Christopher
Avalos
Professor
Knapp
English
1A
3
June 2013
Dear
Congress
Since the beginning of its founding, The United States of
America (USA) has been proud to call itself a nation in which the state is
separated from the church. The truth is that while many people believe it is a
part of our constitution, the Bill Of Rights in fact, only guarantees that
citizens have the freedom to practice whichever religion they choose for
themselves (or what is chosen for them by parents, community, etc.) I know from
firsthand experience that in every public school, children are taught to
believe this idea. As a result, most adults believe this is true; however, the
fact of the matter is that America is far from implementing these ideals. If I
could change anything about today’s society, it would be to abolish all
religious institutions’ influence on politics in the United States.
The fact that any form of discrimination can be ‘justified’
by a mere speculation has dumbfounded me. Yes, it may be hard to believe for
someone who constantly discriminates others, but the truth is that no person
has any more rights than the next. While it is true that some people do have
more opportunity (when socioeconomic status is taken into account,
unfortunately), it is my philosophy that everyone has natural rights as well as
societal rights.
As many people know, a very common form of discrimination in the world is
sexism. This is no surprise, since the beginning of time women have never been
thought of as equal counterparts to men. “Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.” (Bible, Genesis 3:16). If there
were any further need to explain this, it would be wise to note that this is an
obvious degradation to women, portraying them as nothing more than childbearing
beings. While I blame no one for practicing their religion, I must say that not
everyone has those same beliefs. Not every woman in the United States wants to
be a homemaker with children running around all over the place. It is not fair
that women working the same job for the same hours are being paid, on average,
only 77% of what men are paid.
The community of homosexuals in our nation is a thriving community. They are
human beings just like everyone else and a preference should not make them
deserve any less rights than the rest of us. I often hear people argue that
their religion does not agree with the choices a homosexual might make. It
simply does not make sense that one person’s beliefs would have the right to
constitute what someone else’s personal choices might be. Why would someone
have to abide by some ancient writings that they may or may not feel holds
credence? I have heard the argument that gay marriage would destroy the
“sanctity” of marriage, but the fact is that the United States has some of the
highest divorce rates in the world. Allowing homosexual couples to get married
would surely decrease the divorce rates in the United States because it really
cannot get any worse than it is now.
I
personally think that the constitution has become outdated and many changes are
needed in order to progress as a society. The law of the constitution is
ancient and the world is a very different place than it was in the days that it
was written. Religion still has too much influence on our government; I believe
that past many of the problems we face in America today are caused by this
issue. The word “equality” is not mentioned a single time in the constitution,
this personally has been a shock to me because most Americans are taught to
believe that in this country, everyone is equal. While citizens do have equal
protection under the law, the discrimination factor is never addressed. The
issues regarding religion and the law are a complicated subject to most people,
but it is time for the religion to stay out of American policies.
Works
Cited
Clark, Jessica A.
"Beyond Equality? Against the Universal Turn in Workplace Protections. Indiana
Law Journal 86.4 (2011): 1219-287. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Flanders, Laura.
"Demanding Women." Nation 18 Feb. 2013: 20-22. Academic
Search Complete.
Web.
