The idea of having the Bible dictate how our laws are shaped is the exact idea we talked about in our class with the separation of church and state. It is interesting this article states that half of Americans think the Bible should have an influence in our day to day lives. Considering the vast diversity of religions in this country I am curious as to how they got to this statistic. Also, some of these religions are more politically active than others. The article states that 49% of Americans believe it should have an influence over US laws, while 50% say it should not have an influence. A split almost directly down the middle, but many groups say it should have more influence than others. Protestants are at 76% that say it should have an influence, while White Evangelicals are at 89% saying it should have an impact. Conversely, Atheists and Agnostic have a 96% and 90% respectively. This a real whopping disparity between these religious and non religious groups. For the Democrats, 66% say that it should not have an influence, while Republicans are at around 67% that say it should have an influence. 

The problem with these large disparity between groups shows that we cannot have one group the represents the countries whole views. This is why the founding fathers wanted a separation of church and state. They had the foresight to realize that it is a very bad idea to have one group be the focal point of the country, even if they did have a majority. We as Americans have a fundamental right of freedom of religion, and having the Christian bible dictate laws would be infringing on that right. Also, the idea that it could dictate laws on abortion and same-sex marriage is extremely scary as many of us do not want to see this country regress socially. We have many places in the South that currently have extremely strict and maybe no abortion clinics at all. This is extremely scary to think some 70+ year old christian man would throw the Bible at these young girls who need these clinics for even just contraceptives. As someone who grew up a Catholic but is now more of Atheist, I believe there needs to be separation of Church and State. I find many Christians do not realize how these decisions affect other people with completely different views from them. Thankfully, our politicians have to respect the idea of separation of Church and State and these types of laws could never be enacted. 

Lastly, I believe this connected to our class through the multitude of conversations we had about the idea of separating Church and State. We talked about how the founding fathers were deists, and completely left out the idea of religion in the constitution. They believed more in the freedom of religion, as they had just left an Era of religious persecution where religion was the ruler. It would be completely backward of us to then change our laws to represent one of the many religions in this country. I think it would then leave many people feeling left out and persecuted by the new laws.

The article states that about 1/3 of eligible voters are now under the age of 39 years old, being Gen Z and Millennials. They are more diverse and liberal than the older generations, but they show up in disparagingly lower numbers. A Harvard University poll said around 43% of younger people they asked said they would vote in the primaries. Even Bernie Sanders on multiple occasions has stated it has been very hard for him to mobilize the youth to go out and vote. This a quote from a Harvard professor who has been working on youth voting since 2000, “‘there is credible evidence to suggest that the youth vote is flat to down in most states... young people are just not as enthusiastic as many of us expected them to be.’” It is clear that many young people do not find it necessary for them to exercise their rights and go out and vote. The turnout alone in Super Tuesday states was staggering, they were around 5%-19% of eligible voter turnout. Older voters however have been increasing in voter turnout for years. Many credible sources in the article turn to the fact that no candidate really gets young voters to want to show up to the polls or even find where their voting location is. Also, many young voters complain about the absentee ballot process being complicated and too convoluted for them to even attempt, since many young adults are students and not in their home state. 

I felt this was an important point in our class, as we talked about Bernie Sanders being a populous candidate. It seems that some candidates have a tougher time actually getting their supporters to the polls. If you took a gauge of most young people, I would not be surprised to hear most of them support Bernie and his policies. The problem is these young people feel no need to actually go the polls and support him. It is this weird disconnect from American politics that a lot of even people that I know have. They feel as if they are not informed enough to vote, but truly their vote matters so much more. I am not sure if it is a timing thing, or just truly they feel like they do not know enough. What really needs to happen is a candidate who truly wants to mobilize and excite the youth, I feel that until then many young voters are just going to stay at home and not really pay attention nor care at all. I also found it interesting that the article stated that November may be way different and that young voters just had trouble deciding on a candidate in the primaries. It showed a statistic that the 2018 mid term election had a 40% higher voter turnout for younger generations, which broke numerous records. The hope is come November the young people will feel more inclined to exercise their rights and show up to the polls. I believe that with enough support on college campuses and workplaces it could potentially happen. It is more a matter of them caring and taking responsibility in their own lives.

To begin, I find this to be the scariest of events that has happened in the recent weeks following the outbreak of the pandemic. There have been countless christian preachers that have denied the existence of COVID, but even if they believe it is real they claim faith alone can stop the spread. Many preachers even hold services in the midst of the worst parts of the outbreak. The man you see in this photo is Rodney Howard-Browne who held a service of hundreds of people, even with social distancing in place. He went as far as calling the virus a hoax and that his prayer took precedent in these trying times. He even claims that the WHO is trying to mass murder millions of people with the vaccine. Lastly, he told his congregation to shake hands and even embrace. Thankfully, he was arrested for all of this nonsense he was spewing and frankly the hurt he had done to his own community. 

