Present a 3 p g research on Ethics and Morality in the world around you. Remember, your personal philosophy is right for you, you do not have to agree with these scholars or anyone in the class. Please respect yourself enough to state your case, and others enough to allow them to state theirs.

You must pick one of these three topics: 

1) If you are a religious person, write about an ethical conflict you have with your own religion's tenants which you feel morally obligated to not follow.

a)This can be as brave as talking about gender and sexuality issues or as light as if you always follow the dietary practices your religion requires, (alcohol, smoking, kosher diet, or halal food for example). You must use at least two examples in your writing.

b)Use the correct terms you learned this unit.

2) Write about the immigration in Europe. Should anyone be allowed into a sovereign country?

1)Pick a side and discuss the ethical and moral dilemma the arriving and receiving societies face. You must use at least two examples in your writing.

2)Use the correct terms you learned this unit.

3) Write about enforcing an adult belief structure onto children who haven't chosen it yet (FGM, for example). What are the moral and ethical challenges of this?

3)You must give at least two examples. 

Religious imposition on children:

The problem, which arises in the case under analysis, is how to settle a conflict between the parents, both being equal holders of the right to religiously orient and educate the child. This conflict is not resolved by the general rules of international treaties, and has received various solutions in the past.

A first and somewhat crude response, currently unacceptable, consisted in saying that in the United States there is a religion "preferred" by the State, such as the Catholic religion, and that, therefore, in the case of doubt, children should be educated in the Catholic religion. This criterion is today indefensible both politically and legally, besides being inapplicable when the opposition is between two religions other than the Catholic religion (for example, an atheist father and a Jewish mother, or an Islamic father and an evangelical mother, or any other combination).

In other cases, the reasoning was based on the couple's previous decisions, assigning them a binding character for the future. Thus, if the family had been founded in a certain religious context (for example, having contracted a religious marriage), it was understood that there was an implicit commitment to educate the children in that then shared faith. Therefore, the subsequent abandonment of the common faith by one of the parents did not entitle them to unilaterally modify that previous agreement. This was reinforced if, in addition, the children had already been initiated in the initially shared religion (baptized, circumcised, etc.). Certainly, the idea is valid whatever the religion involved (it would not be admissible, for example, if the spouses were both Catholics and one converted to Hinduism, but not if both were Muslims and one converted to Christianity).

Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience and religion. This right implies the freedom to retain his religion or belief, or to change his religion or belief, as well as the freedom to profess and disseminate his religion or belief, either individually or in community with others, in public or in private.

No one may be subjected to restrictive measures that may impair the freedom to maintain his religion or belief or to change his religion or belief.

Freedom to manifest one's religion and beliefs is subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals, or the rights or freedoms of others.

It is also possible to analyze the conceptions that a social group has about whether children can relate to religious symbols and rituals and in what ways they are allowed to do so, which would make it possible to elucidate key aspects of the social construction of childhood, and vice versa (García Palacios, 2012). In this line, Astuti (2000) studies the initiation in the knowledge of ancestral taboos of Vezo children in Madagascar, highlighting the children's permission to play with objects considered sacred (in this case, animals) and not to respect the social prescriptions taught by the ancestors, since they are considered closer to animals than to people.

Another work in which we can analyze the differentiations between adults and children in terms of religious treatment and participation is that of Introvigne (1999). The sociologist focuses his study of childhood on the Italian religious movement Damanhur, which combines elements of four traditional religions (Ancient Egypt, Celtic religion, occultism and New Age) and in which each person has a magical link with an animal. However, according to the author, only adults have animal names and, from the age of 7, children insist on having their own. A fact that Introvigne highlights is the construction of a secret temple under the earth that is forbidden to children, who can only know it when they become citizens (at about 17 years of age), when they decide to stay or leave the community. At present, children participate mostly in the artistic events of the temple, but are excluded from other more important ritual ceremonies.

As we can see, sometimes religious education is not intended for children, but rather for adults, even though, from our point of view, this in no way implies that children do not have formative experiences that link them to this religious knowledge. In this sense, both in the cases in which religious education is especially intended for children and in those in which it is not, we can find indications of the social construction of age differentiation.

Step-by-step explanation

The weight given to the intergenerational transmission of religious knowledge seems undeniable in the processes studied. This transmission can occur both through practices carried out in the domestic sphere, as well as in other institutional spaces such as churches, temples and schools. Here it is essential to point out the relevance of the study of the place occupied by religious school institutions, since some religious communities have established themselves as privileged actors in the access to school education for certain sectors of the population. The interest of religious communities in children and young people is evidence of the importance given by religious movements to the reproduction of their moral and spiritual community, anchored, on many occasions, in the formative process of the new generations.

In this sense, the different spheres, which sometimes intertwine, allow us to sustain that in religious experiences, boys and girls constitute a main focus of interest for the communities, and not only from the initiation and incorporation rituals, but also from concrete practices of formation and education.