Argument Essay
Banning expressions of Religious fundamentalism is sometimes needed to enhance national security, stop oppression and preserve state secularism. Let me start with the Islamic religious fundamentalism practice: According to the doctrine of the Islamic Religion girls are only allowed to attend school to a certain age only. And the range of age the girls normally stop going to school is at nine to thirteen years old. This act reduces the number of scholars in a State. Take the amount of Moslem girls that are prohibited from going to school due to Religious believes. The intelligence that existed inside them is wasted instead of used in development purpose. If not for some fundamental ideas the girls who have been deprived from going to school could acquire professions that could allow them to work for private and government sectors and their skills may promote a state in an advance stage of development. The fact that these girls have been denied going to school has silently affected the economy of the State. And the act of denying the girls higher education is oppression. Suppose the expression of Religious fundamentalism is banned then Moslem girls would go to school until they graduate from Universities. The number of scholars would go up and there will be a high level of and number of skilled laborers and national security could be enhanced.
The Religious idea that production of kids is a blessing from God and should not be restricted has promoted some economic problems. The families that are not making enough money for a living are forced to go and get assistance from the Government and such destroys the economy. Usually such families cannot support their kids with college tuitions. The kids then apply for financial aid which is a Government assistance program or are forced out of college and end up working entry level jobs. Imagine a state with such number of families undergoing such a challenge promotes high unskilled laborers will definitely slow down development and not enhance national security. If expression of Religious fundamental is banned then families with low income would be encouraged to implement family planning and that will reduce dependency on Government resources and enhance national security.
The idea of the Jihad by Radical Moslems is an expression of Islamic fundamentalism. This idea has brain washed a good number of individuals who were ones innocent at the time of childhood to become suicide bombers. Take the September eleventh bombing as an example. That bombing has cost the Government a lot of money building more onto the homeland security. That bombing has initiated war in terror and the war in terror has cost the Government a lot of money and is still costing the Government a lot of money. Islamic fundamentalists have decided that the young Moslem children should be taken to a school of Religion before the children go and attend any national school. The effect on such an idea is that some children get used to the school of Religion “madrasa Khalwa” and choose not to enter the national school that teaches government syllabus. The children who choose not to join the regular school grow up with almost nothing in their brains but implementing Jihad. Such people later commit suicide bombings and cause terror to the whole society because of the fundamental idea of brain washing children to later carry out Jihad. Imagine that expression of the fundamentalism is banned. The idea of Jihad will not be implemented. The damages that were seen during the September Eleventh would not have happened, war in terror would not have been started and those costs that were spent on the war would not have happened. The idea of madrasa-Religious school will carry a different intend from the one it has today. It is not late to have the expression of fundamentalism banned to prevent future issues.
The action of the Islamic fundamentalists has ruined the image of the Islam Religion in the eyes of many people. Let us look at an example of military in a base. The military academy taught the military personnel to be united and trust themselves. This teaching could not promote the unity because the Moslem fundamentalist’s actions have already painted an image that makes it hard to trust them. For such a reason military personnel who are Moslems are not comfortably welcomed by the others who Christians. They have already sensed that and they are now keeping a certain distance from the Christian Military personal. Such distance that now exists does not create harmony of the Military personals and does not enhance national security. Without such fundamentalism the trust among Christian and Moslem military personal would be maintained and their harmony would be strong and the national security will be enhanced.
Religious fundamentals has initiated veils to be worn a symbol of respect. Surveillance camera cannot identify an individual who is covered in veil. I noticed that some banks encourage customers to work in without cups and glasses. Such is to make sure the cameras could identify those who are walking inside the bank. If a Moslem walks in with a veil in her face, the camera would not identify such an individual properly. Such interferes with the security measures and upon requesting such a customer to remove the veil the customer could become humiliated because such would indicate that a Religious doctrine has not been recognized. Such circumstance affects the secularism of a State.
