Religious Stereotypes
Some of the most well-known stereotypes involving religion concern Jews, Mormons, and Muslims. Jews are often stereo-typed as cheap and greedy, where as in reality the fiscal responsibility that they show further boosts our economy. A common misconception is that the Mormon culture is highly based on incest (i.e. having multiple husbands/wives and reproducing with children), and thirdly, and probably the most relevant in American society, involve the Muslim religion being generally terrorists. These stereotypes greatly affect the way we treat and look at people who believe in these religions. Many are close-minded and aren't willing to expand knowledge and understanding of different cultures, thus creating a more hostile environment.
The Jewish population is one of the most judged among the religions, and has been used for centuries as a scapegoat. A prime example of this would be in World War II. Hitler blamed the Jews for the economic problems of Europe, particularly Germany.
Though Adolf's charismatic leadership took a huge roll, the Jews were an easy target at the time. People were so willing to believe these stereotypes and judgments that Hitler fed to them in the 40's, and created an environment where millions of Jews and their families were violently executed. If the people had followed less blindly and perhaps taken the time to make their own opinions of the Jews and their culture, the Holocaust could've been prevented. Another common stereotype about Jews is that they are money-crunchers. This stereotype actually originates from the Middle ages. "During the Middle Ages, Christians were not allowed to lend money because the Church believed that collecting interest from loaned money was a sin. At the same time Jews were not allowed to do many of the jobs that Christians did. Since the Jews were able to collect...