Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice means to form an opinion of someone before meeting them based on something you know about them (e.g. they are from a particular country)

Discrimination is acting on your prejudice – putting those opinions into practice.

Christian attitude

Christian denominations are universally against prejudice and discrimination.

They believe in justice – fair treatment for everyone.

Christians believe that all people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)

‘there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free men, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:28)

James 2:1-9 – do not treat people according to their outward appearances.

Christians try to follow the example of Jesus in caring for all people. They might remember the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 where the Samaritan took care of the injured man even though they were meant to be enemies.

Hindu attitude to Religious Harmony

"Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads as long as we reach the same goal? In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals." (Mohandas Gandhi)

• Hinduism is so diverse that it sees religious tolerance as normal.
• Hindus believe that other religions can lead you to Brahman just as much as Hinduism can.
• Gandhi said he had no problem believing Jesus was God’s son – only in believing that he was God’s only son.
• Images of figures from other religions e.g. Abraham, The Buddha and Jesus can be found in Hindu Mandirs.