This paper is 2-3 pages long in MLA format. What you are required to do is analyze ONE essay from this week’s module, in agreement or disagreement with the author of the essay.

Read the essay carefully and decide whether you mostly agree or mostly disagree (you don’t have to be 100% on one side). Your thesis will be stating what side you are on, and the rest of the paper will take the essay apart and discuss its supporting points and give reason why you agree or disagree with those supporting points. You can give examples of your own, hypothetical scenarios, imagine what it would be like to have her lifestyle, and explain why you think she is correct or not.

Structure of the paper:

Introduction: name the essay title and the author, her main point, and your main agreement or disagreement. After the first time you mention the author, only refer to her by her last name.

Body paragraphs: discuss in each paragraph one point that she makes. Give a short quotation to show what she says, and cite the quote properly. Make sure you introduce or embed the quote in your own sentences, such as: Joseph thinks that “many wives can share one husband” (para. 3). Since you only discuss one author, you don’t need to cite her name in parenthesis after the quote, but you do need to specify the paragraph number). Make sure you explain what you think the quote means and what you think of it. You don’t have to discuss all the supporting points she makes, but at least discuss three. Give reasons why you agree or disagree. Note: usually, page number is what comes after quote, except when you don’t have the page number, in which case you use paragraph number (as in this paper)

Conclusion: put things in perspective, draw a conclusion. No quotes or details in the conclusion. After the last paragraph, include Work Cited, where you write: last name, first name. “Title of essay” (in quotation marks). Journal title and date of publication, in italics. Website (the one I included with the essay).

That’s Me in the Corner

We’re losing our religion, and we’re worse off for it.

 

By Mercedes Schlapp, US News, April 18, 2014

 

As Americans prepare to celebrate Easter, I can’t help but think of R.E.M.’s 1991 smash hit “Losing My Religion,” as we are seeing a gradual decline in the number of Americans who believe in God. In a 2013 Harris poll, 74 percent of Americans said they believe in God, an 8 percent drop from the same question asked of Americans in 2009. Is this because non-believers feel freer to respond honestly in an age of pot legalization or marriage redefinition, or are more Americans losing their religion?

There could be a number of reasons as to why Americans may be losing their faith. We are becoming a more secular society, certainly, in all our public functions. In addition, believers with strongly held beliefs contrary to the current thrust of public policy find themselves experiencing increasing intolerance from government overlords, the public education system and, of course, so many in media.

Our public education system is one example. The system was established to ensure that education was not only available to the upper class, and to make sure that a fledgling country could train the next generation to keep its economy growing. Faith usually played some role in these schools, and the attendees were overwhelmingly believers, although from different, mostly Christian, traditions.

Today, our children in public schools are faced with the increasing reality that not only is there is no room for their faith at school, but that some feel there is no room for people of faith either. Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a non-profit organization in California, reported an increase in reports of school teachers and officials bullying Christian students in public schools for their religious beliefs. The organization’s general counsel, Robert Tyler, stated, “The disapproval and hostility that Christian students have come to experience in our nation’s public schools has become epidemic.”

In Silicon Valley, the resignation of Mozilla’s CEO Brendan Eich for supporting traditional marriage in the context of a private American registering his First Amendment rights is a slap in the face to religious tolerance and to the generations of Americans who fought for these bedrock constitutional principles. When culture turns, changes can be rapid. Religious intolerance once found only in government and the elite universities has quickly infected the strangest of places: the boardroom. If a company tries to profit the most from the manufacture or sale of a product, does it really matter if one of its high performing executives secretly harbors a love for Christ that is so deep that it cannot help but affect political preferences?

The decline in religion is eroding our nation’s foundation. A recent Gallup poll found that 77 percent of Americans believe that religion is losing its influence on American life. Yet 75 percent responded that American society would be better off if more Americans were religious. They are right. With increasing poverty, welfare dependency and violence in the United States, religion and religious organizations have an important role to play combating societal problems. I have heard secular friends tell me that when they have a flat tire, they always hope someone who believes in the Golden Rule will come by and help. Religions based on the principle of service and a focus on the less fortunate help a society deal with want. And it is sure is convenient when we need that help.

But religious belief is also a benefit to the believer. The positive impacts of religion are easily disregarded, yet critical to address. There is clear evidence that religious belief and practice improves an individual’s mental and physical health and helps to reduce societal problems such as violence, suicide, substance abuse and divorce.

Also religion helps to strengthen our families. Pat Fagen, director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion, compiled independent research that found Americans who attend church are more likely to be married, more likely to stay married once, and to have higher levels of satisfaction in their marriage and family. In fact, the research also showed that children who attended church regularly were less likely to get divorced later in life, have better coping skills and perform better in college than those who did not attend.

Regular church attendance was also critical in helping individuals overcome poverty. An analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that church attendance strengthens educational attainment for children in high-poverty neighborhoods.

As we begin the Easter celebration, it may be a good time to re-evaluate our spirituality and ask ourselves if religion should play a significant part of our lives. For my family, belief in God and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings such hope and promise to our lives. It strengthens our family and our marriage as we focus on Christ as our example of pure love, compassion and tolerance towards others. This positive message is one that helps us become better people each day.

I still think an overwhelming percentage of Americans know that religious belief is a better course for one’s life. Faith is a gift. Some feel like they were never blessed with it, others just casually let it fall away. Perhaps more of us should embrace religious faith and fight to protect our religious freedoms, because if the studies are correct, all we have to lose is a lot of loneliness and despair. Now that’s a song worth singing.

 

Source: https://www.usnews.com/opinion/mercedes-schlapp/2014/04/18/the-decline-of-religion-will-hurt-america-in-the-long-run