Hello! This week has been dull and raining. I kid you not, the sun has shown for maybe a total of 10 hours or less this entire week. Definitely lacking in Vitamin D. I hope the weather is better where you are!
This week, we had a speaker, Dr. Musharraf Hussain al-Azhari, that came to speak on the topic of religion with an emphasis on Islam. The Muslim population is constantly being scrutinized due to the influence of the media. Do we, as individuals, have a responsibility to take the time to inform ourselves on the different beliefs around the world? Does the government have a responsibility, since we live in a country filled with a variety beliefs? What is your thought? This has been something I have been thinking a lot about and would like to explore some more.
Here are my thoughts…..
Personal responsibility plays a role in understanding other religions, however, I truly believe that the school system also should be held accountable to educate students on the different major religions. I came from a high school where world geography was a mandatory course, otherwise you do not graduate. In this course, we had the privilege of learning about the major religions around the world – Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. There was two parts to our learning – textbook learning and speaker. Our teacher worked hard to find speakers that follow each religion to share their beliefs. This course was not intended to force one religion or another upon us, but rather to inform us about the different religions. If a course like this could be implemented in all curriculums, it would educate the young minds to be open to accepting and respecting various religious beliefs, even if they themselves may not follow those teachings. With a course like this, it would also help eliminate negative perceptions about religious groups that the media may negatively portray. Media does a great job at grabbing the viewers’ attention and eliciting an emotional response. Unfortunately, one of those emotional responses have been fear towards the Muslim population, which leads to an unwelcoming environment towards them. If students have a basic understanding of what Islam stands for, it would help reduce and combat the fear that people regarding the specific population.
The idea of a mandatory course that informs students about the various religions around the world would get backlash from the public. Some parents may refuse to have their child learn about different religions. Their concern could be addressed by having them understand that the purpose of the course is not to preach or convert their child towards one religion or another, but rather to educated them to better understand others. It is also important to get across that it is not a religion class where students will be reading sacred text from each religion because it some cultures it is against their religious beliefs to read other religious text.
The world is filled with people from multiple backgrounds and if we do not make an effort to understand them, there will always be a underlying fear towards specific groups of people. Fear comes from the unknown and that is what people are afraid of. If a country plans on having a country with mixed religions, the government should take responsibility to help easy concerns about religious groups that is not the dominate one of the country. Continuing with the example of the Muslim population, these people are being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. This causes tension and conflicts between groups of people due to a lack of understanding. Tension, conflicts, and fear are not positive impacts on a country, therefore the government should take some form of action to help easy those emotions. The how would be another story. One way could be supporting schools that aim to incorporate a course like the one described at the beginning.
Religion is an important key aspect of the majority of the world’s population and no one should be discriminated against due to their religious beliefs. Not everyone may agree with the teachings of the religion and that is completely fine, however, respecting other beliefs is important. We as individuals have a responsibility to ourselves and others to be educated about other religions to be open and accepting. If people choose to only have one negative portrayal of a religious group, that creates a closed, single mindset where tensions and conflicts are high. We live in a world filled with different people who have different beliefs and if we are not open to each other’s beliefs, the future will be a segregated one.
Nottingham Adventures 