An Integrated Approach of Multiculturalism and Religious Diversity

Introduction

Canada and Australia were early adopters of multiculturalism, which quickly spread across the rest of the English-speaking world in the 1970s. Today, the word describes an approach to dealing with the social and cultural effects of mass immigration on a nation's political system (Kymlicka, 1995; Taylor, 1994). Multiculturalism is an alternative to assimilation policies that recognizes the rights and cultural identities of ethnic minorities while maintaining the belief that societies are composed of a variety of cultural groups (Kymlicka, 1995; Taylor, 1992).

Cultural and legal frameworks are inextricably interwoven with questions of religious plurality, multiculturalism, and diversity. How to tolerate religious plurality in the government and civil society is a difficult but continuous debate under the United States Constitution. Since religion plays such a significant role in shaping cultural identities, it is often religious identity that communities fight to protect. As a result, multicultural societies depend critically on the protection of religious plurality. As discussed by Kymlicka and Baogang (2005), the Asian nations' adoption of the multicultural model is reflective of the value of tolerance ingrained in the region's many religious traditions, which range from Confucianism and Buddhism in China, Myanmar, and Japan to Islam in Bangladesh and Hinduism in India.

When discussing curriculum, immigration, politics, and social policy, conflicts between integrationist and separatist perspectives on multiculturalism elicit strong feelings from both sides. Multiculturalism considers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: tradition and modernity; continuity and change; emotionality and rationality; secularism and religious belief; inequality and equality; groupism and individuality; social control and individual freedom; social security and personal insecurity; subjectivity and objectivity and so on. Problems with assimilation, adapting to a new culture, and the emotional anguish that may ensue from experiencing culture shock are all examples of this.

As we go farther into the twenty-first century, problems associated with multiculturalism will become increasingly pressing and difficult to solve. Even the wealthiest countries may struggle with the effects of diversity. Greater participation and awareness of the problems are required for successful government of these countries and their people, so that the advantages of diversity are felt rather than the tensions and conflicts. The centrifugal forces of difference may be mitigated by addressing the tensions of variety. Managing and governing multiculturalism is important because it creates a common basis on which the society and country may function as more than a collection of diversities and promotes mutual respect for all its members. Issues of language, identity, attire, and values may be explored from a shared perspective. An educational system that contributes positively to this goal across all sectors of society is essential to the successful execution of governance and state administration (Nye, 2007).

Fear of losing one's identity to influence from outside culture is more crucial than competition for scarce resources when it comes to ethnic strife between two communities. In a cosmopolitan age of globalization where inter-mixing of different cultures is on the rise, there are groups who are simultaneously struggling to maintain their ethnic individuality and solidarity, leading to ethnic identity-based autonomy movements even in liberal democracies. In market economies and liberal democracies, community identities have not vanished or been replaced by a cosmopolitan identity, despite widespread perception to the contrary. Members still place significance on the group's shared identity.