Stereotypes of religions that need to go

[Quintessence]

Lilith Dorsey, a Voodoo Priestess (among other things) over at Patheos is on a quest. Like many religious minorities, Voodoo struggles with its image in the minds of the majority, but few religions have been more maligned than Voodoo in my culture. It's been the plaything of Hollywood movie makers for decades, and this, combined with racism, has caused many to have horribly inaccurate and hurtful ideas about the religion. Lilith has five erroneous stereotypes about Voodoo that she wants us to erase from our minds:

1. Voodoo is evil and negative dark magic.
2. Voodoo has zombies.
3. Voodoo has dolls.
4. Voodoo is demonic possession.
5. Voodoo is dead, false, or non-existent.

You can read the rest of her article here, along with more of her writing here that offers a fascinating window into the Voodoo tradition. How many of these five things did you think were true? It's okay, most of us have probably gotten most of our "knowledge" about Voodoo from Hollywood. You can say yes.... I would have said yes to these too for an embarrassingly long portion of my life.

What are some stereotypes of your religion that need to go? Let's see what we can banish!

 

[Rival]

That people who use idols worship the idol itself. Or that Catholics and Orthodox worship statues and images/icons.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

I suppose this ties in with Rival's point: That other religions and their believers don't understand the concepts of metaphor or imagery.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I wish her luck. Even among people who know that I know what I'm talking about refuse to accept that Voodoo isn't this evil black magic cult. The fact that bits of Catholicism are found in it is utterly lost on most people.

Things I wish would go about agnosticism are:
1) That we haven't made up minds, haven't decided, or "sitting on the fence."
2) That we're "playing it safe."
3) That we're actually theist or atheist.

 

[Laika]

This deals with Communist sterotypes, but you'll find the same accusations against most other belief systems as well.

(p.s. the CPUSA was all but "outlawed" as the film says in the US from 1954 . The law has never been repealed or deemed unconsitutional by the supreme court, but wasn't really enforced either after 1961).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

This deals with Communist sterotypes, but you'll find the same accusations against most other belief systems as well.

With communism, what I don't get is people talk like they know all about it, even though they make it so painfully obvious they have not read a single communist author. Which is what typically also does happen with many religions, especially with Islam today. I wish I could slap everyone on my facebook feed who posts something dumb about Muslims, up to including that they "hate Jesus."

 

[Sundance]

All Christians are misogynistic or homophobic...

 

[MARCELLO]

That people who use idols worship the idol itself. Or that Catholics and Orthodox worship statues and images/icons.

This is something I would never expect from someone like you!!!!!!! By tradition ,I am an orthodox,I have never ever seen any orthodox worshiping idols. They are just statues and are beautiful and symbols . What is wrong with this?

Perhaps you are too materialist .

 

[Quintessence]

That people who use idols worship the idol itself. Or that Catholics and Orthodox worship statues and images/icons.

The whole concept of "idolatry" just confuses me. It seems that it was basically a term invented by religious exclusivists or those who want to put down other people's practices. Even if they are really worshiping a physical object, so what? It's not as if that's a problem.

I suppose this ties in with Rival's point: That other religions and their believers don't understand the concepts of metaphor or imagery.

But what about EVIDENCE?!

(whenever people ask that, I think it is in large part because they miss the football stadium of religious metaphor and symbolism... among other things)

All Christians are misogynistic or homophobic...

I don't know if I've run across anyone who actually believes that. But if I did, they'd be right up there with the people who think Voodoo is dark, evil, nasty about demonic possession. Same kind of underlying, misguided bigotry and/or ignorance.

 

[MARCELLO]

So protestant are the best? Just because you don't withhold any crosses or handmade crafts in your churches ??? Southern stories do tell a way different story.

 

[Shiranui117]

That all Muslims want to live like they're in 7th-century Arabia.

 

[Rival]

This is something I would never expect from someone like you!!!!!!! By tradition ,I am an orthodox,I have never ever seen any orthodox worshiping idols. They are just statues and are beautiful and symbols . What is wrong with this?

Perhaps you are too materialist .

What? I was saying exactly that; that Orthodox DON'T worship icons, but by Muslims and others they are accused of worshipping the icons. I don't get your point lol.

 

[MARCELLO]

What? I was saying exactly that; that Orthodox DON'T worship icons, but by Muslims and others they are accused of worshipping the icons. I don't get your point lol.

