Should Or Should We Not Have Religious Diversity (Sumblog 9)

It is really interesting to think about the role that religion plays on a person’s national identity. I think in the US, we aren’t necessarily a Christian nation, however, I don’t think that overall we’re very nationalistic either. When you ask a person where they’re from, they say a state, or an ethnicity they have. None of them say the country they’re from. However if you were to ask a person from a different country where they’re from they’d generally say they’re country name. For example, I asked my friend Samer what his nationality was, and he said Tunisian, I asked where he’s from and he said Tunisia, I asked what his ethnicity was and he followed that with Tunisian. He is representing his country. His ethnicity, nationality and country he lives in are all the same. I think the issue with America is that we are Irish-Americans, Swedish-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and any other ethnicity-American. We still hold on to our previous national identity, and just attach our current national identity to it. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I actually think it’s a great thing. The issue here is that because we don’t have one national identity-we don’t all say we’re Americans- we have to cling to other ways that we can all nationally connect. Living in the same geographic-location isn’t necessarily enough, it takes something else to connect us. That’s why I think some people in America want to make it a Christian Country, so that there is something to bond everyone together. The issue there is, for those that do not follow Christianity, or are a denomination or other branch off it that isn’t widely accepted-what do they do? Move? Pretend like the life they have here is worth it to change who they are? I don’t think that’s fair for one group of supposed “majority” to yet again squash the perceived “minority” because they want to have unity amongst themselves. I think a better system to stand behind would be a system that viewed individual needs as national needs. That looked at the humanistic life we live, and tried to make it better for each individual and more accepting. I don’t think religion has a place in our regulation for individuals anymore because of how much religious diversity we have. Trying to change it back to the original isn’t going to fix the problems we have now. I honestly think it will only make those problems worse, and divide the nation even more.

This is a wall in Sacramento, California that shows differnt religious faiths through art. It shows that we are accepting to an extent of other religions. There's hope for us to be completely accepting, we just have to go on the right path to get there.

http://americanturban.com/2012/12/28/the-growth-of-americas-religious-diversity-showed-in-2012/