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Argumentative essay on religious freedom
Freedom of religion civil liberties
Argumentative essay on religious freedom
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How does Catholicism view other religions and religious freedom?
Catholics and many other religions have the same view on other religions then there own. Catholics believe that everyone is entitled to their own personal freedom and have there own choices. They share the same vision as the Vatican Council, which is the council that tries to maintain freedom. People nowadays are conscious and there is a growing demand that people should exercise their own judgement. More and more people are demanding other to have there own responsible freedom and act accordingly. Catholics believe that there should be no prevention and excessive restrictions of freedom of individuals. The human society today demands free practice of religions in society. The Vatican council pays attention to these spiritual aspirations.
The Vatican council declares that humans have a right to religious freedom. Freedom of this kind means that everyone is immune from
corrosion and peer pressure and other social group forces. Every individual have their own rights and have there own rights to believe in whatever God they desire. Every individual has the rite to freedom within limits; no men or women can be forced against their convictions. Nor anyone can be restrained from acting in accordance to his or her religion. In association with this the public shall recognized religious freedom, which must be give recognition in the constitutional order.
The Vatican council or the sacred council proclaims that obligations bind people’s consciences together. Truth can impose itself on the human mind by the force of its own truth, which wins over the mind. So while the religious freedom, which human beings demand in fulfilling their obligation to worship, God has to do with freedom from coercion in civil society.
God orders, directs and governs the whole world and ways of the human community according to a plan conceived in his wisdom and love. God has enabled humans to share in this law, under gentle disposition of divine providence. For this reasons everybody have the duty and the right to seek the truth in religious matters. Through the use of appropriate means they make ask prudent judgments of conscience, which are sincere and truthful.
However in contradiction to all this freedom the Vatican Council's declared that there would be only one church of Christ. The Vatican’s declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions reaffirmed that there is only one Church of Christ that is fully in possession of the truth of the Gospel; that is the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The choice of religion belongs solely to the individual and shouldn’t be able to be taken away from a
The modern state seeks its self-preservation above all else, and history reveals that governments are more than willing to exercise their monopoly on force and coercion in order to cement and defend their authority (5-6). Normally, unified social bodies such as the Church seek to counteract the dominance of the state through their public and political influence. However, when the Church simultaneously abdicates its political connections and powers and interiorizes itself within individual Catholics, it frees the state to exercise its will with little backlash: “Once the church has been individualized and eliminated as Christ’s body in the world, only the state is left to impersonate God”
Wood, James E, Jr. "Religious Human Rights and a Democratic State." Journal of Church and State 4(2004):739. eLibrary. Web. 31 Aug. 2011.
The goal of this paper is to determine if the Catholic religion has continued to modernize since Vatican II. In order to help analyze the modernization of Catholicism, this paper will examine the immigration of Catholics to America in the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout this paper, I will reference Dr. Julie Byrne’s commentary, a professor in American religious history at Duke University, as a means of explaining how Catholicism has assimilated into American culture. Next, this paper suggests three challenges that Catholics are presently facing in the 21st century. Finally, this paper will elaborate on the growth in “irreligious Catholics” and its potential dangers. Although Catholicism assimilated into American culture during the 19th and 20th centuries, research and the rise in “irreligious Catholics” in the 21st century suggests it is possible that Catholicism has not continued to modernize.
One difference between Catholicism and Protestantism is the question of adequacy and authorization of the Scripture. Protestants, being more traditional, focus on the Bible. They believe that it is the source of God’s revelation to man (“What”), and that “the whole of Christian truth is found within the Bible’s pages” (“Tracts”). Bible teaches one about their wrongs, and what actions they need to undertake in order to be saved from their sins. They see it as guidelines for Christian behavior. These guidelines are otherwise known as “sola scriptura” (“What”). Sola scriptura derives from “sola” meaning “alone” and “scriptura” meaning “writings.” “Sola scriptura” says that only the Scripture is responsible for the faith of Christians and their practices. The Scripture is the foundation of their religion. It tells one that their salvation is not obtained from random readings, but from the document itself. However, the Catholics rebuff the teachings of the Scripture. Many of their documents such as praying to saints, worship of Mary, etc. are focused only on the Roman Catholic traditions. They do not believe that the Bible alone will satisfy them. Instead, they believe that the Roman Catholic tradition alongside with the Bible are both mandatory for oneself. Both determine the sufficiency of the Bible as well as its authority and completeness (“What”).
The primary purpose of this essay is stated in the title. It is to consider whether certain principles presented in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and commonly referred to as human rights are supported by the authority of God 's word. A secondary goal is to consider how society might be influenced to establish and maintain laws which agree with God 's moral authority. Yet a third goal is to consider how free exercise of human rights might be impacted by obedience and disobedience to God 's moral authority.
As James Madison, the fourth President of the United States said, “The religion of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man, and it is right of every man to exercise it as they may dictate” (Haynes, C...
In summary, I have stated the Constitutional basis with respect to the history of church-state relation in America. I have stated clearly the two doctrines of separation of church and state versus using religion to bolster morality and virtue of the republic. And I have argued that the two doctrines have a common ground in conscience and morality.
