Religion Is Necessary free essay sample

Date Everyday people turn on the television or the Internet and see all sorts of stories, murders committed, hunger strikes, boycotts, elections, company mergers, etc. All of these things make people look at the world in a different light. Even though people want to believe that this information is completely accurate, it is mostly biased or one sided, just like religion. With this being said one of the main factors in government that causes so much conflict and collision is religion. This is because religion is a worldwide phenomenon that can lead to both conflict and peace, depending on the way one looks upon it. Although in some cases religion may cause strife between countries, the reality of it is that without religion correlating with state affairs at all, the government would simply not function. Joseph Ashby seconds that statement in his article â€Å"Is Religion Necessary† when he states how important religion is in order to have freedom. Albright furthers this argument when she portrays the importance of the role religion has on diplomatic efforts in her essay â€Å"Faith and Diplomacy†. Thomas Freidman also touches upon the topic of international diplomacy when he encourages peace and cooperation between nations that may not always see eye to eye in his essay â€Å"The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention†. All three authors show how the government of the United States is far more complicated than what meets the eye and paints a vivid picture of how there is a brighter future in store for the world if only nations would use their differences to their advantage. â€Å"They should develop the ability to recognize where and how religious beliefs contribute to conflicts and when religious principles might be invoked to ease strife. (Alrbright 24). The role of in foreign policy has the potential to impact the world and make connections between nations stronger and more efficient if only we would let it. It is important to recognize the conflicts of human dignity and exemplify the relation to society before improvements can be made, one of them being the way people are governed. The founding fathers originally intended for the people to govern themselves since there were few restricting laws. However â€Å"Self governance cannot function without morality. As morals decline, laws xpand and freedoms necessarily contract† (Ashby 1). Since society is changing so fast there are several steps that the government should take in order to increase cooperation amongst nations. Few mountains must be climbed in order to see the true value religion and other factors can have on ties between nations. Separation of church and state, as stated in the first amendment, is our government’s policy to keep religion and governmental affairs separate from one another. This being said, Americans find it extremely difficult to let the role of religion take place in diplomatic affairs. The only Constitutional solution to these problems is to depend on citizens sense of morality† (Ashby 1). Due to the separation of church and state, many argue that r eligion has no place in diplomatic affairs at all. â€Å"There are so many who take personally any mention of religion in a public context, perceiving it as an attack on non-religious, moral individuals† (Ashby 1). People should however instead take the comments about religion as a way of announcing the basic moral principles of life. What society is not opening their eyes to is that if the U. S ambassadors can relate to religion without taking faith-based approaches towards diplomacy for their own personal advancements, than religion can contribute to several foreign situations in numerous ways. â€Å"The resurgence of religious feeling will continue to influence world events. American policy-makers cannot afford to ignore this; on balance they should welcome it. †(Albright 31). When religious input is used for the right reasons, it can do tremendous things. â€Å"These and many other classic geopolitical conflicts could erupt at any time and either slow the flattening of the world, or seriously unflatten it. (Friedman 124) Although there is a chance that the role of religion could cause conflict, it is a chance worth taking. There are so many powerful actions that can be made based on faith and politics that can benefit America and the ties with other nations especially with all of the modern communication. From video streaming to the Internet to television broad casting, people are relayed all sorts of information all around the world. Friedman’s Dell theory is a perfect example yet very complex and there is both good and bad parts when it comes to this theory. Friedman states, â€Å"Countries whose workers and industries are woven into a major global supply chain know that they cannot take an hour, a week, or a month off for war without disrupting industries and economies around the world and thereby risking the loss of their place in that supply chain for a long time, which could be extremely costly† (Friedman 126). People who are part of a chain, as in the Dell Company, think twice before causing a war with countries that are also a part of that chain. They do this mainly because a war could result in the loss of that chain of work. Being that big companies such as different franchises bring in a lot of profit for that country, war with another country working with the same company would be very detrimental. This kind of work tends to have people feel differently about countries in which they might have felt badly about originally. It also makes countries become allies in the sense that they need each other in order for business and for profit to be able to continue on. Even though the conflict prevention theory can keep countries together and sane not all people agree with this sense of connectivity. From an outside perspective people grasp a total different perception on the countries, usually this is due to diverse religious beliefs. People still resort to terrorism to get these points across and businesses and franchises cannot do anything to stop that. Friedman says, â€Å"since the Dell Theory offers no hope of restraining the suicide supply chains, the only strategy we have is to limit their worst capabilities† (Friedman 133). Unfortunately the Internet makes this concept extremely difficult because anyone can access the Internet at any time and the security of online data is not one hundred percent reliable. This information and the easy access to it changes the way people view their world. One may argue that faith must be common between two nations in order for them to cooperate. If two nations have enough respect for one another and are willing to share faith based ideas in order to benefit each other, than that should be substantial enough for peace to be maintained. This is why Nations can no longer put the idea of faith behind closed doors. When welcomed into diplomatic affairs, religion can cause beneficial advancements between nations and do so much more, but that is only if we use it for the right reasons. Faith is an extremely strong force that most individuals hold near and dear to their heart. Faith is not just something one can leave out of their every-day lives. â€Å"There are people who are willing to die-and kill-for their faith. † (Albright 26). Therefore there is no avoiding the idea of religion and faith completely. Religion was around before the government was even established. As long as it has been around faith has played a part in the functionality of the government, whether people were in favor of it or not. Faith has effected laws since discrimination in the 1950’s, and continues to have an effect on laws today dealing with things such as abortion. Rather than trying to dismiss the ideas of religion in diplomatic affairs, one should try and interoperate religion from another point of view and see what ideas it can bring to the table. In any conflict, reconciliation becomes possible when the antagonists cease dehumanizing each other and behind to see a bit of themselves in their enemy† ( Albright 28). We can try and ostracize religion from our diplomatic affairs as much as we want, but we all know it will always remain present. â€Å" But religious motivations do not disappear simply because they are not mentioned; more often they lie dormant only to rise up again at the least convenient moment. †(Albright 28). As human beings, we have very strong and distinct beliefs based off of faith engraved in our brains since a young age. These beliefs do not just diminish over-night. We stand firm by these beliefs and connect them to things that occur in our every-day lives. There is no escaping faith. â€Å"The rights enumerated in the Constitution are wholly inadequate in creating a well-ordered society† (Ashby 1). Therefore, as a whole, nations should embrace the impact religious factors can have and open-mindedly use them to their own benefit. Works Cited Albright, Madeleine. â€Å"Faith and Diplomacy,† Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers Ed. Barclay Barrios. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Pp 23-33. Print. Friedman, Thomas. â€Å"The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention,† Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers Ed. Barclay Barrios. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Pp 120-140. Print. Ashby, Joseph. Is Religion Necessary? Archived-Articles:. Archived-Articles:, 3 Jan. 2009. 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