Diversity Dictionary

Dislike of or prejudice against persons perceived to be bisexual. People who identify as bisexual may experience biphobia from both heterosexual people and the LGBTQ community. The heterosexual majority often assumes that people are either “straight” or “gay,” forgetting that there are a wide range of identities and sexualities outside of this perceived binary. As […]

The fear or hatred of Jewish people, Judaism and related symbols. Antisemitism has a long history, dating back to the founding of Judaism, through the birth of Christianity, the Roman Empire, Hitler’s Germany, and into today. Proponents of antisemitism (referred to as “antisemites”) often argue that Jewish people are a separate, inferior race to white, […]

Discrimination against people with physical, intellectual, and/or psychiatric disabilities. Ableism, like many forms of discrimination, occurs in many different ways. The assumption that people with disabilities are completely helpless, for example, can manifest in strangers constantly offering help to those with visible disabilities, referring to people as “suffering” from their condition(s), and using the term […]

Trigger warnings (also referred to as content warnings) are commonly used to flag content that may be triggering, traumatic, and/or distressing. Trigger warnings are somewhat controversial, as critics fear that trigger warnings will shelter students and allow them to opt out of content that would challenge their beliefs, provide exposure to new ideas and schools […]

Not to be confused with the Church of Satan, The Satanic Temple is both a religion and a sociopolitical movement. The Satanic Temple does not subscribe to the idea of a higher power, does not have religious texts, and can be seen as a reaction to conservative, traditionalist, organized religion. The Satanic Temple does not […]

A system of beliefs, usually spiritual in nature, and often in terms of a formal, organized denomination. Religion often provides people with a sense of morals, purpose, and community. Some religions are referred to as “major” religions — Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Mormonism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. — but there are many belief systems around the world […]

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also called Mormonism, church that traces its origins to a religion founded by Joseph Smith in the United States in 1830. The term Mormon, often used to refer to members of this church, comes from the Book of Mormon, which was published by Smith in 1830; use […]

Monotheistic religion developed among the ancient Hebrews’ belief in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic traditions. Judaism is the complex phenomenon of a total way of life for the Jewish people, comprising theology, law, and innumerable cultural […]

Also called Islamic world or Islamdom, the complex of societies and cultures in which Muslims and their faith have been prevalent and socially dominant. Adherence to Islam is a global phenomenon: Muslims predominate in some 30 to 40 countries, from the Atlantic eastward to the Pacific and along a belt that stretches across northern Africa […]

Refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date to the 2nd millennium BCE or possibly earlier.