20. November 2009 by student.

I am just discovering what I consider to be a major social problem in the United States. This problem affects most of the U.S. population, and most haven’t even considered it to be an issue. I’m speaking of the idea of religious illiteracy. The country has done so much to keep preaching out of school that they have effectively destroyed religious learning in an academic, secular sense.

The Bible has had a profound impact on the course of American history, but it is often ignored. Regardless of whether or not one subscribes to the Bibles doctrines, it is an important influence on the world that should be studied. The first settlers in America were here for religious reasons, the most widely publicized books (even excluding the Bible) were very often religious and almost always had some biblical references in them. For decades the country, for better or worse, used the teachings in the Bible as a moral and legal compass. Even today you will see the president referencing Bible stories in their speeches. The Bible is so entwined with our history that I think it is irresponsible to ignore just because it’s a religious text.

More important than the bible, though, is the utter ignorance of Americans concerning other culture’s beliefs. Civilizations are sculpted by their religions, and in our ever shrinking world ignorance to these beliefs can, will, and do cause problems. Most Americans, depending on their up-bringing, can name a few bible stories. Very few, however, know the story of the life of Buddha, or the importance of Mohammad to Muslims, or why Hindus typically worship at home, or why Sikhs wear turbans. These days companies in America are working with companies in India and Japan, and of course there is huge connection between the U.S. and middle eastern, predominantly Islamic, countries. Not understanding these region’s religion is a sure way to damage international relations. I feel that religious ignorance easily transforms into religious intolerance, and everyone knows where that leads.

I’m advocating required classes about world religions in public schools. I don’t want preaching, just facts about what a culture believes and how the people are shaped by the religion. I’d like all of the major religions to be covered: Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shinto, Daoism, Confucianism…. all of these belief systems that have such a huge impact on our world and deserve to be at least fundamentally understood by all. I would also like history texts to stop being so dismissive about religion in the name of political correctness. Things weren’t always P.C. and it’s insulting to pretend that they were.

My views were partially shaped this way by taking a World Religions class with professor Rob Avola at Edison and reading a book titled Religious Literacy by Stephen Prothero. I suggest that anyone that is interested in religions, and enhancing their understanding of why cultures are the way they are, take Mr. Avola’s class.

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20. November 2009 by student.

In an article written by the Associated Press of MSNBC News, food banks are now finding that more and more people are showing up in line for their share of donated food. Hunger-relief advocates came to Congress and presented their case that they are struggling to meet the need of for food assistance when the country needs it most. The public policy manager for Northern Harvest in Seattle, Josh Fogt says that “In our 42-year history, we have never witnessed a demand for our services like we are seeing now.” While this only re-enforces that fact that our economy and the people in it are still struggling to put food on the table, it becomes an especially touchy subject as we near Thanksgiving. The Northern Harvest pantry gets 2,500 people per day on average. With these numbers, there’s little hope to meet every single of their needs with just donations. The charities brought up the subject to lawmakers and presented the idea that they give people tax incentive to donate and expand programs that help people put food on the table and help them get back on their feet.  About 14.6% of American households are lacking the food for and active and healthy lifestyle. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34048610/ns/us_news-giving/)

With everything that the government spends on countless other costs, including the war and the $825 billion dollars that’s in the stimulus bill, is it that hard to give a little extra money to food banks in order to ensure that American families are getting the proper nutrition to function properly? This goes to show that because the people suffering greatest from the economy and are living in poverty, they have little to no power in how the money gets spent from the government and because they have no power, they remain at the poverty level barely getting by.

Lauren Downs

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20. November 2009 by student.

The legal drinking age is currently 21. Although, in the distant past the legal drinking age was 18 I believe that the age limit should remain the same or even increase.

 Although there are officials who believe that the drinking age should be lowered back to 18, since the increase of the age limit from 18 to 21, there has been a decrease in the number of DUI arrests,decrease in death rates,and less access to younger teens.

• In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Purchase Age Act, to encourage each state to enact a minimum legal purchase age (MLPA) of 21 by 1986. The result was impressive: an estimated 1,071 lives were saved in 1987 alone. From 1975 - 1996, the estimated number of lives saved reached nearly 17,000.(2) In addition to a 63% decline in alcohol-related crash fatalities among young drivers since 1982, findings show that the MLPA has decreased the number of DWI arrests, youth suicides, marijuana use, crime, and alcohol consumption by youth.(3,4)

• Age restrictions on alcohol consumption were put in place to reduce the number of drunk-driving deaths among teens.