It clearly relates to our class and our conversations about right-wing preachers and their ideas that the spread. I even saw that Liberty University tried opening after spring break, but students other didn’t come back or their was a fear that the contracted the virus when going back. If you remember correctly this was Jerry Fallwell’s school. He was the christian leader who had very strong views on women's reproductive rights. Clearly, many of these leaders only care about their congregation and do not care how this affects other people. It is sad to think that we have religious leaders telling people not to listen to medical professionals. Obviously this is only a small group of people listening to these messages, but it is still extremely hurtful and dangerous to be spreading these types of messages. My hope is people understand how real and scary this virus is and do not think faith alone can stop it. I also hope this teaches us to take everything we hear with a grain of salt, and to listen to the real professionals on the front line. 

To add, this type of messaging is extremely dangerous to children of these parents that went to these religious gatherings. It teaches a level of defiance, and that you can do whatever you want, while not listening to health leaders. This was not the only religious leader to hold an event during the pandemic, many leaders have been arrested for trying to setup gatherings with social distancing in place. The hope is they are hold accountable and no longer able to put people in harms way for the sake of faith. I understand the importance of faith and the face to face congregations but these times are different. Each time you decide to go out, you are not only putting yourself and family at risk, you are putting your whole community at risk. I hope this is something we learn from this situation, to think about others and not only what we are missing out on. We are all in this together and we need to protect each other if we want it to ever go away. 

As COVID-19 has ravaged our country, statistics have slowly started to pour out showing the large disparity between minorities and white people getting sick. The article states that it is two times more likely for a black person to know someone that has been hospitalized or died from COVID than a white person. That is a sickening statistic when you really start to break it down, and it shows the systematic problem we have in America. For one, it shows the absolute need for Universal Health Care as many of these families can go bankrupt from even one hospital visit. It is also said that minority groups in urban areas usually have to live with extended family members as it is cheaper to live that way. But it leaves them at risk to spread it from child to mother to grandmother quite quickly. This is what is said to be happening in the minority groups and shows the need for more income equality. 

I believe this relates to our class as we have talked many times this semester about Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights movement. I believe this was apart of his movement, he believed each person should be treated equally no matter how they look. I find that he would also then believe in equal opportunity for these people. I think we lack that in this country! It is extremely apparent in times like now, where some people are able to go hoard the essential items and others have to just scrape by. It starts with the people of this country recognizing it and wanting to fight for serious change. 

The article also states the idea of how it isn’t only minority groups, but lower income individuals in general. It shows that lower income individuals are almost two times more likely to contract the virus and die from it. These are staggering statistics, as the middle to upper individuals have all the opportunities to see the best doctors as well. The vaccine will be another trying time for this country. If it isn’t mass produced at first and there are some 100 million vaccines, who is going to decide who gets it first. If we have another wave of inequality, will this negatively impact the minority communities again? The hope is that this will not be a problem, but with all the recent inequality it is hard to guarantee anything. But my hope is after this virus we have people come together as one and realize we are no better than the next guy. There should be equal opportunity and we should better protect our minority communities. The article also briefly talks about the idea of the doctors making decisions about who gets a ventilator in a shortage. I believe this would create even more inequality if doctors arbitrarily decided that someone has a better opportunity to live to give them the ventilator. Obviously doctors are oath to help people, but I am not a fan of this idea as many minority groups could be negatively affected again. 

At this point, we all know about the corona virus that has swept our nation and our world. To date, it has taken over 50,000 lives in the United States alone. It is quite a trying time for our nation, but also for our political leaders. Our leaders have to make decisions to help protect their citizens as they see best fit. As you can see from this article, the New York primary has been cancelled over fears that holding the election would only further spread throughout the country. This was opposed by many of the Bernie supporters, even though he dropped out, because many believe there is still a lot of support for him. 

I believe this relates to me personally, because I am an east coaster, and I find the corona virus has been ravaging my area. I am from southeastern PA where currently we have a substantial amount of cases. We also have a summer home in New Jersey and haven't even been allowed to go into the state. I think my state is going to be next in the domino to fall. I am thinking we most likely will not have our primary. Personally, I realize it isn’t that big of a deal, but as someone who hasn’t had the opportunity to understand the voting process yet it is a bit concerning. 

This relates to our class, as on many occasions we have talked about the importance of exercising our rights and the importance of voting for what we believe in. Unfortunately with a global pandemic, the time is not now to be rushing back into things. Protecting citizens is the most vital defense leaders have right now, so I understand the reasoning behind cancelling the primary. Come November though, I hope they have a plan as to how we could still vote from our homes (if the virus is still on-going). I know voter fraud could then be an issue, but that is something the government would have to mitigate. I also believe this relates to our class as this is something so unprecedented in our history. I looked for a previous time of a primary being cancelled and I could not seem to find any such event. I feel as if this going to be a time in our history that changes this country and our world forever. The way in which we go about any facet of life is most likely never going to be as it was prior to the pandemic. Lastly, it relates to our class in how disproportionately it is affecting different races. We talked on many occasions about equality and the importance of social movements. I believe this could spark another movement post-pandemic. We are noticing how important health care, and how clearly urban areas where people live in bigger families and closer together is not conducive to mitigating outbreaks. My hope is following the pandemic we are able to come together as one and have the opportunity to push things forward, such as universal health care and other ways of helping our urban areas to spread out.