Individuals should also be responsible for furthering their own acceptance of religious diversity. This is not to argue that everyone will actively want to further their own knowledge of other religions, but furthering one’s own acceptance of religious diversity can be done in a many simple ways. The most common and powerful way one can learn to accept other faiths, therefore furthering religious diversity in their community, is through merely interacting with those of different faiths. Having personal relationships with people of different faith can reduce prejudice against others in that religion (Campbell and Putnam 621). That is to say if the relationship is a positive relationship it will reduce prejudice; however, one could counter that
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This leads to the assumption that many of these same people would also support that the United States is and should remain a Christian nation. This belief is furthered supported by the claim that religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam do not share the values that democracy rests upon (Wuthnow 79). This resistance to other religions is rooted in the image of an uncivilized eastern world that is composed of terrorism and social inequality. Stereotypes do not embody any faith’s core principles rather they are skewed perceptions of a religion based on a small sample of people within it, who act on behalf of a religion but not in the context of the religion’s morals. This is true of almost every religion including Christianity, where there are people who have come to represent negative aspects of their religion, but do not embody the positive values and beliefs of the …show more content…
Religion is not meant to control how we live, but to teach us how to live with other forces we cannot control (Tiedemann 94). That is a universal quality of all religions: they are meant to teach you how to deal with things you may not like or are not used to. As for the Christians, the ones who are opposed to “outside” religions in the United States, what happened to “loving your neighbor as yourself”? (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Mark 12:31). And the Muslim minority, the ones who crave to spark fear in others, do you not remember “God does not forbids you from those, who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes- from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, God loves those who act justly” (The Qur’an Sūrah 60.8). These verses apply to more than just the followers of the individual religions; everyone can benefit from them. That is why we must further religious diversity to learn from others and gain new insight on the world. By doing this we not only strengthen our relationship with one another but with ourselves as
This leads to the assumption that many of these same people would also support that the United States is and should remain a Christian nation. This belief is furthered supported by the claim that religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam do not share the values that democracy rests upon (Wuthnow 79). This resistance to other religions is rooted in the image of an uncivilized eastern world that is composed of terrorism and social inequality. Stereotypes do not embody any faith’s core principles rather they are skewed perceptions of a religion based on a small sample of people within it, who act on behalf of a religion but not in the context of the religion’s morals. This is true of almost every religion including Christianity, where there are people who have come to represent negative aspects of their religion, but do not embody the positive values and beliefs of the …show more content…
Religion is not meant to control how we live, but to teach us how to live with other forces we cannot control (Tiedemann 94). That is a universal quality of all religions: they are meant to teach you how to deal with things you may not like or are not used to. As for the Christians, the ones who are opposed to “outside” religions in the United States, what happened to “loving your neighbor as yourself”? (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Mark 12:31). And the Muslim minority, the ones who crave to spark fear in others, do you not remember “God does not forbids you from those, who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes- from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, God loves those who act justly” (The Qur’an Sūrah 60.8). These verses apply to more than just the followers of the individual religions; everyone can benefit from them. That is why we must further religious diversity to learn from others and gain new insight on the world. By doing this we not only strengthen our relationship with one another but with ourselves as