Is the Lose of Religious Liberties Inevitable in a Modern Society?

By: Alexandria Addesso

Religion has long been the scapegoat of many of the world’s problems; poverty, ignorance, immorality, backwardness, and war. It is believed and frequently perpetuated that most wars were started and carried out because of religion, such instances were usually deemed “holy wars”. But do these notions suggest that there must be a war fought against religion itself?

Most first-world Western Nations are highly secularized. Where religions were once used to dictate moral standards and laws, now modern “norms” seem to be the guiding light. Such nations that lean toward secularism seem to hold atheism as the highest intellectual belief structure (or rather lack thereof). So what does that mean for those who still practice religions or formal faith structures?

Religious liberty and freedoms are hot-button topics in current events. The newly elected United States president, just days after being inaugurated, signed an executive order that banned people from entering the country if their visas were from 7 particular countries and if they were also Muslim. And while some may not disagree with these measures and brand the United States as a “Christian” nation, the state department completely disregarded the
Christian genocide that was ongoing in the Middle East and Africa for several years.



What is the cost we pay for progressiveness? Technological and scientific advances seem to push the need for the protection of religious liberties and freedoms further and further away. Would a religion-free society be better than a religious one? There is no doubt that many people would fight to establish the former, and there are currently people working for just that.

But with a look back on history to nations that tried to eliminate religions and make all such practices illegal does not paint a perfect picture, but rather just the gruesome opposite. The Cristero Rebellions in the 1920s where the Mexican government tried to suppress Catholicism and kill off clergy is one such example of such wickedness. The religionless Soviet Union is another. Yet in most of these cases the faith of such adherents only seemed to grow stronger, even unto death. So should these religious liberties be protected like any other human right or should they be part of the “final test”? Stay vigilant.

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Cognitive Dissonance of Believing in Peace and Condoning War

By: Alexandria Addesso

Cognitive dissonance theory describes a mental state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude changes. In many cases cognitive dissonance can be linked to anxiety and even depression. Most individuals deal with some sort of cognitive dissonance on a daily basis. Such as wanting to help the environment but driving a no eco-friendly car, smoking despite the fact that you know it is bad for you, or being against child labor despite buying items that come from such labor.

While the above examples seem to be clear, there are facets of society where cognitive dissonance seems to be completely ignored. Such as believing and even advocating for peace while condoning war. Some even go as far as defending war-making as the only viable way to achieve peace, which is a complete contradiction. In fact, if this last statement was not repeatedly used, perpetuated and accepted then politicians would not be able to justify most wars and conflicts.



Yet where is the cognitive dissonance coming into play? If war was a “necessary” evil to secure possible future peacetime is rationalized, the dissonance is usually silenced. Furthermore, when individuals do not experience the effects of war firsthand, like most living in the first world or Western countries, it becomes easy to ignore it and not let it affect you. If there is already a lax or non-existent value of human life, there is no dissonance.

But, what about the people who practice doctrines that call for peace? Christianity is based on what Jesus said and did. He submitted to all suffering, was nonviolent to all his persecutors, and emphasized the golden rule of loving your neighbor as yourself, even when your neighbor is your enemy. So how can so many people who claim to be Christians, go to church on Sundays, and read the Bible be pro-war? The way they must rationalize such beliefs definitely fulfills the cognitive dissonance theory. And other faiths that proclaim peace are no exception.



Wanting peace but condoning war is contradictory because violence only begets more violence and creates violent attitudes. What goes on inside of the head of the “peace-loving” pro-war individual? How do they sleep at night? Possibly very well, just because you want to secure peace for yourself does not mean you care about the wellbeing of others.

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World Peace: Is It Attainable?

By: Alexandria Addesso

It is easy to fall into the bleak reality of the status of the world today. Currently 29 countries are actively engaged in wars as well as wars involving militias-guerrillas, terrorist-separatist-anarchic groups that are not official states. World peace has long been preached about, and for a long time viewed as an achievable goal but how probable is it in a world where so many weapons of mass destruction, that could end all forms of life many times over, exist?

There are currently 15,375 nuclear weapons on this planet, in the possession of nine different countries; Russia, the United States, France, India, Pakistan, The United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea. The U.S. and Russia own the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons, with 6,970 and 7,300 respectively with a combined amount of 1,800 on high status alert ready to be detonated in a matter of minutes. For many who spend a lifetime working towards achieving peace, this accomplishment cannot be reached when any nuclear weapons still exist.



"As long as we have nuclear weapons on this earth, one could claim that no real life is actually thriving on the earth. We do not have life actualizing its fullest potential as long as there are nuclear weapons,” said the former Mayor of Hiroshima Tadatoshi Akiba, during his acceptance speech for the 2004 World Citizen Award.

