Religious and Ethnic Groups Paper

It is the intent of this paper to discuss the religious and racial/ethnic groups selected to explain various information that is relate to both groups. Religious group

My selected religious group is Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses differ from other religious groups in their beliefs, worship practices and values in many ways. Some beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses place this religion apart from other Christian denominations, such as limiting the number of people who will go to heaven to 144,000, denying the Trinity doctrine, and rejecting the traditional Latin cross (Zavada, 2013). Jehovah Witnesses have different beliefs when it comes to communion, the Bible, Baptism, contributions, cross, equality, heaven/hell, Evangelism, God, the holy and Christ Jesus (Zavada, 2013).

For instance Jehevah Witnesses belief that communion is the “Lord’s Evening Meal” is a memorial to Jehovah’s love and to Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. The Christians belief that communion is the body and blood of Jesus. Jehovah Witnesses also belief that only a 144,0000 will go to heaven and the other rest of saved human race will live forever on a restored earth. As for the Christians, they belief that all who belief in Jesus and except him as their savior, being born again of the water and the spirit with see Jesus and reign with him in heaven.

The experience of the Jehovah Witnesses having to deal with others that do not belief or share their belief is this. When the Jehovah Witnesses come knocking at individuals doors, people either do not come to the door or they open the door and tell them that they don’t belief in what they are discussing. Most of the Christians who JWs encounter are not ready and become extremely defensive and obnoxious with them. This just encourages the Witnesses to believe they are on the right path.

Ways JW’s have contributed to American culture is “the Jehovah’s Witnesses are natives to the United States with roots dating back to the teachings of Charles Taze Russell, a minister in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the 1870s. The organization does not advertise in the media and strives to remain separate from most popular culture. Still, the members’ passionate proselytizing and a few controversial doctrines have put the group in the spotlight. As a result, the Witnesses have left an imprint in American culture” (Burroughs, 2013, p. 1).

Examples of the prejudice or discriminations JW’s have experienced are numerous. “A Jehovah’s Witness, Jones-Abid balked, saying her religion forbids her from observing Christmas. She was fired the same day in November 2008, according to a discrimination suit filed Thursday in federal court in Raleigh by the U.S.” (Weegy, 2013, p. 1). Another example is “two former teachers are suing the Lee County School District saying their school’s principal discriminated against them and declined to re-hire them after learning they are Jehovah’s Witnesses” (Bhasin, 2012, p. 1).

The sources of the prejudice or discrimination were merely because they refused to participate in Christmas activities being conducted by a group. Not only is this unfair, but it should be a choice not a force to participate. What I have learned about JW’s help me understand it better by researching what they belief and just getting to a better understanding of they have a voice too. JW’s do not force their religious beliefs on others and we having other religious beliefs should not force our religion on them. They have the right to worship and belief whatever they want just like anyone else. Racial/ethnic group

The White group differs from the Black group in many ways. As to differences among races, there are many differences such as head shape and facial features, physical maturity at birth, brain formation and cranial capacity, visual and auditory acuity, body size and scope, number of vertebrae, blood types, bone density, length of gestation period, number and distribution of sweat glands, rate of infant development of alpha brain waves, fingerprints, ability to digest milk, hair forms and distribution, odor, color-blindness, genetic diseases, galvanic skin resistance, pigmentation of the skin and eyes, and vulnerability to infectious diseases. “Whites were said to be three times as likely as blacks to attend a classical music performance, the opera, or the ballet” (jbhe.com, 2013, p. 1). Whites were twice as likely as blacks to attend a musical play or other type of theatrical production. Whites were also twice as likely as blacks to go to an art fair. Whites were also significantly more likely than blacks to attend a dance recital or an art museum (jbhe.com, 2013).

Many criminal prosecutions involve a member of one race attempting to identify a perpetrator who is of another race. The main idea of the other-race effect is that “Eyewitnesses are less likely to misidentify someone of their own race than they are to misidentify someone of another race” (Wells & Olson, 2001, p. 230). For example, if you are White, you are more likely to misidentify someone who is Asian rather than if they were White. An explanation for this is the theory that “They all look alike,” which states that within a person ’s race they recognize the diversity among members, but when it is a member of another racial group the person does not see any real differences. In other words, they see more similarity (Ferguson, Rhodes, Lee, & Sririam, 2001). “They all look alike to me” is what many Whites say when they are faced with members of other races (Sporer, 2001). An example of this would be that to Whites all Asians look alike and to Asians all Whites look alike.

White people in America are all different. They have different experiences and backgrounds; they think and act for themselves. They are not living stereotypes or slaves to their culture. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of a racist organization; its members’ belief in white supremacy has encouraged over a century of hate crime and hate speech. “In January 2006, two girls walked into Burleson High School in Texas carrying purses that displayed large images of Confederate flags. School administrators told the girls that they were in violation of the dress code, which prohibited apparel with inappropriate symbolism or clothing that discriminated based on race” (cnx.org, 2013, p. 1). The sources of this prejudice or discrimination were to promote that one race is better than another and that clothing makes a difference no matter who the person is.

What I have learned about the White group does not really help me to understand anymore than I did when I started the research. I cannot understand hate or discrimination no matter who it is. In conclusion the prejudice and discrimination experienced by the Jehovah Witnesses and the White group are similar in ways of their treatment toward the group based on their belief. The two groups are different because one is based on prejudice to religion and other is based on prejudice due to skin color. The conclusions I can draw about discrimination from this comparison is that everyone should have a choice and others should allow others to express their beliefs. Basically we as humans just need to embrace that we are different and love one another just because it is the right thing to do.

References
Bashin, S. (2012). Former teachers, jehovah’s witnesses file discrimination lawsuit against school district. Retrieved September 17, 2013 from, http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/aug/30/former-teachers-jehovahs-witnesses-file-lawsuit/ Burroughs, D. (2013). What Ways Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Contribute to American Culture? Retrieved September 18, 2013 from, http://people.opposingviews.com/ways-did-jehovahs-witnesses-contribute-american-culture-8322.html Ferguson, D. P., Rhodes, G., Lee, K., & Sriram, N. (2001). They all looks alike to me. Prejudice and cross-race face recognition. British Journal of Psychology, 92, 567-577 Retrieved September 18, 2013 from, http://www.weegy.com/?ConversationId=A5362253 Retrieved September 19, 2013 from, http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/58_cultural_divide.html Retrieved September 19, 2013 from, http://cnx.org/content/m42860/latest/?collection=col11407/latest Sporer, S., L. (2001). The cross-race effect. Beyond recognition of faces in the laboratory. Psychology Public Policy and Law, 7, 170-200 Wells, G. L., & Olson E. A. (2001). The other-race effect in eyewitness identification: What do we do about it? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,7, 230-246 Zavada, J. (2013). Jehovah’s witnesses beliefs and practices. Retrieved September 18, 2013 from, http://christianity.about.com/od/jehovahswitnesses/a/jwbeliefs.htm