American Politics Discussion
Be sure to read carefully and share your thought after reading. Just aim to understand and digest material and thoughts. No need to memorize anything. Also, comment constructively on a classmates’ posting.
West, Ch FIVE “Religious Tensions” p103
Fundamentalism 104
Secularization 111
Religious Exemptions 123
(I will attach Chapter 5 of the book)
Here is classmate’s posting from question. Please reply in 1st person point of view.
Classmate’s post
Chapter five talks about fundamentalist and secularist and each of their beliefs. Fundamentalist are associated with conservative Christian values while secularist tend to separate religion and politics and have more accepting, open minded views. Referring to his experience at his church, West says “looking back on this moment in my nine-year-old life, I realize my religious conversion arose more out of a fear of hell than a positive message of Christianity (West pg 107).” After reading West experience it made me realize how some fundamentalist believe they need to convert other people into Christianity. I am all for freedom of religion and you are free to express your practice how ever you feel, but no one should be intimidated or forced into believing something. Something I liked about West’s story was that he visited “the Wailing Wall, the Dome of Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (West pg 114).” He visited these spiritual places for Jews, Muslims, and Christians for a better understanding of his own religion. I find it interesting that he didn’t let his conservative upbringing blur his own personal faith as he got older.
West goes on to talk about religious exemptions and loopholes that protect people with certain beliefs. The example I want to use is the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case. “Obama administration passed the Affordable Care Act, it required employers to provided mandatory access to contraceptives (West pg 123).” Secularist would see this law as a positive thing, because birth control can be expensive, but fundamentalist felt the opposite. Hobby Lobby opened a case and fought that because it goes against their religion, the company should not be forced to provided contraceptives. I can see how this can be a controversial topic for some people, and I don’t agree with Hobby Lobby, but I also think peoples religious beliefs should be protected, as long as their is no harm done.
Work Cited
West, Darrell M. Divided Politics, Divided Nation. Brookings Institution Press, 2019.
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