Arshad 1

Hanzala Arshad

Gregory Spendlove

Rels2400

30 April 2018

Synthesis Paper

1. How do you see religion shaping and being shaped by Ameri

can life?
Religious studies was a class that increased my understanding of religion. Prior to taking this

class my knowledge of basic understanding of religion was fairly low. Knowing this taking this

class serious was my first priority. As stated earlier before taking this class, my initial thought

was that religion in America hasn’t really changed much and most of American culture was

dominated by Christianity. Which after taking this class I learned was true. Religious diversity in

America has been gradually beginning to grow more and more as each year passes. Religion is

shaping into our everyday culture. For example, in Spanish Fork, we see folks of many different

religious go to the Radha Krishna temple for Holi, which is known as the Color Festival. Living

in a dominantly LDS/Mormon state. We are seeing even in Utah shaping very differently than it

once originally was. As far as the United States we are seeing more religious and cultural

diversity increase.

2. How do we encounter some specific minority religions in America

today?
This question has many different ways to be answered. Personally I’ve had many different

negative encounters being a Muslim American living in Utah. I’ve been refused service because

my grandmother wears her Hijab everywhere she goes. My uncles car was tagged with paint with

racist and vulgar messages. Unfortunately through personal experience minority religions stay

minority religions due to the lack of respect given to these religions. Personally I’ve gone to
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interfaith meetings with the Jewish Synagogue where we were able to speak to teenagers who

were all around the same age as us. Speaking to them really changed my perspective on the

religion. Not to mention the landscape project brought be right back to the Jewish religion where

I had the opportunity to speak to the speaker of Kol Ami synagogue. Learning about these

minority religions will teach you about what they’re about and will hopefully erase any sort of

negative stereotypes you have of the religion.

3. How might Americans of all beliefs and faith interact to ensure a successful
pluralism?
Americans of all beliefs need to take the most important first step which is being able to accept

the fact that there are religions in the states exist that are very different than that of our own.

Sometimes we get caught in this imaginary bubble and fail to acknowledge there are many

different religions that exist. Whether it be a minority religion or the most popular religion in the

entire world. Coming to accepting and respecting ones belief will play a big factor in a

successful pluralism. We learned in this class that different faiths of religions are only going to

grow, if we constantly bring other religions/race of people down all we are going to do is create a

bigger problem within your community. We must understand the concept of accepting and

genuinely accepting the faith of another human being. Now this doesn’t mean accepting as in

joining that persons faith, rather not arguing that what that person believes in is wrong. We see a

reoccurring problem which is people arguing over what religion is the one true religion.

Accepting others and telling them that it’s okay to be Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, etc,

is important in pluralism. One faith telling another faith that they’re “wrong” on the other hand is

what is wrong with religion in the United States. We must put our egos to the side, and learn to

love one another as human beings and accept each other for what we believe in. By doing this we

will create less separation and more positivity within our neighborhoods, communities.
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