Case Study: Respond to the following paragraph. You can either agree or disagree with it. response, should be 150 words.
Nussbaum's article showed me that under the law religious people are protected. The fact that they are just proves that America does provide freedom of religion. While reading this article I learned that religion was actually protected greatly in America. "The judge, a Protestant, reasoned that to require a priest to divulge this information, or to penalize him for not doing so, would effectively abolish the sacrament of the confessional, and thus would impose a very severe burden on all Catholics" (Nussbaum 2007; p. 345). This showed me that people in power actually protected religion which probably gave religious citizens the security they needed to practice their religion freely.
During the article she uses the example of "soul rape" which is in my opinion a very good way to describe the violation of a person's religion. I have never thought of it this way but it shows me how important the freedom of religion was to the people in America. They would describe such a sacred thing to something so sinful just to get their point across. In my opinion using the term "soul rape" shows the seriousness of religious freedom and also makes you question if people in power actually see it that way. The term "soul rape" shows me that religious people took their beliefs very serious. Most religious people come from a place where it is against the law to express any other type of religion so they come here in search for that freedom.
The author provides us with good cases that show how freedom of religion is protected. "I think it is not hard to see the wisdom in that decision, and it is a very good thing that small children from non-standard religions, or with no religion, do not have to face this coercive pressure" (Nussbaum 2007; p. 348). This shows that even the people, parents in this case who did not feel comfortable with having their children read the bible were protected as well. This shows me that in America you can believe in whatever you want and still be protected under the law.
This article did give me a new angle in the way I saw religious freedom. I always thought that no one ever cared if you were being treated wrongfully because of your religion. After reading this article I understand why religious people come to America to express their beliefs. They come because in America you can express it freely without being persecuted. Freedom of religion is under amendment 1 and is taken more seriously than I thought.