The Importance Of Being Independent?

Americans have been believing in God less and less in recent months, and new research is shedding light on why that may be.

I’ve always considered myself independent. Maybe it was because of how I was raised or the fact that I moved to a different state with different people every four years that shaped my personality into being this way. Of all the factors that came into play when I was growing up, the most influential cause of my early independence has got to be my constant and hectic schedule of dance practices and rehearsals.

We all know that religion is an organized system regarding the spiritual or supernatural along with various practices that give numerous individuals a sense of purpose in the world and allows these individuals to understand things beyond their reach. However, while reading the articles from “Nones on the Rise,” it is evident that there is an increase in the number of individuals who claim unaffiliation to any religion in the United States. “Nones” gives the facts and figures of the Americans who do not place themselves in any religious category, with an approximate one in five of the public claiming no affiliation. But there are some individuals who denote themselves as spiritual or religious in some way. The entire article is an intriguing one because it breaks everything down, from what it means to be unaffiliated religiously to the composition of the unaffiliated, the demographics of the unaffiliated and theories as to why there is an increase in the numbers of the years. It is interesting to see how people view themselves when it comes to their beliefs.

More adults and families raising children are adapting a secular, non-religious, lifestyle than ever before. As stated in Phil Zuckerman’s LA Times article “How Secular Family Values Stack Up,” there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of American families who are raising their children without God. He also goes on to state that “23% of adults in the U.S. claim to have no religion, and more than 30% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say the same.” In the same article he goes on to state that the parents that are raising their children in this lifestyle are having success and

The Great Depression was coined as the Great Depression for a reason. When the stock market crashed in 1929, many factory workers lost their jobs, the economy suffered severe inflation of prices, and the usual commodities, such as food and shelter, became harder to obtain. Hunger, poverty, and unemployment ravaged the broken economy and forced many out of their homes and into slums and on the streets. People struggled just to survive even to the next day. In addition to the already difficult proletarian life of the working class, the ever expanding realm of factories and machines forced skilled workers to become obsolete. Fordism and the Industrial Age caused the average working man to be highly replaceable. For example, if a worker sustained an injury on the job, and was no longer able to work, he would be sacked and a new man would be hired on the same day. These conditions created a cycle of poverty, which was nearly impossible to escape. Another side effect of the growing technological advances was the dehumanizing effects of the machine on man. As the Great Depression drew on, millions of Americans were sent into poverty and left unemployed and hungry. Many actors and filmmakers took it upon themselves to address these conditions. Charlie Chaplin was one such icon whose silent film, Modern Times set during the Great Depression Era, criticize and the effect of machine on man and individualism during the Industrial Revolution, and the rampant poverty in the

We spend lifetimes attempting to forget the foul parts of life, and I failed to understand a God who deserved unconditional love controlling a world with so much hate. Randomness could account for the periods of good and bad with practicality and without a spiritual dependence. However, without following a spiritual figure, I surrendered my complete self-worth to societal standards. Countless warnings against comparison with others drifted away from me; Compromising confidence seemed better than blindly believing.

     Throughout history, religion has impacted the lives of millions whether at school, work, with friends, or by some tragedy. Religion can change the way people view their existence. Religion also plays a big role in the infiltration of values into the loves of many young people today. In a recent pole printed in the USA Weekend Paper, “34% of respondents [said] Religion plays a powerful role in their everyday lives.” These student respondents “cited religion as the second-strongest influence in their lives outranked only by parents.” Religion also surpassed the world-renounced media as an influence in their lives (Lerman. 1).

This is why in the past twenty five years, “nonreligious Americans has increased by well over 200 percent...making it the fastest growing “religious” orientation in [America]”(Zuckerman, 5). Throughout the years, the stigma of secularism, more commonly known as Atheism, has a negative feel towards

Religion is an imperfect savior. Primitive civilizations depended on religion to explain the workings of the world; they depended on gods to protect their crops and homes from disease, drought, and other disasters far out of human control. While this dependency provided comfort, it sacrificed individuality. Recent years has seen the rise of alternative forms of media: novels, digital music, movies. These were not available to previous civilizations. Early Americans only had access to the Bible, which was unreadable to the average illiterate. Newer forms of media have spurned a nation-wide reflection on the old traditions that were largely set by religion. Ever since the founding of the colonies, and ever since more diverse forms of self-expression have become more accessible, Americans have grown in individuality as they have become less dependent on religion.

It is up to parents to instill faith in their kids; this way children can turn to their religion in time of need. As Brandt says, "many [parents] are proud to be without religion whose children cannot afford their being without it" (194). However, in today’s modern culture, as Brandt adds, "Morality can survive without religion, it appears; children can be taught the importance of right versus wrong without benefit of religious training" (139). So, Americans are beginning to turn away from the church, and do not rely on the church as much as they did many years ago.

In my area, the closest Independent Living Center is the Central Iowa Center of Independent Living located at 655 Walnut St., Suite 131 Des Moines IA 50309, http://www.centraliowacil.com/. This center follows the philosophy and offers the same type of service that was part of the first Independent Living Center. The philosophy of this center is “Empowering individuals with disabilities to control their lives” (Central Iowa Center for Independent Living, n.d., para. 3) They do this by offering services that are designed to both decrease societal barriers, and provide individual support that will allow a person with a disability to live on their own in the community.

Throughout history, people have banded together within their nations to gain independence from a higher authority. In some cases, violence is necessary to gain sovereignty, but in other cases violence is destroying nations. People denied of the rights and personal freedoms under an unjust government often resort to violent revolutions and wars. They see using force as in the most effective way of relieving themselves of their situation. According to Norman Finkelstein “International law says people fighting for self-determination can use force in order to achieve independence”. Finkelstein is stating how our laws allow us to use violence to gain self-autonomy for many nations worldwide. I agree with Norman Finkelstein to a certain extent with his opinion towards fighting for sovereignty. When it comes to violence people always take it seriously and it draws attention to what's happening, using your words won't

To help promote as much personal and physical independence and choice as possible in the activities of daily living. By giving each individual their choices where possible as to which clothes they would prefer to wear. Or by promoting independence by how much assistance each person wishes to have. To assist residents with personal needs and washing and

The U.S. News took a survey asking 1000 people questions about their belief in God, or how God played a role in their lives. As a result, 93 percent of people said that they believed in God or a universal spirit (Sheler, 8). Also, when asked to describe their beliefs about God, 76 percent said that they consider God to be a heavenly father who can be reached by prayer (Sheler, 8). That is a remarkable amount of people to belief that they have such a connection with something that they have no actual insurance of existing. Now, obviously America is considered a moral society, so wouldn’t all this faith play a key role in that observation?

     Graduating and getting out on your own is a difficult step to make. There are a lot of things that you have to take into perspective. The choices that you make when you get out of highschool believe it or not are crucial and life altering. Decisions that you have to make are ones like what you want your career to be, where you want to live, and a big decision is buying a house. In making these decisions you have to do a lot of research and things to be prepared. I did a lot of research in hopes of finding a career that I would like and three things that I could see myself doing was owning my own spa ($100,000 yearly salary), managing a spa($60,000 yearly salary), or being an