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July 11, 2005 Note: This was the essential idea for a term paper I wrote for school, one that got a B minus. Morality is a concept that has been debated for centuries. It was used against the institution of slavery, later in the civil rights movement, and has been used several times by governments searching for a justifiable reason for entering a conflict. Most commonly, however, it is considered to have roots in religion, most famously in the Ten Commandments. However, based on scientific studies and historical data, it is quite apparent that society does not need religion to maintain a strong moral stature. So that's essentially what my introduction was. About as interesting as an in-grown toe nail. My research paper, completely devoid of any kind of personality, or tone, was something that one could expect to read several lines of and then drop. That's the problem with academic writing. So, I'll re-write it here, more colloquially, and see the results. Anyway, into my "body paragraphs." The first two paragraphs (which I can now admit, being done with my Junior English course), were absolute filler. They contained no real point towards my thesis, and were really just used to pad my paper and help me towards my goal of 1,200 words. The second paragraph, however, delved into crime rates in the U.S., comparing crime rates among people who said that religion played either a large or a little part in their life. The results, were strikingly similar. In nearly every case of lying, cheating, stealing, etc., both believers and non-believers recorded similar percentages. But what was particularly surprising was the religions of prison inmates in the U.S. Out of 80% of the U.S. prison population, .00213 percent of them are atheists. Interesting? How about this: Of the remaining 99.9 percent, fifty percent of them are Catholic. Again, very interesting. I then continued to describe historical examples in which religion had clouded the judgement of people into making them perform incredibly heinous acts. One example that I used was the Crusades, a series of bloody wars fought completely in the name of God and religion. A conflict that seems to have continued into the present as people continue to wage war over the city of Jerusalem. My second historical example was (big shock here) Hitler. I forget his exact words, but I was able to uncover a terrific quote by him in which he says (more or less) "I believe that I am acting in accordance with God's will. In defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the Lord." Something along those lines. I finally concluded with the millions of atheists around the world who continue to live normal, moral lives every day. I finished with the idea that, if morality without religion was not possible, that they would not be able to function as moral human beings. ------------ About the author: Jack Lepiarz is a student at Madison High School in Madison, New Jersey. He has written an unpublished novel, Spencer, which he hopes to publish soon. Email: Jackwuzhere42@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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