Religious Censorship Fuels Inequality and Otherness

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Tolerance is accepted as an essential part of developing a harmonious community, but tolerance and censorship are not entirely the same thing. While tolerance is defined by the OED as "the disposition to be patient with or indulgent to the opinions or practices of others; freedom from bigotry or undue severity in judging the conduct of others," and implies a personal decision to accept the differences of others, censorship is defined as "official supervision; control" by the OED which revokes personal responsiblity and places it on another entity than the self. Too often is it simply accepted that the successful implementation of tolerance requires censorship to also exist, and while this may be true in some cases such as the act of self-censoring racial slurs, when it comes to the topic of religion, censorship is dangerous. Religious censorship supresses the freedom of expression and is evidently responsible for creating dangerous divisions within society. While respect for the religious beliefs of others is important, it is also necessary to realize that by creating a highly-censorized society with regard to religion, censorship actually perpetuates the concept of otherness which ultimately is detrimental to the goals of creating a harmonious society. Censorship that exists within information provided by and the actions of the media and government help to shape dangerous ideas about otherness in those who do not share similar religious beliefs. Even artwork is repressed in exploring what might be considered 'offensive' subject matter. Misconceptions about other religions, specifically Islam, creates rifts within society and sets up an 'us versus them' scenario. Numerous false representations of religious groups intermingle with ...

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Hendon, David W. and Charles McDaniel. "Notes on Church-State Affairs." Journal of Church and State. 51.2 (October 19, 2009): 382-389. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.

Ho, Christina and Tanja Dreher. "Not Another Hijab Row: New Conversations on Gender, Race, Religion and the Making of Communities." International Feminist Journal of Politics. 11.1 (March 2009): 114-125. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.

Julius, Anthony. "Comment." Material Religion. 2.2 (2000): 237-239. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010

Manzoor, Sarfraz. "Thou Shalt Not Offend." Index on Censorship. 2 (2005): 112-116. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.

Owen, Ursula. "Problem or Solution?" Index on Censorship. 3 (2006): 1. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.

Tripathi, Salil. "Drawing a Line." Index on Censorship. 2 (2005): 162-168. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.

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