The family is fading. Religion is falling. Faith is failing. The first right in the First Amendment, the right to the free practice of religion, is being viciously attacked by the citizens of America. The traditional family—an ideal so simple and fundamental that, twenty years ago, any alteration to it would be unfathomable—is now being challenged. Times are changing; society is changing. Among others, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addresses this change in his speech, “Faith, Family, and Religious Freedom.” In this lecture given at Chapman University in 2015, he focuses on that trend in today’s society: faith, family, and religious freedom, or, more accurately, the decline in it. Traditional family values and religion have degraded at an astonishing rate, he claims; the fact that he devoted an entire speech to the topic proves the severity of said trend. Elder Holland builds common ground, quotes credible sources, and shows irrefutable facts and statistics to effectively convince his religious listeners that action must be taken to prevent the disappearing freedoms of faith, family, and religion, else disastrous consequences take place.
Part of the reason Elder Holland eminently convinced his audience that the decline in family values is an issue was how he established a solid common ground from which they could each relate. In a crowd so religiously diverse, in order to be truly effective, a sense of unity must be achieved and maintained throughout the entirety of the event to
Freedom of religion is one of the most cherished foundations of both American society and the Church. The eleventh Article of Faith provides an excellent definition for freedom of religion, “We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege: let them worship how, where, or what they may.” As society grows less religious, there are concerns that freedom of religion is in danger. In his 1990 Ensign article “Religion in Public Life,” Dallin H. Oaks states that “we must reaffirm and even contend for religious liberty.” The best ways we can defend our freedom of religion are to ensure that our government is secular and to exercise self-government in the
In the documentary A New Eden: God in America, the class was given the opportunity to explore America’s chase to religious freedom and the political challenges it took to achieve such and opportunity where people for the first time were given a chance to seek religious faith that was not imposed upon them, but one that they can personally choose to live for themselves. The problem that would come about during the arrival Catholic immigrants’ as it was thought to believe their arrival would come to oppose the very religious they worked so hard for, while from their perspective they were merely trying to live an average life in America with all it has to offer just like everyone has. The challenge was most expressed in a judicial case of public
When America adopted the term Freedom, as far back as the country’s founding. To how we as a nation obtained freedom and the patriots who had to fight several wars in order to continue to possess it. As citizens and members of a society, we are extremely fortunate to have several different types of freedoms. Although this is a good thing in some cases, there comes to a point where too much freedom can be dangerous because there would essentially be no protection for the people. To prevent this from happening, we give up particular freedoms and swap it for safety. The freedoms that are most important to me are religion, economic, education, and gun control. With that being said, there should be the same “restriction” on each of the freedoms, no acts of violence will be condoned.
The act of defining religion has been a contentious issue in a wide variety of situations, particularly in the United States. The US is a nation that prides itself on religious inclusivity and freedom. There are consequences to this belief and tenant. Through the social, legal and moral structures of the United States, defining religion has become imperative. In The Impossibility of Religious Freedom, Winifred Sullivan outlines the legal implications of defining religion in the United States. In order for religious freedom to be protected by the American state, religion must be clearly defined. As a result, religious theory must be used to maintain some semblance of religious freedom in the United States. Likewise, Josh Dubler’s Down in
On June 26th, 2015, the United States Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide and in doing so, rattled the belief system of many Christians around the country. Many took to social media and with the terror and panic of Chicken Little cried, “The sky is falling”, while others lashed out in hateful speech towards the lawmakers and the homosexual community that celebrated their newly given liberty. As Christians begin to look toward the future with a new definition of marriage put into effect before the country, many begin to question what this will mean for the next generation of believers and for the church moving forward. While the federal government may revise the definition of marriage, as outlined in the constitution, it does not have the ability to change the truth of scripture or the definition of marriage outlines within.
Religious freedom has been a staple of the American doctrine since the Bill of Rights. Since then, religious freedom has been challenged non-stop. From the Supreme Court’s rulings that have shaped what religious freedoms mean, which include the enactment of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the legalization of same-sex marriage; to obstacles that Muslims face. Religious freedom has been and continuous to be a center point in American politics.
