Explain the changing nature of international religions in the post–war era.


5. Explain the changing nature of international religions in the post –war era.

Introduction

Contrary to what many observers predicted within the 1960s and early 1970s, religion has remained as vibrant and vital a neighborhood of yank society as in generations past. New issues and interests have emerged, but religion's role in many Americans' lives remains undiminished. Perhaps the one characteristic that distinguishes late-twentieth-century religious life from the remainder of America's history, however, is diversity. To trace this development, we must reminisce to the 1960s. like many aspects of yank society, the 1960s proved a turning point for religious life also .
The 1960s "revolution" has perhaps been exaggerated over the years. Studies show, as an example , that while an outsized vocal minority of mostly middle- and upper-middle-class college students challenged traditional institutions and mores, many of their peers remained as committed to old-time moral and non secular values as ever.

Ethnic-Religious Communities

Along with the new "seeker" spirituality, another sign of the dismantling of a monolithic "Protestant America" is that the increasing celebration of spiritual particularity through the championing of ethnic identity, the politics of multiculturalism, and therefore the growing communities of "new immigrants" from Latin America and Asia (those who moved to the us since immigration restrictions were lifted within the landmark Immigration Act of 1965).
In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement provided a context for celebrating non-Anglo ethnicity for the primary time. By the mid-1970s an ethnic revival celebrating the roots of African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, American Jews, and Asian Americans spawned. Suddenly non-Anglo, non-Protestant Americans were valorizing their own ethnicity, religions, and histories. within the 1980s, a politicized version of ethnic celebration emerged within the ideals of "multiculturalism," a philosophy of multiethnicity that sees America composed of a wonderfully diverse group of communities ineradicable in their ethnic character. Replacing the already old notion of America because the melting pot nation, or a citizenry bound together by a group of universalistic values (e.g., democracy, equality, justice), multiculturalism argues for the sweetness of diversity, the essentialist nature of ethnic identity, and thus the need for cultural pluralism. we should always encourage ethnic communities to celebrate their own histories, cultural distinctives, and non secular traditions (Afrocentrism and bilingual education, for instance, are two key policies of the multicultural agenda).

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With the amount of immigrants from Latin America and Asia only growing within the 1990s, the difficulty of spiritual diversity or cultural pluralism looms larger than ever. Spanish speakers, for instance , will soon outnumber English speakers within the state of California. Southeast Asians are making their home on both coasts and within the heartland also (Laotians and therefore the Hmong have established thriving communities in wintry Wisconsin and Minnesota).
A wholly new religious space is being carved call at the American landscape—a space that has little to try to to with the normal ethnic divide between black and white or the religious division of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew. This religious site is different, too, from the New Age seekers and spiritual shoppers of the boomer generation. Americans are getting to be exposed to multiple ethnic and "Two-Thirds" world religions as never before. While certain portions of the intellectual elite are fascinated with the world's "great religions" (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam) since the mid-nineteenth century, these traditions haven't penetrated Main Street America. By the top of this century, however, Americans will increasingly encounter Buddhist neighbors, Muslim colleagues, and Hindu businessmen. These "foreign" religions will not be simply descriptions in class textbooks or exotic movie subjects. Indeed, advocates of cultural pluralism hope that the new religions will become the maximum amount a neighborhood of the American Way as historically Protestant orthodoxy.

Religion within the Public Square

Another area during which the range of up to date American religion manifests itself is within the escalating battles fought within the courts over religious practice within the public square. Most legal battles over religion focus on interpretations of the primary Amendment's religion clause: "Congress shall make no law respecting an institution of faith , or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." the problems commonly raised, thus, concern questions on the "separation of church and state" (especially as violated by traditionally privileged Protestantism) and therefore the free exercise of faith (especially as sought by minority traditions). Litigation and disputes over the primary Amendment have increased dramatically since the 1970s and continue unabated today.

Historically, the courts are loathe to rule on disputes within religious groups, questions concerning what constitutes "religion," and therefore the legitimacy of private religious practices. Concerning the free exercise of faith , however, the courts have intervened when traditional welfare questions or "common good" policies are involved. Under "traditional welfare," for instance , Jehovah's Witnesses are ordered to grant blood transfusions for his or her children, Christian Science parents are convicted for refusing medical aid for his or her children, and therefore the marriages of kid brides are prohibited despite being customary practice among certain Hindu sects. The courts, then, will rule against certain religious practices once they believe a child's welfare is in serious jeopardy. "Common good" policies have led the Supreme Court to rule against the sacramental use of peyote by Oregon Indians. Protecting antidrug laws is taken into account absolutely necessary (i.e., banning certain drugs regardless of what their usage) for the larger "common good" of the state .


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