Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Religion and Spirituality
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-09-2015, 07:14 PM
 
7,595 posts, read 8,648,791 times
Reputation: 4449

Advertisements

First I'm absolutely not saying you can tell what religious group one belongs to just by looking at him. Of course you can't in most cases (not meaning what they are wearing, but the way they carry themselves, speak, behave, etc.).

That said, if you look at many pictures of a certain religious group, aside from how they dress themselves, sometimes there might be something you find common among them? Maybe it's just something that one could feel by instinct but can't identify or describe?

For example Orthodox Jewish women don't wear the caps like their men, or any special clothing, but they look alike somehow and often one can tell they are Orthodox Jews.

I don't know what it is that the Mormons have in common in their appearance, but the other day I was watching a Mormon choir video and those men and women in the choir looks "very Mormon" to me, but I couldn't pinpoint what that characteristic feature was.

Just wondering if anyone has any such feeling/impression about certain religious people? Christian is a large group, but its subdivisions could be very different.

This is pure curiosity.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-10-2015, 08:35 AM
 
Location: On the brink of WWIII
21,088 posts, read 29,139,624 times
Reputation: 7812
Mormons are usually riding bicycles with funky helmets and white shirts / dark slacks..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 08:57 AM
 
6,324 posts, read 4,307,929 times
Reputation: 4333
The fundamentalists around this area are kind of easy to pick out in a crowd -- especially the women. This is mainly because women always have more rules to follow in regards to appearance than men. So, when I used to go to the mall with friends way back in the day (heh heh), we girls usually primped and dressed as if we were going out on a date. Because you just never knew who you might hook up with.

But the fundamentalist girls always looked as if they just rolled right out of bed and fell into the mall. They just looked really frumpy and disheveled. Rarely did they ever do anything with themselves so you could tell even from a distance that their skin was greasy, their hair was plain and usually pulled into a bun -- I mean, seriously, what kind of teen or young adult would EVER go to the mall with her hair in a bun (with fly-away hair everywhere like she didn't use a mirror)? They never wore anything fashionable; it was as if they were forbidden to look at all attractive.

But it wasn't just that because occasionally you'd catch one of them breaking the rules -- or at least that's what we assumed they were doing. Yet even when they tried not to look like a fundamentalist, you could still point them out if you watched their body language. They quite often shuffled their feet, looked down when they walked (glancing up now and then to avoid bumping into things), and all-in-all had a submissive way about them.

I had a small handful of female friends who came from those severe fundamentalist families -- usually Pentacostal -- and whenever I went to their homes, I really felt uncomfortable. This had nothing to do with their religious beliefs, per se, but I felt a lot of tension. The parents were poor hosts, too. When I went to the homes of other friends, their parents were personable, the smiled, they talked to me and asked me how things were, etc. But at the homes of my fundamentalist friends .... ich! I just wanted to get out of there. Like I said, I didn't feel uncomfortable because of what they believed; it was because of how they behaved.

And that's just in this small rural area. This doesn't seem to apply everywhere.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 09:07 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,293 posts, read 84,292,537 times
Reputation: 114641
Quote:
Originally Posted by ssww View Post
First I'm absolutely not saying you can tell what religious group one belongs to just by looking at him. Of course you can't in most cases (not meaning what they are wearing, but the way they carry themselves, speak, behave, etc.).

That said, if you look at many pictures of a certain religious group, aside from how they dress themselves, sometimes there might be something you find common among them? Maybe it's just something that one could feel by instinct but can't identify or describe?

For example Orthodox Jewish women don't wear the caps like their men, or any special clothing, but they look alike somehow and often one can tell they are Orthodox Jews.

I don't know what it is that the Mormons have in common in their appearance, but the other day I was watching a Mormon choir video and those men and women in the choir looks "very Mormon" to me, but I couldn't pinpoint what that characteristic feature was.

Just wondering if anyone has any such feeling/impression about certain religious people? Christian is a large group, but its subdivisions could be very different.

