I think this work is very relevant as in an increasing secular society we need to remember minority religions in New Zealand and people’s perception of them. I think it’s contradictory how Christianity as a whole in society is highly accepted but the Islamic faith which shares the same god and many similarities has high prejudice from society. From this research people with greater religious affiliations tended to be more accepting to Muslim acceptance. Though people can answer the survey in one way saying that they have high ‘warmth’ towards Muslims, they also may sub-consciously still feel another way and have undercurrents of prejudice that they may not want to admit- not even to themselves. This made me think how privileged other Christianity sects are. If we look at NZ society through history it has Christian underpinnings everywhere such as the New Zealand national anthem. Christians begin to feel entitled- maybe without even knowing it. They are constantly validated through society’s support of them for example even in Western movies where people pray at the table before dinner. Because of this Christian privilege and entitlement this leads to feelings of being threatened of their faith’s influence in society and higher prejudice towards Muslims and irreligious people. So this method of measuring ‘warmth’ towards people may be problematic as wolf may hide in sheep’s clothing. These religious people who claim greater acceptance of Muslims may not be telling the truth and may be a very big limitation in this study. I think this work is very relevant as in an increasing secular society we need to remember minority religions in New Zealand and people’s perception of them. I think it’s contradictory how Christianity as a whole in society is highly accepted but the Islamic faith which shares the same god and many similarities has high prejudice from society. From this research people with greater religious affiliations tended to be more accepting to Muslim acceptance. Though people can answer the survey in one way saying that they have high ‘warmth’ towards Muslims, they also may sub-consciously still feel another way and have undercurrents of prejudice that they may not want to admit- not even to themselves. This made me think how privileged other Christianity sects are. If we look at NZ society through history it has Christian underpinnings everywhere such as the New Zealand national anthem. Christians begin to feel entitled- maybe without even knowing it. They are constantly validated through society’s support of them for example even in Western movies where people pray at the table before dinner. Because of this Christian privilege and entitlement this leads to feelings of being threatened of their faith’s influence in society and higher prejudice towards Muslims and irreligious people. So this method of measuring ‘warmth’ towards people may be problematic as wolf may hide in sheep’s clothing. These religious people who claim greater acceptance of Muslims may not be telling the truth and may be a very big limitation in this study.
