Religious and Ethnic Diversity Paper

Religious and Ethnic Diversity Paper

ETH/125

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. However, any person of any race may convert to Judaism if they wish to. This religion does not have any formal mandatory beliefs and they focus more on actions than beliefs. The most accepted list of Jewish beliefs is the thirteen principles of faith. Jewish people are very open to other religions and they do not feel as if they are better than anyone else. In their eyes, they feel that as long as a person is staying true to their religion then they will be considered righteous in the eyes of God.

Judaism in general promotes equality and that has had a major impact on American culture. They have been in America since the seventeenth century and have always stood behind fighting prejudice and discrimination. Jewish people have been and still are very active participants in civil rights movements, whether for African Americans, women, or even homosexuals. The freedom we have in the United States is what sets us apart from everyone else and Jewish people have been very much involved.

The Jewish people have endured a lot of prejudice and discrimination over the years. They were blamed for many problems and their businesses were boycotted. The Holocaust was by far the worst and most painful form of prejudice ever endured. Approximately six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime. Adolf Hitler, which was the leader of the Nazi regime, believed that Jews were inferior to Germans and he basically wanted to get rid of them. He developed this commitment to anti-Semitism throughout his service in World-War I.

I never really had any interest in other religions and I really did not know what Judaism was all about. After gathering all this information about the religion, I feel that this is very strong group of people. They have been through a lot and they are really not very much different from other religions. I like that they are very open, in the sense, that they are very accepting of other's beliefs. They set a good example of what not only other religions, but we as people should be doing to make our world a better place to live in.

People of African descent can be set apart from other racial/ethnic groups because they all have ancestry that come from a region in Africa. Many of these ancestors were brought to America against their will because they were slaves. They also speak many different languages and represent their culture through different forms of music, dancing, and storytelling. In my opinion, I think that blacks are always on the defensive when it comes to other ethnic groups. I get the feeling that they often feel that they deserve more than others because of the years of slavery that they endured.

African culture contributed to American culture in many ways. During the slavery