Read and ponder the Thomas Merton quote. Write a 500-750-word essay that analyze

Question

Read and ponder the Thomas Merton quote. Write a 500-750-word essay that analyzes the concept and consequences of religious bigotry, integrating Merton's ideas into your discussion.

Merton Quote

“The heresy of (religious ethnocentrism): thinking oneself a completely self-sufficient unit and asserting this imaginary ‘unity against all others. The affirmation of the self (or group) as simply ‘not the other.’ But when you seek to affirm your unity by denying that you have anything to do with anyone else, by negating everyone else in the universe until you come down to you: what is there left to affirm?

The true way is just the opposite: the more I am able to affirm others, to say ‘yes’ to them in myself, by discovering them in myself and myself in them, the more real I am. I am fully real if my heart says ‘yes’ to everyone.

I will be a better Catholic, not if I can refute every shade of Protestantism, but if I can affirm the truth in it and still go further. So, too, with the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, etc. This does not mean syncretism, indifferentism, the vapid and careless friendliness that accepts everything by thinking of nothing. There is much that one cannot ‘affirm’ and ‘accept,’ but first one must say ‘yes’ where one really can.

If I affirm myself as a Catholic merely by denying all that is Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., in the end I will find there is not much left for me to affirm as a Catholic, and certainly no breath of the Spirit with which to affirm it.”

--Thomas Merton in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Explanation / Answer

Hate crimes and religious bigotry

Crimes motivated by bigotry usually arise not out of the pathological ravings of a few deviant types in organized hate groups, but out of the very mainstream of society.

We cannot talk about how much hate crime exists in the United States or what to do about it until we are clear about what a hate crime is.

We have to inquire clearly on the following things:

(1) What is meant by prejudice; (2) Which prejudices qualify for inclusion under the hate crime umbrella; (3) Which crimes, when attributable to prejudice, become hate crimes; and (4) How strong the causal link must be between the perpetrator's prejudice and the perpetrator's criminal conduct.

The concept of religious bigotry is a very old concept indeed, due to the fact that every individual that has some form of religious belief, and believes that his or her religious belief or doctrine is the true and only path to enlightenment and or salvation in many cases.

Through this belief, there is a subconscious development of a belief in the superiority of his or her belief system, and invariably his or her own superiority due to their affiliation with that given belief system or religion.

This is a very dangerous mentality that many individuals start to take in relation to their religious faith, and it is through this belief that many individuals start to look down upon other religious faiths, and or view those that practice those faiths as inferior as well.

It is from these inner beliefs that religious bigotry begins to develop and formulate within an individual's mind over time, starting with their childhood days.

Thomas Merton says:

"The true way is just the opposite: the more I am able to affirm others, to say ‘yes’ to them in myself, by discovering them in myself and myself in them, the more real I am. I am fully real if my heart says ‘yes’ to everyone. I will be a better Catholic, not if I can refute every shade of Protestantism, but if I can affirm the truth in it and still go further. So, too, with the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, etc. This does not mean syncretism, indifferentism, the vapid and careless friendliness that accepts everything by thinking of nothing. There is much that one cannot ‘affirm’ and ‘accept,’ but first one must say ‘yes’ where one really can."

Complexity of Prejudice

"Hate" crime is not really about hate, but about bias or prejudice. The definitions of hate crime differ somewhat from state to state, but essentially hate crime refers to criminal conduct motivated by prejudice. Prejudice, however, is a complicated, broad, and cloudy concept.

We all have prejudices for and against individuals, groups, foods, countries, weather, and so forth. Sometimes these prejudices are rooted in experience, sometimes in fantasy and irrationality, and sometimes they are passed down to us by family, friends, school, religion, and culture.

Some prejudices (e.g. anti-Fascist) are considered well, some (e.g., preference for tall people over short people) relatively innocuous; but other prejudices provoke strong social and political censure (e.g., racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny).

Even in this latter group, as we shall see, there is a great deal of confusion about what constitutes an acceptable opinion or preference and what constitutes unacceptable, abhorrent prejudice.

Though sociologists and social psychologists have long wrestled with the concept of prejudice, they have been unable to agree on a single definition. One point of consensus is that there are many kinds of prejudice. An individual can be prejudiced in favor of something (e.g., his religion) or prejudiced against something (e.g., someone else's religion).

Some social psychologists have theorized that prejudice may be an innate human trait. According to one theory:

Because of various social pressures, we humans have a need to classify and categorize the persons we encounter in order to manage our interactions with them. We have a need to simplify our interactions with others into efficient patterns.

This essential simplification leads naturally to stereotyping as a means to desired efficiency. The resultant stereotyping has as an unfortunate side effect, the bigotry and prejudice that so frequently make social relations with others extremely difficult.

Conclusion:

In these circumstances, Merton's quote has become an eye-opener for the people who are still indulging in religious bigotry. All of us have to ponder over the deep meaning of Merton's quote in order to come out the evil called religious bigotry and other religious prejudices.

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