Religion and public institutions

This is a research paper that analyses the separation of religion and public institutions and clearly tries to support, that separation. It analyzes the first amendment in regard to religion. Introduction Separation of Religion and Public Institutions Religion: This has been described in simple terms as a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and the human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law.

Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience. The term religion has also been defined as both the personal practices that are related to communal faith and the communal groups’ rituals and communication streaming from shared conviction. (Harold 1983) Religion in the frame of the European religious thought present a common quality or the “ hallmark of patriarchal religious thoughts”.

It is sometimes described as communal systems for the coherence of beliefs that are focusing on a system of thoughts, unseen beings, persons, or objects, that is considered to be very much supernatural, sacred, and divine or is highly regarded to be of the highest truth. In line with sociologists moral codes, practices, values, institutions, traditions, rituals and sculpture are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and this may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. In other words religion can as well be described as a way of life or just as a life stance.

Public institutions can as well be described as a juristic person who is controlled by the state. This is an institution that is run and managed by the public funds through the watchful support of the board of governors who govern all the undertakings of the institutions. Through the understandings of the organization of these two institutions, their management and their scope and responsibility, it might be very much clear to support the congress decision to publicly support these two institutions.

This is the first amendment of the United States constitution and is the Americas first look on the relationships between Religion and public institutions. In clarification of the effects of the separation of religion and public institutions, it has been realized that it is two folds, this is because it restricts the congress ability to establish an official religion which ca n be followed by everybody in the country and it also restrict the government ability to prohibit an individuals freedom to exercise any religious practices in the public institutions. http://www. expertlaw. com/library/misc/first_amendment. html) Actually this is the only clause in the United States constitution that discusses the relationship that the public institution and the religion have with one another. In the United States today there are a large number of religions and this has been fueled by the freedom that has been bestowed on people to practice their best religion. This has had devastating effects in the performance in the public institutions and therefore cannot be left unrealized and un appreciated.

In the United States today there are very many different kinds of religions that have very different ways of expressing their beliefs and loyalty to their supernatural beings and this can have a very devastating effect in if the state has to advocate for a one uniform religion to be practiced in the Public institutions. This would make some people who have very strong faith in their religion and religious believes to either stop going to the public institutions or to look for other private institutions that would accommodate them, this will have a negative effect in the standards of education that are be offered in the country.

Institutions of higher learning are considered to be highly influential in the decision of the country and are keen on the government trends. This separation therefore allow the students and the participants in such institutions to have the free will to participate in the development of the country without any fear, favor or any discriminations based on their religion, this has led to the development of the country both in the social welfare and in the scientific inventions. In U. S. law, whether an institution is public or private determines how bound the institution is to the requirements for civic rights to which the state must conform.

A public institution is required to conform to the same requirements as the state for constitutional questions meaning that the U. S constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, applies to the institution as does the constitution of the state in which the public institution resides. Court cases involving public institutions are within the jurisdiction of the U. S. Federal Court System. This therefore allows such institutions to be of great benefit to the public and is not dependant on any religious rule for survival.

This therefore allows the governance of the schools to have free will in the managements of such institutions. http://www. allacademic. com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/ ) According to the U. S law , there are major factors used by the courts to determine if an institution is a public or private institution and weather the court has jurisdiction in the cases of such entities, these are what amount of control does the state have in the governance of the institution , what amount of state funding is used to support the institution’s activities , what amount of the institution’ property is owned by the state , does the institution have tax-free status and is there a contract between the state and the institution.

After the determination of such factors, the religion practices will never be used to intimidate the members of such institutions (http://www. allacademic. com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/) The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. ” Organized religion” generally refers to an organization of people supporting the exercise of some religion with a prescribed set of beliefs, often taking the form of a legal entity. Other religions believe in personal revelation.

Religion” is sometimes used interchangeably with ” faith” or ” belief system,” but is more socially defined than that of personal convictions. This definition of religion gives religion a lot of powers and very strong mandate to control its members according to their own practices. This would have brought a lot of wrangles in public institutions since each religion wanted to have its own control over the state owned religious groups. ( http://www. expertlaw. com/library/misc/first_amendment. html )

The demand by some religions for example the demand by the Islamic religion for people to fulfill are different and depend on the country, e. g. in the Islamic religion they demand the ‘right’ to veil for women and children in France when in the Middle East they impose compulsory veiling by throwing acid in the faces of those who refuse and resist. In Britain, they cry racism and Islamophobia against anyone who speaks out against Islam and its political movement, whilst in Iran and its likes they hang ‘apostates’ and ‘Kafirs’ from trees and cranes.

Here, they demand the prosecution of those who ‘incite religious hatred’ when everywhere it is they themselves who incite hatred and violence than can be articulated or imagined. Here in the EU, they call for tolerance and respect of their beliefs, when it is they who have issued fatwas and death threats against anyone who they deem disrespectful and intolerable. Here, they call for ‘equal’ rights demanding a Sharia court for ‘Muslim minorities’ in Canada and Britain whilst it is their very Sharia courts that have legalized Islamic injustice and barbarity in the Middle East.

All these penalties that are to be imposed on the people only fall on those whom have chosen that religion and not on the whole human beings and arena. Basing my argument to the first amendment and to history, one cannot avoid the conclusion that America was founded on Christian principles and the assumption that her citizenry would adhere to those same principles. (McClicktock and Strong 1883) Unfortunately, the modern interpretation of the First Amendment ignores historical fact.

Instead, it provides a convenient vehicle for Secular Humanism to achieve control over the public square. This is because there is no such a thing as a value-free society or institution – someone’s values must prevail. Some worldview must ” fill the vacuum” left by the eradication of the Christian worldview from public education, social services, courtrooms, etc. By distorting the First Amendment, the United States government has allowed Humanist values to prevail.