Countering Prejudice Through Religious Practice
Category: Unitarian Universalism - General
I enjoyed reading Rev. Frederick Wooden’s post this week on his family’s decision to celebrate Channukah, and the subtle prejudice they experience as a result. In “You People,” Wooden considers prejudice against religious minorities as part of a larger spectrum of prejudice against minority groups in America. Wooden reflects on the social privileges he has as a white, heterosexual male, but without the excessive/undirected guilt sometimes found in such reflections.
The focus of his piece is on analysis and action.
Wooden notes that his family chooses to celebrate Channukah for several reasons:
We have lit a menorah in our house for years: first to teach our children the story of the Maccabees, secondly so they could appreciate the diversity of religion around us, and finally to show our family solidarity with the oft maligned and accosted Jewish community.
Participating in the rituals of other faith traditions is one way that Unitarian Universalists and other supporters of religious pluralism can honor religious diversity and exploration during the holiday season.
Related posts on Looking for Faith:
Learning about the Winter Holidays
December 9th, 2007 09:09
Thank you for bringing Rev. Wooden’s post to the attention of your readers. Fascinating. I do see change, a reduction of such thinking, at least on the East Coast and certainly in NYC (more about race than religion). But I can also see how that might elude certain areas between the coasts, where the majority is very set in their thinking and used to being the majority. Perhaps self-perpetuating in that minorities would be less willing to live among “majority thinkers.”
December 9th, 2007 23:25
Hi Karbeth,
New York City may well be lower in racial prejudice than other parts of the country. I’m hesitant to say that the whole East Coast is uniformly less prejudiced; Boston has an ugly history of racism that continues into the present.
The point you made about places with “majority thinkers” potentially turning off people from living there makes me think of the Creative Class (by Richard Florida), which I started reading a few weeks ago. I haven’t gotten too far in yet, but his general argument is that “creative” professionals are choosing to live in cities that support diversity, and companies that need such professionals will follow them to these cities.