With a ridiculous amount of nuclear weapons, many militarized states, and violence being glorified even to children in every form of entertainment possible, is world peace a realistic goal or a pipe dream? Is the glass half empty or half full? Perspective can definitely dictate how one answers that question, for some further militarization is a way to ensure “peace”, but to most logical people that premise must seem ridiculous. But is there any way that peace advocates can make a difference? In 1980 the Ploughshares Movement, which is an anti-nuclear weapons and Christian pacifist movement that advocates active resistance to war as well as direct actions usually via damaging or vandalizing weapons and military property, began. The name came from the Bible verse Isaiah 2:4 “..they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”



“We spoke out, committed civil disobedience, and went to jail because the peace hangs senselessly and precariously upon weapons costing billions to build and billions to improve — weapons which become more useless as we add to their destructive force,” said Fr. Daniel Berrigan, an American Peace Activist and Catholic priest. “With this money we could have fed the world's people. Half the children on earth go to bed hungry — millions more have retarding and stunting protein deficiencies. Instead of building the peace by attacking injustices like starvation, disease, illiteracy, political and economic servitude, we spend a trillion dollars on war since 1946, until hatred and conflict have become the international preoccupation."

Is this type of resistance enough? Is more political action needed? Before any mass movement to achieve peace is made it most first take place within the individual. Peace must become as necessary as air is to live. In places like Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of Congo this need is real for civilians just trying to exist. Where unmanned drones rain bullets on children and bombs are dropped daily, peace is prayed for unceasingly. Does this level of destruction need to happen in every city around the world for change to happen? Hopefully not, but as long as economic and military success takes priority over life anywhere and everywhere, peace will remain far away.

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Is World War III Among Us?

By: Alexandria Addesso

For many apocalypse believers and seekers World War III had long been one of the most evident signs of the end times. While many world nations declared “we will never have another world war,” after the last one, are they currently being proven wrong?

According to Globalsecurity.org there are currently 52 countries either engaged in conflict or at war, which is a relatively modest estimate. According to the extensive and frequently updated data provided by Warsintheworld.com, there are currently 67 countries involved in wars and a whopping 707 “guerilla-militias” and “terrorist-separatist-anarchic” groups involved in conflicts. The figures are staggering in comparison to the 62 nations that were involved in WWII. The statistics are grim to say the least.

With such figures present one would think that WWIII would have been declared by a world leader or at very least used to unofficially label the current conflicts by mainstream media. Yet, the only person to make such a declaration was a person who has done nothing but fervently speak out against the violence, Pope Francis.



After the November 13 Paris attacks, after which France officially declared war on Syria, Francis described the situation as a “piecemeal WWIII”. Francis has also been a strong opponent who never ceased speaking and praying about the current genocide taking place against Christians and other religious minorities for the past several years, while most of the West has remained silent.

"We are witnessing a phenomenon of terrorism of previously unimaginable proportions. Many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted and have had to leave their homes, in a brutal manner, too. This unjust situation demands, beyond our constant prayers, an adequate response from the part of the international community as well,” said Francis over a year ago, even then the genocide and infighting was blatantly present.

To further clarify himself, Francis explained who he exactly meant by the international community.

"They must act, otherwise where do we go? The United Nations loses its reason to exist."

After much negotiations the European Parliament on Feb. 4 of this year declared that ISIS “is committing genocide against Christians and Yazidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities.”

It took until March 17 for the US state department to reach the same conclusion. These declarations from Western Nations seem to be two years too late as 2014 was noted by many internationally as the “Year of the Christian Genocide.”



Aside from the numerous mass murders in Syria and Iraq due to ethnic cleansing, Boko Haram laid siege to Northern Nigeria. Men who refused to convert to Islam were killed on the spot and thousands of female were proselytized through forced marriage with their rapists and abductors. Even China saw its most aggressive Christian persecution in 2014 since Mao’s rule. Churches were demolished, crosses removed and mass incarcerations of Christians.

Two years later and we are just waiting for the number of murders still being committed due to this genocide, which is by now in the upper hundreds of thousands if not a million, to be calculated and reported. But secular media keeps overlooking it, and the West keeps staying out of it until one of its own cultural Mecca’s is attacked, as France did after the Paris attacks.

History will continue to repeat itself until people become aware. It was years before the Jewish Holocaust of WWII was acknowledged and stopped, the same goes for the Rwandan Genocide and if we look at what happened to the Armenians, the World’s response time looks even more bleak.

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