Originally posted by storch
well cliff it may not be bigotry on the part of an individual it could be xenophobia. racist policies can be implemented by anyone not just governments. I bring to your attention the policy of not hiring or associating with (enter your favorite race here) simply because you dislike them as in I won't hire to tend my yard because they are all thieves. or i used to attend that church until it started getting full of . it happens all the time.
When it is perpetrated BY the individual, it is biggotry. Never said biggotry isn't bad it's just a matter of definition.
Unfortunately you cannot fix something unless you understand it. The person in your example is a biggot not a racist. If he makes it corporate policy then yes, he's a racist.
Yes it does happen all the time but it does not change the meaning of the words. Racism is when biggotry is made the policy of the state, corporation of as in your example the church.
BUT! A church, being a private institution is perfectly within its constatutional rights to implement such a policy. Just as the Boy Scouts are within their rights to deny membership to homosexuals.
Governments, corporations or anyone who offers employement does not have that right.
As I said, the biggot is a product of his environment. Racism is when the biggot attampts to use power, be it governmental or corporate to impose his biggotry.
xenophobia is nothing more than biggotry without the color factor. xenophobia is a factor of human tribalism. Something we still have a lot of I'm afraid.
