The plague of prejudical thinking

Believe it or not, but while in undergraduate school I played Mr. Rabbit in a rendition of one of the Winnie the Pooh stories … you can stop laughing! The story was built around the fear of something horrible that was coming to the forest … a “Kanga”. Nobody knew what a “Kanga” was, but we just knew that it was something horrible. We were all afraid. One story built upon the last until it had mushroomed into this large, unbelievable monster. The fear of the unknown, in the grips of some good old gossip, can be very destructive. Fear is usually built upon the shaky foundation of half-truths, twisted facts and outright lies.

As a father of two children who lived through their teenage years and as a pastor who loved to work with and be around teenagers I have always hated and fought the prejudice of people when they started to lump all teenagers together in a single group. They would speak of “those teenagers” or “those boys” and then lace their mean spirited talk with something they had overheard at the beauty parlor or barbershop and moved it quickly into a generalization that included ALL teenagers. It really didn’t matter what the subject was – grades, driving, respect for adults, promiscuity, reading material, music – in their minds all teenagers were guilty as charged regardless of the facts.

I didn’t like being “lumped together” by the “popular set” in high school. Oh, you know the ones – those who played football, the cheerleaders and a few others. I was a part of the band (10th grade) and drama club (11th and 12th grade). The general gossip went something like this, “Oh, you know what kind of ‘people’ join the drama club (wink, wink)!” I didn’t like it then and I really don’t like it now.

Stereotypes have surrounded us at every turn. You’ve heard it and possibly even participated in the gossip: Stereotypes such as: all blacks are lazy, all Mexicans are illegal immigrants, all Haitians are thieves, all Puerto Ricans are gang members, all southerners are bigots, all college educated women hate men, all Democrats are liberal, all Republicans are only for the rich, all Californians are ethically and morally corrupt, all actors are gay, etc. And ever since 9/11 our email in-box has been loaded with the latest crazy thinking: all Muslims are terrorists.

When I attended the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Louisville, KY, many years ago, there was a panel discussion concerning ecumenical concerns. The panel was made up of representatives from various religions and churches. I remember the insight brought to the discussion by an Imam. He stated that stating that all Muslims are the same would be like stating that all Christians regardless of their denomination or church affiliation are the same. “Are Catholics like Pentecostals? Is the Southern Baptist group like those in the United Church of Christ? Are the Methodists like the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians? And yet, all of those who are a part of these churches and/or denominations call themselves Christian. Please do not put all Muslims within the same category. Please do not make that mistake because just as there are many shades of Christians so it is within Islam. We are not all the same.”

This issue has resurfaced surrounding the discussion and protest concerning the proposal to build a Mosque in New York City just blocks away from Ground Zero. The mayor got it right when he shared that we need to extend the freedom of our country to all peoples or we run the risk of losing those freedoms for all of us. We are guilty of “lumping together” all Muslims with those few crazies who flew the planes into the World Trade Center towers. Not all Muslims are of the Taliban variety; not all Muslims are members of the Islamic Brotherhood; not all Muslims belong to Al-Quada. Should we, as Christians, be judged by the crazy behavior of some of Christian brothers and sisters, like the members of the one Baptist church, which are picketing the funerals of our fallen servicemen thanking God for their deaths as a testimony of our country’s fallen nature? I would hope and pray not.

The bottom line is that we should treat all humans, regardless of their particular religious affiliation and/or believes, as we would wish to be treated. Where does the Golden Rule take us or are we at the point in our nation of thinking that we need to do unto others before they can do it unto us?

Quote for today: “The divide of race has been America’s constant curse. Each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction, are no different. They have nearly destroyed us in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. They torment the lives of millions in fractured nations around the world. These obsessions cripple both those who are hated and, of course, those who hate, robbing both of what they might become.” Bill Clinton