The Social Problem of Religious Racism - Research Paper Example

?Religious or sectarian racism Religious or sectarian racism Introduction General background on social problem: Social problem or a social issue is a matter that relates to society's view of people’s life. Diverse cultures have different views and what may be customary manners in one society may be a major societal problem in another society. Racism is a social issue in societies or rather worldwide. It is when you make somebody else feel expelled from their society and is also being prejudiced or having violent behaviour towards people of a different race, culture or religion (Brewer, 1992). Racism is generally the sense of feeling better or lesser. Due to racism, different people in the society will feel unsafe because of the difference that they might be having. There are different types of racism and they include; racial discrimination, which refers to the separation of people through a process of social division into categories not necessarily connected to races for purposes of degree of difference treatment. There is institutional racism which is racial prejudice by states, corporations, religions, or educational institutions or other big organizations with the authority to control the lives of many people. In this category the most dangerous kind of racism is racism between different people with different religions because there are many wars fought over religious differences Definition of ‘Sociology’ and ‘Sociological imagination’ Sociology is a social science that uses different methods to study human being social affairs and institutions. . Sociology's topic matter is wide, ranging from evil doing to faith, from the relatives to the state, from the divisions of color and social groups to the communal beliefs of a universal way of life, and from social strength to drastic transformation in the whole societies. Unifying the study of these dissimilar subjects of study is sociology's reason of accepting how human achievement and awareness both shape and are formed by neighboring cultural and societal structures. Sociological imagination has a wide range of definitions by different scholars. Definitions differ based on societal circles and are not agreed upon. Therefore it is the vibrant consciousness of the connection linking familiarity and the general public or rather the capability to perceive things in a social context and how they interrelate and manipulate each other The value of sociological imagination Sociological imagination helps people to think from an alternative point of view if a person is being caught in a complicated situation. This allow us to be in a position to obtain new information because it is essential to shatter free from the propinquity of individual situation and locate things into a wider background, quite than subsequent habit. It also helps us to see how the social life really is and it gives us the tools to understand the change that happens around us. It helps us to understand that social outcomes are formed by societal background, actors and traditions, the past and shared events. This shows that the things we do are shaped by the circumstances we are in, the morals we have, the way people around us operate, and how that all relates to some kind of result It enables us to be familiar with the past and sociological meaning of the particular personality in society, mainly in the period in which he has his eminence and his being. According to Barkun, M. (1997), sociological imagination is important in the use of films especially in school to learners because understanding of sociological topics is wide and the use of sociological imagination in films will assist students in adopting a worldwide viewpoint and to deal with issues of race affairs Measured Position/Coherent Argument The main social issue that the paper will focus on is religious or sectarian racism. This has become a major social issue in today’s world and there are many reasons why people bias others based on their religious way of life and for example; People panic what they don't know or appreciate. Occasionally prejudice is deep-rooted in them from childhood. Many people are raised to think that any other religion other than their own is immoral. That is enough cause to treat people of dissimilar beliefs badly Religious discrimination is unequal treatment of an individual or group based on their beliefs. Religious discrimination is connected to religious harassment where majority of believers have been killed, imprisoned or being exiled by people or the government because of their faith. Even in societies where liberty of religion is a legal right, occasionally adherents of religious minorities say concerns about religious unfairness against them. In so far as lawful policies are concerned, cases that are alleged as religious discrimination might be the result of meddling of the religious subject with other spheres of the public that are regulated by law Finn, G. P. (1991) argue that religious racism has become an issue in the world because of the very many religions that exists in the world and each wants to prove or show that it is the best or superior of all. A lot of discrimination is seen between Christianity and Islamic. All matters in Islamic countries for instance are taken by Muslims even the leadership position and they do not recognize the few Christians who are there. On the other hand Christians believe that all the terrorists actions are mainly carried out by people from Arabic counties and as a result have made people believe that all Muslims are capable of such bloodshed because of their religious believes in the jihad war although it is not true. Religious discrimination also exists among the denominations and has brought hatred or enmity Data and Methods According to the Hate Crime data Program of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects data on the subject of criminal offenses that are aggravated in the world by the offender’s prejudice against a race, religion, sexual orientation, traditions origin, or disability and are devoted against people, possessions, or society. There data collection is of two types, the occurrence types and felony types. The incident types have both single -prejudice and multiple-bias hate crimes. A solitary bias incident is an incident in which one or more crime types are aggravated by similar bias. A multiple-bias incident is an incident in which more than one crime type happens and at least two offense types are provoked by dissimilar biases. For instance, out of 6,216 single-bias incidents reported in 2011, 19.8 percent were provoked by religious prejudice and this is according to the FBI statistics analysis. According to Hate crimes provoked by religious bias, they accounted for 1,318 offenses reported by law enforcement. The following were the show lists of the prejudice aggravated of religious-biased offenses in 2011: 62.2 percent were anti-Jewish.13.3 percent were anti-Islamic.5.2 percent were anti-Catholic.4.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.3.7 percent were anti-Protestant. 0.3 percent was anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc. 10.5 percent were anti-other religion (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1979) From the Crusades to the Holocaust, people have second-hand religion as a cause to commit terribly brutal acts against people of different faiths. Many people have been mistreated, tortured and killed because of judgments made about their sacred beliefs. Wars have been fought for centuries over religious differences, like the current war in Syria between different sects of Muslims, and the Six-Day War between Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Syria. Nigeria is also having problems because of religious discrimination. It is between Muslims and Christians Theory A set of statements or ideology devised to clarify a set of truth or phenomena, particularly one that has been frequently tested or is extensively established and can be used to make predictions regarding natural phenomena. Sociological theory is therefore a statement of how and why particular truth about the social world is related. There are various sociological theories for instance functionalist, feminist, critical, labeling, and structural and conflict theory (Coser, 1971). The main theory that would apply to the problem of religious or sectarian racism is conflict theory. Conflict theory emphasizes the function of force and authority in producing societal order. This viewpoint is original from the works of Karl Marx, who saw the world as disjointed into groups that struggle for societal and financial wealth. Social order is maintained by supremacy, with power in the hands of those with the supreme political, economic, and social resources. It also insists that the society can runs because of all the conflict between all the different members of a society and their interests. Conclusion Racism is seen to the most vital issue in the world and there is no true way to resolve it because many people including schorlas, religious learders, sacred books and anti-racism rally have tried but in vein. As individuals we can make sure people are being treated fairly because making people you meet feel happy and cared for is really significant as is what God would expect out of each and every one of us. Also as a person’s we can take part in global Day for the abolition of racial bias. As a community and as a society racism can be resolved by organisations working jointly to encourage positive race relationships. We can also make sure that everyone feels welcomed whenever we meet them References Barkun, M. (1997). Religion and the racist right: The origins of the Christian Identity movement. UNC Press. Brewer, J. D. (1992). Sectarianism and racism, and their parallels and differences 1. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 15(3), 352-364. Coser Lewis (1971). Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context, New York. Finn, G. P. (1991). Racism, religion and social prejudice: irish Catholic clubs, soccer and Scottish society—i the historical roots of prejudice. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 8(1), 72-95. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1979: Religious discrimination. A neglected issue. A consultation sponsored by the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Washington D.C., April 9–10, 1979 Read More