Fighting Social Conformity through Religious Literacy

Abstract

Initially colonized to escape religious persecution, the United States, also known as “the melting pot” around the world, is known for religious diversity as a result of immigration waves through history. According to a breakdown by Pew Research Center in 2014, while Christianity and Catholicism both held a majority, immigrant populations practicing beliefs such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, to name a few, also significantly influence the social makeup of the US. In fact, around 14% of the US, today is made up of immigrants and while this is a significant amount, they are still the minority in a heavily Christian and Catholic nation. With this change in the social environment over time, researchers like Kay-Deaux have witnessed social tensions stirring up and starting an important conversation on what it means to be American. Many times, this means the forced conformity of the minority to the majority. According to Michael Jones-Correa from the University of Pennsylvania, immigrants are forced to go through the assimilation process which forces them to conform to mainstream American values. One of the biggest impacts of this assimilation process is that immigrants are forced to slowly abandon their beliefs and traditions and the biggest motivation to conform is the violence associated with immigrant populations.   In 2017, major US cities such as NYC, D.C., and LA all reported an increase in hate crime which accurately depicts the fallout these social tensions have on immigrants. Many times, this includes physical or sexual assault. These hate crimes come out of a place of fear and uncertainty that immigrants “supposedly” bring to the American identity and the reserach clearly shows social tensions in the US today. Thus, we must ask: To what degree should state legislators address the social instability caused by religiosity in the United States?