Religious Freedom -- Keeping it Personal
Imagine a young woman name Suzy. She is 17 years old and she loves her
religion. Every Sunday she goes to church to celebrate her religion with other people who
share the same beliefs. This is a perfect example of a person exercising their moral right
to religious freedom. Suzy is able to believe in the religion that she chooses, and is able
to celebrate that religion freely.
However, when we continue to follow Suzy, we realize that every Monday she
goes to school and tells all of her peers that do not agree with her religion that they
should expect to be eternally trapped in Hell upon their deaths. She informs Bob and Jill
and Joe that they believe in the wrong religion, and because of this, they will feel
perpetually miserable. This is an example of a person taking their right to religious
freedom too far. By telling Bob, Jill, and Joe that they believe in the wrong religion, she
is violating each of their rights to religious freedom.
I approve of the fact that in America, people may choose to believe in whatever
religion they would like to believe in. Instead of being discriminated against or tortured
by people of the “correct” religion, they are able to freely express and celebrate the
religion that they would like to follow. However, I disapprove that people try to tell
others what religion they should believe in. While those people may believe that
spreading the word of their lord is an important aspect to their religion, the attempt to
convert people from their existing religions is a violation of those people’s religious
freedoms.
On a local level, we may again consider Suzy. At first, she does a respectable job
celebrating the religion that she has chosen and using her religious freedom the way it
was meant to be used. However, the moment she begins telling Bob, Jill, and Joe that
their own religions are the wrong religions to follow, that is when she begins to violate
their personal freedoms.
Although not everyone exercises their religious freedom, everyone is responsible
for supporting religious rights. This is because every person needs to respect the religious
beliefs of all others. Because we are all born with the right to religious freedom, we all
have an unspoken duty to support our own religious beliefs while at the same time
refraining form infringing on the religious rights of other people. This category of
infringement includes telling other people that their souls will ceaselessly roam the
deepest crevices of Hell, as Suzy did, but it also includes attempting to convert someone.
If Suzy endeavors to convert Bob to her own religion, she is essentially telling him that
he believes in the wrong religion. By communicating this thought, Suzy is stepping on
Bob’s right to religious freedom.
The action that I can take now to support the right to religious freedom is to
celebrate in the religion that I choose to while allowing other people to believe what they
would like to without telling them they are wrong. Although this act is not necessarily a
strong call to action or an obvious encouragement extended towards others, it is a
responsible and respectful way to exercise my right to religious freedom. This act is also
a silent reminder to those around me that they may celebrate the religion they choose to
without disrespecting the religious freedom of someone else. In the future, I can work to
encourage overzealous converters to honor the religious freedoms of everyone. Instead of
merely respecting the religious rights of others myself, I may persuade others to give that
respect as well.
Religious freedom is a moral right. It is a natural right that is given to every
person the moment they are born. While it is important that each individual practice their
right to religious freedom, it is also important that each individual respects the right to
religious freedom that everyone else has as well. It is perfectly acceptable for Suzy to
celebrate her religion as often as she wants and with as much enthusiasm as she can
bring. However, it is not acceptable for her to tell someone else that their religion is
wrong, or that their souls will never be safe because of their poor choice in religion.
Everyone’s religious freedom must be observed, or else nobody’s may.