Is a Multi-Cultural Society a Blessing? Essay

â€Å"A multi-cultural society is a blessing†. This is an assertion alleged by many. But is it true? Does the old regulation â€Å"The more, the better† really count here? And what on earth is a multi-cultural society? A multi-cultural society is a society containing several representations of different cultures. To understand it better, we also will need to be aware of what both a society and a culture really is. According to Wikipedia, a society is: a population of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions. And then you have a culture, which is a way of life, including traditions, manners, eating habits, and not least beliefs and religion, which I am going to go further into. This list could go on forever, but for you sake, it will not, this time. So there you have the basics. Now, let us dive deeper into to whether this plea is true or not. From my point of view, or let us say from the article’s point of view, the whole world’s population together not only forms one, great society, but a multi-society. And in this society, there are Native Indians, Africans, Asians, poor people, rich people Christians and Buddhists, and so on. You will properly wonder how and where all these cultures originated. Well, the first points I guess you can imagine yourselves. But when we move on to religion, it all comes down to the East, thousands of years before Christ. This is also the origin of God or gods, as many of us still believe in. Polytheism, Pantheism and Monotheism are considered being the first beliefs with religious attributes as we know it today. These phenomenas have evolved, and also created new types of beliefs, and these beliefs, or religions, are the main differences between the global cultures. So now we can start discussing the phrase â€Å"A multi-society is a blessing†, with religion as a key word. All known religions promote peace, and tells us to avoid violence at all costs. Still, I will claim and blame religion for most of the wars and conflicts ever occurred on this planet. If you study deeply into the reasons of many of the greatest wars, you will discover that different perspectives on life, beliefs, will be involved in the cause of  the terrifying violence. When people have different beliefs, they also have different opinions of what is right and wrong. Therefore, there will be misunderstandings, resulting conflicts. Now how can we avoid these conflicts erupting? As Martin Luther King said; it is natural to fear the unknown, therefore, get to know the unknown, and each other’s standpoint. (Magnus Pettersen, last paragraph. Note: This is not an exact quote of Martin Luther King, only a pointer.) But of course, now I make religion sound like the root to all evil, and that it only destroys the society, which it is not right. Religion can be a good thing too, it only depends on what you make out of it. I myself am an atheist, a person who does not believe in any god or over natural power, and I got to admit, I long for the comfort of â€Å"knowing† that when I die, I will be reborn, or end up in heaven. So it is understandable that people search for this calmness in different religions. You too properly believe in something, even if you do not consider yourself as religious. So to the question, what good does religions do to our society? It adds several perspectives on why we humans are here, what the meaning of life is and what happens to us after death, questions that are healthy for us to wonder about. It also teaches us, as mentioned before, to live in peace, and avoid violence. After all, most religions have their core maxim â€Å"Treat others the same way you want them to treat you†. (Bible, Luke 6:31) I think we can conclude that a multi-culture both can be a blessing, and a living hell. It all depends on how literally you take your own, and other’s culture, if you are open for other’s points of views, and if you can live knowing that people around you always will have different ways to live their own life. Sources: http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-of-religion.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=7031 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism