Creekmore 1

Madeline Creekmore

Research Paper

December 20, 2018

Religion in the 21st century

In history class when students are young and throughout all education, they are

taught that religion has led to death, war, sacrifices, and the devastation of losing one’s

own. Religion has been apart of humans lives since the beginning of time. Countries Commented [1]: 2 words

have gone to war and still today many deal with the issues of the diversity of religion.

There are extremists, and people that do not believe in a religion at all. Over time,

religion has remained a large part of the world’s largest changes. But religion in America

is dying. America is a very diverse country where people from all over the world have

come to live. The effects of today's social influences has led to religion becoming less

and less important in people of Americas day to day lives. Why might religion be fading

from today’s American society? America is made up of people who look up to socialites

and social media stars for inspiration. There are many possibilities on why our country

has become this way but the top are; science and new theories being proven, Commented [2]: colon

technology, and how extremely diverse our country has become throughout time. Commented [3]: make these three parallel

Science has always gone against the basic religious beliefs. Although not all

science theories have been proven, many people have begun to put more faith into

those theories over the traditional religious tales. Many people of our country are not

affiliated with any religion at all. Religious topics are excluded from the standard public

education curriculum, but the topic of evolution comes up in many biology classes and

other theories. “At last, we arrive at the 'Theory of Evolution' and 'Natural Selection'.

This argument dominates the media, yet so few scientists and theologians actually care.
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Most are quite happy to reconcile and respect differences, but the extremist Christians,

mainly in the US, have prevented any rationality. Extremist scientists have responded in

kind, and the religion vs science debate is now raging vituperatively.” (Shuttleworth). Commented [4]: requires "long quote" format

Religion vs Science debates will continue to occur until there is real evidence one day of

either. “Science versus religion has long been a controversial debate, pitting extremists

against extremists and most times ending in a conversation that implodes on itself.

Some feel science has removed the need for belief in God and others believe science

addresses a different set of questions, with answers that point toward religious

truths.”(Tate). Science has led to the creation of social media and technology. This Commented [5]: Long quote format required, but you
should not have two "long quotes" in a paper this short.
happens to fall into the category that goes against religion as well.

Technology is expanding our country every day, but in some ways it is damaging

our society. That is a subject that many debate as well, but when it comes to religion

technology has led to a decrease in religious beliefs. Our society has come to look up to

social media stars for inspiration on how to live our everyday lives. A long time ago

people used to go to church or a sacred place to get inspiration and to get help to guide

them in the right direction. Nowadays, many Americans look up to the Kardashians or to

their favorite youtube family and gain ideas on how to live their lives from people they

do not know personally. Many Americans feel they have lost that traditional connection Commented [6]: Good point

with the church, or religion and now are looking at technology for reassurance on

themselves. “And what is the cause of all this uncertainty? The relentless, accelerating

change and innovation brought about by science and technology over the last fifty years

has altered our world. We humans are influencing the planet in almost “godlike” fashion.

For those seeking answers through god or gods change in our human relationship with

life can be very disconcerting. As a result many seek fundamental truths as a way to

cope with the increasing challenges caused by our scientific and technological
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revolution. It is a juxtaposition of yin and yang that we face here in the 21st century.” Commented [7]: A 3rd long quote!?!?!?

(Rosen). Not only has technology made a vast impact on religion, the diversity of

America has also impacted beliefs.

Our country is built off of immigrants and many different types of people. Almost Commented [8]: on

everyone asked today, has came from a different background whether it is recent or

their ancestors came to America long ago. Regardless of the story, America is filled with

such a diverse group of humans. We have learned over time how to treat people that

aren’t the same as us, whether they look different, speak different, or believe in

something different, we are all humans living in the same country. For the most part our

country has gotten better at accepting these different groups of people and uniting as

one. On the contrary, it has also led to protests, hate crimes, and even civil wars. “There

is rising bigotry against muslims, immigrants, and gay people. Minority groups are also

attacking each other, with Latinos being responsible for the majority of racial hate

crimes against African Americans, and vice versa. There is hope in some unusual and

effective ways that communities are responding to hate crimes, and Congress seems to

be taking the issue more seriously.” (Knickerboker). There will never be an end to these Commented [9]: A 4th long quote?!? Totally
inappropriate.
horrific actions, but hopefully one day there will be more peace for the people living in

this country. The United States over time has gone away from traditional religious

beliefs and for the majority, we have grown to accept more than one belief and some

none at all. There are extremists and there always will be but due to the diverse range

of people in America, religion will never be the same; it is always changing.

To conclude the research, a survey was conducted of 50 students at Cox High

school. 25 boys and 25 girls. If a student attends church, youth group, or practices his
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beliefs regularly than they were considered religious. If the student said they believe in a

religion but do not practice or go to church then they were considered not religious.

More than 50 percent of students in the survey said that they do not consider

themselves religious. This is just a small group of the school and of the population as a

whole. As the population continues to rapidly grow, the younger generations are

beginning to pull away from almost all traditional beliefs. "It may be a negative reaction

to the political involvement of religious leaders. Pat Robertson has gotten a very

negative press. Many don't like an alliance between church and state." But is that big

enough reason for 20 million people to lose faith in a year?” (McManus). The decrease Commented [10]: OMG!

of religion in America has decreased at an alarming rate. The war of religion is not

coming close to an end and neither is the existence of it. There are many people that do

regularly practice, but as the future comes less and less people are believing in a Commented [11]: fewer and fewer

specific religion. Commented [12]: See comments on rubric.

Works Cited

Creekmore, Madeline. “Survey of 50 students at Cox High School.”

(December, 2018)
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Knickerbocker, Brad. "Hate Crime in America Is Not Exaggerated." What Is a

Hate Crime?, edited by Robert Winters, Greenhaven Press, 2007. At

Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010196221/OVIC?u=vbcps&sid=O

VIC&xid=00ec39ab. Accessed 19 Dec. 2018. Originally published as

"National Acrimony and a Rise in Hate Crimes," Christian Science

Monitor, 3 June 2005.

McMANUS, MICHAEL J. "Face of Religion Ethics & Religion U.S. Confidence in

Religion Falls at Alarming Rate." Providence Journal, Feb 14, 1987, pp. A-

09. ProQuest,

https://search.proquest.com/docview/396633647?accountid=3785.

"Religion v. Science." Brunswick News [Brunswick, GA], 6 Nov. 2013. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A348255602/OVIC?u=vbcps&sid=OVI

C&xid=ec5c9d26. Accessed 19 Dec. 2018.

Rosen, Len. “ Religion, Technology and Science in the 21st Century – Part 1:

Uncertainty in a Changing World.” 21st Century Tech, 2013,

www.21stcentech.com/religion-technology-science-21st-century/.

Shuttleworth, Martyn. “Religion vs Science Debate - Rise of Fundamentalism?”

Explorable - Think Outside The Box - Research, Experiments,

Psychology, Self-Help, 2008, explorable.com/religion-vs-science.

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Labeling Key
verb form
verb tense
strong word choice
poor word choice
spelling error
awkward phrasing
capitalize word
lower case - do not capitalize
Provide an example to support your point
sentence fragment
run-on sentence
repetitive
Punctuation error
_

Label Name Extracted Text

verb form has

has

poor word Nowadays

choice

_ than t

sentence 25 boys and 25 girls.

fragment

run-on sentence We have learned over time how to treat people that aren’t the same as
us, whether they look different, speak different, or believe in something
different, we are all humans living in the same country.

Punctuation humans
error
today

Americas

religion

religion

today,
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part

beliefs

be

regularly

church

end

comes

_ than t