Religious Freedom
Churches should not be able to get away with as much as they do.Religion can cause problems in government and other areas of life that may be contributed to them having too much freedom. It tends to get ruled in favor of discriminating against people who are not part of said religion. That is why religion needs to have a tighter reign on what it can and can't do. The other side would say that religion has too little freedom. Or that religious institutions are not being allowed to practice the beliefs of that religion because of laws put in place over them. Although, anything that has religion brought into it usually favors the religious side over the opposing side being that the religious discrimination card tends to be used.
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Religious institutions should be more controlled by the government because they can keep usually federally illegal actions inside their institution, are exempt from certain laws and taxes, win most court cases they are in due to religion. One point against me would be that Churches are not being allowed to follow their beliefs to the fullest because they do not have enough freedom.
This may be true being some religions do have certain beliefs and practices that may be illegal. Such as some religions involve sacrifice or having more than one wife such as the mormons. This is a decent argument, however these things have been deemed unconstitutional being as sacrifice is murder and having more than one wife could be cruel to the wives and as the constitution say marriage is between two different people. Another argument is they are not able to have god in schools or other government places. There has been a case in which a math teacher was asked by the school board to take down patriotic banners from his class walls because they mention god (Merola). This is a good argument but we can not have a mention of god in schools because every child does not have the same religion. This however can be a different case if it is a religious private school. These points are not viable to help the opposite cause for the fact that they hardly true. Most churches are allowed to do as they wish inside their walls. Which this sometimes leads to unseen problems some of which are recent and will be brought up later in the
paper. Religious Institutions should not be exempt from laws and taxes everything else has to pay. The RFRA act gives Catholic Priests the ability to potentially deal with child molestation accusations internally in the church instead of with the law enforcement (Religious Freedom Laws.). This law also keeps them from having to follow most city ordinances about where buildings have to be placed (Religious Freedom Laws.). Even though the ordinances on buildings in a city are for safety reasons most Religious Institutions are allowed to ignore them when building their churches just because they are churches. This causes problems when fires arise or when larger vehicles need to get through certain places. This would be why Religious Institutions should not be exempt from laws that anything else would have to follow. Religious Institutions usually win most court cases they are in or Religion usually wins court cases that it is involved in. There are a few times when the Religion side did not win but it was because it was absurd to think that they could do certain things. One case Sante Fe Independent Student led Prayer where one kid elected on the student council led prayer before every home varsity football game (Justia). They were sued because it was not for everyone like the mormon and other minor religions at the school. The court made them edit the policies on the prayer but overall let them keep it before games and so on. This means they get away with having prayer at public school. Which is not allowed in most states or in the country for starters. This is the third reason why Religious institutions need to have more laws they should follow. The last reason is that they have to much of a pull over politics and who gets elected. This is shown on how most presidents declare themselves as a certain religion usually Christian as that is the most common religion in our country. If you say you are a different religion or do not have one they will not like you for not upholding their views. The Pope has a pull over presidential candidates as he can sway his followers or even indorse a certain candidate. One quote for the opposing is When Politics come near the Altar, then Religion, the Church, the Pontiff have not only the right but the duty to give directions and indications to be followed by Catholics as Pius XI once said (Time). This is last and final reason as to why the church needs to be more reigned in. Religious Institutions need to be more controlled for these reasons. They get away with too much in our country and it is causing some trouble about how things should be done. Religious Institutions should have more laws held against them because they do not get taxed in some taxes or have to follow certain laws, they have to much of a pull over politics, they win almost all court cases they are in. Religious Institutions need to be more reigned in.
In each of these instances those supporting government involvement in, and endorsement of religion have justified their assumptions by referencing the words and beliefs of the founding fathers, most notably Thomas Jefferson. They point out that he, like most of the other founders, was a religious man, and that his writings exposed a conviction America was essentially a Christian nation. After all, wasn’t it Jefferson who spoke of inalienable rights bestowed upon man by God in the Declaration of Independence? A more detailed examination of his beliefs, though, reveals exactly the opposite was the case, as Jefferson was actually a champion of s...
...es by merely proclaiming the value of those teachings, at other times by having those teachings influence laws. The ‘Religious Right’ is a term used in America to describe right-wing religious (for example: Protestant, Evangelical, and more recently, Christian and Catholic) political factions. While the ‘White Religious Right’ constitutes only 14% of the American population as of 2000, the year of George W. Bush’s first election to the office, this portion of American society believes that separation of church and state is not explicit in the American Constitution and that the United States was ‘founded by Christians as a Christian Nation.’ The Religious Right argues that the Establishment Clause bars the federal government from establishing or sponsoring a state church (e.g. the Church of England), but does not prevent the government from acknowledging religion.
The intercom comes on in a classroom first thing in morning and says “now kids, it is time for our prayer”. Every kid in the class joins hands and starts to respectfully pray. Once the prayer is finished, they all go back to work and are more unified together, right? That is usually not the case. More likely than not, only several kids in the class joins the prayer. Most kids then laugh at the others praying, breaking the bonds between the two. With religion being brought up in school, there are more possibilities for debate between children ending in violence. Three fourths of kids at my high school will not even recite the pledge of allegiance just because it says god in it. Public schools should not have any impact on religion. Christian Groups are sneaking religion into high schools.
The first amendment is the cornerstone of our American society founded years ago by our forefathers. Without the first amendment many ideas, beliefs, and groups could not exist today. The first amendment guaranteed the people of the United States the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. Although the first amendment guarantees us, Americans the freedom of speech, we cannot use it to cause others harm. This amendment has helped shaped Americans into what we are today, because of our right to assemble, speak freely, and worship as we please.
