List_of_religious_slurs

List of religious slurs

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The following is a list of religious slurs or religious insults in the English language that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about adherents or non-believers of a given religion or irreligion, or to refer to them in a derogatory (critical or disrespectful), pejorative (disapproving or contemptuous), or insulting manner.

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"russellite - Useful English Dictionary". enacademic.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015. russellite ˈrəsəˌlīt noun (-s) Usage: usually capitalized Etymology: Charles Taze Russell died 1916 American religious leader + English -ite : one of the Jehovah's Witnesses — often taken to be offensive

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The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Archived 9 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine p. 1250 (2005 Taylor & Francis)

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Rothman, Lily (17 September 2014). "When Did 'Shylock' Become a Slur?". time.com. TIME Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015. The word "shylock," [...] is an eponym from a Jewish character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. [...] Today, "shylock" is considered an antisemitic slur.

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Bilaval, Saib (14 November 2021). "'Muzlim, K2A, Jih@di, Mull@h': How Right-Wing Trolls Bypass Hate Speech Filters on Twitter". The Wire. Retrieved 14 May 2023.

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Peek, Lori (2011). Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans After 9/11. Temple University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-59213-984-2. Retrieved 2 December 2017.

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Farahnaz Ispahani (2 January 2017). Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities. Oxford University Press. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-19-062167-4.

