Religious and Ethnic Groups

Islam religious groups differ from other religious groups in different ways. Islam is the belief that the purpose of their existence is to love and serve god. They believe that Jesus, Abraham and Moses are prophets and that is what makes them clash with other beliefs. There god is Allah and they believe that they should pray only five times a day at certain times. Islam and Christianity have not had very good experiences. Muslim followers do not get along with Christian followers because of beliefs. Muslims believe that Jesus was only a prophet but Christians believe that he is the son of god and worship him as god not as a prophet. These beliefs have led to many problems in the Middle East where Muslims prosecute Christians because they are Christian and do not share the same beliefs. Islam has contributed to the American culture by showing everyone that it is okay to be different and to believe in different things. Everyone knows that Muslims were responsible for the 9/11 event. I think ever since then Muslims have been looked at in a different way and have been discriminated because of this event. 9/11 was a very tragic event and it caused a lot of pain and suffering for America. I understand how that can leave Muslims to be treated differently and discriminated against but regardless not every Muslim person is bad and deserves to be treated differently because of this event. No one should have to pay for someone else’s mistakes. Also the Boston marathon bombing was another event that Muslim was involved. Not necessarily a Muslim from the Middle East but still a Muslim follower. People associate them with violence and bombing and that they hate America, but not everyone that falls within that group is a bad person and follows this route. Being able to learn more about Islam groups helped me understand more about their people and culture. I understand their beliefs and why they choose to do the things they do. The racial/ethnic group I chose was African Americans. These are people that are of African descent. They differ from others because their ancestors were slaves and they were discriminated against for a very long time because of their skin color. African Americans had to fight for their freedom and break away from slavery. They were treated badly and discriminated against to the point where people became prejudice against them. African Americans have many contributions to the American culture. They have taught us that no matter your skin color we all deserve to be treated the same. They have provided us with great talent such as sport talent , musical talent , leadership etc. some of the greatest people in history were African American such as martin Luther king Jr. , Michael Jordan, Rosa parks, president Obama and the list can go on forever. All of these great icons each contributed something to our society and made it what it is today. The prejudice and discrimination was a part of African Americans lives. They were slaves for many years and treated so horribly by slave owners and people in general. Their ancestors suffered on a daily basis and were treated as if they were not humans and do not deserve to live. Thankfully that has past but I still do believe that because of those events people still to this day don’t always accept African Americans. Some people are still prejudice against them; typically find these people in the south which is where the slavery mainly took place. All that I have learned about this group has helped me to understand them and appreciate them even more. A lot of my close friends are African Americans and to know that I am friends with such great people is an honor. I would never treat anyone differently because they don’t look like me no matter the circumstances everyone should be equal. The prejudice and discrimination that both Islam and African Americans experienced is somewhat similar. I believe that they are both discriminated against because of the idea and stereotypes that society has created for their groups. These two groups also are discriminated against because of the way they look and their skin tone. They are different because Muslims are discriminated against because of certain actions that other group members have decided to take part in. African Americans were discriminated against because their ancestors where slaves and they had no control over that because that’s how it was in the past. Discrimination from what I can see is mostly about skin color and differences in cultures and in origins. These groups are perfect examples of this.