Religious stereotypes illustrated through Google

Religion has always been something in my life. Sometimes with a bigger impact than others. Attending Texas Christian University has really exposed me to different religions and cultures that fascinate me and keep me eager to learn more. After enrolling in a "Black Religions of America" religion course at TCU, my curiosity skyrocketed and learning about all the different stereotypes in those times still sparked my interest. Also learning from my Race Gender and Mass Media class has contributed to my discovered interest of the subject.

This past Monday, we briefly discussed the stereotypes that Christians have involving them. After reading the article, I never formally recognized that there are three main Christian stereotypes, including, the "Christian extremist", the "fallen Christian", and the "liberalizing young evangelical.

A "Christian extremist" would be considered a Christian that is known commonly on the TCU campus as a "bible beater". This has become a common phrase throughout my generation. The "Christian extremist" or "bible beater" would be really exaggerated with their speaking of God and his word. I hear a lot of students around campus making fun of Christians with this viewpoint of themselves.

A "fallen Christian" is someone who goes against their word. I had a friend my first semester that spoke the gospel all of the time, but on the weekends would be partying the night away. It was contradictory, so people pointed fingers and accused her of her wrong doings. When a Christian person lies about sinning is one of my biggest pet peeves.

A "liberalizing young evangelical" is considered a person whom is favoring a more liberal position on a contentious social issue. This would be someone like Al Gore who is concerned about global warming but drives an Escalade. Contradicting everything against global warming.

I was more than curious to see what other religions had stereotypes when I discovered a Ven-Diagram created by Google's generated search engine. The descriptions read as followed:

I really want to dive into Jews because it interests me the most. According to google they are considered: funny, cheap, hated, greedy, liberal, powerful, ugly, rich, successful, and smart. The common phrase: "You're so Jewish" has been thrown around my personal social environment since the seventh grade, especially in the high school I attended freshmen through junior year in Tucson, Arizona. Most of my best friends were jewish and they said the saying to one another, which wasn't very stereotypical. But after I moved to Rockwall, Texas for my senior year, the phrase instantly became stereotypical because there aren't very many Jewish people in the town I moved to. It started to become offensive to me because some of my best friends were Jewish and I felt like I needed to stick up for them.

All in all, stereotypes are everywhere and we really can't avoid them. Everyone is exposed to them everyday of their life wether it be through word of mouth, advertising, or social media. The best way to stop stereotypes is to stop thinking them and stop spreading them.

Read more with the link below:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/religious-stereotypes-venn-diagram-according-to-go