{"id":60328,"date":"2015-02-04T12:25:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T20:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=60328"},"modified":"2015-02-04T16:35:08","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T00:35:08","slug":"defending-our-religious-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/02\/04\/defending-our-religious-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending our religious freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Defending<\/a>By: JASMINE RODRIGUEZ<\/strong>
\nEnglish 11; Lancaster High School<\/strong>
\nTeacher: A. Dickey<\/strong><\/p>\n

We should be enjoying our religious freedom in this country because it is guaranteed by our Constitution. In fact, many of our legislators pass bills and laws protecting our religious freedom.<\/p>\n

My favorite is House Bill 5958. The bill, known as the Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act, restricts government ordered actions that \u201csubstantially burdens\u201d an individual\u2019s exercise of a \u201csincerely held religious belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 5958 stirred national controversy. Still, it passed the House and it\u2019s on its way to the Senate. Legislators favored the bill because they want to uphold religious freedom. Michigan Catholic conference spokesperson Tom Hickson labeled House Bill 5958 in favor of tolerance and diversity.<\/p>\n

Those who oppose the bill think that if it is passed, medical professionals may deny services for the reason of religious preferences. Also, employers might impose their faith on their employees. Beth Duman of Livingston Country PFLAG, an organization for parents and families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, questioned HB 5958.<\/p>\n

Despite what\u2019s in our Constitution and despite what our legislators are doing, so many people still get unfairly judged because of their religion.<\/p>\n

People get misunderstood every day because their religion is different from the rest. I personally witnessed my friends being judged because of their religious views. They were told that they will go to hell because of their beliefs. I also witnessed gays, lesbians, bi-sexual and transgender people being judged because of their sexual orientation or religious preference. I believe that it\u2019s not right to label them that way.<\/p>\n

We all have the right to worship as we choose based on our beliefs. We are all free in that aspect \u2013 as far as this country is concerned \u2013 and we should defend our choices in life.<\/p>\n

For instance, I was raised to stand up for what I believe in and to be accountable for my own actions and decisions. As an atheist, I don\u2019t believe in a god. I don\u2019t believe that there is a heaven or a hell.<\/p>\n

I have studied four different religions in my whole life \u2013 Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and Atheism. The first three talked about everything religious, specifically about a god. They all tell you different things. It\u2019s confusing and difficult to decide what\u2019s true and what\u2019s not; that is why I chose to be an atheist.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my personal point of view. I don\u2019t pressure anyone to believe in what I believe in. I don\u2019t bother or judge them because of their religion. I respect them because that\u2019s their idea of how to live their lives.<\/p>\n

I am aware that people often judge me by saying that I am a \u201cdevil worshiper,\u2019\u2019 which I am not. I just don\u2019t believe in any god or denomination. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

People often think that I\u2019m bad because of the music I listen to, or the friends I have. In reality, my friends and my type of music have nothing to do with that. Some people happen to be very religious, and I am not. I will continue to respect other people. I will not judge them, because I am not a judgmental person. I think everybody will just have to do that. If we can just respect others as much as we want to be respected, then life would be better.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

This article is part of Youth Speak Out<\/strong>, a new section in The AV Times featuring editorials by participating Lancaster High School students. Read more about this initiative here<\/a>.<\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: JASMINE RODRIGUEZ English 11; Lancaster High School Teacher: A. Dickey We should be enjoying our religious freedom in this country because it is guaranteed by our Constitution. In fact, many of our legislators pass bills and laws protecting our religious freedom. My favorite is House Bill 5958. The bill, known as the Michigan Religious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":60334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1484],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}