News
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
On November 30, as part of its LA vs. Hate campaign, the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission launched its celebration of United Against Hate Week to “not just raise awareness about the dangers of hate and the need for respect and civil discourse, but to help community members build stronger connections and foster deeper engagement.”
TOLERANCE
Religion is the “final frontier” of personal prejudice, with attitudes to faith driving negative perceptions more than ethnicity or nationality—that was one of the conclusions of a recently published two-year study of attitudes toward ethnic, national and religious diversity in England and Wales.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
October 27, 2020 marks the 22nd anniversary of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRF Act), described by the U.S. State Department as “landmark legislation that—for the first time—made promoting and defending international religious freedom a specific focus of U.S. foreign policy.
MEDIA & ETHICS
“When you interview an anti-Semite, you will get an anti-Semitic narrative. It is no different with Scientology. That such religious bigotry would ever be allowed on television is a disgrace, and public figures like Dr. Oz have a responsibility to exercise far greater discretion in selecting whose ‘information’ they put before their viewers.”
TOLERANCE
While it is not a day that often makes headlines and isn’t known for heroics, it does have its individual stars.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
Many Muslims, for example, put forth the idea that science and Islam are compatible in most ways but acknowledged a conflict when it came to the theory of evolution—a conflict shared with many members of the other Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity, which hold in common with Islam the belief that God spontaneously created the Earth and Adam and Eve.
TOLERANCE
The 10-day period encompassing Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is a time for reflection and a facing of one’s deeds over the past 12 months. It is a time as well when one resolves to be better in the coming year—to be kinder and more respectful of one’s loved ones as well as strangers.
TOLERANCE
In January 2015, the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Many members of Islam consider any such depiction among the most extreme forms of blasphemy.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
A study released Monday which surveyed 3,486 college students from 122 campuses across the U.S. found students devoted significant time to learning about those of other races, political affiliations and sexual orientations, but very little about people from other faiths.
