Analyze the Role of Religion in American Culture and Politics Since the Beginning of the 20th Century Essay

The world-class amendment of the constitution of the United States of the States postulates Congress sh in all make no law of nature, respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the issue do thereof. This law has given the United States of the States the status of a secular evidence since 1791, kernel that its states bind to be official neutral in matters of religion. However, m whatsoever factors strongly contradict its values peculiarly in the twentieth century, where there have been numerous cases where citizens werent treated equally regardless of religion.In effect, Jeffersons wall of separation as a metaphor for the separation of church and state promotes free exercise of religion withal its c at ane timept has proven to be difficult because the regular army goerns with a federal system and today, there is 900 different denominations in the expanse. The establishment clause hasnt been equally respected within the states of the landed estate for examp le, the constitution of Arkansas states No person who denies the being of God shall hold any blot in the civil departments of this state, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court, this heavily contradicts the USAs secularity.It has always been a very(prenominal) difficult task for the country to separate religion and government how has religion played a major role in Ameri quarter nuance and politics since the takening of the 20th century? From the colonial period through the current day, European visitors to the United States have commented on the powerful current of religiousness that appears to affect all aspects of the Statesn life. Surveys of American opinion document that religious vox populi is widespread nearly all Americans profess a belief in God, anticipate an afterlife, and report that religion is important in their lives.In 2010, the Pew Research cracker published a pie-graph illustrating religious denominations among masses in the United States of America. The graph gives us a fire up understanding of the religious pluralism of the country. Among the many religious belief systems co-existing in the American society, we can see a domination of the Christian religion, with an average of 80 % of the people living in America. Also, there are many separate religious beliefs in the country such as Buddhism, Judaism etc.This document points that religion is a very important factor of the image on the United States of America. Effectively, the American Dollar, the worlds currency, proudly states In God we trust. This is one of the many factors contradicting the establishment of religion clause. The constitution of the United States of America clearly states that religion should not interfere with the government because if it does, it will show a clear orientation course of the government, eventually contradicting free exercise. However religious beliefs have always had an impact politically on the country. absence of state relig ion does not guarantee that a state is secular state many people believe that the USA is a Christian State. This belief is understanding because many elements contradict the secularity of the country, for example, the congress and state congresses, one of the main institutions in the heart of American politics, have to begin with a prayer, children in publics schools begin the day by swearing allegiance to One nation under God and most importantly, elected officials have to swear an oath on a Christian Bible.Also, the recent presidential panorama hand Romney attracted many of his voters because he himself is a deeply religious man, an alleged Mormon. Consequently, electoral statistics of 2012 demonstrated an interesting material body most religious states, commonly situated in inner America, voted for candidate Mitt Romney. These aspects among many others show that religion does have an impact culturally and politically in the United States of America. The extract for Time maga zine publisher titled Are we sliding backward on educational activity growing? published in April 2012 shows that the Scopes streak is still a hot topic even 87 years after the controversy. Effectively, in July 1925, the state of Tennessee passed the butler law, which forbade teachers in public schools from denying the biblical account of creation, therefore forbidding them to teach Darwins possibleness of Evolution. John T. Scopes, a young science teacher and football coach thought evolution in his class and got arrested for disobeying the Butler Law.Due to catholic pressure, this was the 1st case to be broadcasted by the media all over the world, giving the monkey trial immense proportions. This case strongly opposed the fundamentalist opinion of William J. Bryan who was entirely against the ideas of evolution and Clarence Darrow, an evolutionist who wanted to put Bryan in his place as a bigot. During a fiery debate, Bryan admitted that almost parts of the bible were not to be taken literally, completely overthrowing his beliefs. Many thought Darrow would win the case, yet the court assessed that Scopes was guilty of violating a state law.However, after the Scopes Trial, a 1958 Act stressed the importance of evolution as the unifying principle of biology. Nevertheless, the Time Magazine name demonstrates that anti-evolution forces have prevailed in Tennessee and a bracing law was enacted in 2012 giving school teachers the right to question the validity of evolution and to teach students creationism. This article helps realize that religion strongly influences human actions. It states that 13% of biology teachers across the country are soon teaching