Religious Group: Jehovah Witness

Jehovah Witnesses are members of a Christian-based religious movement. They base their beliefs solely on the words written in the Bible and disregard any personal theories. Witnesses separate themselves from the outside world living, working, and educating themselves in a secular way. Celebrations of Easter, Christmas, and Birthdays are non-existent as well as participation of military service, voting and certain civic commitments.

Jehovah Witnesses congregate in a structure referred to as Kingdom Hall. They complete extensive hours of missionary work visiting homes door-to-door delivering their messages.

Jehovah Witnesses believe in living “properly” (i.e. honest, truthful, and sober). They strongly value medical intervention and refuse blood transfusions even in the case of near death.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/witnesses/

* Jehovah Witnesses believe that traditional Christian churches have strayed from the true words * of the Bible and keep a level of isolation between non-believers and themselves. Witnesses * believe that all other religions are “false” and choose to associate with those who are in the * “truth” just like them. In conclusion, Witnesses are basically discouraged from relating with * anyone outside the religion. * http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/witnesses/ * Jehovah Witnesses have entered into multiple court cases to fight for their religious freedoms * and freedom of speech. In doing so, they have brought about a certain degree of religious * freedom for all religions and freedom of speech for all people.. Also, because of their refusal of * blood transfusions, they have led advancements in bloodless surgery procedures. * * * http://people.opposingviews.com/ways-did-jehovahs-witnesses-contribute-american-culture * 8322.html *
Jehovah Witnesses have experienced discrimination due to their beliefs, worship practices, and values. Many people view them as a cult and unpatriotic. Others deem them as being heretics. Finally, they are viewed as being invasive due to their missionary work. Sources of these prejudices are views by the general population of the United States and contributions from television media outlets.

What I have learned about Jehovah Witnesses has helped me understand them. I was aware of some of the beliefs and worship practices but was unaware of the reasoning behind most of them.

Racial/Ethnic Group: Asian (Asian Descent) * Asian refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast * Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. It includes people such as "Chinese", "Filipino", "Indian", * "Vietnamese", "Korean", and "Japanese." Asians currently comprise 4.8% of the U.S. * Population. * * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_American

Members of the Asian racial group differ from other racial/ethnic groups by physical features, language, culture, heritage and in religion.

Asia has great linguistic variety and is comprised of many language isolates. People in a majority of Asian countries speak more than one language, but in Korea for example, only one language is spoken.

One specific religion is not claim by a majority of the Asian population. Those that claim no particular religion is the largest known Asian group and is also the largest of all racial ethnic groups.

Many Asians attempt to immigrate into the United States. Although a majority of Asians immigrate legally, many do so illegally. Asians are the second largest racial/ethnic illegal immigrant group behind Hispanics and Latinos. The first Asians to arrive in the United States were Chinese Filipinos. As immigrant laborers they were excluded from citizenship and created their own communities. Circumstances for Asians throughout the United Stated did not change until after WWII and the Vietnam Conflict. * * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Asia

Asians sometimes encounter issues with adapting into the American culture because of the need to balance traditional cultural ideas. Children are taught about integrity, peace, balance, and harmony which causes certain negative character traits to be bestowed upon them (i.e. appearing indecisive, passive, and indifferent).

* * http://education.byu.edu/diversity/culture.html#asian

Asians tend to keep within other members of their race as to be the most comfortable and not be subjected to any prejudice. Although Asians experience persistent stereotyping and discrimination they still have one of the highest intermarriage rates with other racial/ethnic groups, especially Caucasian Americans in the United States. * http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_2.htm

Medical, educational and sports are all areas in which Asians have made contributions to American Culture. Evidence exists that the Chinese were responsible for the smallpox vaccination. Also, the introduction of Asian immigrants into the medical and dental fields in the United States has triggered an acceptance of other racial/ethnic groups into these occupations. Education is another area which has had contributions by Asians. The level at which Asians perform in school has forced Americans to raise the bar throughout school districts in an attempt to be more competitive globally. Also, Asian immigrants have some of the highest educational qualifications throughout the United States. Finally, Chinese martial arts originated more than 4000 years ago with Western interest in Asian martial arts rising in the end of the 19th century. * * http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/all * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts * * Asians have historically experienced prejudice and discrimination in many forms. The China Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited all Chinese immigration until it was rescinded in 1943. This legal process was the first of many incidents against this group. *
Internet sources such as You Tube and television media outlets have allowed prior prejudice towards Asian to remain as a constant by encouraging false stereotypes and inappropriate jokes. http://socyberty.com/ethnicity/asian-discrimination/2/ What I learned about this racial group helped me understand it further. I obtained information that educated me more than I already was.

Conclusion
The prejudice and discrimination experienced by Jehovah’s Witness’ and Asian groups is similar in that both are valuing or treating a person differently because of a certain aspect of their person.

The prejudice and discrimination experienced by Jehovah’s Witness’ and Asian groups is different in that religious discrimination is based on thoughts or beliefs a person makes by choice toward a certain religion and racial discrimination is based on viewable racial differences that can be seen by everyone and are not a choice .

Two conclusions can be drawn about discrimination from this comparison. First, regardless of the type of discrimination, they all have a theme in common; it involves treatment that is worse than the way people are typically treated. Secondly, discrimination can be blind to a person’s traits or completely based on the way a person appears.