By first questioning “whose family values do [the Christian Right] promote”, Jones shifts to a critical tone and demonstrates how the Christian Right are narrow-minded as they present the “minority structure” of families being of a “mum, dad and 2.5 kids” as the “only ‘natural’ family structure”. This is intended to persuade the reader to view the Christian Right and conservative opponents of the program as ignorant, leading the audience of parents to support Jones’ point of view due to the facts that there are many different types of families. As well as that, Jones rebuts the Christian Rights view of family structures by using emotive language and appeals to fairness, displaying how the Christian Right “positioned all alternative family structures as deviant and threatening”, such as “single parent families, blended families”, and “same-sex parented families”. The editor labels this as “surprisingly vulnerable”, and influences the reader to view the Christian Right as discriminatory and naive, thus supporting Jones’ point of view that there is no such thing as a traditional family. The accompanying photograph supports Jones’ opinion, indicating that diverse views exist thus supporting the Safe Schools Coalition program is necessary. The viewers are immediately attracted to the dominant posters
In the United States, religious freedom is a unique right that not all countries allow. The founding fathers instilled this idea although they predominately followed the Christian faith. Several documents and common American morals have Christian roots; some of which include the establishment of God given rights and basic human decency. The words “In God We Trust” on our currency and “One Nation Under God” in our pledge represent the guiding principles that the United States was established on. Although some may believe these words are controversially bias toward Christianity, they are an important part of history. There are multiple references to faith throughout history and several words and concepts are derived from Christian
When America was a established, the founding fathers did not want to establish an official religion like Britain did with Anglican. There was two reasons for this: one because there were so many religions and large communities in all of them that is was hard to pick one to represent the all of them, and two they did not want America to be like the old world where an establish religion will cause other religions to be prosecuted. Religious freedom has been protect since then by the first amendment so that on top of being free to say and think whatever you so choose, you are also free to practice and believe whichever religion you so choose. Religious freedom and the many immigrants that come to America creates the foundation for why there are so many religions in America.
In this is paper I’m going to tell you about the religious freedom we have in America and how it’s uniquely American. There are many reason we have religious freedom in America, One being that it’s a law. I’m going to tell who wrote the bill of rights that made religious freedom a law and why they wrote it. I’ll tell you about the people who fight in war just to make sure we have this freedom among other freedoms. I’ll talk about how America is one place where we have a choose an say in our religion. I’m going to tell about the religions you can choose to be for example Christian.
For most of the 20th Century, America’s Faith Community enjoyed the luxury of reposeful sanctuary within their Houses of Worship. Such places were considered “off limits” for acts of crime and mayhem by most Americans. Reality often mirrored this anticipation. Even the criminal element looked with great disdain upon those victimizing churches and synagogues. However, immunity to the problems slowly began to deteriorate. The lawless began to view holy and sacred locations as merely wealthy soft targets overseen by the forgiving and the naive. The general respect that was once accustomed from American culture started to erode as well; only exasperating the situation. By 2001, the reality that world level terrorism could also
When Robert Matthews, self proclaimed Matthias, Prophet of the God of the Jews, came forth as a zealot promising prosperity and salvation in a time of great social turmoil and upheaval, people latched on to his assurances that they would be leaving behind economic oppression and impoverishment. During this time period between 1820 and 1840, people were so caught up in the urgency of religious zeal that they were desperate for a way to get out. Some historians believe Matthias and his influential, albeit debatably derailed, followers like Elijah Pierson seemed like prime examples of their time. Rather, their newfound religious faction undeniably regressed back to extreme old world practices, like those that occurred during the American Revolution, after Matthias fails to make it in the new world urban economy. Matthias’s search for religious freedom was wrapped up in patriarchal roles and avoidance of modern innovations in living and ideas, pointing his regressions back to the practices of the colonial period.
America is known as a dream country, one of which many people move across the world for, craving the democratic and understanding ruling which allows citizen to participate in nearly all aspects of decisions made within the country. America’s approach to create a perfect union, or dream country, of stability and structure is based off of the Constitution of the United States. The constitution ensures people of their safety and justice, common defense, opportunities for prosperity, and common rights including one right in particular, freedom of religion. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right, explaining its dear importance to so many lives across America. This common rights allows each person to legally practice any religion they choose,
In America, we have many rights, including the rights to free speech, peaceful protest, voting, and to bear arms. Although they are important, I believe that there is one right that is more important than any of these. That is our right to religious freedom. It is the first right guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, and the First Amendment. It gives us the right to practice any religion we choose, or, if we would like, to practice no religion at all. This is a gift, which we are all stewards of, and it is our duty to share this gift with other nations and people.
Freedom of Religion is an important value in American culture. Many people would agree that anyone should be able to practice their religion how they choose, as long as they don’t interfere with someone else’s rights. However, there are instances throughout American history when an individual’s right to practice their faith has come into conflict with the law. In these cases, it is up to the courts to decide whether the law or the citizen has to change in order to accommodate the other. There are many factors that go into these decisions, such as whether or not the practice is a sincerely held belief of the citizen, whether or not the state and the citizen can come to a compromise that accommodates the religious practice, or how the citizen’s