Many people think that in this world a person could worship any god they wanted to worship and not get judged for it, because it’s the 21st century and this world has had many advances since the time were a person was told which religion they had to worship. That is not the case. Religious persecution was a problem that began back when the neolithic revolution occurred and has not gone away in today’s world. One of the worst acts of religious persecution in modern day history is the Holocaust, and many other acts of hatred towards a person because of their religion have gone on that aren’t as bad as the Holocaust.
Even though not everyone persecutes another for their religion but it is still a major problem of history and today’s world that has not gone away. In the past the world has seen many acts of religious persecution but one of the most famed acts of persecution towards another’s religion is the Holocaust. During the Holocaust “About 6 million Jews were killed(Jost). ” 6 million people were murdered and not because they signed up to be murdered by Hitler and the Nazis, they were murdered because Hitler and his Nazis didn’t like the Jewish religion so they wanted all the Jews in the world to be gone.
On November 9-10 better known as Kristallnacht or Night of Crystal “Jewish synagogues and storefronts were vandalized and about 30,000 Jewish men were arrested(Charny). ” These people had no clue what wa going to happen many families were torn apart, along with the fact that their places of work and also their places of worship were damaged. Hitler did this so then the Jewish community would become weaker meaning he could get rid of the community a lot easier.
The holocaust “was not only the most horrific genocidal slaughter ever but also the greatest financial crime in history(ost). This statement is true because not only were the people of the Jewish community killed they were also robbed of their belonging. During this time in Nazi Germany non-jews were asked to boycott Jewish stores and Jews were asked to only shop in Jewish owned stores or Jewish stores were robbed and destroyed so they could not be run. “Jews owned an estimated 100,000 businesses in Germany in 1933.
By 1938 that number had been reduced by more than two-thirds through the supposedly voluntary campaign of Aryanization that included local boycotts(lost). Jewish owned stores had to be closed by two-thirds in 5 years because non-jews boycotted their stores, this act took away many people’s source of income also it took away places people could buy their food, clothing, etc. The Jewish community lived in bad conditions even before they went into a concentration camps “especially in some larger cities, the establishment of the ghettos led to mass starvation, diseases, and death(Charny). ” Hitler forced people to die slow death and suffer through pain that no person should have to feel.
Even though Hitler made it almost impossible for the Jewish community to thrive in that time they had “Illegal schooling, prayer meetings, social aid, and political activity were the means by which Jews tried to keep up morale(Charny). ” These people were treated horribly because of their religion but since they had no choice they tried to keep everyone having a somewhat good outlook on the life they were living. In summary Hitler had committed one of the worst crimes in history of the world by murdering 6 million people and torturing about 4 million people.
These people that Hitler came across on his quest to take over the world were persecuted for the religion since Hitler didn’t like their religion. Muslims in present day America are being treated just like the Jewish people were treated in World War II. President Trumps first executive order was to “bar all Muslims from entering the country(Barbaro). ” Many of these muslims were not able to enter the country even if they were already a citizen of the United States, but “He ordered that Christians and others from minority religions be granted priority over Muslims(Barbaro). Trump believes that a person who believes in the christian faith deserves more right to enter the country before a person who believes in the muslim religion. Trump said “our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life(Barbaro). ”
President Trump was saying that those that our muslim don’t value human life but “94% of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States from 1980 to 2005 have been by non-Muslims(Alnatour). This shows that most of the attacks against the United States that have put damage on the country were not by people who follow islam they were by another person that follows a different religion. Also it’s not that President Trump is scared because muslims have made many terrorist attacks in Europe because out of “one thousand terrorist attacks in Europe in the past five years... It’s less than 2% that were muslim attacks(Alnatour). ” As shown by this statistic muslims are being persecuted for their religion because people think all muslims are terrorist but they are not.
In conclusion President trump was persecuting against the Muslim religion based on the stereotype that people who follow the religion of islam like to disrupt peace and like to commit acts of violence towards other humans. This stereotype that President Trump believes in is definitely not true because “Muslims are peacemakers because 5 out of the past 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners (42 percent) have been Muslims(Alnatour). ” This shows that not all muslims are terrorist but they are actually some of the people that help make the most peace in the world.
On April 20, 1999 Rachel Joy Scott was the first person killed in the Columbine school shooting that shocked America. Rachel was sitting outside the cafeteria that day and when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two shooters, that day realized there bombs did not explode in the cafeteria. They opened fire and Rachel was the first one shot. Rachel was still living after she was shot but “Moments before her death, they asked her, “Do you still believe in your God(Judge)? ” If Rachel hadn’t expressed her religion that day she probably would have lived but the two shooters had a hatred towards people who believed in god.
On that same day Cassie Bernall was shot in the library of Columbine High School moments before she was shot “Cassie Bernall, was asked by one of the gunmen if she believed in God. When Bernall allegedly said, “Yes,” she was shot to death. (History. com Staff). ” Cassie Bernall and Rachel Joy Scott died on the same day because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold persecuted them for their religion and this hatred that they had for them and their christian faith led to their death at a young age.
People may say well Columbine shooting happened in the 90’s that doesn’t mean people are being shot in today’s world because of the the religion they practice. That’s not true on October 1, 2015 a gunman opened fire on Umpqua Community College in Oregon “that left at least nine innocent people dead and several more wounded (Perez). ” 9 people died that day that didn’t do anything to deserve being shot. One survivor of the attack recalled “if victims said they were Christian, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs. Perez)”
If a student at this college didn’t say they were christian they could live because the shooter was only persecuting against the christian faith. If a student replied that they were a christian then the gunman told “them they would see God in “one second… (Perez)” The gunman didn’t single out or kill any other religion of students because he said the christian students could see god quicker than the others. Henceforth people have been getting persecuted for their religion in a place like a school which is supposed to be a safe place for people to go and get their education.
Cassie Bernall and Rachel Joy Scott stood up for what they believed in and payed the ultimate price. The students at Umpqua Community College that died that day did the same thing that Rachel and Cassie did a decade and a half later. Even though religious persecution does exist in today’s world many people don’t Persecute another’s religion. One act of this was when a Muslim place of worship was destroyed in Texas, “the leaders of the local Jewish congregation gave them the keys to their synagogue so they could continue to worship(Criss).
As shown the Jewish community cared for the Muslim community in their area because the Muslim congregation of the mosque was going to have to probably split up and find new mosque and that probably isn’t the easiest thing to do. It wasn’t just the Jewish community in this area that was helping out the Muslim congregation many other churches in the area offered the congregation the keys to their churches so they could worship their god.
Along with other churches offering to help out the Muslim congregation “a GoFundMe page set up to help raise money for the mosque’s reconstruction has taken in more than $1 million. That’s on top of other donations the congregation has received from people in 90 different countries(Criss). ” People from all over the world have been helping out this Muslim congregation on the building of it’s new mosque and people don’t care if it is a Muslim congregation they are just trying to help them get back their place of worship and not persecuting them for the actions that others of their religion have committed.
In conclusion Religious persecution was and is a ongoing problem in our world today, and most people don’t see it going on so they don’t care to fix the problem. This world has had many acts of persecution in history from the holocaust to school shootings based on beliefs to most recent the president Trumps Muslims ban that blocked the people that follow the religion of islam from entering the United States of America. Even though many people don’t believe in persecuting another’s religion many people still do and many people face death because of what another person believes.
