Diversity in American culture Essay Example for Free

Diversity in American culture Essay The American culture is one of the outstanding cultures in nature compared with other cultures of the world. The culture of the American people can be regarded as being diversified in nature. (Bernstein N, 2001). The diversity of the American culture is attributed by the fact that America is composed of many ethnic groups with different global origin. The diversity has been found to occur in the dressing habits, eating habits, marriages habits and religion in nature. America has a unique history in nature since it was a founded world which is currently composed of the African –American, White-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and the Indian –Americans. The diversity of the American culture has a lot of controversies which has come into a lot of criticism by the public in general. This paper will try to evaluate the religious diversity among the American people at the same it will try to bring out the driving forces behind this religion diversity. Consequently it will analyze the effects of the religious diversity to the American people. The religious diversity in America has been contributed by the immigration laws which encourage the religious freedom which has created the religious tolerance of the American people. According to Becvar, D. S (1997) â€Å"perhaps the most extreme case of religious pluralism in the world. † . Moreover the American constitution has consequently protected the religious rights of its members. The first amendment of The USA has consequently promoted the right of free worship without any interruptions. Thus the religious diversity has been promoted by the democratic government of the United States of America which has tried to encourage the immigration and at the same time guarating the religious freedom of its citizens. The American religious culture is made of many religious sects. The religious groups which are presently found in America includes the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Budhism other minority religions (Bullis K, 1996). The religious diversity in the United States of America has proved to be so important to the society in nature, for instance there are a lot of intermarriages between the religious groups. By promoting the intermarriages, harmony is created in the world. The America of today has undergone some radical changes which have created a new America with new religious landscape. Nowdays the number of the immigrants has increased in to a great existent than before. The most growing group which has migrated in larger number is the Hispanics and the Asian groups. Most of the American people have not noticed the radical changes which the religious sector is undergoing in the recent times. We need to focus on such changes and realize that the religious field is currently under metamorphosis. Although the United states of America was being regarded as being a Christian nation, it has become to light that the Muslims have started to increase in their numbers, moreover the Buddhist religion has taken roots in the American land for example the Los Angeles city is a Buddhist city which is recognized as the most concentrated Buddhist city having the immigrants from India,China,Korea and sri lanka. At the same time the immigrants from the Latin America such as from Mexico, Brazil and Spain to the United States of America cities has promoted the growth of the Christianity of the Catholic and the protestant community. According to history the American land has been composed of many religions. The United States of America is undergoing a change in the religious practices. Most of the adults are nowadays have started to change their religious believes from the Christianity since the start of the First World War. However most of the American adults have started to identify themselves with some specific religion. But it has been established that the United States of America is currently losing its protestant members due to the fact that most of the Protestants were executed during the Second World War. The gender ratio has consequently affected the religious groups. It is estimated that 38% -39% of the religious believers are women. moreovcer most of the Muslims are men since the Muslim society allows only men to worship in the mosques, thus the religious practices has been found to affect the number of the believers. The religious believers in the United States of America have been found to affiliate themselves with the political parties. For example the Christian believers affiliate themselves to the Democrat, Republican and the Independents respectively. 56% of those who are the Assemblies of God have preferred to affiliate themselves with the Republican party while 56% of the Jews have preferred the Democratic party. (Burke T,2005). The religious diversity in the United States of America has profound effects on the way people are living. The religion has consequently affected the dressing codes of the individuals, the eating habits of the individuals and the social associations of the involved candidates. On the first case religion has been found to influence the dressing codes of people, for example the Muslim women wears long clothes which are made so that they can not have the direct contact with their male counterparts as it’s believed that it’s a taboo to for the Muslim women to have direct contact with men. At the same time the Hindu men wears what they refer as â€Å"dhoti†. The Christians women on the other hand have a tendency of wearing the trousers and sometimes skirts. Thus it can be concluded that the dressing codes in the United States of America has been influenced by the religion individuals have affiliated themselves to. The religious diversity in the United States of America has influenced the eating habits of the people of the United States of America. Many of the African-Americans are mainly Protestants and hence they have no strict eating habits (Canda. K, 1998). But other Christian members who belong to some sects such as the seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah witness have a lot of the eating restricness. At the same time some Muslim communities are prohibited from eating some foods such as the pork. Consequently the Hindus are prohibited from taking beef which they believe that it is a sacred animal in their religion. In conclusion it can be determined that religion is continuing to play one of the major roles in most people. The United States of America is secular increasingly, youve got African groups who bring another dimension of diversity. in nature and this phenomenon has spread in many states. Baer, H. A (1984) quoted that† In Southern California, weve got virtually everyone, Roof said. If you want an indicator of how much diversity there is in Southern California, there are approximately 100 different ethnic Buddhist groups here. With Latinos, its similar. With Islam, you get scores of nationalities†. The diversity of the religious believes among the Americans will continue to affect the daily activities of the Americans. References Baer, H. A. (1984). The Black spiritual movement: A religious response to racism. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Becvar, D. S. (1997). Soul healing: A spiritual orientation in counseling and therapy. New York: Basic Books. Bernstein, N. (2001). The lost children of Wilder: The epic struggle to change foster care. New York: Vintage Books. Bullis, R. K. (1996). Spirituality in social work practice. Washington, DC: Taylor Francis. Burke, M. T. (2005). Religious and spiritual issues in counseling: Applications across diverse populations. New York: Brunner-Rout ledge. Canada, E. R. (Ed. ) (1998). Spirituality in social work: New directions. New York: Haworth Pastoral Press.