Worldwide, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church both fall under the three largest groups of Christianity, along with the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church and the Protestant Church have a lot in common such as that they are both mono-theistic, they both believe that Jesus is the son of God, that he was born of the Virgin Mary, that he died for our sins, that he ascended into heaven, that he rose from the dead, and that there will be a second coming of Jesus. Some other things they have in common are that both Catholics and Protestants worship in churches, chapels, or cathedrals via prayer, praise, song, and/or reading of the scriptures. The two churches both follow the word of the bible as well as the Ten Commandments, they both believe that human souls are eternal, and they both teach that those who are believers and take the time to exemplify their faith will go to Heaven whereas those who are non-believers will go to Hell. It makes sense that these two churches share many of the same beliefs and follow many of the same things considering that Protestants were originally members of the Catholic Church up until about 500 years ago when they broke off into their own church in an attempt to return to the church’s origin. However, even with all their similarities they have some differences as well.
The separation of church and state has been a long debated topic in the history of America. Although founded upon Christian ideals, the framers of the Constitution explicitly outlined the government to function secularly, in what is commonly referred to as the “Establishment Clause”. When interpreting the Constitution in regards to religion, there are two primary philosophies. The first philosophy this paper will explore will be referred to as Positive Toleration. In general, the idea of positive toleration creates an environment that is encouraging of all religions. The second philosophy, which will be referred to as the “Wall of Separation,” encourages government freedom from religion. Although historically these two philosophies have jockey back and forth in public popularity, as America moves into the future, the Wall of Separation philosophy will take a strong-hold and will set the course for how the Establishment Clause will affect local government, schools, and private religious practice.
Orthodox Catholics - Orthodox Catholics are the most devout members of the Catholic Church. They adhere to the Church’s teachings rigorously by regularly participating in Church practices and rituals such as attending mass and other catholic ceremonies. They are fully immersed in the institutional life of the Church. Their Catholic identity is publicly manifested in their social, political, and economic life. Their social structure is almost entirely based around the church’s teachings, as well as immersing themselves around people who have the same strong catholic beliefs as themselves. It is likely that if conflict occurred between the Church’s teachings, family, work or social life, that the orthodox members will favour with the church. This was seen during the church’s child abuse scandals in 2009, members of the Catholic Church who didn’t have rigorously strict catholic beliefs tended to move away from the church after the scandals however the orthodox members remained loyal to the church. Orthodox Christians prevailed through Ireland from 1880-1990’s. Now however it is often regarded as just a ‘stereotypical viewpoint of Irish Catholism’ or something that is linked with previous generations. There has been a significant orthodox Catholics have also disappeared from the fields of education, health, and social welfare. DISAGREE ON ISSUES SUCH AS--- PROTESTS.
Similarly, in the 16thcentury the ‘Reformation in Europe’ led to more divisions. Hence, today there are five main Christian Variants, which include Anglican, closely linked to the Church of England, emphasises on scripture, reason and tradition in relation to beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church which follows several important Doctrines, including the Doctrine of Apostolic Succession, Doctrine of Immaculate Conception, and t...
An individual does not make a community, and a community does not make a society. In order to have a functioning and prosperous society, one must relinquish some free will in return for protection. According to John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, there are certain rights of the individual which the government may never possess. Centuries after the publication of Mill’s Essay, the court case Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegeta l, 546 U.S. 418 (2006) challenged the protective role of government against the free exercise of religion.
Since its emergence during the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church has had a prevailing influence over the world. Its doctrines laid the base for modern standards of morality, and during the Dark Ages it acted as the brain and power behind many leaders. After the emergence of secular thought during the Renaissance the Church's power shifted into the background. In recent times, its influence has begun to shift back into the foreground. The Catholic Church is a religious body that is prominent in the Western world. The capital of the Catholic Church is located in Vatican City in Rome, where the body that represents the Catholic religion and its people is run from. The Catholic Church has always had an effect on politics, and during the Dark Ages its doctrines and beliefs were key to early leaders' decisions. It functioned as an icon to the people of what would come if they followed the laws, and an advisor to the leaders, helping them rule over their kingdoms. After secular thought appeared the Catholic Church's power fell to the wayside because secular thought placed importance on the individual and people began to live their life the way they wanted instead of how the Catholic Church told them to live it in order to get to Heaven. The Church retained its influence in new ways during this time by supporting what the people were interested in such as the sciences, art, and the return to classical thought. The Catholic Church is a very different institution now, rife with corruption and flaws, but still followed across the world. Many of its followers have fallen away however because they are frustrated by its corruption, or the dated doctrines that it applies to politics, specifically things like same sex marriage or contr...
Christmas is the most popular holiday in all of the land. Mostly everyone loves Christmas. There are three categories of Christmas people. Number one; the haters. They despise Christmas and think it is the devil and nothing good comes from lying to children and giving gifts for absolutely no reason at all. Number two; the average person. The ones who just buy the gifts, wear the holiday sweaters, and go to the annual Christmas gathering at Grandma’s where gifts and laughs are exchanged. Number three; the die hard Santa’s of the group. The few mothers or fathers who decorate the day after Halloween to get into the Christmas spirit. The tree is up on November first and the Christmas lights are hung all year round. They make sure to go black friday shopping to get everyone a gift, even cousin Nicholas, who is three times removed. Christmas is