Integrating the religious and non-religious viewpoints of the society plays a key role in creating harmony among the larger public. In such a community, faith and work are often viewed as an integral element of one another. This is eminent in the everyday religious practices that seek to embrace the community’s work engagements into their activities to bring together the non-Christian viewpoints into working together in harmony to save the entire human race. As such, analyzing the majority opinions of the modern community plays a key role in the integration of the religious and non-religious engagements towards working together in harmony.
How does the majority opinion in the Hobby Lobby case reflect the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment? Explain.
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The case of Hobby Lobby that saw the US Supreme Court allow for-profit businesses to be exempted from certain regulations under the influence of religious beliefs depicts the free exercise clause of the first amendment of the American constitution. For instance, the case bestowed to businessmen their right to freely express what they considered morally wrong or good (Hardwick & Stephens, 2020). Disapproval of a state’s law by business owners ensured they easily reject it. However, the law does not guarantee a full approval of the religious doctrines to override the legal processes. For example, the law explicitly outlines that only in the event the judicial processes find no alternatives in furthering such religious cases, religious actions cannot be exempted from legal restrictions (Dik, 2020). The law, therefore, fails to explain whether the economic entities are entirely managed under the influence of the religion clause but allows for an implied term of states’ overruling authority over certain Christian doctrines.
2) Can the “free exercise” clause in the 1st Amendment be claimed by a for-profit business corporate enterprise such as Hobby Lobby?
Although profit-making organizations have a right towards their business interests, they cannot claim total control of their actions to overrule the courts’ decisions. Instead, they must abide by both the legal rules as well as the religious doctrines. Striking a balance between these two social institutions is critical in their harmonious existence. The religious beliefs, for instance, acknowledge the important role of any administrative authority and recommends that Christian followers respect authority as a sign of their obedience to the law (Drovdahl & jones, 2020). The constitution, on the other hand, explicitly outlines the legal boundaries of legal processes concerning moral principles. For instance, the law acknowledges that where the moral beliefs are questioned by judicial procedures, then the moral values supersede the legal rules of the law.
3) Read the Bible passages in the Topic 5 topic materials. Describe what the Bible says about the Christian obligation to aliens, strangers, and travelers. How might someone with a Christian Worldview balance “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” with “giving to God, what is God’s?” Explain.
The Bible's teachings on Christians’ relations with aliens as well as the ideas targeting the human relations with one another are entirely manifested in the Christian virtues. For instance, Christians must be kind, loving, humble, and respectful to one another. They have a duty of care towards others and must support the needs of other fellows despite their differences. As such, a Christian must view a stranger, an alien, or traveler as one of their own. They must remain welcoming and supportive to them. This duty of care is further expressed by the religious persecution of humanity as bearing the likeness and the image of God (Hardwick & Stephens, 2020). Christians must view and relate with others, in the same manner, they would relate with God, respect them, and love them as God’s creatures that resemble their image.
4) Read the assigned passages of the Bible in the topic materials. From a Christian worldview or Christian conscience, should citizens support sanctuary cities that protect people who are violating federal law (by being in the United States illegally)?
Christians with the worldview perspective should always strive to balance their religious practices with those of ordinary human activities. For instance, to balance between giving that which belongs to Caesar and that of God, Christians need to integrate religious values into an ordinary perspective of human works. Such Christians must embrace the role of the non-Christian fellows' social practices as integral in helping them achieve their religious obligations to society (Buszka & Ewest, 2020). As such, they must pay what belongs to Caesar as a continuation of their religious duty to the community.
The citizens of a nation also have a duty of care to their fellow residents as well as immigrants from other nations. These citizens have a role in supporting religious community practices established to support humanity. For instance, the established sanctuary cities play a significant role in protecting migrants to the US land who are legally restricted by law. The entire public ought to join hands in helping protect those foreigners considered illegally residing within the US. These acts are examples of crucial attempts at integrating the non-Christian views with the Christian doctrines towards creating a common virtue of togetherness (Hardwick & Stephens, 2020). The interest of human dignity should, therefore, be considered a priority when addressing common social issues.
The refugees from other war-torn cities also represent people deprived of their basic human needs of care, security, and homage. As such, the US citizens ought to respect and love one another by accepting their fellow refugees into their nation and provide for their daily needs. Christian doctrines dictate that Christians engage in benevolent acts such as that of giving. It is, therefore, necessary for the entire community to extend their humanity by welcoming and providing necessary social amenities to the displaced persons.
The modern society manifests different opinions in relation to the act of integrating faith and work. Such diverse opinions are eminent in the political-administrative works that at times contravenes the moral rights considered by the religious doctrines as fundamental virtues of peaceful coexistence. To unite faith and work, both community activities such as the daily religious and non-religious engagements should be founded on the principles of love, respect, and duty of care to another in working together to save the larger society.
References
Busk. S. G., & Ewest, T. (2020). Christian views of work. In integrating Christian faith and work (pp. 49-61). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Dik, B. J. (2020). Why faith @ work needs vocational psychology: Five keys findings. Journal of psychology & Christianity, 39 (2).
Drovdahl, R. R., & Jones, G. (2020). The times they are a-changin’: Christian leadership over the last 40 years. Christian education journal, 17 (3), 577-591.
Hardwick, J., & Stephens, R. J. (2020). Acts of God: continuities and change in Christian responses to extreme weather events from early modernity to the present. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews: Climate change, 11 (2), e631.
