Religion and culture is such a crucial part of our everyday lives.  This begs the question, “Why are people so afraid to ask questions about others’ religions and cultures?”

North Allegheny strives to be a diverse community and inclusive of everyone, but when students don’t want to learn and become more aware of these other religions this so-called “diversity” can be characterized as lacking.

There is such a wide variety of culture and religion at NA, and it is so important that we recognize these cultural differences and how they affect our day to day lives.  

We need to acknowledge the fact that we are all different.  More importantly, we need to address it; and one way to do this is to ask questions.

At NA, I think students are inquisitive and honestly do want to know more about other religions, but are too afraid to ask because they think their question might be viewed as stereotypical or inappropriate.

In this video, sophomore, Hebah Ahmad dispels the top 5 myths of Islam.  The issue is that we as students do not ask questions to inform ourselves about others’ religions, which is the main reason why these myths exist among us in the first place.  

Many of us are guilty of assuming that everyone is like us.  However, this is obviously not the case. There are people of so many backgrounds that we know almost nothing about.  This is a prime example of why it is so essential to inform yourself about others around you.

Hebah does an outstanding job of answering the deeper questions about Islam and what it means to be a Muslim.  She answers questions that either she has received over the years, or that she believes are important to inform others about.

The only way to become more culturally aware and to end all hate towards religions is to ask questions!