Gordon Allport’s summarization of the relationship between religion and prejudice as; “The role of religion is paradoxical. It makes prejudice and it unmakes prejudice” is true. This is because in much modern and even ancient decision making processes religion has and had so much influence. When it came to passing judgement, many people ran to the scriptures to deduce what was wrong and what was right without paying much attention to individual reasoning. As such, many decisions for and against given issues could never be overruled by any being’s words. On the other hand, decisions already made in contradiction to the scriptures and its teachings could be overruled or overturned if said scriptures stated otherwise. That way, it was not clear and still is not clear whether to reason with individual reasoning or to purely do it as the religion states.
When people act against their religious beliefs and their deeds justify it actually happened and they experience dissonance, their faith is tested to the maximum. They may even decide to change their beliefs and ways of doing things altogether and do as they feel right. This way, doubts and questions are raised concerning the said religion. If the person had much influence over the faith of given individuals in the religion, they may be able to dissuade them to change too. This weakens the stability of the religion and its grassroots. On the contrary, if the people facing dissonance have the tools and capability to justify their deeds, they should be given the chance to do so.This way, a considerable reasoning can be reached and the dissonance amicably resolved. If this fails, the religion should not pay malice to the said person as this could change their ways of thinking in a dangerous way.
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References
APA Resolution on Religious, Religion-Based and/or Religion-Derived Prejudice. Retrieved 28 February 2017, from
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/apa-resolution-on-religious-religion-based-andor-religion-derived-prejudice/
Faith Proclaimed. Retrieved 28 February 2017, from https://jonsreality.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/religion-prejudice/
Cognitive Dissonance. Retrieved 28 February 2017, from http://m.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html
Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Retrieved 28 February 2017, from http://globalchristiancenter.com/bible-and-theology/systematic-theology/1116-cognitive-dissonance-theory