Prayer in School: Good or Bad? As secular humanists and groups like the Christian Coalition are at war with each other regarding prayer in high schools behind closed doors in Washington DC, the average high school kid is the one that gets caught in the middle. For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school. Every time the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
America has been named the "melting pot" of the world. It houses many different cultures, nationalities, ideas and religions. There are Christians, Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, Mormons, Hindus, Spiritualists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Islamic, plus many more. America is unique in that all these religions are represented in a nation that is only 200 years old. And America has upheld, throughout history, that the freedom and equality of religion is extremely important in order for this nation to function as a free nation. The foundations of America were set as a result of England's persecution; more specifically, England's religious persecution. The colonists wanted to create a nation that allowed people to be free. They desired to speak what they wanted to speak, do what they wanted to do, and practice what they wanted to practice... without the government watching their every move. Thus came religious freedom.
Everyone has heard about various religious issues in the news at one point or another. With all the controversy surrounding these issues, and whether or not they are constitutional, it seems that people are no longer able to settle things without the help of court systems. Whether it is a matter of parents' actions toward their children or a matter of people claiming that certain rights have been violated, it appears that people are almost using religion as a shield to hide their wrongdoing behind. "Pasting the name 'religion' on harmful behavior does not make it religious exercise protected by our First Amendment," (Thollander). Therefore, the legal system should be allowed to interfere with religious issues only if they infringe upon a state or federal law, or if they violate the rights of another person.
Religion in Schools has proven to be a very controversial matter as of lately. Even though teaching about religion is allowed in public schools, there are still many questions that are being asked in order to provide a basis of what is appropriate for school, and what is inappropriate. The first amendment to the United States Constitution says that 'congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' which implies that you have the choice of exercising your own religion, no matter what it may be. However, this poses an interesting argument within the public schools of America because we have such a diverse population with thousands of different religious groups. While many people do believe in a God and go to church religiously, many people do not do this-- and they find religion in schools to be offensive. Such things that are controversial in school include organized prayer, wearing religious garments like crosses or yarmulkes, differentiating between the acknowledgement of religious holidays and the celebration of religious holidays, and more recently, the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The debate on religion in the public school is complicated by the fact that there are two clauses dealing with religion in the First Amendment (Warnick, 2012). The Establishment Clause, which disallows the establishment by the government of any particular religion, and the Free Exercise Clause, which prohibits the state from proscribing the practice of religion, are a source of conflict and tension. The tension stems from the fact that upholding one clause can occur at the expense of the other, and thus, the state is forced to choose between them (Department of Education [DOE], 2003; Warnick, 2012).
Though American citizens have the right to express freedom of religion, there are some limitations on these rights. Imagine going to a fast food restaurant after a long day of work, with limited time to grab a bite to eat. This may not be the healthiest option, but one has to provide dinner for ourselves or our children. Suppose the fast food worker refused your meal request because he or she could not support gluttony due to their religion? This is one example of a limitation of freedom on religion, these limitations appear in the workforce and in modern day society.
Many individuals believe that the first amendment prohibits religion to be taught or exercised in a public school setting. They believe this because they feel as if it infringes on an American citizen’s right. Often times there can be discrimination against minority groups. An example of this was after the 9/11 attack in New York. Discrimination against Sikh-Americans became increasingly worse because they were often accused of being allied with Al Qaeda. People are worried that if we do teach the religion in school, bullying will grow to become an even bigger problem (“Religion in Schools: A”).
While students are attending public schools they should be aware of their religion options. The student should have the right to practice their religion as they please, just on the own time. Yes, religion plays a huge part in molding a person but, should be practiced when the time is available, not in a classroom setting. The government should have the ability to control the protection of the students that just want to learn. The capability to regulate the religious practices while attending public educational institutions should be left to the government. Faith, religion and belief, usually are three words that are used to describe one situation, although these words have three different meanings. To have faith in something or someone you must first believe in it and also accept it as well, but have a belief without evidence. Religion is a belief in a heavenly superhuman power or principle, such as the almighty or creator to all things. Everyone has faith and belief, but not all believers believe in the almighty. Allowing religion into public schools while everyone attending not having the same belief is unfair, unconstitutional and is complicated to teach to a verity of students.
Freedom of speech has been the core principle we have fought long and hard for centuries to achieve. It is the fundamental reason why the founders seperated from England and started their own colonies on the idea of becoming free. In recent times the idea of freedom of speech has been put into question as there has been incidents for years of racism, religious differences and discriminatory abuse. What comes into question is what exactly is your freedom of speech rights and what should be and should not be said in the public eye. The problems that we see arising in today’s society is discrimination and abuse against one another for opposing views and what exactly should your freedom of speech rights entail to as many hate crimes have occurred
Because of my strong beliefs, I have been called the Antichrist, a witch, an atheist, and a Satanist. Fervent Christians have told me that my “kind” is solely responsible for the downfall of American morals.
Religion is a major controversy in modern society. Some reach a final conclusion early on that there is no God or Supreme Being; instead they believe that there is life and then nothing more. Others have so much faith that they are actually willing to die for their religion. It could be viewed as drastic but it is also reality. As a soon to be missionary I see the benefits of religious views and the impact it has on people for their well being. For my religion, I am willing to serve two years of my life to teach other the joy of the gospel while sacrificing my time away from my friends and family. An apostle of my church once said "The most effective missionaries, member and full time, act out of love… If we lack this love for others we should pray for it." -Elder Dallin H. Oaks. This quote just reminds me of why I am so willing to want to go out and serve The Lord. I will do it because of his love for me. But not to be biased of my own personal religion, I want to show that believing in something and having faith is better than nothing. Atheists are people that have a belief that there is nothing more after this life to me would seem to have really nothing to live for believing that they are just here to die which is a sad message. So in this essay I would like to describe why religion is so important and such an amazing thing.