An Enduring Issue Essay

An enduring issue is a challenge or problem that has been debated or discussed over time. Enduring issues are issues that societies have attempted to address with varying degrees of success. Religious extremism is an example of an enduring issue. Religious extremism is when you have extremist views surrounding religion. Throughout history religious extremists have continued to be a cause of violence and discrimination. Religious extremism continues to be a reason for problems today. Religious extremism has led to Christian persecution in the Roman Empire, violence against the Sikhs in the Mughal Empire, and the violence against Muslims in Myanmar.

Christian persecution in the Roman Empire is an example of the effects that religious extremism

Sikhism originated in what is now present day Pakistan, in 1469 CE. It is a religion based on the social teachings of Guru Nanak and it celebrates the belief of “equality for all”. At the time the two major religions of the region were Islam and Hinduism. In Hinduism there is a belief called the Caste System. The Caste System is a social hierarchy that separates people into five different castes. The castes are the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya, the Kshudras, and lastly the Dalit. The Dalit are the lowest caste in the caste system and they receive really poor treatment. Sikhs dislike this unequal treatment and so they spoke out against it. When an Islamic empire took hold of the Mughal Empire in 1526 CE, the Sikhs were able to live in relative peace with the political rulers. But then Sikhism began to be seen as a threat to the dominance of Islam. According to ‘Origins of Sikhism’, “Emperor Jahangir had the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan tortured to death for his faith in 1606”. This shows that the Dominant Religion's response to being challenged is violence. Instead of talking things out, they immediately turned to violence. In addition to that, the intolerance of Protestants in France is an example of the effects that Religious extremism has had on society. Protestants were a group of people who sought out to remake the Catholic Church. King Louis of

Muslims in Sri Lanka and Myanmar are being attacked by Buddhist mobs. Buddhists are typically really peaceful people but even they will go to extreme efforts in order to “defend their religion”. The once peaceful Buddhist are now spreading messages of hate, saying that Muslims do not belong and that they should leave. Some of the Buddhists in Myanmar believe that Muslims are trying to take over Buddhists land and are feeling threatened. This feeling however is unjustified since less than 5% of the population in Myanmar is Muslim. Buddhists take up the majority of the population in Myanmar but some extremist Buddhists still perceive the Muslim population as a threat. Some Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Myanmar think that they are warriors, trying to protect their faith but in reality they are hurting innocent people. Buddhist abbot, Venerable Ambalangoda Sumedhananda Thero stated that Muslims were “not his concern” after hearing a bomb go off at a nearby Mosque. This shows how some extremist ideologies can lead to a lack of compassion for other human beings. Furthermore, the discrimination of the Rohigiya in Myanmar is another example of the effects that religious discrimination has had on society. The Rohingya are a minority Muslim group who live in Myanmar. The Myanmar government does not view the Rohingya as people but rather as illegal immigrants. The Rohingya were