With the 2016 Presidential election approaching, it isn’t a surprise that many of the topics in today’s news focus on this major event. Over the past couple of months, there have been several presidential debates, each one a new opportunity for the candidates to present their views to the public. Several topics such as foreign affairs, immigration, the public education system, gun control, and environmental issues have been discussed. However, there is one topic that creates more than just a discussion topic in the debate room. |
The major reason that religion plays such a large role in today’s society is because of all the publicity for the topic such as revised marriage laws being against religious beliefs and the recent papal visit to the United States; it all just further strengthens the coverage of faith in the nation. Going back to the presidential debates, religion also serves as a major topic in the debates. Dean Obeidallah, an Op-Ed writer for CNN, recently based his own post off of this topic. In his post, Obeidallah strays from his usual candidate of discussion (Donald Trump), instead turning his attention to Mike Huckabee. In Obeidallah’s words, “Huckabee hasn't offered any plan for how to respond to climate change or inequality; he has released a three-pronged approach to defend ‘religious liberty’.” If a person is running to be a candidate to be the leader of the country, their focus should be more centered on the more governmental affairs, not religion.
Obeidallah, while speaking about the presidential debates, once said that “religion has to come up sometime, and candidates on both the left and right have discussed faith, but in America, we try to leave religion out of government,” but this is not always true. Today, more and more of society is being taken over by religious beliefs. There is some truth to Obeidallah’s statements, however I don’t believe it is entirely accurate. While we do strive to separate religion from other important topics (including government), there is still the similarity that keeps the two connected despite efforts to remove them. In my opinion, a person shouldn’t be judged by their faith. There are those that strive to resolve this issue, though the efforts of few have not been enough to widen the gap between religion and governmental affairs. Although it is true that a person has the freedom to believe what they wish, the over-publicity of one major religion can make few feel prosecuted and looked down upon from the more largely believed faith. Rather than judge a person for what they believe, we as a nation should work to honor the saying of “freedom of religion.” Is a person really free if they are being prosecuted for their own religion?
-Alexis
"The Pledge of Allegiance." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Obeidallah, Dean. "Is Huckabee Running for Pope or President? - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Sept. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.