“Except that the commonly-held stereotype of a U.S. Bible belt Christian
has little to do with the teachings of Jesus, but rather a caricature of
the worst of U.S. Christianity.”
Perhaps, but that’s narrowing down the definition quite a lot, and wasn’t
really the point I was making.
I more meant that, for example, assuming that a Republican Christian is
against abortion isn’t so much a stereotype as it is an informed
assumption. Assuming that because someone was born a woman they hold
certain beliefs is a completely different kettle of fish; because there are no pre-requisites to being a woman other than the biology (and even that’s debatable). Whereas, by definition, to be a republican or christian, you need to meet certain criteria. So they’re not stereotypes, they’re characteristics.
Otherwise it would be a stereotype to assume that a neo-nazi is racist, and that a baseball fan likes baseball.
