and Hanukkah. We have all heard these terms throughout our lives.

Chances are we all have differing ideas on the meanings of these, and

they all affect us in different ways. Since the beginning of time, people

have been fighting for their beliefs and their religion. The many

opinions of Americans, and the opportunity to express them, leads to a

wide array of lifestyles, rituals, and beliefs. Nowadays, "religion"

means many different things to Americans. This illustrates the freedom

that Americans possess and the way that it shapes their differing

opinions on the past, present, future, and the definitions of wrong and

Religion affects us in the earliest years of our lives. Though

children may not acquire knowledge of religion from their own

viewpoints, they adopt religion based on their parents' beliefs and

practices. For example, many children can start off their lives by being

baptized or christened to a certain religion. This is the first step of the

parents' influence on a child's religion. This sets the children off on a

path that the parents have laid out for them. Another instance of

parents affecting the childrens' religion is whether or not they go

it is tough to decide between right and wrong.

parents with their own well-being and trust them to show them right

and wrong while they are too young to see it for themselves. If a

their parents and rebel from their parents' beliefs in order to become

their parents, that their parents will do the right things.

well-rounded background of information. But this is just the beginning

example, children who never celebrated Christmas might not question

never celebrate Christmas, then the children will not know that there

freedom to express their own opinions and not be persecuted for it.

form views and beliefs of the world and be comfortable in their

knowledge. This will motivate the children to think for themselves and

Some common words found in the essay are:
MaryChristmas Hanukkah, form own, own opinions, , form own opinions, parents' beliefs, question reasons, knowledge world, religion mean people, opinions world, mean people, practices religion, decisions religion, world outside,
Approximate Word count = 825
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)