Importance of Religion

Importance of Religion

***I wrote this for an outside contest a while back. I was a bit limited on time, and the word limit was only 500 words. If you any questions about the content or just want to converse about the article, leave a review or e-mail me and I'll respond.

In an ever changing world, where science is discovering new information about the world, the religious lives of many Americans are rapidly vanishing, yet several are still devout to their religion. But the question for many Americans is how much of a role religion should play in their lives. Religion teaches people the lessons they will need in their life, and the Americans are making a massive mistake by deserting their religion and losing the opportunity to develop their character.

Until recently, Americans have attended religious services to openly display their belief in the god that they worship. However, in a recent statistic shows that from 2001 to 2008, the percentage of Americans attending Episcopal service has dropped nearly eighteen percent and the percentage of Americans attending Methodist church has dropped nearly sixteen percent. The reason for this decline is recent advances in science that rebut the beliefs of Judaic-Christian religions, the basis of the religion of well over two hundred million Americans. In addition, the percentage of Americans who considered themselves to be non-religious rose one hundred ten percent from 1990 to 2000. These statistics show the recent decline of religion in America over the past twenty years.

In fact, The Ten Commandments teach both fundamental laws of living such as do not steal as well as more advanced laws such as to rest on the seventh day of each week (keep Sabbath). While one learns the basic laws of society such as do not steal through daily events, they may not learn all of the values that contribute to one’s welfare, but do not affect their survival, without religion. One example of this is to keep the Sabbath. One might wonder how that directly affects them, but if a person works seven days of the week for fifty-two weeks straight, he will exhaust himself and work his life away. While the person who was never taught to observe the Sabbath is wasting his life away, another person who did learn this basic Judaic-Christian belief is enjoying his life and family on his day of rest.  Another example is a successful, Jewish baseball player named Hank Greenberg who played for the Detroit Tigers in the 1930s, and on Yom Kippur, a holy day in Judaism, Greenberg did not play. “ ‘We shall lose the game today! We shall miss him on the infield and shall miss him at the bat, But he's true to his religion—and I honor him for that!’ (Guest).” Greenberg’s dedication to his religion inspired people to the point that the next day, poet Edgar Guest for the Detroit Press published a poem about his devotion to his religion. Greenberg’s religious upbringing helped teach him valuable lessons about how to prioritize events, and the qualities he learned were respected by the whole city of Detroit.

Because religion teaches people life lessons, Americans should not desert their religion but embrace it. Thus, by abandoning religion, many Americans are creating a void in their character.

Works Cited

Guest, Edgar. “Speaking of Greenberg.” Detroit Press 6 Dec. 1934: n. pag. International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/HenryGreenberg.htm>.

“Largest Religious Groups in the United States of America.” Adherents.com. N.p., 7 Dec. 2005. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. <http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions>.

Weems, Lovett H., Jr. “No Shows.” The Christian Century. N.p., 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. <http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2010-09/no-sh