Madelyn Casper

RELS 2300

12/7/17

The life of Rohingyas

Religion is everywhere. I drive down the street and there is a church of my faith on every

corner. However, there are still many other churches of other faiths. There are many different

religions throughout the world, some are well known while others are not. There are three major

differences that each religion could be more focused on, those three things are the materialists

perspective, a functional perspective, and a faith perspective. The materialists believe that the

supernatural aspect of a higher power is invented by humans, but we wont be focusing on this

today. While the functionals believe that religion can be found everywhere and help to define

our societys and ourselves too. Faith, on the other hand, cannot be seen or readily perceived;

faith is more of an expression than an evidence. Today, we are going to discuss a religion that

isnt as well known, it is a religion located in Myanmar. These religious people are always facing

religious persecution and are forced to live in camps.

These people are of the Muslim religion, or Islamic faith, living in a Buddhists world.

They are suffering from persecution, they have very poor living conations, they are denied

citizenship, denied an education, and health care. Due to the violence towards them and the

persecution they face, thousands of them have resorted to flee to the surrounding countries.1

Islams are a monotheistic religion, meaning they only worshiping one god. They believe

that God has always existed and that he will always exist. They believe that he is the creator of

all, but that we are not created after him. God cannot be seen although he sees everything. Islam
is a faith based religion, because they believe that God cannot be seen, so they have to have a

strong faith in him. They express their faith in him by following his teachings. In the book Is

God a Virus? by John Bowker it states that, religions are organized systems that serve the

essential biological purpose of bringing people together for their common survival. The way

this relates to the Rohingyas people is, that they band together and depend on each other to

survive.

Although Buddhist are a nontheistic faith2, I find it ironic that the Buddhists are

persecuting the Rohingya religion because they share similar beliefs. Buddhists also practice

meditation and finding their inner peace. Their goal is to obtain enlightenment, which I think

would be difficult for those who are persecuting others.

So, in conclusion, my observations are as follows: the Buddhists and Islams both in their

respective religions are faith-based and functionalists in their way of life. However, as evidenced

by the treatment and persecution of the Rohingya people there is much room for improvement in

the way that they are treating other people. In a religion there should be love, peace, and

tolerance. If they lived their beliefs they would all be able to live among each ether, and the

Rohingyas wouldnt have to flee to have a better life.

1. Muslims have lived in the area now known as Myanmar since as early as the 12th

century, according to many historians and Rohingya groups. (Aljazeera.com) Muslims have

lived in Myanmar for all that time, yet they are still required to pass all these thing in order to

gain citizenship there. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), there

must be proof that the person's family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in

one of the national languages. Many Rohingya lack such paperwork because it was either

unavailable or denied to them. (Aljazeera.com)

2.Buddhism is sometimes referred to as a nontheistic religion, for its beliefs do not refer to a

personal deity. Practitioners try to perceive the impermanence and interdependence of all

things. (Living Religions pg. 12)

 Sources:

Buddhism vs Islam. Buddhism vs Islam - Difference and Comparison. Buddhism vs Islam.

Buddhism vs Islam - Difference and Comparison.

Diffen.com/difference/Buddhism_vs_Islam

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. Tenth Edition. Pearson, 2017

Staff, Al Jazeera. Mynamar: Who are the Rohingya? Asia Pacific, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera,

30 Nov. 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/rohingya-muslims-

170831065142812.html