Hellobee Boards

Definitely race since you can almost always see it.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: That's an interesting point. I think I'd have to lean toward race, because the most significant non-US example of this I can think of is Apartheid in South Africa. Or even the African diaspora in the US after the Civil War. Or the Civil Rights era. (Ugh, it all makes me so angry that people somehow cannot recognize fellow human beings as human beings.) The problem is that things get muddy, because so many people use religion as a justification for their actions. But that may be more evident in the fight for LGBT rights.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think, in the end, it is hard to compartmentalize my thoughts to places such as the Middle East or even places of serious unrest, such as the terrorist attacks in China or the Ukraine. Do they look at each other as darker skinned or lighter skinned, or in terms of what religion they likely follow because of how they look? And is political ideology more important than religion in some of these instances? I dunno...

ETA: So I guess I would have to agree with you.

Well, think about people's reaction to a white person who is Muslim and a Middle Eastern person who is a Christian. I think the Muslim would have a harder time. At least in the USA. The other guy would have a harder time in the mid east. So, I think it would be religion.

@Mae: i would agree with you about attitudes toward race vs. religion.

however, i think when we go beyond attitudes to look at how we systematically oppress certain groups, we will find that race shows more markers for prejudicial practices. for example: incarceration rates for black individuals and sentencing practices, both are found to be extreme when compared to white individuals, not because black individuals are using far more drugs, but because they are just more likely to be arrested for it and their sentences for the same crimes are more harsh. once we've incarcerated the men within a race (1 in 3 black men will be imprisoned within their lifetime vs. 1 in 17 white men), we've taken away the fathers, the male role models, and we've left women alone to raise the children, we set the children up to follow a similar path. in addition we penalize the families once the men are released, often woman need support from the government while their SO are imprisoned, but once released, those men won't be allowed to live in subsidized housing with their families, so the families need to leave to be together, now rent is higher but the newly freed felon can't get work because of his record, so they return to criminal behavior to try to support the family. it's a vicious cycle.

i haven't seen anything on the same level happening based on religion. i would absolutely agree that muslims in the US are frequently targeted and harassed, but with the muslim population growing so rapidly among all races, people can't pick muslims out of a crowd. seems one would receive more negative attention for being middle eastern than for being a practicing muslim.

prejudice of all varieties is awful, but it seems that racial prejudice is more ingrained in society in the US and would be harder to erase.

I don't really feel like there's any way to answer this question without generalizing, which is fairly ironic considering the topic! But seriously, this varies so greatly based on the race/religion being discussed, and the person with the prejudice.

Coming from SA, I'd say race - because we are a pretty tolerant nation when it comes to religion, but racial prejudice abounds (even post-Apartheid). I think it depends on the place and the history (social, political, and personal) which influences individual prejudice.

I went with religion because individuals and small groups within individual societies seem much more likely to look past race (especially when other socioeconomic factors are similar), whereas it seems to be much more acceptable to manifest prejudice against (or even demonize!) individuals or groups on the basis of faith.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @Mae: @Greentea: Along the same train of thought, I think?