Formal Paper #2 rough draft

Christopher Avalos

Professor Knapp

English 1A

18 May 2013

            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 75% 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 does 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?

           

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