PLN 8

My action plan for my Change the World paper is to send a letter to the UN about the state of religious freedoms and how it is a problem. I am going to tell them about the paper I wrote and why people deserve the right to have this freedom. Something needs to happen for these people without freedom. One argument is that governments are taking away human rights in order to give themselves more power. They are only worried about themselves and need to think about what every human being deserves. When they take away the right to the freedom of religion they take away the right to think. That leads down a dark path when one person is telling a whole country what to think. I hope that my letter can at least spark some discussion between people and get people thinking.

PLN 7

Dosomething.org is an organization out to change the world which is a great source for my paper. They expose problems tell you more about the problem and tell you how to help. They also raise money for peoples personal projects that they agree with that don’t have the type of funds needed to make the project successful. With religion they talk about discrimination. They give facts and give many ideas on how to make a difference. This site is a great source for me because it gave me many ideas for my action plan. It also gave me facts about how people are discriminated against. They found that the majority of hate crimes are aimed at Jews. Just because Jews believe differently than most people doesn’t mean they can be looked down upon. I think that discrimination is not needed at all, but religious discrimination there is no justification for. Someone disagrees with your viewpoints so you have to get back at them? What’s the point? That person isn’t going to change their mind in your favor after you hurt them. Our world needs to change and religious discrimination needs to be greatly reduced.

PLN 6

For my Change the World paper on freedom of religion I found a document, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written by the United Nations. It says this about religious freedom, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance” (“The Universal”). Everyone should be able to think for themselves and choose their own religion without ramifications. People should be able to worship openly with people or alone. Many people take advantage of their freedoms and people without freedoms can only dream. The UN has tried to make these people dreams come true but they don’t have the power to enforce the rights they believe people should have. Religious freedom is a major problem around the world that needs to change. This Document by the UN is a good source for my paper and a plan to reference it a lot.

PLN 5

I found in my research that almost all of my information is coming from one study, or a source quoting that study. The study by the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life was on the lack of freedom of religion, which is exactly what I want and need. The only problem is that every other source I have found is just talking about that same study and interpreting the information that the study says in their own words. I have two sources on countries lacking the freedom of religion, which is part of my second body paragraph, but both sources seem very biased. I also don’t want to have a list of countries or list of governments that force religion on their people because that is boring. I would like an example or two and then information behind the country and facts. So far my paper has been going well, but I get the feeling I will run into a wall soon enough because of the sources, or lack there of, that I have.

PLN 4

I disagree completely with Dr. Warschauer’s question about computers being a waste of time because our world is moving into a technological age and we need to stay ahead. All last semester in English 9 we talked about how technology is changing education, the world, and us; and we found it is changing in leaps and bounds. Technology will be a major part of the world in the close future and we need to be prepared for that. If we learned with pens and paper we will not know what is happening with technology. “2020 vision” by Karl Fisch is a video about his predictions of technology’s advancement into the year 2020. This video predicts that Google will have it’s own university in our near future, a whole university online. Why should we learn with pen and paper if we are going to be learning online anyways? Computers are a great resource and are only going to continue to improve. Students need to stay with the times and continue having computers in the classroom.

PLN 3

In the article by The Denver Post, “World Vision Supplies leave Denver for Haiti” it talks about the relief effort by World Vision. World Vision is a Christian organization that provides food and clothes to poor and impoverished countries. I was lucky enough to visit and help World Vision a couple times with my middle school. World Vision sent 110,000 pounds of aid supplies to Haiti. These supplies include tarps, blankets, water, and hygiene kits. World Vision had already sent 20,000 pounds of tents and blankets last week. These people are helping human beings they have never met because they know its what is right. They know that they should be helping those people. The earthquake destroyed Haiti, buildings lay in ruins, people are left without homes and thousands lay dead. If everyone around the world that could give even 1 dollar imagine what we could do for those people and that country. That is probably around 2 billion dollars if everyone in good standing gave one dollar. Not to mention the people that give hundreds. These people need help and where are they going to get it? World Vision is doing their part, so can the rest of us.

PLN 2

Throughout my research on the freedom of religion I learned many things that will be useful to my Change the World paper. One of the major things I learned was from a study done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The study said that 70% of the world’s population lacks the freedom or religion, or religion is forced upon them. My paper is about the fact that people have the right to think for themselves. Everyone should be able to choose his or her own religion and believe in it openly. Something that made me stop and think was atheism. How was this going to fit into a paper about religion? I figured that all it is a belief system, like every other religion. So it will fit in my paper fine. It also shows the right to think for yourself. My paper will be fun and interesting to research and write about because there are so many facts and opinions on the freedom of religion.