Danielle's Final Presentation

Before I watched this presentation, I already knew a decent amount about my religion, Judaism. I have a good understanding of our belief in God, and our history. Along with that, I knew about Christianity and some of their religion, but I have never really learned about Atheism. All I knew was that it wasn't exactly considered a religion. After reading some more information on Atheism, I learned that they base their views off of ideas that have been proven. Because Atheism is different from many other religions, people tend to not agree with their values. Most people want everyone to have the same belief in religion, and everything else besides that one religion is wrong. However, this is not the way we should be thinking. As Americans, we need to be open to the diversity that makes up our country. We are lucky to have such a large variety of religions, and we should focus on appreciating other traditions instead of disliking them due to different opinions. The short story Danielle read was very interesting to me because not only did it relate to Judaism, but it also talked about the punishment some people have to go through if they go against their religion's belief. The main character in the story, Ozzie, disagrees with how the world was started according to the Jews. I have never really considered the Jew's perspective with God creating a baby without intercourse, but after reading the narrator's opinion, I understand some of the reasoning behind Atheism only believing in ideas with evidence. The Jewish point of view brings up many ridiculous thoughts that cannot possibly be explained, so in the eyes of an Atheist, it did not actually happen and would not be part of their faith. Ozzie explained this idea to his Rabbi and ends up getting slapped because of his "nonsense." The result of this was a protest he had on top of his synagouge. He refused to come down unless everyone says they'll "Promise you'll never hit anyone over God." I agree with Danielle's explanation of this quote. She talked about the idea that no one should be threatened for having a different view about a religion. Everyone is open to their own ideas, and they should not be physically or emotionally hurt when religion is based off of an opinion. The video Danielle chose represented this idea very well with the Characters Unite. She brought up the point that all the actors and actresses in the video had something different about them. Whether it was religion, race, or where they came from, it didn't matter because they were all American. As it said in the video, one must "appreciate each other for who they are" and not by their religion or other characteristics that are considered different. Our country is so unique because we are able to incorporate so many different religions. However, it is taking it to that next step and accepting other religions besides your own that will provide a whole new level of comfort within the United States.