Thomas Jefferson once stated, “Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What was the effect of this coercion? To make half the world stupid and the other half hypocritical.” This (1) profound statement implies (2) that people often use religion to avoid blame or criticism for their (3) reprehensible actions. Many individuals have a great (4) disdain for organized religion because it allows people to believe that they are no longer bound to the morals of society if they have religion on their side. Religious individuals can be seen to have a (5) propensity to go against what they believe and distort their beliefs to support their hypocritical actions. (6) Contempt for organized religion is (7) generated by the idea that because religious people are so absorbed in their principles, they are exempt from any obligation to consider evil in their actions because their religion automatically makes them right . The concept that organized religion is (8) detested for its hypocrisy is demonstrated in various literary texts. In the novel To Each His Own, by Leonardo Sciascia, the animosity towards the Catholic Church demonstrates how organized religion is despised due to the insincerity of its followers and how they tend to use their religious beliefs to hide many actions that would be judged evil and immoral. To find a copy of the newspaper to use as a clue in his investigations, Professor Laurana goes to visit the rector of Santa Anna. Towards the end of their conversation, Laurana and the rector talk about the rector's decision to become a priest... middle of the paper... trusts the Church for Scandal." This article discusses the effects of child sexual abuse scandals on Catholic Church have had on public opinion of the Church. According to the article, more than half of Americans believe that the Church would continue to hide scandals to preserve its image. This shows how, even if the scandals represent a clear violation of beliefs of the Church, it is still willing to do anything to hide it and demonstrate that it is still a righteous and honorable institution. The Catholic Church is just one example of many religious organizations that follow similar methods responsible for using their beliefs to assert their moral superiority, organized religion will often present connotations of hypocrisy and insincerity among its followers.
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