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Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Bible beater, Bible basher	North America	Pentecostals	A dysphemism for people who believe in the fundamentalist authority of the Bible, particularly those from a Pentecostal or fundamentalist denomination.^[1] It is also a slang term for an evangelising Christian. Commonly used universally against Christians who are perceived to go out of their way to energetically preach their faith to others.	^[1]^[2]^[3]
Bible thumper	United States	Christian people	Someone perceived as aggressively imposing their Christian beliefs upon others. The term derives from preachers thumping their hands down on the Bible, or thumping the Bible itself, to emphasize a point during a sermon. The term's target domain is broad and can often extend to anyone engaged in a public show of religion, fundamentalist or not. The term is most commonly used in English-speaking countries.	^[4]
Cafeteria Christian	United States	Selection of Christian doctrines	Used by some Christians, and others, to accuse other Christian individuals or denominations of selecting which Christian doctrines they will follow, and which they will not.	^[5]
Chuhra	Punjab, Pakistan	Lower-class Christians and menial workers; later used against Christians in general. Also used against Pakistani Hindu people.	Derived from the name of the Chuhra caste, historically a Dalit caste whose traditional occupation was sweeping and cleaning. Most Christians in Punjab are from this community, and still they are the majority of street sweepers in Punjab province. The term became an abuse for all Christians.	^[6]^[7]
Fundie	United States	Christian fundamentalists	Shortening of fundamentalist. Usually used to mean a Christian fundamentalist.	^[8]
God botherer	Australia	Christian people	Similar to Bible basher, a person who is very vocal about their religion and prayer.	^[9]
Isai, Saai	Pakistan	Christian people	From Isa, the name of Jesus Christ from the Qur'an as a prophet of Islam. The term literally means '[person/people] of Jesus', but it later meant 'street sweeper' or 'labourer'.	^[10]
Rice Christian, Rice bag	United Kingdom, India	Materially benefiting Christians In India: Christians (especially those from Kerala)	Someone who has formally declared themself a Christian for material benefits rather than for religious reasons. In India, the term has been extended to refer to any Christian convert.	^[11]^[12]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Campbellite	United States	Followers of Church of Christ	Followers of the Church of Christ, from American Restoration Movement leaders Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell, the latter being one of two key people considered the founders of the movement.	^[13]
Holy Roller	United States	Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians	Named after Church services involving rolling on the floor in an uncontrolled manner.	^[14]
Hun	United Kingdom, Ireland	Christian Protestants, especially Glasgow Rangers supporters	Used by Irish republicans against Protestant unionists, especially by Glasgow Celtic supporters against those of Glasgow Rangers	^[15]^[16]
Jaffa	United Kingdom	Christian Protestants	Named after a common orange-flavoured cake/biscuit in Ireland and UK.	^[16]
Prod, Proddy	United Kingdom, Ireland	Christian Protestants	Particularly used by bullies to disparage a child who attends a Protestant school. Proddywhoddy and proddywoddy are used in children's school rhymes in Cork.	^[17]^[16]
Orangie	Ireland	Ulster Protestants	Referring to the Orange Order	^[16]
Russellite	United States	Jehovah's Witnesses	Jehovah's Witnesses, from American religious leader Charles Taze Russell.	^[18]^[19]
Shaker	United States	Christian people	Member of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. Originated as "Shaking Quakers", in reference to their similarity to Quakers as well as their charismatic worship practices, which involved dancing, shouting, and speaking in tongues. The term was originally derogatory, but very early on was embraced and used by the Shakers themselves.	^[20]^[21]^[22]
Soup-taker	Ireland	Christian who has sold out their beliefs	Person who has sold out their beliefs, referring to the Great Famine of Ireland when some Catholics converted to a Protestant faith in order to gain access to a free meal.	^[23]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Left-footer	United Kingdom	Roman Catholics	An informal phrase for a Roman Catholic - particularly in the UK armed forces.	^[24]^[25]
Fenian	United Kingdom	Irish Catholics	A term originally referencing the Fenian Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, organizations which supported a united Ireland. Today the term is used as a sectarian slur by Protestants, especially in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Australia.	^[26]
