"I believe that no religion, people or nation is inferior or superior to another."
~Elie Wiesel in A Jew Today
Elie Wiesel brought up a surprisingly common point in his book, A Jew Today. So many people of different religions are prejudice against those of a religion other than theirs. They don't even take the time to get to learn about the other religion. The Jewish boy in Wiesel's story said himself that, "Judaism and Christianity claimed the same roots . . . Christians who believe in the eternity and in the divinity of Christ also believe in those of God, our God." If more people took the time to realize this, humans could live more peacefully and not be split up by this religion barrier.
I have never been discriminated against because of my religion, but I have read Schindler's List and watched the movie, and I would never want to be put in that sort of situation. The Jewish boy in Wiesel's story questioned, "Where was God in all of this? Was this another test, one more? Or a punishment? And if so, for what sins? What crimes were being punished? Was there a misdeed that deserved so many mass graves? Would it ever again be possible to speak of justice, of truth, of divine charity, after the murder of one million Jewish children?" I think that the reason he was forced to create all these questions was simply because of the Christians' ignorance. Had the Christian people known of the similarities between the two religions, maybe they wouldn't have persecuted the Jewish people.
From watching the movie, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, I have learned that this unawareness exists within a religion as well. For example, Danny's father, a Rabbi, was hesitant about letting Reuven spend time with his son because he practiced their religion differently than the Saunder family does. Both boys study and learn from the same Torah and praise the same God, yet the Rabbi is still uncertain about permitting the teenagers to play together. In this case, it is not necessarily due to the Rabbi's ignorance, but more a stereotypical barrier that keeps the two types of Jews from interacting in their every day life.
In this place and time, religious prejudice should not remain present, however, it does. For example, if a person walks down the streets wearing a turban, many passersby will give them funny looks and think that they are weird simply because they are different. Acts of hatred such as the burning of synagogues still exist. There have also been cases of people spray painting swastikas on synagogues as well. This is very unfortunate considering the Jewish people never did anything to deserve this.
I think that things would all be different if there werenít any dominant religions. For example, in the United States and in most of Europe, Christianity is the dominant religion and some people look down upon the other religions. However, if one were to travel to Israel or China, the dominant religion would probably not be Christianity. I wonder if Christians are treated the same way in those countries as Jewish people are haplessly sometimes treated in this country.