Religious and Thnic Groups Paper Essay

I picked Buddhism as my religious group. I am a Christian so this is interesting to me because if would have stayed in Thailand, Buddhism would be the religion that I would have learned and believed in. Buddhism is a very unique religion and it differs from all other religion out there. They do not believe in a God. Tak stated, â€Å"We don’t believe in a god because we believe in man. We believe that each human being is precious and important, that all have the potential to develop into a Buddha – a perfected human being. We believe that human beings can outgrow ignorance and irrationality and see things as they really are. We believe that hatred, anger, spite and jealousy can be replaced by love, patience, generosity and kindness. We believe that all this is within the grasp of each person if they make the effort, guided and supported by fellow Buddhists and inspired by the example of the Buddha. As the Buddha says: No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path, But Buddhas clearly show the way† (2011) The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism teach that life is a suffering, there is a cause of this suffering, it is possible to put an end to this suffering and the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to end this suffering. Refuge in Three Jewels is the three components of Buddhism which protect a person from the unstable world as he progresses on the path to become a Buddhist. The Five Precepts lay down the moral conduct to make human world a better place to live. These precepts prevent Buddhists from indulging in deeds that restrict spiritual growth and cause harm to others. The Three Marks of Conditioned Existence explain that everything in this world is impermanent, without substance and full of suffering. They do not have a ten commandments, no judgment day, no creation myth, no prayers for help or intervention, and let’s people find their own path though life. There are no rewards or punishments on judgment day like others. Buddhism is strictly not a religion in the context of being a faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being. Buddhism has been looked upon as opposite teaching from other and this makes Buddhism have a negative experience even though they feel that it is okay and that hateful things can not cut through their skin. This is what my brother had to say about his experience with others in different religion, a member on Yahoo commented â€Å"I have experienced hate form other who don’t believe in what I believe in. And for the simple fact that I don’t worship their god. People have been afraid and confused and it’s sad that people are this way. Well people telling me that I’m going to burn in hell is just one example. Mostly I get people coming up to talk to me and I get the whole, â€Å"so are you a good Christian girl thing,† which makes me want to puke, and I say no I’m Pagan. And most people don’t even know what that means, but typically they stop talking and walk away. †( Philosoraptor, 2012) Buddhism has contributed little at a time and over time. Today we use meditation as a relaxation and even as a type of medicine. It is like yoga, has the same affect on the mind, body, and soul. The growth with Buddhism is even reaching different races, like for example Whites. Amanda Rivera said, â€Å"I think the appeal comes from the fact that the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the absolute equality of all people to be able to attain buddhahood, to attain their enlightenment. The sources of prejudice and discrimination with any religious group is that people do not know and understand the group and which fear and hate starts to set in. It is the people’s ignorance that causes the negative feelings and actions. When we talk about prejudice and discrimination a fine example would be two years ago in Kansas. The Lao-Buddhist Association [Wat Lao Buddhasampham] is trying to move its Olathe temple to a location along 119th Street in Olathe. But the Johnson County Board of Commissioners has so far denied the group a conditional use permit. Neighbors say that the area the Buddhists have chosen is zoned residential, but Lama Chuck Stanford of the Rime Buddhist Center says that discrimination is the real reason behind the opposition. â€Å"This is clearly just ugliness of ethnic and religious prejudice,† said Stanford. [†¦] Standord notes that Christian churches are common in residential areas, and that comments made by residents during a January zoning board meeting indicate fear and ignorance. At the meeting, people raised concerns about traffic, water pollution and â€Å"animal sacrifices,† along with noise from gongs, which Stanford says are no louder than church bells. Another example On Sept. 13, 2011 the U. S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the city of Walnut in Southern California because the city did not allow Chung Tai Buddhist Group, originally from Taiwan, to build a worship and meditation center. The Department of Justice accused the city government of violating federal law, which states that religious groups have the same rights to use land as other building applicants, and of discriminating against the Buddhist group. The sources of prejudice and discrimination with any religious group is that people do not know and understand the group and which fear and