Religious and Ethnic Identities - Essay Example

So, religious and ethnic identities can have positive or negative effect upon individual and societies. Thesis statement: Within a closed group, religious and ethnic identities have a positive effect upon individuals and societies but within an open (say, multiracial and multicultural) context, the same leads to negative effect upon individuals and societies. Religious and ethnic identities: positive or negative effect? As pointed out, religious and ethnic identities have a positive or negative effect on individual and societies in varied situations.

To be specific, within one’s religion/community, religious and ethnic identities have a positive effect because it leads to cohesion and co-operation among the members. On the other side, within a multiracial context, religious and ethnic identities have a negative effect upon individuals and societies because there is high possibility for discrimination and marginalization based upon identity. A. Effect of religious and ethnic identities on individuals One can see that religious identity of an individual can undergo change.

For instance, conversion from a particular religion can change one’s religious identity. At the same time, religious identity is a part of one’s ethnic identity. . ?One major reason why ethnic identities remain important for many ethnic minority people is that, in many situations, they are still subject to forms of racism and reminded of their difference” (141). One can easily identify that religious and ethnic identities of an individual can promote one’s acceptability within his or her personal/ public domain.

For instance, one’s involvement in religious rituals and social gatherings ensure acceptance from other members of the same religion/ community. On the other side, an immigrant’s religious and ethnic identities, within a less flexible context lead to a number of problems like alienation, discrimination and marginalization. For instance, a nation with rigid religious belief may not show acceptance towards an immigrant’s religious and ethnic identities. Within this context, the immigrant will be forced to undergo a number of problems related to his or her religious and ethnic identities.

From a different angle of view, the foretold problem is faced by individual who are newly converted to a religion. When one’s religious identity undergo change, there exists high possibility for the problem of non-acceptance in one’s private and public domains. To be specific, religious identity exerts less pressure upon an individual in a liberal social setting. There are many nations where a number of religions flourish without any problem related to one’s religious identity. But an individual’s ethnic identity is much more complex than one’s religious identity because the same is interconnected with one’s real identity in the society.

Kostov states that “Democratic societies facilitate the emergence of multiple identities and modern technologies allow both large and small ethnic diasporas to survive and keep in