Josh, I don’t know how long your list of criteria was, did you have others, like credit check, income verification, rental history and references, lifestyle habits? When you said, you don’t want a strict Islamic living in your home, did you apply this to other strict religious types of “insert Catholic, Mormon, Latter Day Saint, cult” that may want to hold religious meetings in your home, constantly praying, setting up a shrine in your home, preaching to you, etc? I’m not going to judge your beliefs, but only hope that you don’t stereotype a book by its cover, and took the time to qualify people based on whatever your list was because that would be the intelligent thing.
I can see arguments on both sides for a lot of criteria. If you are not religious at all, and do not want your home to bear crosses, hold bible studies, or if the roommate wants to preach to you and judge you every time you crack open a beer, does that make you a bigot? What if you don’t want a roommate who is elderly, does that constitute ageism? Or too young? What about someone who’s a strict vegan and you’re a cook as much meat as possible person? What about a eliminating people because they are a cross dresser, nudist, or person who legally sells marijuana under a state license for medicinal purposes? What if you’re a gay guy who doesn’t want a straight roommate, does this make the gay guy intolerant, or simply wanting someone who can identify with his sexual preferences?
I certainly don’t condone hate based on race, sex, religion, etc. However, we are all prejudiced, whether we have preferences or dislikes for people based on race, age, sex, religion, beliefs, how they look, habits, values, money, the list can go on and on. We all judge people based on our own filter.