In the 2006 some Somali legal Moslem immigrants who are allowed to enter USA and are given I-94 and work authorization raised a complaint to the Labor Commission in Minnesota that they want times that Islam Religion has identified to be times of prayers to be recognized and that private sectors should allow them to go and pray during those times. This argument was argued by Radical Moslems who are fundamentalists. Such argument affects the secular system of government.
There is an ongoing debate going on whether a Mosque should be built few yards from ground zero or not. This debate clarifies the feelings of the people towards Islam Religion that has resulted from the Islamic fundamentalism. The idea of a secular government really gets affected when such controversy arises. The American people are airing their frustration on you tube videos. Moslem American and Christian American have clashed. It is very clear that the people who are resisting the building of the Mosque are not happy with the actions of the Jihadists. The Jihadists are fundamentalists and if not for such fundamentalism there would not be any terrorist attacks and there would not be any luck of trust. Mosques would be constructed anywhere and Churches could be constructed anywhere in the Arab world.
On Sunday July 11, 2010 the Islamic Jihadists have bomb three locations in Uganda. The bombing has claimed a life of an American Citizen. The people who were bombed were innocent people who gathered to watch the World Cup finals between Spain and Netherlands. The reason behind that bombing was related to the purpose of Jihad. If not for the fundamental ideas that Jihadists are now implementing such lost would not be seen. Seventy four Ugandans lost lives and three locations destroyed and that lives the Government of Uganda with a shaken national security.
The Islam Religion has always discouraged the use of having sex using a condom to be against their doctrine. Spreading sexual transmitted diseases is very rapid in the community of the fundamental Moslems because their young men condemns the use of condoms and does not discourage bigamy. I have a friend who is a Somali. He is not a radical Moslem. He told me that he has an uncle who has three wives here in the U.S.A. He leaves here in Utah with the youngest wife and the other two are in Minnesota. The man is HIV positive and the three wives are not yet aware about that. The man sometimes travels to Minnesota to visit the other two wives and comes back here in Utah where the youngest wife is. He said these Somali cheat inside their marriages without worrying breaking an Islamic doctrine and refuse using condoms because it is a violation against the Islamic doctrine. This makes the spread of disease so easy and does not help enhance national security. If the expression of fundamentalism is banned then those Moslem would reduce chances of getting diseased and unwanted pregnancy.
The banning that is needed to enhance national security, stop oppression and preserve state secularism is only needed sometimes, not all the time because expression of Religious fundamentalism also enhanced national security, stopped oppression and preserved state secularism. Take Christianity for example: The teaching of Christianity promoted love and forgiveness. This has helped in promoting humanity all over the world. The result of that has enhanced national security and banned oppression to a group of people for it is not only a sin but also inhuman. Christianity has always taught us that Jesus said give the government what belongs to the government and give me what belongs to me. Christians have respected government most of the time and that really helped in preserving state secularism.
In conclusion I strongly believe that the harms that are caused by expression of religious fundamentalism is more than any good that such an expression would bring to the light of our World and that this expression should sometimes be banned to enhance national security, stop oppression and preserve state secularism.
Carroll, James. Rescue Catholicism from Vatican; Boston Globe (Boston MA), (April 5, 2010): Pg.A.9
Naff, Clay Farris. Defusing the Neuron Bomb; Humanist 70.2 (March/April 2010):Pg.4-7
Samath, Feizal. Women Seek Change Amidst Religious Extremism; Global Information Network (June 24, 2010): Pg. n.p
Dean, Jamie. Old Days Are Here Again; World Magazine 25.9 (May 8, 2010):Pg.54
Abdulrahim, Raja. Thorny Issue for U.S. Muslims; Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), (April 19, 2010): Pg A.A.1
Reflection Paper
Safety
The music was on and I was talking to a friend, as the talking grew more and more exiting and the music got me entertained I started accelerating and suddenly the trailer tires started to skid and I realized that I was at a verge of committing a serious accident on that icy road. I dropped the cell phone and applied the engine brakes. That did not help and I felt the tractor and the trailer got out of control. I knew that the situation was already too late to control so I turned the truck tires towards a shallow valley between I-40 West bound and I-40 East bound. As the truck slid into the valley, the trailer swung and hit the tractor from the driver side swinging the tractor clockwise, the trailer swung and hit the tractor again on the driver side for the second time on the same side and the entire truck came to a stop inside the valley. The sleeper on the driver side was banked so badly and the fuel tank on the driver side was also hit by the trailer so bad that the tank almost fell off as a result of the trailer hitting the tractor from the driver side.
