person might not know that. If you want to bring someone into your religion, it’s bad recruiting to start with the hateful stuff. So usually that comes later, after they’re loyal. If someone is in that early stage and you attack them, you drive them toward the more extreme fringes. If instead you simply talk to them, you may find lots of common ground – and save them.
If you’re on the outside of any group, then most of your knowledge about that group will come from the most extreme (and therefore most vocal and newsworthy) fringes. That’s a bad way to evaluate anything.
The Opportunity Machine 