creationism.This is an alarming situation because it shows that there hasnt been much progress even more than than threesome quarters of a century after the Scopes trial and that religion is at the heart of American culture and politics. However, us readers will not have full knowledge of the situation since it is impossible to report everything, selectivity is inevitable. usually a diarist gives us a widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article.In all, the article shows its readers that we are taking a step backward on teaching evolution, demonstrating that religion, still today, plays a major role in American culture and politics. In the 20th century, other controversies gathering the ideas of separation of state and church existed. Effectively, many political crises were linked with the role of Religion in the United States of America. The Ku Klux Klan movement that first started after the American civil war in 1865 and continues marginally today.The members of the tribe preferred the antebellum period where blacks were not free men and were slaves to whites and strongly opposed the passage of the three Reconstruction-era amendments. The 13th Amendment (1865) that banned slavery. The 14th Amendm ent (1868) that guaranteed equal rights of citizenship to all Americans, with the special intention of protecting the rights of former slaves. The fifteenth Amendment (1870) provided that voting rights of citizens shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Theses acts brought fire to a racist corporation that attempted to intimidate the black freedmen during nightly activities dressed as ghosts and posing a flamed cross where they stood. Progressively, they became more inclined to the idea that they are superior to all people of other colors and religions. They believe in a philosophy of exclusion and claim that whites must maintain control of the United States and keep all people of other races and religions from gaining power. As so called defenders of white American Protestantism, they heavily target AfricanAmericans, Catholics, Jews and Immigrants. immediately there are only minorities of t he Ku Klux Klan yet the right of freedom of speech in the United States of America allows them to demonstrate their beliefs freely. Hundreds of individuals were lynched and murdered by the clan because of their religious beliefs and origins. The belief of white supremacy was strongly suggested by the Bible according to the KKK. They believed that the bible supports separatism, in effect, many extracts prove that god favored the whites and avoided miscegenation.For example, the bible once says, God forbad intermarriage between Israel and other nations, showing that the mixity of races should be forbidden. This shows how Religion can affect the country many were condemned to suffer because they did not conform to what the church believed. In addition, another crisis began in 1969 when a char named Norma McCorvey found herself pregnant without wanting to infant this child her whole life. She wanted an abortion but Texas law would only allow one if her life was in danger.She used the n ame of Jane Roe and brought her story to court. She declare that the laws prohibiting abortion violated a womans constitutional right to privacy implied in the file of Rights. Her case was brought to the Supreme philander and it finally agreed that the Texas law was unconstitutional. However, in March 1970, Henry B. Wade, a district attorney in Texas went against the court and stated that the state has a duty to protect antepartum life, most religious individuals believe that life begins at conception.There was an evident split in the USA between the Pro-life and the Pro-choice Religion is again the main source of the conflict. On January 1973, the Supreme Court gave women the rights of abortion. However abortion is conditional during the first trimester of pregnancy women can abort without interference of state, during the second trimester states can regulation an abortion only according to circumstances and during the third trimester state can regulate or forbid abortion usuall y if the mothers life is at stake.This crisis has involved the United States of America politically because electoral candidates have to choose wisely about their opinions on pro-life and pro-choice. For example, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney was pro-choice as the former governor of Massachusetts but became pro-life while speed for president. In addition, the states of Wyoming and Georgia both regard women as live stock meaning they have to assume their child, even if dead, until it comes out of her.Although this crisis in mainly about the right of privacy under due bring clause in the 14th amendment, religion has been a major factor of the debate since religious believers usually tend to believe that only god can choose when you die, therefore an abortion goes against this ideology. These many crises have shown that religion plays a major role in American culture and politics. In conclusion, Religion has always been an important factor in the United States of America s howing that the country has difficulties holding its secular status.The 20th century has demonstrated many conflicts between the church and the state. Effectively, the country being a federal land does not ease the complication, as many states prefer to base their values on religion. USA is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a very important role in their lives, a proportion unique among developed nations. Consequently, religion does play a major role in American Culture and Politics however, in August 2010, 67% of Americans utter religion is losing influence.