Religious stereotypes have plagued society for hundreds of years. People have resorted to violence throughout time in order to get their way, and now, it is ruining our world. Our society should stop religious stereotyping because it's for our world's own good.

An example of religious stereotyping can be found if we look into our history. The crusades lasted for hundreds of grueling years. In those years, wars and battles ravaged both the Middle East and Europe. Thousands of lives were lost, all because of how the Muslims and Christians felt about each other. Even back then, there was stereotyping, a Christian may have said that all Muslims are devil worshipers, or that they wish to destroy the world. It is because of these stereotypes that religions start to disagree with each other, and ultimately, the results are war. We can even see it today in terrorist attacks, and the constant wars in the middle east. These wars, then and now, are a result of religious stereotyping.

I believe that as a society we all know that stereotyping is wrong, and also that if we continue to do it, our world will be ruined. Even though we all feel this way, why do we still see stereotypes about Muslims on national television? “It frustrates me that on national news, they report terrorist attacks along with the specific terrorist's religion.” (Mrs. Nylon-Former 6th grade comm. arts teacher) I totally agree with Mrs. Nylon. How can we expect our world to become peaceful, if we are being taught on national news that the “evil terrorist” was Islamic? With things like this influencing us ever since the day we were born, we can never expect to make our world a peaceful place to live. That is why we must stop religious stereotyping at the home front.

We can all try to stop religious stereotyping all we want, but It wont do anything unless our international leaders take a stand. Ever since we were children, we have seen these people on the news, making speeches, running fundraisers, passing laws, etc.. They have influenced our believes and values for our whole lives. If only these remarkably influential people would take a stand and change our world. Then the average person would be able to have a voice, then those people wouldn't stand alone with their believes. In my belief, that is the only way that we can ultimately end religious stereotyping.

In conclusion, if we can rely on our international leaders to take a stand, and if we can all get along, we can eliminate religious stereotypes forever. In order to leave a world for our children and grandchildren that was better than ours, we must stop religious stereotyping. It is for our own good!

Works Cited:
"Stereotypes of Arabs, Middle Easterners and Muslims." Stereotypes of Arabs, Middle Easterners and
Muslims. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.
AALetta. "Stereotypes in Religions." Teen Ink. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.
Moore, Juile. "The Effects of Stereotyping." Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb.
2013.
Tames, Richard. The Muslim World. Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1982. Print.