#BTColumn – Of perceptions and realities

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Jade Gibbons

The world is a funny place. Anything that can be perceived and/or interpreted as offensive, derogatory and malicious
can be said to or of Christians, even if it is a lie while the same cannot be done to persons of other faiths or no faith, even if it is the truth.

The key word here is ‘perceived’. The articulation of truth is perceived as offensive, even though it is factual and can be empirically proven. And persons take offense with the individual who has articulated the truth rather than being abhorred by the fact that the thing articulated is lived reality. Before proceeding any further, I will give a disclaimer akin to the kinds that precede Bollywood movies that address some touchy or controversial topic.

“This article will be addressing the role religion plays shaping culture. It will look at how religion impacts people’s perception of the world and how these perceptions impact one’s view of equality and justice.

The conceptual framework for this discourse will be taken from Betty Jane Punnett’s “International Perspectives on Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management”. If the points raised herein are perceived as offensive by some, the writer of this article is okay with that.”

Punnett states that “religious beliefs are often the basis for deciding what is right and wrong, what is encouraged, permitted, or forbidden”. She draws attention to the fact that “even those who claim to follow no religion find that their behaviour is in effect based on their nonbelief”.

Punnett highlights how religious beliefs impact an individual’s view of what they can eat, how they can dress, and even how they relate to the environment. And she mentions that Christian tradition has shaped the cultural belief that man must have mastery over nature. Punnett also highlights how other religious traditions shape the cultural beliefs of subjugation to nature or harmony with nature.

Of interest to note is the relationship between religion and industry. Most are aware that English is the traditional language of business.

Some may not be aware that the reason for this is, in part, due to the fact that “many other languages do not contain words for business concepts such as management, operations and finance”.

Punnett highlights that Protestantism and the work ethic it birthed “encompasses the idea that hard work is good and that success based on hard work is positive”. She also highlights the wars and strife that have resulted from Christian sectarianism.

Punnett is equally critical of all the world’s major religions and gives overviews and analyses of the impact Christianity, Islam and Hinduism have on culture. She indicates that “Hinduism revolves around hierarchies of inequality” and elaborates on how the practical implementation of Sharia, ‘the law of Islam’ results in gender discrimination and segregation. All of this is done to show how religion influences culture, which in turn influences policy and practice as it relates to business.

Education is a business. It is the business of equipping children for future employment. Media is a business. It is the business of disseminating information to the public. In the West, the operations of these businesses are informed by the culture of the country.

Freedom of speech comes out of Christian tradition. It is so valued that, for the most part, when Christians are berated, belittled and their holy figures degraded they do not respond with physical violence. That is the culture. They tolerate when persons of no faith or other faiths insult them. Therefore, cartoonists do not fear for their lives when they publish what could be considered offensive depictions of Christ. Nor do filmmakers have to worry about being beheaded if they produce satirical parodies on the life of Jesus and his disciples. That is the culture.

When Westerners go to the East to work and live they are expected to adapt to the culture. Females in particular have to change the way they dress, the way they speak, and their social interactions to respect the culture of the country in which they now reside.

Yet recent events in Europe seem to indicate that when some Easterners migrate to the West, for whatever reason, they do not perceive that they have to adapt to the culture. Unlike their Western counterparts, they are not to change the way they speak about and to members of the opposite sex. Nor are they to change the way they react to insult and depictions of their prophet.

The world is a funny place.

Jade Gibbons is an arts and business graduate with a keen interest in social issues and film-making.