ID# 95551
Subtracting Religion from the Equation
America, ‘the land of the free and home of the brave’ was founded hundreds of years ago
on the basis of one important subject, religion. During the 1700’s in Europe, numerous religious
groups were facing persecution and found that they were unable to practice their beliefs freely.
Unhappy with this concept they turned towards moving to America in search of religious
freedom. Several of these groups founded their own colonies and started their new lives where
their religion became the core of their society. A majority of those that signed the Declaration of
Independence were religious men. While watching the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote the
Star Spangled Banner in which says “And this be our motto: ‘In God We Trust.’, and in the
Pledge of Allegiance which I recite on a daily basis we are “one nation under God.” These
various historical events laid down the foundation of America; a foundation of religion. The
problem that is faced today is Americans are fighting to take religion out of the Government and
out of schools when it is religion they can thank for their existence. An attempt to subtract
religion from the equation is highly unethical because if it wasn’t for religion, which led our
founding fathers to this land, we wouldn’t have the privileges of freedom and liberty that centers
our lives today.
Over the last several years there have been various cases of Americans unethically
fighting religion that is found in national monuments and documents. Cases include fighting to
take under God out of the pledge of Allegiance, court houses have been forced to remove Ten
Commandments off of their buildings, schools are not allowed to have Christmas decorations
and have to say Happy Holidays rather then Merry Christmas, and to a further extent, “In God
We Trust” is beginning to be removed from American coins. These numerous events at attempts
to remove religion is unethical and wrong. To fight against religion, that which brought us to this
ID# 95551
beautiful country and gave us our freedom and rights is un-American. The right these countless
people have to fight against religion in accordance to their belief system is in part because of
religion. Regardless of one’s belief system they should have a level of respect for the topic of
religion as it has given them everything they have today. Becoming involved in this unethical
violation would be doing in accordance with the list of cases above, fighting against religion and
where it is found in society. Violators justify themselves through beliefs and their freedom to
believe. However, it is no justification at all considering what gave them the right to fight is what
they are fighting to remove.
Standing as an American and standing for the rights of others as an American should,
violators against religion in the government should stand to respect the beliefs of those governing
along with our founding fathers. There is not much that can be done about this unethical
violation except spread our beliefs on the issue and help others realize what religion is to us and
means to us as Americans living freely in this country.