Shore’s argument against religion is unconvincing
During my first semester here at San Diego State, my rhetoric of written argument teacher told me that dissent is crucial in today’s society. Dissent is defined as to “differ in opinion or disagree,” usually with the government or an institution. On Nov. 21, The Daily Aztec printed an article by Staff Columnist Ben Shore (“Split faith from state”). In his article, Shore poignantly exercises his inherent right to dissent. However, Shore expresses his ideas in a relatively elementary way. And by “elementary,” I don’t mean simple – I mean, his article reads like a fifth-grader wrote it.
Shore’s article recaps seventh- grade U.S. history topics and manipulates the perpetually ambiguous First Amendment. In his article, Shore criticizes the president (how original), as well as the rest of conservative Americans simply because of their religious beliefs.
I would like to break down Shore’s article and rebut many of the claims he made. First, Shore claims that, “The promise of our Founding Fathers is so blatantly and excessively ignored.” I suppose the true idea of “separation of church and state” can be argued from many different points. However, Shore doesn’t really expand on how any form of religion has directly influenced the U.S. government, aside from his claim about President Bush and the right wing, for which he supplies no evidence. Instead, Shore makes ridiculous stereotypical claims about hostility between Catholics and Protestants. As a Catholic, I find this quite amusing because two of my best friends are Protestant.
The stereotypes continue throughout the paragraph and ooze into the subsequent one with examples of Hezbollah and al-Qaida. Shore provides one remark after another about – how surprising – the religious turmoil in the Middle East. Unfortunately, this is the only part of the article where he shows restraint. Shore somehow forgot to include the rest of the more than 240 countries in the world, but I guess more evidence would only hinder his argument that “religion, by nature, is divisive.”
Back to the “Founding Fathers,” – if you really want to play that card, I call. You see, the early European settlers that came to the New World were the pilgrims seeking freedom from the Church of England. In 1559, the Act of Uniformity made attending Church of England services required. The act also made it illegal to conduct “unofficial” services. In other words, if you weren’t a member of the Church of England, you were a criminal.
This is the true basis for the idea of “separation of church and state.” You can scale it down as far as you want, but the fact of the matter is, the colonies were formed so that people could believe what they wanted without the fear of persecution and/or worse.
Shore ends his article by praising Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, for whom he references earlier in the article. Shore’s last lines read: “Heed the wise words of those who spoke so long ago. They haven’t been wrong about much.” I suppose he doesn’t think Jefferson was wrong to first claim that interracial relations were unpatriotic and animalistic and then to father six children with his black slave, Sally Hemings, who was also his sister-in-law. How scandalous.
The most remarkable of Shore’s relentless commentaries is his far-fetched allegation that “religion is a personal choice for those who feel somehow incapable of living a liberated, independent life.” I say without an ounce of doubt that even after season after season of “South Park,” “Mind of Mencia,” “Sex and the City,” Fox News and The Koala, I have never read or heard a more inaccurate, ignorant or inflammatory statement.
All historical evidence aside, Shore’s article was nothing more than a vicious attack against people who merely think differently than him. I suppose it would be advantageous for Shore to reread the whole First Amendment and continue past his agenda to the part stating that there will be no “prohibiting the free exercise (of religion).”
Put your guns down, Ben. Jesus loves you!
-Max Wheeler,
television, film and new media production sophomore
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