RE·LI·GION·ISM (rĭ-lĭj'ə-nĭz'əm)
n. Excessive or affected religious zeal.
I am always hearing about how "damn Christians" are impressing their religious views on everyone else. Although I am not saying that this doesn't happen, in my experience I have generally only seen the opposite. What I have experienced is that more often than not, in discussions it is more common for an atheist to attack a Christian for his/her beliefs than for a Christian to attack an atheist for his/her beliefs.
Yes, one of the basic ideas of Christianity is to "spread the love," if you will. And yet it certainly seems to me that far more atheists (or people of other religions) walk around openly expressing that Christianity is dumb, moronic, etc, than most (notice I'm not vouching for all) Christians walk around nit-picking at people for their beliefs.
This certainly does not apply to everyone. I am simply trying to point out that in my section of the world, this is generally the case.
It is interesting to me to see how just because one "ism" is the popularized, it often works out the other way... Take racism for example. My parents do foster care, and we do not discriminate who we take based on race, as foster homes have the option to do. In fact, my older sister (who we adopted when she was 13) is mulatto and we are currently in the process of adopting a Mexican-American girl... The intent of this is not to glorify myself, simply show you that I am no racist.
Last summer, we had a teenage girl move in with us, who was Black. Although she appeared nice, albeit somewhat stand-off-ish, we found her journal one day, in which almost every entry since she moved in with us, she complained about us "F-ing whites," and "Cracker Family," along with many other derogatory terms. When she was removed from our house, due to other extenuating circumstances, she told her social worker that we had asked for her to be moved "because she was black."
I am not saying that racism doesn't exist against blacks. I am not saying that Christians don't discriminate against atheists. I am saying that, especially when you find yourself in "The oppressed" category, and not "the privileged," it is extremely important to remember that bigotry is a two way street.
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I agree with you by 100%. When the bug bites the dog, nobody seems to notice, but when the dog starts trying to bite the bug back then it gets everyone's attention.
I can't believe you read another person's journal without their consent! What a violation, especially when she was already a vulnerable person who has probably been through quite a lot. A journal is a place where people work out feelings that are difficult for them, as I would imagine the culture shock of a white family was for her.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Yeah, I should have mentioned that her court-mandated therapist asked to look at her journal to clarify some major shoplifting charges that she had been accused of... However, it didn't offer insight into that, but rather into her feelings towards our family. It wasn't as if we went into her room, and went through her belongings, as I suppose I did rather make it sound like.
And, just as a sidenote, I don't believe that culture shock is an excuse for flat out racism. And before you say that I've never experienced, and couldn't possibly know what it is like, that it isn't the case. I've been through plenty of culture shock, and in my opinion it is the only cure for institutionalized racism.
I agree that it is not an excuse for racism. I completely agree with you on that, but I don't think that what a person writes in their personal journal can be considered flat out racism. People say a lot of things in their journals that they don't really feel, just to try them out, or things that they only feel for a fleeting moment, or that maybe they really feel, but wouldn't say to anyone else. A journal is a safe, sacred space for expressing whatever is happening inside you at the moment. I'm guessing that your reading it, whether prescribed by a therapist or not, just added another layer of mistrust for that girl. I'm not faulting you for doing what the therapist said, but I don't think it's a fair situation for judging her a racist. It seems a sensitive, emotional situation with lots of extenuating circumstances..
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Very true. Many people don't realize that all -isms work both ways, and can often be unaware of feeling or expressing such things.
I don't need drugs - I have genetics.