NEWS CURRENT EVENT: "TOLERANCE? WE HAVE WAYS TO GO"

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. Within this article, Mitt Romney and his presidential campaign can be used as a prime example. The article states that one of the things that impacted Romney's nomination most negatively was the fact that he was a Mormon. He is a key example of American's supporting their own beliefs. Many American's still do not look positively upon Mormon's. Therefore, many American's did not vote for Romney because they did not want the leader of their country to be a Mormon. However, the article also states, "Polls show that Muslims, Buddhists and people without a religion are all viewed more warily by Americans." Again the ironic idea of America being free and diverse comes into play. Because American's have freedom of ideas, they choose what things (in this case religions) they want to be accepted. However, isn't it even more odd that even with equal rights a majority still has an influence. American's will not accept these religions often times because they are minorities. Without a majority supporting such religious beliefs, these religious minorities cannot expect to be completely accepted by "American Societies." A study of tests was done to see how much a religious belief played into the way other American's looked at religious minorities. They used Romney's statements on a survey and asked whether a citizen would vote for that candidate. Some surveys included that Romney was a Mormon, some included that he was a church leader, etc. This affected many people's votes. Many people in America today do not even accept that Mormon's are Christens. Simply, religion beliefs do affect American's acceptance. Although, maybe being part of a minority isn't always a bad thing. Romney stated, "Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance." Romney illustrates within this that he realizes that each religion is different, and that not all beliefs will agree. Each religion has history, and ideas that support the belief's their followers hold today. He also has gained one central, important, idea that American's much accept if we want religion within the country to succeed: Just because certain religions believe certain things does not make those religions wrong. We should not be focusing on what we disagree with about certain religions. Instead, Romeny conveys the idea that religion is part of America's diversity. That diversity will only remain if religions can learn to get along instead of judging people based on those differing beliefs.

Campbell, David E, John C. Green and J. Quin Monson. "Tolerance? We have a ways to go.(NEWS)." USA Today. (Nov 30, 2009): 21A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 9 Feb. 2010 .