For my research paper I plan to discuss the topic of the Establishment Clause. I will explore three of the major competing views as to how the law should be implemented. I will look into the pros and cons of each competing view, and finally, I will discuss my position on the matter, and provide reasoning for my opinion.
The paper will focus on three distinct views on the matter, strict-separation, neutrality, and accommodation. I will use my own personal experiences concerning the matter, as well as personal stories and case studies provided through my sources, in order to appeal to my readers sense of emotion and logic, and hopefully convince them that my view on the matter is correct.
The topic of the separation of church and state has, in recent years, fueled some major debate as to whether or not religion has a place in the United States government, and if so, to what extent. Issues such as same sex marriage, and the teaching of creationism or prayer in public schooling have acted somewhat like catalysts that have spurred heated debate as to whether or not christianity has a place in civil law. Some members of our society feel that there is a decline in U.S. exceptionalism, and the decline is a direct effect of the removal of religion from our government. Others believe that the progressive views that are widely being adopted throughout our country are certainly not setting our country on a path to destruction, but instead building our country into a society far greater than anything that has been seen in the past, in part thanks to the repeal of some deeply divisive laws our country once had based on religious ideology.
My interest in this topic comes from some experiences that I had growing up in a very religious family, in an extremely religious region. I was a convert to the Mormon church, having joined after being adopted by my family. For the first part of my high school years, I went to school in the city where many of the students were not Mormon. I remember that my group of friends there would always make fun of the Mormons and complain that they were allowed to go to a religious class in the middle of the school day. Even to high school students, it didn’t seem right. They of course new that I myself was a Mormon, but they didn’t have an issue with that, because I played along in order to fit in. Halfway through my high school days my family moved to a town tucked in the mountains right outside of the city. Here it was virtually impossible to speak with someone who wasn’t Mormon. At this high school, a strong majority of the students were Mormon. Then after I had settled in and made some friends, I made an observation. I finally understood where my friends from my old school were coming from. There was definitely a feeling that Mormon students felt superior to other students, in no small part because of a class during their school day that identifies them as a special group of people. Now, I didn't analyze the issue too deeply...
