Religiously motivated fear, hatred,
animosity, intolerance, conflict, oppression, etc.

A new English word: "Religism:"
bigotry based on religious belief

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Bigotry takes many forms: 

There exists a serious, chronic problem throughout the world. It is a form of dualism that divides the entire human race into two groups: "us" and "them."

This often results in the rejection or denigration of every member -- sight unseen -- of an entire group because of a single factor: their age, body shape or weight, caste, color, gender, nationality, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.

We have words for these types of bigotry. Examples are:

	Ageism refers to bigotry based on age. The elderly are most commonly victimized.
	Homophobia refers to bigotry based on sexual orientation. Victims are generally gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
	Racism refers to bigotry based on a person's race or skin color. In North America, most victims are black.
	Sexism refers to bigotry based on a person's gender. Victims are mostly women or intersexual persons, although males are sometimes oppressed.
	Transphobia refers to bigotry based on a person's gender identity. Victims are generally transgendered or transsexual persons.
	Weight stigma (a.k.a. weightism, weight bias, or weight-based discrimination) refers to bigotry based on a person's weight or body shape. Overweight, obese, and underweight individuals are most commonly victimized.
	Xenophobia refers to bigotry based on a persons nationality, birth location, or birth culture. Victims differ from country to country. In the U.S. it is largely seen in discrimination against Hispanics; in Europe, it is seen in maltreatment of Roma (a.k.a. Gypsies).

Unfortunately, the English language does not have a widely accepted word to refer to bigotry based on religion. Yet, in our opinion, religious bigotry is the single most important impediment to world peace. If the human race is wiped off the face of the earth later in this century, the root cause will probably be religious bigotry.

The most common form of religism in North America is in the form of discrimination against non-Christians, up to and including the promotion of genocide against them. According to FBI hate-crime statistics, during 2007 there were reported:

	969 anti-Jewish incidents
	115 anti-Islamic incidents
	61 anti-Catholic incidents
	57 anti-Protestant incidents
	130 incidents against persons of other religions
	62 incidents against persons of multiple religions
	6 incidents against Atheists, Agnostic, etc. 1 (We are not entirely certain what the "etc." refers to.)

The critical word here is "reported." We suspect that only a small percentage of incidences actually are reported and enter the FBI data base.

On a per-capita basis the major victims are probably conservative Christians, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans and other neo-Pagans.

We recommend a new word:

We recommend the use of a new word, "religism,"  to describe religious bigotry. It involves any attitude, action or institutional structure that treats an individual or group of individuals negatively because of their religion or lack of religion. We suggest the definition:

Religism: "the expression of fear towards, hatred towards, or discrimination against, persons of a specific religion affiliation, usually a minority faith."

This is a word that is not currently found in printed dictionaries, because they tend to lag public usage of new words by decades.

From time to time, we see the word "racist" used as a substitute for "religism," particularly with relation to religious bigotry directed against Muslims. But it seriously misses the mark.

We first suggested the word "relism" back in the late 1990s, because its sound closely parallels "racism" and "sexism." However, a visitor to this website quickly suggested "religism" because "relism" can be easily confused with "realism."

The word seems to be catching on. A Google search for "Religism" returned about:

	54 hits on 2006-MAY-07,
	120 on 2008-OCT 120,
	321 on 2009-APR-21, and
	469 on 2009-JUL-12.

See also a listing of some definitions of
"Religism" on various Internet websites.

References:

1. "Hate Crime Statistics: Table 1," FBI, at: http://www.fbi.gov/ As of 2009-JUL, the 2007 data is the most recent available.

Copyright © 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published on: 2009-JUL-12
Last update: 2009-JUL-12
Author: B.A. Robinson

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