Traditional Influence

            The United States, without a doubt, is composed of a variety of ethnicities from around the world. This nation is comprised of people who have sought a better life for themselves and their families, so by immigrating to the United States, they attempt to achieve socioeconomic stability for themselves and their future generations to come. People don’t just simply migrate from place to place based on their free will; there is always a reason for why one decides to leave their home and search for a different place to live. Unfortunately, the most common reasons why people choose to migrate are due to religious or economic constraints that they are facing. These constraints can range from uncontrollable world events to a backlash from U.S. citizens opposing the migration of a certain ethnicity. Instead of being persecuted for one’s beliefs or lying around waiting for a miracle to arrive, it makes logical sense for people to search elsewhere for a location where they can live the life they choose to live freely and peacefully. Adjusting to a new social environment is by far the most difficult thing for new incoming immigrants to do in part due to the turbulent responses that they receive for importing their culture and traditions to the U.S. from their native land. The possibility for a numerous amount of religions to harmoniously coexist in the United States is something that isn’t out of range it just requires time and education for those unfamiliar to the new beliefs. By having practitioners and committed members educate people who aren’t familiar with their diverse traditions, those who are uninformed will commence to understand the religious standpoints of others. Even though the government is the entity that legally decides whether certain practices are religious or not, the people are the ones who ultimately decide what is accepted and what is rejected.

People tend to reject those who are seen as the “others” because they bring with them ideas and things that marks them as being different from the average American. Those who are scapegoating the newer waves of immigrants are essentially just “afraid” of the unknown that’s trying to occupy the land that they claim is theirs (1). People are afraid of embracing this new wave of beliefs because if they welcome it too quickly, they increase their “risk of becoming bewitched”; a superstition that has arisen to describe peoples’ quick acceptance of never before seen traditions (3). A sense of some type of divine right to control who and what is able to enter the place they live is engraved in their mind so opening their social gates to others isn’t quite easy to do. The cliché of having “the freedom to go elsewhere” is simply a nicer way of stating a stern opposition to someone else’s traditions (1). This stance of neutrality illustrates an example of the internal problems that mold peoples’ hostile views and opinions on minority traditions.  

When newly arriving immigrants set foot on a new country, they literally have no place to go nor any place to work at especially if they don’t know anybody or know their way around. Very few people possess the benevolent characteristics to house and take care of people experiencing a huge transition in their life so its up to organizations such as churches to aid in implementing people into the assimilation process required at in any country. “Churches have financial, political, and institutional resources” that can really help those in need of leadership and of a community that they can depend on (2). The churches that are proactive in their venture to aid anybody in need demonstrate one of the major internal forces that influences Americans’ standpoint on issues like these.

The media by far is the most powerful influencer regarding social issues such as religion, immigration, and universal social acceptance or rejection. The media’s reach is extended far enough that it is able to shape the ways that diverse minority traditions are embraced in the U.S. both internally and externally. Interestingly, the media’s external influence holds a firm grip on the way outsiders are perceived by Americans which then further affects how the outsiders’ beliefs are absorbed. The Dalai Lama is a prime example of the use of “a series of mass media orientations”, such as the newspaper or magazines, to Americanize religious icons and shape them into what the American people think they should be like (4). The media has a wide range of methods to get across information and opinions so its no wonder why they possess such a huge influence on Americans views. 

There is an endless amount of reasons why people immigrate around the world but as soon as those migrants arrive at their destination, they are faced with people who were fed biased information regarding their beliefs and traditions. Organizations from both sides of the acceptance and rejection spectrum of outsiders' traditions maintain an impact on the perception Americans hold on others but if one begins to start searching for their own personal standpoint, the magnitude of influence that these organizations hold will start to deteriorate. 

Religious and Moral Catholic Turbulence

My mother’s Catholic practices and ideologies illustrate how cultural religion revolves around her lifestyle and community. The Mexican ethnicity that she carries with her highlights the historical struggle that her people underwent when becoming the newest wave of immigrants to arrive in America. Without a doubt, most American’s perceive the majority of Hispanic individuals to be some how related or connected to Catholicism whether it be due to their parents, close relatives, or friends. This may in fact be due to Hispanic Catholics demonstrating a population with “substantial numbers that were already in the U.S. part of the continent even as the nation began” to be built (1). The most recent huge surge of Hispanic Catholic immigration took place for a variety of reasons, with the derived common factor being consistent clashes between the government and its citizens over socioeconomic conditions that people were living in during that time. The bloody Mexican revolution and “subsequent events such as World War II” are some of the main factors that forced so many Mexicans’ to flee their native country in order to avoid being killed in the crossfire or to seek a better economically stable life for themselves and their family (1). My mom’s primary logic for fleeing her country was due to one of the main aforementioned reasons while simultaneously taking into consideration the future life of her offspring. She found herself receiving very comfortable hospitality from the church that she had been affiliated with her entire life. They also helped her obtain one of her most notable religious aspects as a mother and a person; her never-ending praise and belief in the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe. The graceful attitude that she took towards raising her kids and disciplining them as she saw fit demonstrated the importance my mother placed on maintaining family integrity amongst us. Moralism played a huge role in my mother’s life so it is only obvious that she was more than likely to be inclined to teach her kids the same type of moral and social guidelines and restrictions that she was taught as a child. She especially emphasized on what I now know to be “moral coherence”, which is defined as a “unified and integrated religious, personal, and political approach to life”; something that my mom attempts to live by on a daily basis and pass on to her children (2). One of the many moral aspects of life that my mom tried teaching me was to always maintain a positive attitude towards life and its endless struggles. Whether the struggles are economic, social, academic, or family related, I had to always maintain my composure and not give in to the hardships that I was dealing with at a certain point in my life. Even though the Catholic ways that my mother tried exposing me to had a minute effect on who I would become to be in the near future, I am grateful that her Catholic influence helped her morph into the strict and respectable woman that she continues to be. 

1-                    Pineda, Ana M. "Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church." Rev. of Theological Studies. 2012: 949-51. UCSB Library. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.

2-                    Formicola, Jo R. "Catholic Moral Demands in American Politics: A New Paradigm." (2009): 4-23. Journal of Church and State. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.