Religion In American Society

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Religion has been influential in shaping laws and codes that govern our lives dating back to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Babylon (Matthews, Noble, & Platt, 2014). These civilizations illustrated an overlap between legal systems and spiritual settings” (Rothkamm, 2008). Our laws are an extension of societal values and morality; therefore, religious influence is evident. “Religious inspiration is not only vital for the content of laws, but also their enforcement” (Rothkamm, 2008, p. 308). Furthermore, freedom of religion is imperative in the advancement of American society because religion influences many cultures, which further fosters community relationships and interaction. Our government recognizes the importance for religious choice by including many laws to protect individuals based upon those beliefs. “The practice of religion is good for individuals, families, states, and the nation” (Fagan, 1996, n.p.). With regards to influential peers, I would say Timothy Mullen influenced my thinking throughout the course. We seemed to have the same thought process on some of the topics. One of his comments that stood out the most to me …show more content…

Learning that my way of thinking mirrored some of the philosophical thinking styles of old, made me feel a little more in tune with the humanities that brought us to where we are in the world now. The most valuable lesson for me goes back to the Inscriptions at Delphi — Know Thy Self. In my opinion, this is still a personal reflection of oneself, but throughout the course, we have learned that much our “ourselves” are influenced by our culture, which was influenced by previous cultures. Morality and belief systems drove much of humanity many years ago and still do to this day. One of our initial questions asked what our idea of humanity is — we are humanity and everything that

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