Religion and Race
The United States of America is made up of many different religions and races. America is a melting pot, and many of these religions and races are discriminated against. The Latter-Day Saints, or Mormon’s, have been looked down upon since they were first founded in the 1800’s. People in the US often are prejudice and discriminate against Hispanics. Some people think they are better than certain races and religions, where others just do not take the time to understand them and see that the person is not that different.
The Latter-Day Saints believe in most of the same things that other Christian’s do. They believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that there is a Heaven. When Joseph Smith first founded the religion, God came to him to write the book of Mormon. God also told Joseph that polygamy was the way to Celestial Kingdom. Polygamy was later renounced in 1890. The Latter-Day Saints say that before a person is born he lived with the Heavenly Father and knew Him well. According to Bushman, many American Historians have been interested and confused by Mormons (The Mormon Story, 2012).
The media calls them a cult and does not consider Mormons to be Christian. They are the third most hated group in American following Muslims and Buddhists. “The Latter-Day Saints are viewed as aberrant, bizarre, isolated, and largely self-contained religious movement cut off from the mainstream of American society (Reiss, 2011).” Many still think of the Mormons as polygamists. In the 1800’s, they were kicked out of several cities and states because they practiced polygamy. Joseph Smith was often harassed. He was once beaten and arrested on false charges, and then he was murdered. Even after polygamy was denounced, people still saw The Latter-Day Saints as polygamists. In 2011 Warren Jeffs, the leader of the polygamist practicing Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault on two young girls that he took as his brides. Many American’s believe that he was part of The Latter-Day Saints, and therefore, they are just as guilty. People do not understand that The Latter-Day Saints do not associate with The Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints in any way. Mormon’s beliefs are not that different than any other Christian religion. Knowing that the Latter-Day Saints have a lot of the same values that I do as a Southern Baptist, helps me understand that they are not that different from me. They have a lot of the same morals and believe in God just the same as I do. I would not look at a Mormon any differently than I would someone practicing Southern Baptist.
Hispanics have a wide range of traditions. They celebrate many different holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Dia de Murtos, Dia de los Reyes Magos, and here in the US César Chávez holiday. Hispanic’s food is very different than other races. Some of the foods that it is found in Hispanics homes are rice, beans, tortillas, many different spices, garlic, and peppers. Hispanics are known to have big families that are tight net and stick together. Hispanics are often thought of being at