Mackerel Snapper	North America	Roman Catholics	The term originated in the U.S. in the 1850s and refers to the custom of Friday abstinence. The Friday abstinence from meat (red meat and poultry) distinguishes Catholics from other Christians, especially in North America.	^[27]^[28]
Mick	United Kingdom	Irish Catholic	Usually an Irish Catholic (a reference to the common "Mc" patronymic of Irish surnames, or a hypocorism of "Michael").	^[29]
Papist	Northern Ireland, North America	Roman Catholic	Usually Irish Catholic; online often used generically for any Catholic.^[30]	^[30]
Red letter tribe	North America	Roman Catholics	A name given to Catholics for their keeping so many holy days - marked in their almanacs with red-coloured letters.	^[31]
Redneck	Ireland	Roman Catholics	Roman Catholic person, now considered archaic due to its association with the better-known American term.	^[32]
Roman Catholic	England	Roman Catholics	Term brought into use by adherents of the Church of England in regard to Branch Theory as well as distaste to the Catholic Church's association with the term Catholic.	^[33]
Romanist	England	Roman Catholics	Term used when anti-Catholicism was more common in the United States, as well as in Northern Ireland by Ulster Protestants	^[34]^[35]
Shaveling	Unknown	Roman Catholics	Usually disparaging: a tonsured clergyman, priest.	^[36]
Taig	Northern Ireland	Irish Catholics	From tadhg, Irish for "Timothy".	^[37]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Molly Mormon	United States	Latter Day Saint	Term for the stereotype of a "perfect" female member of LDS Church.	^[38]
Peter Priesthood	United States	Latter Day Saint	Term for the stereotype of a "perfect" male member of LDS Church.	^[39]
Jack Mormon	United States	Latter Day Saint	A non-faithful LDS person or a non-Mormon altogether. Jack Mormon is usually used by non-Mormons to describe Mormons that do not follow the Word of Wisdom (dietary and health practices that exclude the use of tobacco or alcohol) and by Mormons to describe members that do not sufficiently follow practices. It is also used by Mormons to describe those who were Mormon but remain friendly to the church. It may be applied to ex-Mormons who have repudiated the church and its teachings but that is a rare usage.	^[40]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning, origin and notes	References
Abbie, Abie	North America	Jewish male	A Jewish male. From the proper name Abraham. Originated before the 1950s.^[41]	^[41]
Christ-killer		Jews	In reference to Jewish deicide.	^[42]
Feuj (verlan for juif)	France	Jews	A corruption of the French word for Jewish, juif. Originating from the French argot Verlan.	^[43]
Heeb, Hebe	United States	Jews	Derived from the word Hebrew.	^[44]^[45]
Hymie	United States	Jews	Derived from the Hebrew Chaim ('life'). Also used in the term Hymietown, a nickname for Brooklyn, New York, and as a first name.	^[46]
Ikey, Ike	United States	Jews	Derived from Isaac, an important figure in Judaism and common Hebrew given name.	^[47]
Itzig	Nazi Germany	Jews	From Yiddish איציק‎ (itsik), a variant or pet form of the name Isaak (alternatively Isaac). The Nazis before World War II (but after taking power in 1933–1934) started persecution and imprisonment of Jews before escalating to genocide, resulting in the Holocaust.	^[48]
Jewboy	United States	Young Jewish boys	For a young Jewish male, originally young Jewish boys who sold counterfeit coins in 18th century London.	^[49]^[50]
Jidan	Romania	Jews	From jid, Romanian equivalent of yid.	^[51]
Kike	United States	Jews	Possibly from the Yiddish word for 'circle', kikel, It was suggested by Leo Rosten that the term originates from Jews who entered the United States at Ellis Island signed their names with a circle instead of a cross because they associated the cross with Christianity.	^[52]^[53]
Mocky	United States	Jews	First used in the 1930s, possibly from the Yiddish word makeh meaning 'plague'.	^[54]^[55]
Red Sea pedestrian	Australia	Jews	A Jew, from the story of Moses leading the Jewish people out of Egypt in the Book of Exodus.	^[56]
Rootless cosmopolitan (Russian: безродный космополит)	Soviet Union	Jews	Soviet epithet as an accusation of lack of full allegiance to the Soviet Union.	^[57]
Sheeny	Europe	Jews	From Yiddish sheyn or German schön meaning 'beautiful'.	^[58]
Shylock	England	Jews	Jewish people as shrewd and money-loving; derived from the character in Shakespeare's play "Merchant of Venice".	^[59]
Yid	Europe	Jews	Yiddish word for 'Jew'.	^[60]
Zhyd Zhydovka	Russia Ukraine	Jews	From Russian and other Slavic languages, originally neutral, but became pejorative during debate over the Jewish question in the 1800s. Its use was banned by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s.	^[61]

