As the old saying goes, “Never discuss religion and politics”; this has been a common courtesy practice amongst individuals because of the diversity in our culture, but unfortunately this is not always the case when it comes to religious groups and political officials. Keeping separation between the two is imperative in meeting the needs of all political and religious affiliations without restricting the religious freedoms of other faiths. The separation of church and state is vital to not crossing the lines of personal freedoms and acknowledges the various religions as well as the non-religious groups that we have in the United States. On February 26th 2014 Senate Bill 1062 was vetoed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a law that would allow business owners to refuse service to anyone that impeded on their religious beliefs, the largest group to be homosexuals. If this bill had passed it would have allowed any action taken upon a business, for refusing service, to have a legal defense when facing discrimination lawsuits by proving a “sincerely held religious belief” (Nowicki, Sanchez & Rau, 2014).
This is an example of how the line between religion and politics could have led to unimaginable consequences on society by discriminating on personal rights and freedoms. “Religious liberty is a core American and Arizona value – so is nondiscrimination” (Nowicki, Sanchez & Rau, 2014, para. 3).
The quote made by Gov. Brewer is meant to show that religion is always a priority but the line has to be drawn when it leads to segregation of others that do not share the same beliefs. Allowing this type of law based upon religious beliefs that are not shared by all Americans shows that religion cannot be allowed to interfere in politics without discriminating on others who don’t share the same convictions. If someone opens a business and spends their hard earned money into finding a place, ordering merchandise, and hiring workers, then they should have the right to tell someone to leave their establishment right? As a business owner, an individual can tell anyone to leave their business, but discrimination can lead to lawsuits, in which you can be fined, and this could cause you to lose your business or customers depending on the severity of the charges. Choosing a particular group into your establishment and excluding another is segregation, and looking back on the segregation of blacks and whites that ended in the 1960’s, this was a violation of human rights, and a piece of history that should never be repeated, and an example of why religion should not have an involvement in politics.
The Research paper on Religion and Politics in Nigeria, a Case Study of Nigeria’s First Repulic
... religious groups in Nigeria. REFERENCES Religion in Nigeria- From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nigeria) Hank Eso. (2003). “Nigeria: Religion as a tool of Politics ... aspirations, culture or lifestyles. It’s used to inform business decisions, policy formation, communication and research. It ... which one holds as a result of his/her religious beliefs. This is the heart of our right ...
Another example of how religion and politics need to stay separate is the Catholic Church and organizations run by Catholics wanting to take out birth control as a mandated requirement of health care because it is against their religious beliefs to use birth control. In the online article “Supreme Court temporarily allows religious groups not to cover birth control,” Harvard University professor Ashish, Jha (2014) discusses how demand for birth control after the mandated health-care law went into effect, never happened because of the court ruling that catholic groups did not have to cover birth control in their employee health plans (Somashekar, Barnes, & Boorstein, 2014).
Allowing churches and church run organizations to mandate whether or not the use of contraceptives are used by their parishioners or employees is a violation of the separation of church and state. It is your right to choose to not take contraceptives if it is for religious convictions or as a personal choice, but making the choice for your employees goes against their personal freedoms. The mandated requirements of the health-care act do not force birth control on individuals who choose not to take it, but allows those who do, to have access to it through their health plans.
The Essay on The Protestant Ethic Catholic Group
Who would probably get the six hours of leisure, a Protestant or a Catholic? The Protestant group is mostly made up of the Northern European descent. The Catholic group comes mostly from the Southern European descent. Supposedly The Northern group was a little more advanced than the Southern group. The Catholics created less industrialized products, while the Protestants created highly advanced ...
The Catholic Church sees this as a violation of their religious freedoms because they have to pay for the health care even though a large portion of Catholic women use birth control. According to a report done by Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit sexual health research organization, found that 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used birth control despite the church’s teachings (Jones and Dreweke, 2011).
Considering this statistical number of Catholic’s that choose to use birth control as well as the non-Catholics that work for Catholic organizations, not allowing the disbursement of birth control is unfair to those who can’t afford to maintain a large family and need birth control in order to prevent pregnancy. If the Catholic Church does not want to provide birth control to its employee’s then they should provide financial support to the families who have unplanned pregnancies. The Catholic Church needs to understand that the separation between church and state was put into place to keep personal freedoms from interfering into politics and vice versa, separation of the two is important in keeping individual freedoms separate from group beliefs. Finally, our culture has changed the way we look at the separation of church and state, because of the diversity of religions located within the United States.
