CURRENT EVENT ANALYTIC ENTRY

Religion within America is constantly running into new challenges. One of the greatest challenges today is religious tolerance. In today’s society, religious beliefs affect American's acceptance. America’s religious beliefs are more diverse than ever. However, an ironic trend today is out casting Religions that are minorities. In America, the majority vote holds the most influence. With religions such as Christianity leading religion in the country, less popular religions are often looked down upon. “Buddhists and people without a religion are all viewed more warily by Americans." All of these religions are religions that do not have as many followers within America. Since these religions hold ideas that do not necessarily agree with the majorities’ religious ideas, they are looked at as wrong. Though, these actions are supported by the Constitution. Our Constitution guarantees all citizens the rights to practice free religion, but it also entitles American's to freedom of their own thoughts and ideas. Because of their strong beliefs of their own religion, many American’s are unwilling to accept and tolerate other ideas that do not correspond with their beliefs. "Prohibitions against worshipping other gods have led to intolerance, hatred, and even destruction of those who have other religious beliefs." Many choose to justify their beliefs by trying to disprove, or eliminate other religions. An example of this could be extremists. Many extremists use teachings of their religion, and twist them into a belief that their religion promotes violence towards those who do not agree with their ideas. American Religion struggles for tolerance. The constant idea of intolerance causes religious conflict. However, recently, there are more and more people who are not tolerating the idea of religion all together. This group of people is known as Atheists. Atheists have a need for a logical truth. People who chose to generate their own ideas might find that their religious beliefs do not necessarily support their ideas, thus leading them to look at their religion as limiting. Atheists do not find the ideas of faith enough. The idea of science and religion then comes into play. Many people do not agree with scientific teachings such as evolution because those ideas are not supported by the Bible. However, Atheists accept science for the exact same reason. The idea that there is a physical proof to explain something is the evidence they use to create their beliefs causes past to disappear with concepts that science illustrated. They do not see how one could argue that something is false or wrong when it is physically proven. "A person with integrity doesn't claim to know supernatural things that he or she doesn't know. An honest person wants solid evidence to support assertions, and is leery of baseless claims." This supports the idea that Atheists do not believe in faith or religious teachings because there is no backbone of evidence to support it. Thus leading them to believe that one who believes something solely because of faith is ignorant. However, the majority of American society looks down upon Atheists because they believe in faith and the Bible. There is on right idea. Mitt Romney illustrated an understanding and acceptance that different religions exist. "Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance." Romney illustrates here that people must accept that with diversity comes different religions, ideas, and beliefs. America is a country run by the people. These people are made up of every majority and minority. Therefore, Romney’s concept is important. If America wants to continue to thrive, people should not be focusing on what they disagree with about certain religions. Instead, Romney conveys the idea that religion is part of America's diversity, and that diversity will continue to thrive only if different religions or beliefs can learn to accept one another.