The day that I got engaged in that accident was the 26th January 2009. I was working for Allied Van Lines. I was a driver. I picked and delivered Allied shipments all over the United States. That morning I delivered a shipment around Oklahoma City in the State of Oklahoma. I completed the delivery around 3:00 pm then drove to a truck stop. I took shower and ate some food. I had another shipment inside the trailer that was destined to be delivered in Huston in Texas. Prior to this delivery, I had a pick up a day after the following day in Santa Fe in New Mexico.
The weather was not favorable for driving. Snow fell all day that day. Despite that, my dispatch wanted me to be in New Mexico a day after the following day to pick-up a shipment, for that reason, I planned to spend the rest of the knight in Amarillo in Texas and then start driving and headed west along I-40 West bound. I drove very slowly because the weather was so bad. I called my friend who worked for JB Hunt. He and I talked a lot on the phone, especially when we drove because that habit kept us going without getting sleepy. Once in a while my friend will have to answer another call and later got back with me on the phone as I drove. At around 8:30 pm I crossed the state line of Oklahoma and Texas and continued driving into Shamrocks destined to be in Amarillo any time around midnight. Shamrocks town is ten miles inside Texas State line. That was where the accident happened.
An SUV was passing by and when the person who was driving the SUV saw my truck, he pulled over and walked out of his SUV. I was already out of the truck making phone calls. If asked me if he should call the police. I told him not to worry about that and he wanted to know if there is anything I would want him to do, I thanked him for the concern he showed and asked him not to worry about me. He wished me good luck and left. I called my manager and he asked me to call the police. I called the police and they drove to accident scene, gave me a citation and left while I waited for a tow truck. The tow truck showed up and towed my tractor trailer. The people who came with the tow truck dropped me to a motel close to the impound yard where the truck was impounded. I called my manager again and told him that I booked a room in a motel. “That is fine; just stay there until you get further instructions come from instructions come from Allied Van Lines Cooperate office.” (Curt Curtis). Curtis was the manager of Bailey’s Moving and Storage argent for Allied Van Lines. “That is fine” I replied. It was already past 11:00 pm Mountain time. I called my wife. She answered her phone softly thinking that I was just checking as usual. “How is everybody at home” I asked. “We are all doing fine” she answered. I took my time before I let her know what had happened. She paused for a second and asked if I am doing fine. I told her I am doing fine. “That is all that matters to me” she said. I wished her good knight and told her I would call her the following day.
The following day I got instructions from my manager to rent a U-Haul truck in Shamrocks town, transferred the small shipment that was destined to be delivered in Huston and deliver that shipment at the time schedule for its delivery. After which I should come back to Shamrocks, return the U-Haul and wait for further instruction. I did just as I was told and told and came back to Shamrocks. I waited three days for the further instructions. On the fourth day a driver drove from Denver Colorado where the headquarters of the argent was. I got with that driver and I was brought to Denver in Colorado. A driver of our argent in Salt Lake City had come from Montana and was on his way to Salt Lake City. I got with him and he brought me back to Salt Lake City.
The day I got home, I was so excited to see my kids. I recalled days in Africa when sad news was brought to some families that dad had died in a car accident. The entire calm situation turned into sorrow. I had a tough time sleeping that knight because I kept thinking of what it would be like with my family if I had died. I also thought of what I would have done to avoid such from happening. I actually wished all those happenings were a dream. I wished I woke up one morning to meet the fact that all what happened was nothing but a dream but that was not the case. I woke up and felt sick for a moment because I had the fear that I may lose my job and eventually I did. That was one out of many incidence that I will not forget in my life and I will always operate not only a truck with care but even the small cars with care especialy in a bad weather.
Link to My E-Portfolio
