We live in a free modern society and every member of our society has his or her right to choose the religion and in what to believe. However, there are many situations when people do suffer from oppression from religion. That’s why in this paper I am going to examine the modern oppression because of religion. The following sites will be the subjects of my research: religioustolerance.org, atheistfoundation.org.au, angelfire.com, independent.co.uk and patheos.com. After examining these websites I hope to get a better understanding of the fact, whether oppression from religion exists or not, if yes, how strong it is in the up to date world.
I would like to start with religioustolerance.org, telling us about religion and its origin, the symbols of fourteen religions.
According to this site, “religious oppression is experienced within high-demand faith groups.” It is a helpful site for those who would like to know a bit about religious oppression, but are not eager to read a lot as they only need to receive some general information. This site also features many links to various related topics that is rather helpful for those who would like to know more regarding this issue. However, I think that it is a useful site only for those who want to get general information regarding religious oppression as it is not rather informative.
The second website that is going to be looked through is atheistfoundation.org.au, which gives us far more information than the first site. Here we may learn about different aspects regarding religion, such as relationships between government and church. I support the mentioned there statement-each government which shares power with religion is likely to be corrupt and cruel. The more influential the religion is, then the more oppressive is the regime. I find this site helpful for students, professors and those who are simply interested in religion. What’s more, I think that the information, introduced there is rather important.
When addressing angelfire.com, it should be said that it is a good site for people who would like to learn something concerning problems of the religion worldwide. Here, we are to learn about religion of different countries, such as India, Canada, Afghanistan, China, Columbia, and etc. I regard this site as a good training tool for college students as it gives us general opinion and picture of the religion worldwide. As for me, I think it is rather useful to read about the situation with the religious oppression throughout the world.
The other site regarding religious oppression is independent.co.uk, saying about the respect to every religion. According to this site, every person has a right to voice his or her beliefs; nevertheless, nobody can be aside the rules and ask to be protected from various offences. This site may be helpful for those who like debating and discussing religion and politician issues. However, I believe it shows only a subject opinion.
Finally, the last site to be examined is patheos.com, showing how religion can oppress women. It also gives us an idea to become free of every religion. This site will be appreciated by everybody who has any interest in religion, equality of men and women and sexism. As for me, patheos.com is a nice site to read about religious oppression as it is unusually written and what’s more, it is rather easy to follow and to understand. The information, introduced here is up to date and includes different religious aspects and ideas.
Anyway, after conducting a little research it should be said that, to my point of view, patheos.com proved to be the best when addressing such important issue as religion and oppression. This site shows much information on this topic and it is rather interesting and finally, it is suitable for college students and adults. However, every mentioned site has something important and interesting to tell.
References
Hari, J., Why should I respect these oppressive religions? (Jan, 28, 2009), Opinion, Independent.co.uk. Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-why-should-i-respect-these-oppressive-religions-1517789.html
“Religious oppression around the world”, Monitoring Violations of Religious Freedom, Angelfire.com. Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/Oppression/
“Religion’s oppression of women”, (Jan. 11, 2010), Friendly Atheist, Patheos.com. Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2010/01/11/religions-oppression-of-women/
Taylor, P.,R., “Oppression and Religion”, Atheism, Atheist Foundation of Australian, Inc., Atheistfoundation.org.au, Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/
Robinson, B., A., “Religions of the world: Information about 40 organized religions and faith groups”, Religioustolerance.org, Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm