Analyzing Religion
Diversity and World Cultures | HUM215
Argosy University

Abstract
Religions have become the structure of many people lives. Religions are practiced over the world by various creeds, colors, races, and ethnicities. For individuals religion gives a feeling of fitting in and showing appreciation to something or someone who has given them the gift of life. This is a topic that can be touchy for some. More awareness of other religions should be spread amongst religions and their members or followers. Religion can divide people instead of bringing them together; everyone should love others equally. This is a very controversial issue that I will discuss in-depth.

In today’s society there are so many different religions and beliefs. Most people are a part of a religion they can relate to or that they believe is morally correct. Religion has become one of the top organizations to create structure and balance in ones’ life. Religion can be found across the entire world; some religions are practiced in multiple parts of the world. In this paper it will analyze two monotheist religions, first by describing some of the things they share in common and their differences. In addition each religion’s history, rituals, doctrines, and beliefs will be examined. Jehovah witnesses are a smaller group of people who believes in Christianity but does not believe in the same traditions, rituals and doctrines as other Christians like non-denominational Christians. This group was founded in 1852-1916 by a man name C.T. Russell. Russell, thought the teachings of Christianity was unreal and fictitious. When he read the bible he didn’t believe in the “Trinity”. The “Trinity” is as a form of polytheism where Jesus came in three different forms. Witnesses do not acknowledge the name Jesus or Holy Spirit. The group has created their own publications and readings for their members. The first volume of publications was written by C.T. Russell. The name of the magazine is “Zion’s Watchtower”. In the magazines the Watchtower it gives more understanding and interpretation of Jehovah and his who he was. For them the Bible is a dark book with hidden meanings and therefore requires assistance in interpretation (Stein, 2011). Any book with hidden messages or needs translation is “evil”. They spread their views through conversations, through their literature by passing them put to people on the streets, and having studies. Jehovah witnesses do not partake in anything that deals with the government, churches and businesses; they hold their services in halls. Holidays like birthdays and Christmas, any branch of the military and etc. is not a part of their beliefs. Once a year there is 144,000 members elected to participate in a big ceremony. Due to their beliefs and practices members of this organization have experienced economic hardships. The Nation of Islam is said to have been founded in 1930 by a man name Wali Farrad Muhammad in Detroit, Michigan. The teachings of Muhammad, was black separatism, Islam, and his own beliefs. He promoted black supremacy and encouraged blacks to practice Islam instead of Christianity; a religion that he felt was forced upon African Americans during slavery. Farad suddenly disappeared from Detroit in 1934, leadership of the group he founded was passed to his trusted associate, Elijah Muhammad (Remington, 2003). Elijah spread NOI across city to city and it became a national recognized religion primarily amongst blacks. When Elijah died his son take over the Nation and begun to change the views and beliefs his dad had previously taught. He decided to teach the followers to love all mankind and allow other ethnicities the chance to join the NOI. Initially the NOI wasn’t following the book of the Qur’an but now they do. The Qur’an is a scared book for all Muslims, in the Qur’an it deems the creator and leader as Allah. The NOI hold teachings in “Temples”. The members of the nation promoted education, economic self-sufficiency, anti-drug usage, eating pork, and consuming alcohol. The organization opened businesses and provided followers with jobs so they could become independent. The leaders used the media and word of mouth method to recruit other people. They also, dictated the ideal roles for the women and men of each households. The men were the head of households and provided financially for their families. The women would be care takers for the children and husbands. They stayed at home and did the wifely duties; women couldn’t wear clothes that were too revealing or even pants or shorts. These two religions have similar views, both of them only believe in serving one God. They also, believe in not creating a visual image to represent or symbolize God. Both religions have places they go at least once a week to practice their beliefs with others followers or members. These religions differ because they refer to the same God by two different names. These religions co-exist because they respect one another. Neither religion is down playing the other one, they only promote their religions in hopes to gain new people. Religion holds importance in most people lives. Someone’s religion is usually what has been passed on from generation to generation. Even though there are different religions they all are similar in some way. No religion is right or wrong or better than the next one.

References Nation of Islam. (2008). In R. Juang and N. Morrissette (Eds.), Africa and the Americas: Culture, politics, and history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from: http://libproxy.edmc.edu/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/content/entry/abcafatrle/nation_of_islam/0 Remington, T. (2003). Nation of Islam. In P. Knight (Ed.), Conspiracy theories in American history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from: http://libproxy.edmc.edu/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/content/entry/abcconspir/nation_of_islam/0 Stein, S. (2011). Jehovah's witnesses. In I. McFarland, D. Fergusson, & K. Kilby (Eds.), Cambridge Dictionary of Christian theology. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: http://libproxy.edmc.edu/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/content/entry/cupdct/jehovah_s_witnesses/0