Non-Christian Controversy

537 Words3 Pages
7) The Bible is a “living, breathing document”, but it is not like the US constitution. As our nation constantly changes and evolves, the constitution represents the limits our nation abides by. Although new issues, such as healthcare and gay marriage, are dragged to the forefront of our legislation, the constitution is simply a set of guidelines our government must abide by to avoid complete anarchy. The Bible is different. As we all know, it’s the most influential book in our occidental society. As of 2008, 77% of Americans claim to be some sort of Christian (gallup.com). Sure, this number is not quite the 91% from 1948, but it is still a clear majority. Then how could so many people in today’s ‘modern’ society read the Bible as prescriptive?…show more content…
Using the scripture to make political arguments is trashy and unfair. As a Speech and Debate acc. veteran, I’ve had personal experience with religiously inclined ‘support’. As a non-Christian, I felt disadvantaged and nervous to make a comeback because I didn’t want to offend anyone. But hey, before I go off on a nostalgic rant, let me back up. Fancy counterargument: yes, a majority of Americans are Christian. And yes, we should all have some basic knowledge about this mighty, influential scripture. But why must we drag it into politics? All American politics are based off of the American Constitution. Or at least, they should be. This document is our sole set of rules, along with innate common sense. We shouldn’t have to bring religion into the argument to justify decisions that are bound to affect Christians as well as non-Christians. But, alas, people still play the Christianity card. And here’s why: the Bible appeals to ethics. As we all learned in AP Lang, ‘ethos’ is one of the three appeals that effective speakers and writers use in persuasive arguments. Our ethical reasoning is inborn and biased. If we try to mix in logic, we end up with a rhetorical disaster. American politics has a Christian bias. Remember how much crap Obama went through when people found out he was born half Muslim? He had to swear to several newspapers that he regularly attended church. To answer the second part of the question, no, religious arguments do not hold water for nonbelievers. However, the numerous necessary evils in society include majority rule and minority
Open Document