Comparative Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparative Culture - Essay ExampleAs Corrigan et al. (2003) suggest, one of the founding principles of this fundamental law is that at that place will be no official state morality. The first amendment to the Constitution clearly states sexual intercourse shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . . Thus there is no official the Statesn religion, nor can the practice of any religion be banned. While to a greater extent than 80% of the American population profess to be Christian, there are literally hundreds of religions practices freely in America (Corrigan, 2003).While numerous Americans accept religious belief as a guiding didactics within their lives there is, in general, a great deal of tolerance regarding the practice of opposing beliefs. America was in part founded and populated by successive groups of people who were escaping religious persecution in their home countries, and thusly tolerance is ingrained w ithin even the most devout believers of one faith or other (Shea, 2003).In contrast, more than 95% of Iraqis are Muslim. This figure alone might suggest that religion could be used as a unifying force within a country that appears on the cake to be hopelessly fragmented. Unfortunately this is not the case. Iraq is divided between three different religious blocs the Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds. For many a(prenominal) years the mutual antipathy between these three groups was kept essentially frozen by the dictatorial, inhuman regime of Sadaam ibn Talal Hussein. This situation has changed with the American invasion of Iraq and the subsequent fragmentation of the country into rival factions, often found upon religion.Thus many Iraqis encounter more allegiance to their religious group than they do to the country of Iraq. They feel Sunni, Shia or Kurd in a deeper way than they identify themselves as Iraqi. The Sunni were in the minority, but were privileged with this Hussein regim e as he was a Sunni. The Sunni now find themselves virtually powerless (Algar, 2004). The Shia enjoy a majority position as far as numbers and have a number of attractive religious leaders, but they are torn by internal strife. Thus many Iraqis essentially privation a secular society based upon some version of Western democracy, while the more theocratic elements in all three of the major groups would like to see a theocracy built up. In many ways religion in Iraq is presently being used, both intentionally and unintentionally, as a gas for violence. Al Quaida deliberately uses its supposed fight for Muslim values against the West as a impregnable recruiting tool for new fighters. Both Sunni and Shia forces have killed one another in the name of defending their suffer particular brand of Islam. The Kurds seek independence at least partially based upon religious difference.To conclude, religion is an important aspect of life in both America and Iraq. But because the one is a sta ble, muscular country and the other one a region essentially on the brink of civil war, the equality ends there. __________________________________________Works CitedAlgar, Hamid. Religion and Politics in Iraq Shiite Clerics Between Quietism and Resiustance. Pustaka, New York 2004. Corrigan, John. Hudson, Winthrop. Religion in America. Prentice-Hall, New