Christians have teachings about prejudice and discrimination, they are:
Genesis teaches that all people are made "in God's image" and have equal value.
"There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between men and women, you are all one in union with Christ." (Galatians 3) This shows everyone is equal in God's sight.
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." (Luke 7)
"Do not judge others and God won't judge you." (Luke 7) Shows people should be careful of criticising others.
Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that help should be given without regard to race.
In a sexist society Jesus treated women with dignity and respect; e.g. The woman at the well; (John 4)
Christians do not accept discrimination. From people I have asked, and from what I have read I have concluded that a Christian, or somebody with Christian morals would offer a victim of prejudice or discrimination, and help them to deal with it, in the ways of dealing with the effects of the actual event or actions of somebody else in a compassionate way. The perpetrator should also be helped in a way to guide them and help them understand the views and emotions of the victim.
Saying this, many Christians deal with it in another way. Many Christians are police officers, but discriminating is a criminal offence, and the perpetrator can be tried for it in a court of law. This means the Christian is punishing the perpetrator, and will be further punished by a court.
Discrimination can also be misunderstood. A recent article in the newspaper showed that a Pakistani person felt that he had been discriminated against, as somebody had called him a ‘Paki’. This man had taken the other man to court, under the charge of discrimination. The judge, who was a Christian, and a mixed race jury, had found the man under charge not guilty, as the judge had said this was not really discrimination, as the man was from Pakistan, and it was no different from calling a Australian an ‘aussi’ or calling an Englishman a ‘Pomme’.
All religions teach that Discrimination is wrong. Muslims teach much the same teachings about prejudice and discrimination as of Christians.
Some Muslim teachings are:
"Allah does not look upon your outward appearance; He looks upon your hearts and your deeds." (Hadith) This shows it is wrong to judge on appearances.
"All of you descend from Adam... there is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab." - (Mohammed)
The basic beliefs of all Muslims about prejudice and discrimination are:
1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
These beliefs are more or less the same as Christians, just wrote in a different way. They still teach that victims should be dealt with in an emotional, sympathetic way, and the perpetrator should be dealt with, in a non-violent way, helping him or her to reach a new understanding.
Personally I feel that the two religions attitudes towards prejudice and discrimination are the correct way of dealing with victims and the perpetrator, as violence is never going to solve the situation, and if one of us ever was in the same situation, that is how we would want to be treated. The way of solving through emotional support is the only moral way of doing it, for someone who is religious or not.
There are lots of religious schools in England and there are many political and general questioning with regard to their teaching. One of the questions is ‘by sending children to religious schools, are they encouraged to be prejudiced against other religions and to discriminate against other religions?’ Twenty five years there was no question that discrimination against other religions was common, if not encouraged. i.e. the Roman Catholic schools believed that they were superior to those attending Protestant schools. This not so much the case today as we are all taught that we are equal. However, by sending children to a single faith school they are being taught that that particular faith is the correct faith, thus making the children think that other religions are lesser to their faith, which leads to discrimination and prejudice against those of different religion. I think that while they might be inviting prejudice and discrimination against other religion, I do not think that other prejudice like ageism and nationality is encouraged. However due to recent events within the church of England, I think that sexuality is a major problem and that that particular religion is being extremely prejudice, and therefore teaching it. Also women are not allowed to be bishops, thus sexism.
An argument for sending children to single faith schools is that they are, or claim to teach the right ways of living, and that we are all equals, however this does not seem to be the case.
My personal view is that by sending children to religious schools, prejudice and discrimination is inevitable and is in fact wrong. It is unhealthy for people not to mix with others and experience others with different cultures, religions and beliefs, this causes single minded clones, which causes victimisation.
