page_title: Criticism of religion
section_title: Racism
hierarchical_section_title: Criticism of religion / Morality / Racism
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ku-Klux-Klan-Mitglieder und ein brennendes Kreuz, Denver, Colorado, 1921. English: Ku Klux Klan members and a burning cross, Denver, Colorado, 1921. Español: Miembros del Ku Klux Klan y una cruz en llamas.Denver, Colorado en 1921. Français&#160;: Membres du Ku Klux Klan devant une croix en flammes. Denver, Colorado, 1921. Nederlands: Ku Klux Klan leden en een brandend kruis, Denver, Colorado, 1921.
context_page_description: Criticism of religion involves criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion.
  Historical records of criticism of religion go back to at least 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos. In ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De rerum natura from the 1st century BCE.
  Every exclusive religion on Earth that promotes exclusive truth-claims necessarily denigrates the truth-claims of other religions. Thus some criticisms of religion become criticisms of one or more aspects of a specific religious tradition.
  Critics of religion in general may portray religion as one or more of: outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science, a source of immoral acts or customs, a political tool for social control.
context_section_description: In line with other findings suggesting that religious humanitarianism is largely directed at in-group members, greater religious identification, greater extrinsic religiosity and greater religious fundamentalism were associated with racial prejudice.  This is congruent with the fact that 50% of religious congregations in the US are racially segregated, and only 12% have a degree of diversity.
  Religion has been used by some as justification for advocating racism. The Christian Identity movement has been associated with racism. However, there are arguments that these positions may be as much reflections of contemporary social views as of what has been called scientific racism.
  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had excluded African Americans from the priesthood from 1860 to 1978. Most fundamentalist Mormon sects within the Latter Day Saint movement, rejected the Church's 1978 decision to allow African Americans to hold the priesthood and continue to deny activity in the church due to race. Due to these beliefs, in its Spring 2005 "Intelligence Report" the Southern Poverty Law Center added the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to its "hate group" listing because of the church's teachings on race, which include a strong condemnation of interracial relationships.
caption: Burning cross often used by Ku Klux Klan to intimidate minorities
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