Integration of Religion into Today's Society Posted on Saturday, June 11, 2005 More and more lately I've been noticing just how much religion- namely the Christian religion- is starting to appear in everyday life. However, before I start I'm going to say right out that I'll be generalizing in here and saying "Christians." I do not mean all Christians, I mean that the majority of people who are stepping up and putting their religion out so that the country is forced to contend with it are Christian. You can say I'm discriminating against certain religions or being racist or whatever you want, but I realize that not all Christians are doing this, whether you want to think I do or not. But the group that is making the most pronounced and noticed proclamations is the Christian group, so that's what I'm basing most of this topic off of. And with the disclaimer out of the way.... I am Jewish by heritage and atheist by choice- both of which are rather small in population in America. I also live in Colorado, which I believe to be one of the more Christian regions of the United States. Almost across the street from me is the Air Force Academy- I can see the chapel from my deck and the entrance is maybe three miles down the road. In the news more and more, I've been eharing how the Academy has been trying to bring Christianty into their school and program. Among the allegations are that cadets are frequently pressured to attend chapel and take religious instruction, particularly in the evangelical Christian faith; that prayer is a part of mandatory events at the academy; and that in at least one case a teacher ordered students to pray before beginning their final examination. Link This was taken from a CNN article about the Air Force Academy. Link is provided above. To include prayer as a mandatory event in the academy is, put simply, outrageous. That is a direct violation of the First Amendment, and it's just the beginning. Many people deny that religion is being "shoved down people's throats," but right there is an example of it. The military is not supposed to require prayer as a mandatory event, and it should not be scaring off possible students because of the religious intolerance demonstrated. The military represents America in many ways- and what kind of image is that- to say that we have freedom of religion in all cases, yet you are to pray- even before you're allowed to take a test? Do we really want people to view America as the hypocrites who can't say one thing and then do what they said? Do we really want to view ourselves that way? Also mentioned in the article is that when Mel Gibson's movie- The Passion of the Christ- came out, students started plastering promotional posters, etc, all over the cafeteria walls in the Academy. They also were sending out mass emails advertising the movie. People would argue that they have the right and freedom to do this, but the superintendent said that it was also promoting the students' religion, and trying to force people- not by violence but simply by message- to either convert or have sympathy with. I must say, I agree with him. Promoting a religious movie in the general, supposedly religion-free public is forcing people to recognize at the very least that the movie is religious and could start to influence people in a way they would see as negative. And before people start jumping on me about how they see things that would influence them negatively- like if you don't drink this soda you'll be ugly, or think you're ugly- it's not your right to be pretty. It is your right to be religion-free, or to avoid having certain religious beliefs mentioned or imposed upon you. Another example of the religious integration society is experiencing is the Navy Birthday Ball. Again- a military function, very formal and proper, etc. A flag folding ceremony occured at this event- I was personally there- and the thirteenth fold of the American Flag was for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I mentioned this on the Montgomery thread, but I'm brining it up again. The American Flag represents America even more than the military does. By saying that our FLAG stands for Jesus Christ- we are saying that our flag, and therefore our country, is religious- namely Christian- in nature. Which is supposed to be untrue. How can somone say at an official, national, military function that our country and our flag are represented by Jesus Christ- who some people don't even believe to be real? Like I said before- I am Jewish by heritage and atheist by nature- and I believe it infringes upon my rights to hear that our country is represented by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Finally, also in my area- and not the last reason ever, but for now it will be- there was recently a race entitled Bolder Boulder. It was a 10K run through Boulder, Colorado, and hundreds of people attended. At the end of the race, they had a Medal of Honor recipient speak. He recounted his tale opf why he earned the Medal of Honor, etc, and finished off with how he believed there were two things in his mind that represented freedom to him- the Medal of Honor and Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong- I have absolutely nothing against him saying that, in public or not. He has every right to believe what he will, and to say that he believes that. That is perfectly acceptable with me, and I'm not going to bitch about it. However, he went on to say that "Jesus saved me, and he will save you too- if you believe in him." That I do object to. He can state that he believes in Jesus all he wants, or that he loves him, or that Jesus represents freedom to him. Taht's fine, it's his personal belief. And he can believe that we'll be saved by him if we believe in him too. I'm not going to say he can't believe that. But he cannot say it in public, where there are people who do not believe that and are offended by the fact that this man was telling them they'll only be "saved" if they believe in Jesus. Basically, that's saying that you will go to Hell- which again, not everyone believes in- if you don't believe in someone. Taht is infringing on other people's rights. You can believe it all you want, but you can't tell people what's going to happen to them if they don't believe what you do. It automatically assumes that you believe what that person is telling you, and therefore it applies to you, when it very well might not. People would argue that by my saying that, I'm then imposing on Christian's rights. Sorry, but no. What I'm asking for is neutrality, not oppresion. Neutrality is absence of imposing religion in public events {like what I have just described}. It's not imposing on anyone's beliefs; it simply keeps an abscence of religion present {if that makes sense}. By saying no one can impose their religion in any way upon other people is enforcing neutrality. You'd be oppresed if someone else was allowed to practice their religion in public and you weren't. There's a difference. And this post is getting extremely long, so I'll wrap it up here. I've said this a couple times elsewhere, but I'd like to say it again. Many of the people here prefer to engage in personal attacks versus actually discussing what they think, and I'd appreciate it if people could just discuss and debate things calmly, rationally, and with at least a mildly level head. Merci bien. Cheers, Pads.