List_of_religious_slurs

List of religious slurs

Christians

Non-denominational

Protestants

Catholics

Latter Day Saint movement

Jews

Muslims

Hindus

Sikhs

Scientologists

Africana religions

General non-believers

Religious practitioners in general

See also

Notes

References

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Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Abdul, Abdool	India	Muslims	Derives from the common Muslim name Abdul.	^[62]
Chuslim	India	Muslims	Portmanteau of the words Chutiya+Muslim, chutiya being a common swear word in Hindi/Urdu.	^[63]
Jihadi	India	Muslims, especially fundamental Jihadists	Derives from jihad.	^[64]
Kadrun	Indonesia	Islamic fundamentalism and reactionaries	Portmanteau of kadal gurun meaning 'desert lizard'. Originated as a social media political insult, the term is used for closed-minded Muslims influenced by Islamic extremism and fundamentalism from the Middle East.	^[65]^[66]
Kala, Kaliya	Myanmar	Rohingyas, Muslims	Term meaning 'black' in various Indo-Aryan languages, referring to the dark skin colour of South Asian Muslims. The term originally was targeted at all Muslims of South Asia, but more recently is used as a slur directly against Rohingyas due to their perceived Bangladeshi origin.	^[67]
Katwa, Katwe, Katuve, Katua, K2a, K2o, k2wa, kto	India	Muslim men	Derives from the Hindi/Urdu for 'cut' referring to circumcision, a common practice among Muslim men.	^[64]^[68]
Muzzie	Australia	Muslims	A shortened version of the word Muslim.	^[69]
Mulla, Mullah, Katmulle, Sulla, Bulla	India	Muslims	Derives from mullah, a common title for Islamic religious scholars.	^[62]^[63]
Miya	Assam, India	Bengali Muslims	Derives from the honorific Mian.	^[70]
Namazi, Namaji, Andhnamazi	India	Muslims	Derives from namaz, the Persian word for obligatory daily prayers usually used instead of salah in the Indian subcontinent.	^[64]
Peaceful, peacefools, pissful, shantidoot	India	Muslims	Derives from the common statement that Islam is a "religion of peace". Sometimes the Hindi word "shantidoot" (Messenger of Peace) is used.	^[62]
Osama	North America	Islamic men	From Osama bin Laden.	^[71]
Qadiani	Pakistan	Ahmadiyya	The term originates from Qadian, a small town in present-day Indian Punjab, the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. The use of Qadiani is primarily in Pakistan. The term has even been used in official Pakistani documents. It is also known as the Q-word.	^[72]^[73]^[74]
Rafida, Rawafid	Arab peninsula	Shīʿi Muslims (regardless of race)	Term originally denoting extremist Shīʿites who reject (rafḍ) the caliphates of Abu Bakr and ʿUmar; often employed by critics as a slur against those Shīʿi Muslims who do not criticize the first three Caliphs, but only believe in "Alī’s right to the caliphate over Muʿāwiyah".	^[75]
Raghead	North America	Islamic turban wearers	From Islamic wearing of turbans.	^[71]^[76]
Safavid	Iraq	Feyli Kurds	Mainly used by higher class Sunni Arabs during Ba'athist Iraq to insult Feyli Kurds for their belief in Shia Islam	^[77]
Terrorist	United States	Muslims	Used by radical anti-Islamists, due to anti-Muslim sentiments following September 11 attacks and subsequently ISIS attacks.	^[78]
Arabush / Aravush (ערבוש)	Israel	Muslims and Palestinians	Used by Israeli people, derived from Hebrew "Aravi" (Arab).	^[79]
Palestinazim (פלסטינאצים)	Israel	Palestinians	Used by Israeli people, a combination of Palestinian and Nazi.	^[80]
Hajji, Hadji, Haji	United States	Muslims	Derived from the honorific Al-Hajji, the title given to a Muslim who has completed the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).	^[81]^[82]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Cow-piss sipper, piss sipper	Western countries	Hindus	Referring to the practice of drinking gomutra, or cow urine, as a folk medicine advocated by some Hindu groups.	^[83]
Dothead	Western countries	Hindus, especially women	Referring to the practice of applying bindis, a dot-like marking used by married women. Also the namesake of a terrorist group from New Jersey that murdered Indians known as the Dotbusters.	^[84]
Malaun	Bangladesh	Hindus, especially those from Bangladesh	Derived from Bengali মালাউন (maalaaun), which in turn was derived from Arabic ملعون‎ (mal'un), which means 'cursed' or deprived from God's mercy.	^[85]^[86]^[87]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Lassi	India, Pakistan	Sikhs	In reference to the famous Punjabi beverage Lassi which is a term used to denigrate Sikhs as a thirsty poor people, this slur is mostly used by Hindus.	^[88]^[76]^[89]
Santa Banta	India, Pakistan	Gursikhs	in reference to Sikhs "Sants" (meaning saint) a derogatory term used by Hindus to refer to especially religious and devoute Sikhs (Gursikhs) to mock their religiosity. This slur originated in the early 1980's to mock and denigrate Sikhs who were supports of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a famous and highly controversial militant Sikh religious preacher who had the title of Sant.	^[90]
Raghead	United States	Sikh turban wearers	In reference the Sikh practice of wearing dastar (turban)	^[91]

Term	Location of origin	Targeted demographic	Meaning origin and notes	References
Voodoo	United States	Vodouists, African diaspora people, particularly Haitian Americans	Used against people practicing any indigenous African religions to imply they are fraudulent and dangerous, with racialized connotations of curses and primitive superstitions. Used to justify Afrophobic legislation.	^[93]
Obeah	Jamaica	Practitioners of Obeah, Black Jamaicans	Used against practicioners of Obeah as well as people who receive services from Obeah priests. Connotation of being fraudulent, deceptive, vengeful, and uncivilized. Originally used by colonial authorities to suppress slave rebellions that were organized by Obeah spiritual leaders. Laws still exist in Jamaica criminalizing Obeah.	^[94]