Broken Homes Essay Example for Free

Broken Homes Essay He made it sound like that’s the reason why I became a secularist. Having a bad experience growing up, growing up without a father or being in a broken family are common misconceptions that the theists think about the secularists. Both of my parents consider themselves as cafeteria Catholics, for short, secular people. They may be annulled, but they said that they felt happier when that came. According to the elders, people wouldn’t say that they came from a broken family because of heavy religious influence which makes them think that they are heretics. At the present time, people are very open about it and it is accepted in the society. Today, the religious community are alarmed with the boom of divorce within their society. According to this, 20% of Catholics and Protestants and 40% of Jewish marriages end in divorce after 5 years. Also, the Barna Research Group stated that in the United States, 11% of the adult population is divorced, 25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime and divorce rates among Christians are significantly higher than those of other religious denominations, and much higher than atheists and agnostics. The results from their research about divorce rate by religion show that: 1. Non-denominational (Evangelical Christian congregations that are not affiliated with any specific denomination) – 34% have been divorce 2. Baptists – 29% 3. Episcopal – 28% 4. Pentecostal 28% 5. Methodist – 26% 6. Presbyterian – 23% 7. Lutheran – 21% 8. Catholic – 21% Their research proved that the conservative Christians have the highest divorce rate, while the mainline Christians have a lower divorce rate. They found some new information that states that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate at all. The Associated Press confirmed the results of the research. There was a point in time where the Baptists had the highest divorce rate of any Christian denominations. Another research about divorce rates by religion stated that: Jews – 30% have been divorced Born-again Christians – 27% Other Christians – 24% Atheists and agnostics – 21% Ron Barrier, spokesperson of the American Atheists commented about the research. He said: These findings confirm what I have been saying these last five years. Since Atheist ethics are of a higher caliber than religious morals, it stands to reason that our families would be dedicated more to each other than to some invisible monitor in the sky. With Atheism, women and men are equally responsible for a healthy marriage. There is no room in Atheist ethics for the type of ‘submissive’ nonsense preached by Baptists and other Christian and/or Jewish groups. Atheists reject, and rightly so, the primitive patriarchal attitudes so prevalent in many religions with respect to marriage. StopTheReligiousRight.org also commented: We hear an awful lot from conservatives in the Bible Belt and on the TV about how we all should be living. Certainly a culture that teaches the conservative religious values of the Christian right must have clean living written all over it. And lots of ripe fruit from their morally superior lives abounding. It doesn’t. Far from it. People that talk the loudest may be the ones walking the slowest. Joining its history of Biblically correct bigotry and discrimination, it is an area with the highest divorce, murder, STD/HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity rates in the nation. As a region, the Bible Belt has the poorest health care systems and the lowest rates of high school graduation. So, before theists say something about secularists growing up in broken families, they should look at the statistics and see the reality about what’s happening in the religious community. Copyright  © 2000 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Originally written: 2000-APR-27 Latest update: 2009-JUL-20 Author: B.A. Robinson Youngblood One broken family By Joyce Raboca Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 00:51:00 12/18/2008 Filed Under: Social Issues, Charter change, Graft Corruption Jose Rizal wrote a chapter in ?El Filibusterismo? ironically titled ?Maligayang Pasko? [Merry Christmas]. Basically, it narrates the fate of the Family De Dios, who had something other than a merry Christmas. The daughter, Juli, became a maid; the grandfather, Tata Selo, went mute; and the father, Tales, was kidnapped by rebels. All this while the Spanish priests went merrymaking over the ill fortune of this family. While I do love this lesson in Filipino, I can?t help but feel sadness, even bitter resentment, over how our fate has never really changed from that time. We Filipinos are still a broken family, especially this Christmas. Before I continue, let me first give a Merry Christmas greeting to every uncorrupted politician, tooth fairy, reindeer, principled Philippine president, and elf out there. As a teenager in her senior year in high school, I have definitely felt the Christmas spirit from such characters. As I was scanning the news with my dad the other day, I read about an ?uncorrupted politician? whose case was dismissed because he was not put on trial early enough. They used this fancy label for it too: ?clear transgression of the constitutional rights of the accused.? I was a little confused and asked my lawyer father to explain it to me. I had to digest his answer for a while and, being naà ¯ve, I had to ask for some clarification. ?So the court said that because the trial took too long to process, he can go free asked my father. ?Does that mean all the thousands of cases that have been sitting around with the Sandiganbayan for more than five years are being dismissed as well Apparently not. Just when I thought it was never too late for justice to be served (especially in the Philippines, where the justice system is always 10 years too late), connections once again overpowered justice. But the wrongly accused and impatient defendants have to be friends with the ombudsman first, I believe. So thanks to the uncorrupted politician, I have finally realized what  Christmas is all about. The tooth fairy has also decided to visit and spread the Christmas spirit in the form of plundered money. Hooray for those who put morality under their pillow! In recent weeks, another former top official decided that lying, stealing and making a run for it should merit him freedom and a gift. Perhaps he wants his teeth back? But teeth cannot be grown back once you?ve put them under your pillow, and toothless is the man whose honesty has been bought by hundreds of millions of pesos from the tooth fairy. I will definitely bear that in mind this season. Maybe the tooth fairy will come and leave me a few billion pesos in exchange for my honesty as well. Our painfully principled President has decided to steal Santa?s reindeer this year and ride him across the country. I believe his name is Cha-cha. Although she says that the reindeer is bringing Santa?s big bag of solutions to the country?s problems, I now have doubts that Cha-cha the reindeer ever belonged to Santa. After all, the song never mentions a reindeer named Cha-cha. Hmm ? that seems a little bit suspicious. I just hope she won?t be riding that reindeer in 2010. That would be a heavier weight on all of us (and not just on Cha-cha) come next Christmas. As for my own life, college is around the corner, and I?m waiting for Santa?s elf to come ask me what I want for Christmas. Other than a box of transparent candies to send to the government, I would like to get into the top two colleges to which I applied for admission. January 2009 is acceptance month and I am hoping at least that Christmas stays bearable ? maybe even enjoyable ? until the results of the exams come out. And when those results come out, I hope I won?t come down with a case of ?senioritis,? a sickness common to high school seniors after being accepted to a college. The symptoms include lazing around, slacking off, and developing grade apathy. That would not be a good thing, especially since our parents are Santas (shh, don?t tell them I know). As for all of you, be happy with the shallow merry-making for now, because we Filipinos are not going to find merriment in having Spanish priests running the country this Christmas. Maybe next year we won?t lose our voice amid the injustices, like Tata Selo in ?El Filibusterismo.? Like Juli and Tales, maybe next year we will be free from injustice and the craziness of our politics. Maybe next Christmas, the reindeer, the elf, and the tooth fairy will bring nationalism, honesty and justice back to our country. In the meantime, Merry Christmas!