This is pure curiosity.
Well, that's not quite true. Orthodox women dress a certain way. Their elbows and knees must be covered, they always have dresses/skirts on, and certain ones also cover their hair. That last part can vary--for example, I live near a resort town that draws a population of Syrian Jews in the summer. The woman wear bandana-type coverings on their heads, and they and their daughters wear swim dresses at the beach that cover the elbows and knees. Some Orthodox women wear wigs.

Go to an Episcopal Church on Pentecost. Most people will be wearing red to signify the fire of the Holy Spirit. That's just a tradition, though, not a requirement.

For some reason, the Muslim woman in my office keeps showing up wearing a headscarf the same color as my shirt on the same day. It happens once a week or so. We don't call each other and plan this or anything!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,293 posts, read 84,292,537 times
Reputation: 114641
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28 View Post
Mormons are usually riding bicycles with funky helmets and white shirts / dark slacks..
In The Book of Mormon play, all the missionaries wear white shirts and ties.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKkLV1zE8M0
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 10:06 AM
 
4,361 posts, read 7,046,228 times
Reputation: 5216
Obviously, Amish and Mennonites can be recognized by their lacey bonnets, straw-hats, beards (only on married men), long dresses, suspenders, and buttons instead of zippers.

In some Baptists and Fundamentalist church services, small boys tend to wear neckties and white shirts.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
19,823 posts, read 13,361,179 times
Reputation: 9821
In all honesty I think this is largely an example of seeing patterns you want to see because it bugs us as humans not to see patterns.

Most of the things one notices about members of certain religious groups can (and often do) have multiple explanations. People who are unkempt, frumpy, uptight, or submissive can be that way in part or in whole because of their religious dogma and culture, but it can also be family influence, parenting style, introversion, etc. I for example was pretty much inoculated against the shame and guilt meme of fundamentalism because my parents were essentially good, kind, empathetic, loving human beings who could not at the end of the day bring themselves to crush my spirit. Also, the branch of fundamentalism I grew up in was milder, more intellectual (VERY relatively speaking) and valued fitting into society and not looking too odd (again VERY relatively speaking). Most of us, you would not pick out in a crowd. You would have to get to know us to realize we were even religious.

With respect to the pentecostals Shirina had contact with, I've met some of those who are very old fashioned and dress somewhat oddly (no skirts above the knees, sort of like the Duggars, etc) but seem to be less "us vs them", "be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing says the Lord" types of people who are comfortable in their own skin and relatively accepting of The Other, positive in attitude, and while plain and iconoclastic are at least clean and open and friendly and seem to even be enjoying life. And then I've me some who are so ingrown and disgusting and paranoid that they make Shirina's exemplars look like fine human beings.

I think it's best not to stereotype and to just go by actual actions and attitudes. An a__hole is an a__hole and how they rationalize being as they are is really just unimportant details for the most part. And it cuts both ways; for everyday purposes I want to be around kind, decent human beings and if they use religious or irreligious motivations for that, it's just as enjoyable to experience good people as far as I'm concerned.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 10:56 AM
 
6,324 posts, read 4,307,929 times
Reputation: 4333
Quote:
Originally Posted by mordant View Post
With respect to the pentecostals Shirina had contact with, I've met some of those who are very old fashioned and dress somewhat oddly (no skirts above the knees, sort of like the Duggars, etc) but seem to be less "us vs them", "be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing says the Lord" types of people who are comfortable in their own skin and relatively accepting of The Other, positive in attitude, and while plain and iconoclastic are at least clean and open and friendly and seem to even be enjoying life. And then I've me some who are so ingrown and disgusting and paranoid that they make Shirina's exemplars look like fine human beings.
That's why I made it a point to say that the "stereotype" only applies in the rural area where I live. I have no idea if it exists elsewhere but I haven't noticed it.

There are less than a handful of Pentacostal churches in the area given the low population density of the region; those who are Pentacostal might have a 40 minute drive to church if that's the denomination they wish to join.

Add that to how isolated most of the communities are. We are easily 50 miles from the nearest interstate and many towns do not even have a state route running through them. Which means there aren't a lot of "outsiders" milling around. Even the mall, the only mall anywhere near here, tends to have mostly "regulars" shopping there.

I bring this all to your attention so that you can understand why the pattern I brought up actually exists. Now, the pattern mostly exists with younger girls and women, those who are still living under their parents' roofs. Like you pointed out, they always wear these denim skirts that go down to their shins and a t-shirt or some plain and very ordinary blouse -- usually white. And they always wear tennis shoes (again, plain and white) with their skirt. Couple that with the bun hair-do and they look like ragamuffins compared to the other girls who actually dress up and hit the mall as if they're going clubbing.

Being such a low population area, it was only a matter of time before I met some of them, even befriended a few, only to find out that they hated their home life, hated how they were forced to dress, hated the rules (they were hardly ever allowed to do anything which is another give-away), and were itching to get out on their own.

Yet, one of the state colleges in the region, Clarion University, is right smack-dab in the middle of fundamentalist country. I didn't go to college there but I knew a lot of people who did. I used to attend their sci-fi club with some student-friends there.

Right next door, the Christians had their Bible study club and there were so many that they had to remove the folding wall that normally separates the two classrooms. Naturally, when on a bio break, we couldn't help but peek into the room and sure enough -- the vast majority of the girls in there were dressed exactly they way I described.

I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes stereotypes are actually true. It all comes down to how many traits of the stereotype a person possesses. Sure, simply acting submissive is no reason to think they're a fundamentalist or Pentacostal. However, when someone possesses most or all of the traits, well, that is evidence that there is a stereotype for that kind of religious belief -- and that stereotype was hugely reinforced when we looked into a room holding Bible study and saw that the vast majority of people in there possessed nearly all (or literally all) of the traits associated with said stereotype.

Like I said, though, the pattern only exists within my specific region. Obviously not every Christian is a stereotype -- not even all fundamentalists are a stereotype. But here, with a low population and very little influence from the "outside" world, the pattern (or stereotype, if you will) does hold true, I'm afraid.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 05:36 PM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,521,721 times
Reputation: 2070
Quote:
Originally Posted by ssww View Post
First I'm absolutely not saying you can tell what religious group one belongs to just by looking at him. Of course you can't in most cases (not meaning what they are wearing, but the way they carry themselves, speak, behave, etc.).

That said, if you look at many pictures of a certain religious group, aside from how they dress themselves, sometimes there might be something you find common among them? Maybe it's just something that one could feel by instinct but can't identify or describe?

For example Orthodox Jewish women don't wear the caps like their men, or any special clothing, but they look alike somehow and often one can tell they are Orthodox Jews.

I don't know what it is that the Mormons have in common in their appearance, but the other day I was watching a Mormon choir video and those men and women in the choir looks "very Mormon" to me, but I couldn't pinpoint what that characteristic feature was.

Just wondering if anyone has any such feeling/impression about certain religious people? Christian is a large group, but its subdivisions could be very different.

This is pure curiosity.
if we profiled the stock market like we can people we would buy and sell bill gates like candy. its true. just because it is so scary it scares the ba-jeeze-us out of us doesn't make it not true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2015, 06:42 PM
 
Location: Hickville USA
5,893 posts, read 3,769,504 times
Reputation: 28544
I can tell, I just can. Call it what you want, a sixth sense, whatever but being dragged from one church to the other as a kid (even the black churches and trust me, we stood out) I can tell.....Pentecostal leads to all kinds of other weird and strange folk who come from all walks of life and that's when I was introduced to hash haha. Among other seedy and twisted **** so yes dress tells a lot but experience and instinct tells more. I'm an agnostic atheist and people can't even read me so go figure......going from religious to non-religious gives you special insight imo.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Religion and Spirituality
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:33 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top