One consequence, writes Steve Chapman, is that “a lot fewer teenagers now end their lives in alcohol-related traffic accidents. Since 1982 the number of youngsters killed in crashes involving a drunken teenage driver has plunged by 63 percent.” Laurie Davies concurs: “We’ve had tremendous declines in alcohol-related fatalities among 16-to-20 age group in the past 20 years.”

• Some may argue that returning the legal drinking age to 18 would reduce the allure of alcohol as a “forbidden fruit,” but according to the Alcohol Policies Project, “lowering the drinking age will make alcohol more available to an even younger population, replacing “forbidden fruit’ with `low-hanging fruit.’”

If 18-year-olds are allowed legal access to alcohol, younger teens will have a greater opportunity to obtain it illegally from older peers. According to Chapman, “Setting the drinking age at 21 can be criticized as a highly imperfect way of keeping booze away from college-age kids, who have devised numerous ways to get it. But it does hinder them at least a little. Perhaps more important, the existing law presents even greater obstacles for younger teens.”

Although keeping the drinking age at 21 does not completely prevent teen drinking, lowering the drinking age to 18 would increase the harm to society. The Age-21 law has been successful in decreasing alcohol consumption among teenagers.

At the age of 18 you are allowed to vote ,enlist in the military,along with many other things. Drinking should not be something you are allowed to do simply because of the harm that can be caused to and by many lives.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »

20. November 2009 by student.

In 2007 the  top executers of the death penalty were China, Iran, Saudia Arabia, Pakistan and the U.S.

However, even where the death penalty is used (33% of the world’s countries) it’s not used very often.

In 2008, the U.S. executed only 37 prisoners. Most death-row inmates in America will never be executed; they will die of natural causes.

-The Right Thing To do Basic Readings in Moral Philosophy by James Rachels

I believe,due to the following reasons, that the United States should end capital punishment.

1. Infrequent Usage
2. Discrimination
3. Incompetency of Prosecuters
4. Condemning Innocent People to Death

Infrequent Usage  -Although death seems to be the most fair punishment for someone who commits murder or any other heinous crime, it is likely to be sentenced to a criminal,who then may wait many years until their time comes or it may not be sentenced to them at all depending on the location of the crime. The death penalty is a reflection of America’s past of when punishments such as lynching and whipping were used. Those forms of punishments are no longer used and neither should the dealth penalty.

Capital punishment in inflicted in less than 1% of all murder cases

Of more than 20,000 murders in the U.S. annually, an average of fewer than 300 people are sentenced to death and only 55 are executed each year.

Discrimination - The death penalty exist in 38 states of the U.S. and in 18 of those states all of the chief prosecuters are white. Other prosecuters who may be conscientious but have had little experience with other races may still make decisions by using racial stereotypes they have developed over time. People of color rarely hold the titles of judges,jurors, prosecutors, and lawyers in the court sytem.

African Americans are considered to be be victims of half the murders in the U.S. Yet 80% that are on deathrow are there becase of crimes against white people.

Studies haven proven that people of color are treated more  harshly than white people.

Incompetency of Prosecutors - Due to the fact that there are some prosecutors who do not represent their clients to the fullest extent,there may be a chance of a person being wrongly convicted of a murder crime and sentenced to death. All states do not provide adequate resources and sometimes even representation in certain cases.According to Stephen Bright, lawyers,like many people, are attracted to work that pays well and few are willing to take on the most difficult cases,such as the cases that may involve someone being sentenced to death. If a lawyer feels he is not being paid enough he doesn’t have to take the case leaving it to someone who may less incompetent.

Condemning Innocent People to Death  Over  100 people condemned to death in the last 30 years have been exonerated and released after new evidence,which established their innocence.

Example: Ray Krone was convicted and sentenced to death in Arizona based on the testimony of an expert witness that his teeth matched bite marks on the victim. During the 10 years Ray spent on death row, scientists developed the ability to compare biological evidence that had been recovered. DNA testing proved Krone’s innocence.

Overall-  There are many Americans who feel that the death penalty is a good thing and there are others who believe the exact opposite. It’s up to you how you feel about the issue, but if it were up to me I would abolish the death penalty because of the reasons stated above,unless there was a way to improve the leagal process.

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20. November 2009 by student.

Because of studies conducted showing that American children watch about 1,500 hours of television per year, it is a big factor in forming their social views. In regards to”Television for Kids”by Dan Langfelder , I agree that some television shows have become increasingly violent but many children shows have also become more educational. Because of the statistics that show the increasing number of television watched by children, the creators of shows have created more educational shows and shows that help teach morals. New children shows such as Dora the Explorer entertain and educate weather some kids may know it or not.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »