“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” Seneca

It is very hard to define what exactly a religion is. A standard definition is anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s (used in religious courses), who defines religion as a “collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values”. Religion adresses important human dualities such as life & death and good & evil. Moreover, at the beginning religion gained credibility by explaining things that nobody could understand, such as the creation of the world. This is how religion gained more and more power throughout the years. Today, with the emergence of science, people tend to think and not just let themselves be influenced by what they are told. This is how religion has lost  influence over the years (see the PEW research). However, religion still affects everyday life and American affairs, and it can divide people or unite them.

The first two articles (from The New York Times and Forbes) discuss whether a Muslim group should be allowed to build a mosque near Ground Zero, where the attacks on 9/11 took place. These two articles show how religion divides people.  The editorial “Mistrust and the Mosque” from The New York Times is in favor of the construction. It has a positive view and says that New York is “the country’s most diverse and cosmopolitan city”. It explains that stereotypes are easily made, but they are far from always being  true. That is the case with Muslims. Americans must not see all Muslims as terrorists, and they cannot forget that many Muslims also died during the terrorist attacks. however, the column “The case Against the Ground Zero Mosque” from Forbes, by Abigal R. Esman is against the construction of that mosque. It explains that it is completely out of place, and she cannot believe that a (very expensive) mosque, which is, according to her somehow the symbol of the “19 Muslim men that stopped the world” could be built on place that is still very controversial.

In the third article,  “Troubled Waters” from Notre Dame Magazine, Michelle Krupa depicts the consequences of the explosion on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico, near Louisiana. It emphizises that victims are helpless; since the explosion, their whole life has paused and they havehad trouble finding work, money and food. It is very common during hard times to see an increase in people’s religious belief. That is often the case during wars. People do not know what to do or to whom they can speak, so they turn towards religion. That is what happened in the Gulf Coast communities after the oil rig explosion. In this situation, religion brought people together, made them hope together, and stregthened communities. That was the Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s message during his Mass: “We are a people of faith, and we don’t give up”.

As these situations show, religion can be helpful, as well as harmfulfor a society. Sometimes it brings people together, and sometimes it divides them up. However, the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque and the reaction to the oil spill show that it still can be very powerful.