Many things in this world are meant to divide us, and it’s almost impossible to reach an agreement. Building tolerance is easier said than done, but minority groups understand that exclusion is far from the solution.

For the deaf community, much of their history involves a lack of understanding from outside communities. They have had to build a micro-community to establish their place in society. Sign Language has contributed to this building of deaf culture, but religion has equally impacted deaf people in several ways. 

Let’s learn more about how faith promotes understanding and unity among deaf communities. 

Why Differences Are a Good Thing

What kind of world would we live in if everyone were the same and followed the same belief system? Utopia doesn’t work in reality. As a massive amount of humans living on this planet, we are alike in many ways, but there are also many distinctions between us. Talking about these differences is positive, and we become aware of our differences, which leads to awareness and pride in our culture.

The ability to understand these differences is a crucial thing for personal development. It is the same situation for the deaf community. The ability of hearing people and deaf people to understand the differences and appreciate their cultural backgrounds leads to community growth.

The Divide with Religion

Religion can be divisive, and it shows. The opposing side says that religion is the problem, while others say it’s the followers of that religion. Then, the divide starts with categorizing believers and non-believers as good or bad people. 

The story goes that good people follow religion and make it their lifestyle. They seek to deepen their relationship with a spiritual being. On the latter, a bad person dismisses the idea of religion and follows personal values. Bad people don’t believe in something bigger than themselves and carry negative personality traits. Neither of these narratives should be justified and come from a place of subjective feelings. It’s not an Us vs. Them situation. The point is to reframe these ideas, recognize the differences, and then find commonalities to resolve. That process is interfaith dialogue. 

What is Interfaith Dialogue

Interfaith dialogue is exactly what it sounds like. It brings people of vastly different religions together into one discussion. Why is it important? 

Well, religion can cause a lot of conflict and oppression worldwide due to extremism. Creating a space where people agree with everything isn’t a recipe for peace. It’s also not entirely relatable to the human experience. People don’t have to agree with one another, but it’s about tolerance.

Tolerance as Roadmap

That is what the idea of interfaith dialogue can build. The United States Institute of Peace made the initiative to implement special programs that work on interfaith dialogue. It’s about uncovering the power of religion to come to non-violent conclusions. That means encouraging some civility between even the most opposing religions.

Faith has and always will exist as long as humans are around. Therefore, there must be solutions to work around it and create a space where people unify despite their differences. Religion is potentially a driving force for unity. One way of doing this amongst groups is by emphasizing shared values and characteristics of each religion. It sometimes helps to highlight the commonalities to establish a level of understanding. 

Another way of having interfaith dialogue is to have a third-party, neutral perspective, which can be an eye-opener for two opposing sides. It gives people from different religions a chance to think objectively rather than subjectively and in their bubbles.

However, the most practical answer to all of this is tolerance. People move around, and the world is experiencing more cultural mixing than any period in history. Tolerance is at the base of all this. There is no road to world peace or less religious violence until people can learn to accept that there are different communities. 

The idea of tolerance establishes mutual respect so no one has to resort to violence to solve issues. More importantly, seeing the similarities and differences between religions is building tolerance and can have a tremendous effect on humanity in the future. 

Acceptance in the Deaf Community

Sign Language is the foundation of the culture, way of thinking, and how deaf people interact. They rely on it to express and build relationships within the community. It also eliminates the gaps across cultures and promotes more accessibility.

However, Sign Language can be a dividing force. Not everyone was born deaf. Some could hear but experienced illness or an event that caused hearing loss. Believe it or not, this impacts a person’s social acceptance. Think of it like this, say a person was born in South Korea but grew up in America. Physically, they are Korean, but culturally, they are American, especially if they can’t speak the language. Some Koreans would not consider themselves part of Korean culture, therefore, denying acceptance.

So, if a person becomes deaf later in life and cannot use Sign Language at the level of someone who was born deaf, then how does that person find acceptance? The answer to this is seeking groups with similar interests. 

How Faith Brings the Deaf Together

Although deaf people are primarily outsiders from the hearing places of worship, and despite the inaccessibility, they took matters into their own hands. They didn’t wait for religion to become accessible to them. They found ways to establish it in their communities. 

The idea of having a deaf leader in any religion empowers and inspires other local places of worship as one. As a minority community, practicing faith their way and amongst similar people creates a sense of togetherness. Religion has become part of rich and unique deaf culture, transmitted from generation to generation. It’s a means of expressing and understanding their deafness with one uniting force. 

Religion is and will continue to become a bridge between the different deaf communities worldwide. So long as there is a supportive initiative to put more deaf religious leaders in power.

If you enjoyed reading this, check out more at https://www.unspokenasl.com/

Thumbnail Photo Credit to: Photo by Anastasiya Lobanovskaya: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-person-holding-white-and-green-peace-wreath-886616/