Religion is a matter of faith or belief. As of this time, there is no scientific manner of proving whose belief, if any, is the “right” choice. What a person believes in their heart is the truth for that person. For this reason, it is possible to have more than one truth and even for those truths to be contradictory in nature. For those who truly believe in their perspective, it may be difficult or frustrating to have others not share the view, but we must respect others’ right to their views as we have our own. In discussing religion and deviance, it is not an issue of questioning beliefs or truths, it is also not an issue of deciding right and wrong. It is asking what beliefs or truths are put forth as acceptable for our culture and why are others’ beliefs considered a problem. It maybe that the beliefs put forth in our culture are right, wrong, untrue, true, scary, wonderful or some thing else. The issue to remember is that in the study of deviance, the quest is to determine the social rules and to understand those rules so that we may recognize who is perceived as breaking them thereby labeled deviant. Only by going through this process of analysis can we determine if those who we consider deviant are really a threat to our communities or if they are simply people with different views.
When I ask students: “What’s the religion of the United States?” I’m often met with blank stares or some brave soul who says there is none. “Oh?” I ask, and am supplied the rhetoric that is learned in U.S. schools about how the United States is a pluralist nation. We have no state religion. We offer religious freedom to all. “Do we?” I ask and a spirited debate follows.
My answer is no. I answer this without value judgment. I’m not here to discuss whether I like that answer or not, or whether I think we should have such pluralism or freedoms or not or even which ones, or if the US is better or worse than other places, but simply to point out the United States has very clear Church and State relationships.
Imagine yourself as person who truly believes the following: In every living thing on earth there exists a spirit. That spirit is a strong and powerful deity, capable of creation and extinction. In other words, there are multiple gods. If you find this too difficult, then imagine you don’t believe in ANYTHING. That’s right nothing. There is no god. By taking on one of these positions, it might be easier to see our society from a different perspective. Often people do not recognize norms because they don’t break them. By not breaking them, the person has no idea that they exist or how difficult it might be for someone who does break the norms.
