Berkley Center

For some, religion helps explain the unexplained. It represents a second chance and the feeling of belonging to an exclusive group. Religion has been prominent in society for as long as we can remember. Although it may be a huge component of one's personal life, it does not have a place in the public sphere. France passed a law in 2004 that prohibited wearing conspicuous religious symbols in schools. It caused a huge amount of uproar, especially among Muslim women who wished to wear veils because they represent modesty in their religion.

I think that this was a good move, not because I am irreligious but because I feel that where education and government is involved religion has no place. We all have our own values and perspectives on the world’s issues. Compromise is not something that is easy to achieve and will probably not be achieved for a while, which is why religion can’t coincide with education or government because nothing would ever get done. If you think the incessant squabbling between Democrats and Republicans in our government today is bad, imagine if religion was introduced. We would hit a stalemate on every issue and society would never progress.

As a journalist, the importance of unbiased information has been a huge component of my education for the past five years. I have learned to search for the facts and eliminate any sort of bias or opinion that may compromise the validity of the information I collect. The purpose of education is to provide students and citizens with the facts so that they can effectively form opinions based on truth. If religion were allowed in schools, textbooks would be void. The other side of the story would remain untold. Same goes for politics. A politician’s job is to serve the people. If the president of the United States was a practicing Catholic who despised birth control, for example, what would happen to the women who have been raped and need an abortion? Religion in politics would be catastrophic. Thousands of minority groups would go unrepresented just because one person, or a few people, maintained a certain faith. This is extremely unfair. Ideologies that seem truthful and accurate to some are wrong and outrageous to others.

Education and politics can’t accommodate the vast amount of faiths we have in the United States. So we save ourselves a big headache by remaining secular and basing things off of facts, not ideology. I am in full support of religious freedom and I ardently believe that every religion should have a voice and a right to practice. However, these opinions must be kept out of things that require compromise and are the basis of society and the future.