I tend to make a distinction between prejudices and bigotry. I do believe that most people have prejudices, pre-judgments that will come to the surface when under stress. They are irrational and something that is often passed on from one generation to the next. Or because of our primitive tribal nature we will paint all people of one group the same because of an experience with a member of that particular tribe. For instances a woman once told me that she did not like Catholics because when she was young a Catholic was mean to her! I do believe because she did not understand how irrational her stance was and that she believed that ‘all’ Catholics were the same…. mean and unlikable, she was in fact a bigot. If she understood its true nature, but struggled with it, then she was prejudice and when it came up she would be able to deal with it.
Religious bigotry is probably one of the greatest evils in the world today, and perhaps always has been. We see it coming to full maturity in ISIS as well as in the past when Catholics and Protestants would kill each other all in the name of God. We burned some, tortured them, all in the Lord’s name. I am not pointing fingers at the past, since I know that I have some deep areas in my unconscious that could erupt into something like the above if I let it grow without the grace of God. Self knowledge is not always pleasant, but it can free a person from being controlled by irrational fears that are capable of great evil.
The problem with bigotry and prejudices is that it is a projection and transference, not based on reality. For instance I could have four men pull in front of me in traffic and even though I may get angry at them on a bad day, I would still not rant about men drivers, since I am male. If it is a woman, well, you know……they should not be able to drive. You can see how silly it can be as well as harmful. So go deeper into race and religion and you can have a powder keg.
One way to find out the evils of bigotry is to experience it first hand. If that can be done without become angry or bitter, much can be learned. For anger and bitterness only make the victim like the victimizer. So hatred against another race or religion is passed on from one generation to the next. In the end, the Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most rational way to go, but without the grace and love of God, we are swallowed up like Jonah was in the belly of the whale. Jonah got out; he repented, while if we stay in our hatred we could be trapped forever in a tight, narrow and soul destructive world, taken for reality.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