The establishment of religion and the separation of church and state (2004), notes that religion does not have the right to accept or reject propositions that interfere with human rights. According to Wildavsky (1987:5), such shared understandings of what is right and wrong, good and bad, inevitably affect individual choices about everything, including politics (English, 2004).
We live in a new age and in a country in which diversity is prevalent everywhere we go. Not everyone has the same beliefs and we live in a country that should not discriminate against the diversity that we share, but allowing one religious belief to interject itself into politics will interfere with the religious rights of another group. This also applies to politics interfering into religion, taking away religious freedoms because of another group’s beliefs is wrong as well. It is not just one religion that tries to interfere in the rights of others; there are extreme atheist groups that try to have the rights of religion taken away as well. These groups have tried to change everything from Christmas trees being named holiday trees, to protesting the take down of the metal beam shaped like a cross found in the aftermath of the twin towers at the 9/11 memorial.
The Essay on Romeo And Juliet The Church And The State
Romeo and Juliet successfully portrays the conflicting ideas and problems between the church and the state relevant to all contexts. Dramatic techniques highlight their responsibility for the tragedy. The ruler of Verona, Prince Escalus is a symbol of the state, and of municipal law and order. Through the use of dialogue he attempts to implement peace between the households. He tries to explain ...
These acts are not characteristic of all atheists and should not be taken as such, just as the acts of the Westboro Baptist Church should not be taken as the same beliefs of all Christians, and terrorist acts of extremist Muslims means that all Muslims are capable of the same thoughts and actions. The extreme actions of one individual group can cause a misrepresentation of all who associate themselves within that particular belief, so it is important to understand that not everyone has the same thought process and feels the same way as the negative actions of those particular groups that identify under the same belief system. In conclusion, religion is a part of our culture and everyone has the right to believe in what they want, but there is no room for religion in politics without impeding on the rights of others. Keeping separation between church and state will provide fairness to all parties as long as those lines are not crossed. Learning to keep in mind that we live in a nation that is diverse, where there are so many different religions as well as non-religious groups is important in maintaining equality. The right to practice any religion that we choose is a freedom that is not always welcome in other cultures, but is accepted in the United States. If we allow religion into politics, then we are not allowing the freedoms given by our constitution to believe the way we choose fit. There will never be a true agreement on this topic but learning tolerance and acceptance is vital to our cohabitation in this country no matter where our religious beliefs may lie.
The Essay on Does God Exist Groups Or Churches
Religious Beliefs in Early B. C. Period Since the beginning of time people have searched and studied very hard to find a religious practice that would sooth there soul. People have always found something or someone to worship. There are still many religious groups or churches that believe opposite of each other. The religious groups or churches of people usually have a book or some form of ...
References
English, J. (2004) Journal of Church and State. John, Wesley, the Establishment of Religion and the Separation of Church and State. Vol. 46 Issue 1, p83-97. 15p. Retrieved from the Ashford Library Database. Jones, R., & Dreweke, J. (April, 2011) Countering Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use. Guttmacher Institute, Retrieved from http://guttmacher.org/pubs/Religion-and-Contraceptive-Use.pdf Olson, L. (2011).
Journal for Scientific Study of Religion. The Essentiality of “Culture” in the Study of Religion. Vol. 50 Issue 4 P639-653. 15p. Retrieved from the Ashford Library Database. Nowicki, D., Sanchez, Y., Rau, B. (2014, February 26).
Arizona Governor Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill. USA Today, Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/26/arizona-governor-vetoes-anti-gay-bill/5849187/ Somashekhar, S, Barnes, R., & Boorstein M. (2014, January 01).
Supreme Court temporarily allows religious groups not to cover birth control. The Washington Post, Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/supreme-court-temporarily-allows-religious-groups-not-to-cover-birth-control/2014/01/01/8780a032-73 Wildavsky, A. 1987. Choosing preferences by constructing institutions. A Cultural Theory of Preference Information. American Political Science Review 81(1):3-21.