hate starts to set in. It is the people’s ignorance that causes the negative feelings and actions in which then problems and issues occur instead of accepting that people are different and unique. I have been neutral with Buddhism but my brother believes in it. I do not judge him and I try to think critically if I speak but after doing the research I have a new understanding of my ethic religion of my biological parents. The main important thing I have learned is not asking which religion is better but what is different from what I believe in and what they believe in because that is when you can see how others think and view beliefs. Taking a look at ethnic group of Pacific Islander are different from others in the aspect that the Pacific Islanders live a very social lifestyle, in which family members, both immediate and extended, work together in a solidified community. Pacific Islanders often have difficulty balancing their traditional â€Å"laid-back† attitudes with the high pressure competitive demands of American pedagogy and marketplace economy. Pacific Islanders’ cultures follow customs and traditions based on ancient principles that promote living an honorable and noble lifestyle. Embedded deeply into the Polynesian culture are music, dance, and food. Traditional storytelling, music, and dance are ancient ways of passing down history from one generation to another. Thus teachers with students who are Pacific Islanders may want to use both written and oral instruction, particularly in areas of literacy. Pacific Islanders are in fact highly developed peoples. Our ancestors survived for centuries in remote and isolated communities having devised their own means of dealing with the elements and of maintaining social order. In the process of what is known as ‘development’, however, Islanders wrestle daily with individual demands in a market-driven world, while our consciousness continues to be haunted by a pervasive sense of our collective identity (Wickham). The main thing with interaction with other groups is that Pacific Islander are more laid back and they tend to not be up to par with the other social groups. This makes them to be â€Å"dumb† and â€Å"no gas in the think tank. † Pacific Islander has been a huge contribution to American culture in fields as varied as the arts, health care, business and military service, Asian Pacific Americans are central to our quality of life. Month of May has been declared Asian Pacific American Heritage Month which celebrates all of those that have entered into the United States and help to develop where we are today as one. Prejudice and discrimination is part of history with Pacific Islander in the past. Taiwanese-American Wen Ho Lee, for example, was targeted by the U. S. government and suspected of espionage because of his ethnicity, according to many in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. In May, U. S. Rep. David Wu, an Oregon Democrat, was detained entering the Department of Energy building in Washington, D. C. , and repeatedly asked if he was an American citizen. July, 2009 in Seattle, a group of Asian-American youths, stopped by police for jaywalking, claimed they were harassed by an officer who repeatedly asked if they spoke English and allegedly remarked, â€Å"I’ve been to your country before, when I was in the Army. † These types of prejudice and discrimination are all appearance wise and nothing more. The pure ignorance is the source for all these actions. The research was harder to do on Pacific Islander due to the fact of less records and information like other groups. The more I read the same information was being presented. I started to research other groups and I was able to find so much more information. So yes it did help me to understand them better but not to the point of really understanding them because of lack of information and data on them. Prejudice and discrimination on the two groups were similar because both of them were looked upon as physical appearance and judge by looks instead of getting to know the two and understand the two. They both been looked at as different and odd. In the beginning of the two in America they both been push around and forced into doing things that were not right at all. Harassment and anger seems to fill hate towards the two. They are different in ways of the one is being discriminated because of a practice and the other is a human being. There is not much to be different other than that. Discrimination and prejudice looks the same, acts the same, and smells the same. Not much difference because it is all out of uneducated assumptions, anger, hatred, and intolerance. References Philosoraptor, M. (2012). Yahoo! Answers. Retrieved from http://answers. yahoo. com/question/index? qid=20120229093706AAHWC2Q Swee, T. (2013). Buddhism-Major Differences. Retrieved from http://www. buddhanet. net/e-learning/snapshot01. htm Tak, Y. (2011). Comparing Buddhism With Other Religions. Retrieved from http://wfcs. buddhistdoor. com/OldWeb/passissue/9612/sources/comp. htm Rivera, A. (2011). Why Is American Buddhism So White. Retrieved from http://www. thebuddhadharma. com/web-archive/2011/11/9/forum-why-is-american-buddhism-so-white. html Wickham, A. WACC. Retrieved from http://www. waccglobal. org/en/19973-indigenous-communications/929-Hidden-perspectives-on-Communication–Culture-in-the-Pacific-Islands-. html.