I have never heart '' my muslims'' accusing christians to be idolatry. You are not only talking about the ones online,are not you?
An average muslim is comfortable with any sects of christianity.

 

[Princeps Eugenius]

That people who use idols worship the idol itself. Or that Catholics and Orthodox worship statues and images/icons.

Yeah but, honestly, dont people actually do this? My house looks like the Kaaba before Islam and Muhammad, with idols all over the place. Every room has an idol/statue from Athene to Zeus to Venus. Im not praying to these idols but i know for a fact if i were to pray to them that i would use these beatiful shapes to help my imagination to conceive better of these deities. So ones does infact pray to the idols or atleast uses them as a help to pray.

 

[Riverwolf]

Lilith Dorsey, a Voodoo Priestess (among other things) over at Patheos is on a quest. Like many religious minorities, Voodoo struggles with its image in the minds of the majority, but few religions have been more maligned than Voodoo in my culture. It's been the plaything of Hollywood movie makers for decades, and this, combined with racism, has caused many to have horribly inaccurate and hurtful ideas about the religion. Lilith has five erroneous stereotypes about Voodoo that she wants us to erase from our minds:

1. Voodoo is evil and negative dark magic.
2. Voodoo has zombies.
3. Voodoo has dolls.
4. Voodoo is demonic possession.
5. Voodoo is dead, false, or non-existent.

You can read the rest of her article here, along with more of her writing here that offers a fascinating window into the Voodoo tradition. How many of these five things did you think were true? It's okay, most of us have probably gotten most of our "knowledge" about Voodoo from Hollywood. You can say yes.... I would have said yes to these too for an embarrassingly long portion of my life.

I pretty much thought all of those were true, until I really started doing research into the religion and learning that the things our culture associates with "Voodoo" are just as taboo in real Voodoo as they are in our culture.

What are some stereotypes of your religion that need to go? Let's see what we can banish!

1. Primitive (i.e., stupid, uneducated, backwards, dirty, etc.)
2. Racist/Nazi (don't know how prevalent it is, but because of how loud white-supremacist/neo-Nazi Heathens get, I wouldn't be surprised if this is, or will soon become, a stereotype)
3. Wannabe Vikings (I'm not a Viking, nor do I actively celebrate the actions of historical Viking raiders and pirates)
4. D&D/WoW LARPers who can't tell fantasy from reality (cross-stereotyping here, and one that has a lot of irony to it. lol)

 

[Quintessence]

I have never heart '' my muslims'' accusing christians to be idolatry. You are not only talking about the ones online,are not you?
An average muslim is comfortable with any sects of christianity.

I think that maybe you're missing the point of this thread. Regardless of whether or not you have heard of this particular stereotype, Rival presumably has, and it's a relevant problem to them. Not having heard of a stereotype personally doesn't make the stereotyping any less damaging or an issue to those who are part of the stereotyped group.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The idea of devil worship and demonic possession is a stereotype that needs to be purged from neo-Pagan religions. I don't know how common it is throughout America, but in high school a few people started treating me like crap when they learned I was Wiccan.

 

[Princeps Eugenius]

Stereotypes of religions that need to go?
1) Misconception of Trinity as being 3 gods.
2) Islam as being violent.
3) Buddhism and necessarely being vegetarian
4) Polytheism as being irrational/superstitious
5) Atheism(not a religion but there you go) as being empty and depressive
6) Judaism as being Christkillers and Synagogue of Satan(some people actually still believe this)
7) Christianity as being oppresive of women, Jesus didnt make a distinction in who he healed.
8) Agnosticism as being lazy to figure out a worldview
9) Hinduism as worshiping the cow
10) Deism as pointless
11) Norse paganism as being neo-nazi
12) Paganism as worshiping demons
13) Catholics as being idolaters

 

[Deidre]

A stereotype that needs to go is ''Catholics worship Mary when they pray the Rosary."

Catholics ask Mary for her prayers, just like you'd ask a trusted friend or family member to pray 'for' you. Not sure that one will ever go away.

 

[Princeps Eugenius]

A stereotype that needs to go is ''Catholics worship Mary when they pray the Rosary."

Catholics ask Mary for her prayers, just like you'd ask a trusted friend or family member to pray 'for' you. Not sure that one will ever go away.

Yeah some people actually said that Mary is a part of the christian Trinity! The trinity, according to them, consisted of Mary the mother, God the Father and Jesus the Son. It was a (christian) sect in the middle east. An opponent to orthodox and catholic christianity.