The Hidden Minorities

I took a long deep look at my life as a gay teenager. As one of the "hidden" minorities, I was subject to discrimination just by listening to those around me who did not approve of homosexuality. I would hear jokes, off-color remarks and even "innocent" slang that would deride a very part of my person. Often was it would be a friend or acquaintance who may not have known about my sexuality. I look at religions today and realize I am not the only one who has felt this way.

In a post-9/11 world, religions have their dangers. As religious preference cannot normally be seen outwardly, those of non-Christian religious backgrounds are indeed ones who fit this "hidden" minority status. Muslims are seen with fear by some, suspicion by others. According to an article released on September 9^th by the Associated Press entitled "Survey: Americans Learn More about Islam, But Say Anti-Muslim Discrimination Persists", only gays and lesbians are thought to be discriminated against more than Muslims, and those of Jewish faith falling right behind Muslims. Why is this? Is it because people truly fear Muslims? I think not.

The father of modern scientific classification is Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist who lived from 1707 to 1778 according to factmonster.com. However, man has been classifying things since the beginning of recorded history, differentiating man from beast, animal from vegetable, even Jew from Gentile. Renowned psychologist Erik Erikson once commented in 1946 paper "Ego Development and Historical Change" on the ego identity of man, and his need to conform to a masculine archetype so as to purge himself of traits belonging to the "lesser sex". I submit to you that peoples need to classify is inextricably linked to their intrinsic self worth, and therefore creates a varying degree of desire to prove themselves "the better person". The worse a person's desire to be significant gets, the more likely simple competitiveness becomes actual belief that oneself is inherently better than all other classifications of creature. This not only creates the need for more and more specific labels, but more opportunities to be better than someone else. For example, my friend and Doctoral candidate Rajesh Rajadiacshah refers to himself as an African-American-Muslim (from his mother's side) rather than Arab-Muslim (from his father's side) because he feels "Arab-Muslims have more militant factions and I'd rather not be associated with that".

It is my firm opinion that the more classifications we have, the more divisive we become and the more we want our "own kind" to be recognized. Even today, being from Church of God, I hear people say I belong to a cult. Within the Church of God itself, I hear about divisions between Pentacostal or Holiness or Apologetics, and who worships better or is the better church. According to Living Religions by Mary Pat Fisher, Islam worships the same God as Christians and Jews, being the offspring of Ishmael of Old Testament record. As a matter of fact, the text explains that Christianity as it is known today began in divisiveness as Christians has some bloody conflicts over whether Peter or Paul had the correct interpretations of Jesus' work. The fact that you cannot tell a person's religion from outward appearance just underscores our discomfort and makes the chances for unintentional offense and conflict more likelThe fact that you cannot tell a person's religion from outward appearance just underscores our discomfort and makes the chances for unintentional offense and conflict more likely.

In additions, allegations of profiling and stopping people who "look Muslim" abound, and drives a sharp wedge into the pie we call "American". Jane Elliot's famed blue eyes/ brown eyes experiment shows how easily it was to teach children intolerance; I can only hope that education can teach tolerance as easily in the future. As a solution, education is the only solution to this problem that I can see on the horizon, since it is well-known that a belief is harder to change as age progresses in children. If I was able to structure a curriculum I would emphasize strong interpersonal relations in every class through k-12 in order to foster cooperation and understanding through life.