City Upon A Hill By John Winthrop

Democracy or Theocracy?

The first amendment of the Constitution states: “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The separation of church and state allows religious people to have the same rights and freedoms as every other person. No special privileges, no exceptions. They are just like everyone else, yet they are diverse in so many ways. The United States should not have an official religion because the separation of church and state provides variety in our country, helps us grow together as a society, allows us to choose our faith, and gives us fair laws. In John Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill,” he argues that “the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke, and to provide

“We are a nation of millions of people with a pedigree that includes blood lines from every corner of the world” ( Reagan). When people from different countries that have different cultures and beliefs move to the United States, their cultures and beliefs move with them. Citizens of the United States are given so many freedoms, and that’s part of the appeal. People want to move to the U.S. to live a life of freedom and liberty - to get away from places that tell them what they need to be. An national religion would change the whole dynamic of the United States; part of the diversity would disappear. People may argue that we still have the culture that has moved in from people that have migrated from other countries, but part of that culture is religion. People’s faith makes them unique because it gives them something to believe them. Taking that away would more or less cause people to lose part of their

The novel follows Hester Prynne, a young woman who committed adultery, and her journey through the hardships of having a child out of wedlock. Hester is publicly ridiculed for her actions because of the Puritan society she lives in. Nowadays, people have affairs and those people are okay with their actions. Plus, they aren’t punished for the most part. Everyone has a different opinion on what is right and what is wrong. Our country has freedom of religion which allows punishments to be separate from religious beliefs, which helps our country to be fair and