I’m working on a English question and need guidance to help me study.

Choose one of the following incidents involving religious freedom.

1. A Jainist student attending public high school has requested that the cafeteria staff clearly list the contents of each dish so that he can be certain he does not eat any animal products.
2. Native American members of a church want to be allowed to ingest peyote because this drug has historically been part of their religious rituals.
3. Following his baptism, a Sikh student wants to wear his required symbolic knife (kirpan) to school.
4. An employee who is a Seventh-Day Adventist wants to be excused from work every Saturday because it is their Sabbath.

Describe how each of the different perspectives on diversity (Anglo-conformism, melting pot, separatism, and pluralism) would assess the situation.

• Are the individual’s rights to behave in accordance with their faith in danger of being violated?
• How do you think the incident should be resolved?
• Remember to respond to two of your classmates’ initial posts with your own opinions and ideas.

comment 1

A Jainist student attending public high school has requested that the cafeteria staff clearly list the contents of each dish so that he can be certain he does not eat any animal products.

Jainism is an Indian religion that have the belief that all animals, plants, and humans contain living souls that should be treated with respect and compassion. This belief helps them practice life as a vegetarian and minimize the world’s resources (BBC, 2014). With the anglo-conformism perspective, it would require that the Jainist student should conform to the values and norms of the Anglo founders and abandon any beliefs to accommodate American ways (Koppelman, 2020). With the melting pot perspective, the Jainist student would blend their beliefs to create an American identity that was accepted by the White people (Koppelman,2020). With the separatism perspective, the Jainist student would be categorized as their own kind, causing hostility for the Jainist student. The public school would not accommodate to their beliefs as they should be at a school that is strictly Jainist. Pluralism promotes equal coexistence in diverse cultures where the Jainist student would not be forced to abandon their culture and with the diversity of the United States, public schools would consider the contents of the dish (Koppelman, 2020). With the anglo-conformism, melting pot, and separatism perspectives, the individual’s rights to behave in accordance with their faith was in danger of being violated. With the pluralism perspective, it is not. It is extremely important to fulfill a student’s religious beliefs and keep diversity a norm in public schools. Many students would need the contents of each dish, not only for religious reasons, but for medical reasons. There are many individuals that practice being vegan/vegetarian or are lactose intolerant and would need to know what contents are in the dishes. Public schools should consider including menu details for students to resolve this incident. Schools and students must work together to accommodate to individual rights as education is a significant necessity in the United States and we want students to attend school and be satisfied with their experience.

Jainism at a glance. (2014). BBC. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/ataglance/glance.shtml

Koppelman, K. L. (2020). Understanding human differences: multicultural education for a diverse America (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.

comment 2

An employee who is a Seventh-Day Adventist wants to be excused from work every Saturday because it is their Sabbath.

The perspectives regarding diversity are quite different, and are all distinctive concepts that can be used to either adapt to, or from other cultures. In regards to our prompt, I chose to expand on an employee who requested to be excused from work every Saturday due to their religion.

Anglo-conformism focuses on the theory that immigrants should adapt to the position and idea that immigrants should learn English, adjust to numerous norms, values and institutions as a way of conformity to integral society. According to this perspective, the employer would deny the individual their rights to their preferred religion, as it is not what is primarily practiced in society. This would essentially require immigrants to vacate their religion and/or culture, which is not really an ethical take on “freedom”. “Such requirements for immigrants to abandon their culture and maintain the homogeneous American did help in achieving acculturation but structural assimilation was not truly successful” (Anglo-Conformity, 2018). This theory would definitely cause the individuals faith to become violated and potentially relinquished.

Melting pot, much like its name; symbolizes the melting of other religions or cultures. The fusion of different cultures, races, ethnicities and nationalities through an idealized process led to this new ideal republic. According to research conducted, “Large numbers of immigrant groups such as Jews, poles and Italians arrived (start of 1890s) but were to merge their cultures through the cultural melting pot hence accepting American lifestyles” (Anglo-Conformity, 2018). This is no way to recognize and acknowledge the different cultures or ethnicities that make up the United States. “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men” (Koppelman, 2020). It creates the idea that there is no need for different cultures or religions, as the thought of a new formed race would be more superior to others. The employer would most likely reject the individual their right to practice their religion, and would deny the request to have Saturday off. He would most likely be encouraged to assimilate himself to the culture and norms of the prevailing major society, which would definitely become a violation of his rights.

Separatism involves the thought process that is essentially a way to divide cultures and ethnicities by separating them from others. It is quite unfortunate that this is even a consideration, as it sounds like a way to just isolate people from one another in order to avoid hostility. It is basically segregation, and a means of separating different ethnicities, and just rings the bell of racism over all. This thought process is the foulest from the others, and definitely needs reconsideration before it is adapted anywhere. This would definitely snip any chance of the employer allowing the employee to take a day off, especially in efforts to practice their religion. I would mostly be surprised at the thought of the employer even hiring this individual, as it doesn’t really conform to the ideology of separatism.

In regards to a resolution, the first three ideologies mentioned do not allow the employee to practice their religion freely, and banishes them from having their own personal belief system in place. There really isnt a resolution to ignorance, so the best course of action would be for this employee to quit this job, and find an employer who sides more with pluralism in society.

As I mentioned above, Pluralism gives the best opportunity to this employee. This theory allows Multiple cultures to co-exist, and blend amongst one another. The concept of groups co-existing is beneficial, as the United States is made up of so many different ethnicities and cultures. This would allow the employer to understand that the individual has rights in place, and he/she would have no problem allowing him to take Saturday off for their religious beliefs. This ideology would essentially allow for all individuals to live peacefully in one community, without the need to conform to “normal” protocols or preferences.

References:

Anglo Conformity: Theory of Assimilation History. (November 2018). Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/anglo-conf…

Koppelman, K. L. (2020). Understanding human differences: multicultural education for a diverse America (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.