.3 Mainstreaming Multiculturalism

The second thrust I want to talk about is the increased impact of diverse cultures on the mainstream. The American family is no longer white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The real American is a microcosm of the world. There isn't any culture or any people or any ethnic or racial background that isn't American. In the "good old days" (and I say that sarcastically) when the real Americans were all Northern Europeans, we had a way of understanding that which was very simple. You come to America, you join the melting pot, and you become American. Since almost everyone was Caucasian, you couldn't tell the difference between them all very easily anyway. Today, however, there is an increased impact on our society by diverse cultures, and we haven't learned how to deal with that yet. Learning to deal with it is one of the major thrusts of multiculturalism. For example, we are having to come to terms with dealing with multiple religions. It used to be that having a manger scene on the lawn at Christmas time in the town square wasn't an issue. Now when there are non-Christian's in thetown, it is not such an obvious thing to do, and in some towns they ban marketplace manger scenes because it offends some people. I think that is wrong. ( I can say that quite easily because I am not a Christian in the narrow sense. Though I believe in Christ's Divinity, I do it as a Baha'i, not a Christian.) When the majority of people in town are Christian, I feel there is nothing wrong with putting a manger scene in the town square.

If other religious groups wanted to have religious scenes in the park, that is equally acceptable. If people don't like that, then they don't have to go look at it. Society would make an important statement on the values it appreciates by doing this. We need to find a way to appreciate that diversity and to respect it.

I would also have prayers in school, and I would have every member of the class, if they were able to, lead the class in prayer, allowing people to participate however they chose to. If people really didn't like that, they could exempt themselves or come late. To eliminate prayer for everyone simply because there are some people who are offended by it, is wrong in my opinion. (Prayer in School Amendment Update)

In a multicultural society, no one has the right to say "I don't want my kids exposed to other cultures." That is just not feasible, and it is not a correct value. You cannot isolate your children from other values that are legal values in the society. Instead, the family and religious congregation have a responsibility to help their children understand the diversity of values. That way, the children will understand both what their values are and how they are different from other peoples in society. We don't have the luxury of saying, "I don't want my kids exposed to values that are not
mine." We are a multicultural society, and we need to learn how to deal with that gracefully because that's our reality.

	What is one of the major thrusts of multiculturalism?	Answer Here
	The African-American portion of the student population at Hoover High School in New York wants to hold a festival during Black History month. Likewise, the smaller Irish population in the school wants to hold a festival celebrating their heritage near St. Patrick's Day. The religious population at the school wish to hold some sort of Christmas celebration. How can the school keep the peace without stepping on or degrading anyone's heritage?	Answer Here