Religion and Multicultural Society

Key Terms

Immigration- Moving from another country to live in the UK 

Diversity- Differences in customs religious beliefs or opinions

Asylum Seeker- A person who is seeking to be recognised as a refugee and hopes to be given permission to stay in another country

Intergration- Different communities starting to live and work together as equals

'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's'

'Love your neighbour as yourself'

The main reasons as to why Britain has attracted people from all over the world are: 

• Escape from persecution 
• Freedom to practice their religion 
• Invasion 

Advantages 

• A wide variety of cuisine
• Helps people to overcome prejudice and misconceptions
• Better public services (doctors, cleaners, care workers, nurses) 

Disadvantages

• Prejudice between members of different cultures
• Commnuication when different language are spoken
• A tendency to blame immigrants for high unemployment and lack of housing 

Should religion and politics be mixed? 

Christians- Christians in Politics is an organisation who believe that in order to have a say on important moral issues, e.g. abortion, Christians must be involved. Other believe the two shouldn't be mixed. 

Islam- A specific political party, the Islamic Party of Britain has been formed, Muslim political parties rule several countries, such as Iran. 

Asylum Seekers

Most religious believers support giving asylum to those who are fleeing from persecution.

Amnesty International campaigns for the safety and protection of asylum seekers in the UK and other countries. 

Faith Communities

Christianity & Hope- Hope 2008 aims to encourage all Christian nominations to wrok together to serve the whole community by giving support to non-religious organisations and taking part in activities to help create a sense of belonging. 

Hope Together- Try to spread the word aboiut Jesus. Together lots of churches work together putting their faith into action. Some of the events that are held are, praise celebrations, fun days, strret clean- ups and sports ministries.

Isalm: Regent's Park Mosque- Provices the Islamic Cultural Centre who provide many services for the local Muslim community. Advice is given on marriage, divorce etc. 

Festivals

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are bank holidays. 

Businesses benefit from Christmas shopping- the economy in general benefits. 

Families get together to eat seasonal food and exchange presents. 

Eid-ul-Fitr- the festival at the end of Ramadan. The poor benefit because money is given to those in need at the mosque. In Britain, Eid is not a public holiday, but areas of the country have large Muslim populations and schools and businesses often allow the Muslim community time off to celebrate. 

Diwali - The Festival of Light. In Britain, Hindus and Sikhs, clean and decorate their homes with lamps and candles. Sweets are given and many people exchange gifts through the post with reletives in India. 

Many non- Hindus and Sikhs also celebrate this festival, and Leicester has one of the biggest celebrations outside India.