Sophomore+Sydney

**My Philosophy statement is that faith is important in a society, but in a religious community, it is a controlling aspect of your life. //In today's modern society, there are religions people (such as Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc...) who have rules or a controlling aspect to their religion. Faith is an important aspect in every religion, and it is with that faith that drives religious followers to abide to their religious community.//**  Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, And all our old pretense is ripped away – Make your peace! Make your peace!

Whether it is of the devil or of God, And have somewhat hastily concluded That it is the chief end of man here to "Glorify God and enjoy him forever”    One by one will be gathered to thy God’s side,  Who will in turn follow him. For one would meet their death And shoot straight to heaven.  <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">At the note of the church-bell breaking, each hour with a sullen and sudden roar, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">Has the mornings’ awakening and the nightly summons in bringing Children, with bright faces, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">Tripped merrily beside their parents, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(255,0,239); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(43,186,243); font-family: Arial;"> You worship your God to-day because it is not of to-day. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(43,186,243); font-family: Arial;">You love religion and pay it homage, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(43,186,243); font-family: Arial;">Because it is not a trap for your love and homage, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(43,186,243); font-family: Arial;">But is self-dependent, self-derived, and therefore of an old immaculate pedigree. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(255,0,239); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(255,0,239); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">Religion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">But all good enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and order: <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">Or if a sect arises, whose tenants would subvert morals, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">Good sense has fair play, and reasons and laughs it out of doors. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">One is answerable for themselves to their God, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">But when pronouncing the matter too weighty to be handled, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">Such as if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">A council of the churches might be required. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(255,0,145); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">The most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">That souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">Wither here or hereafter in Heaven.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(153,204,0); font-family: Arial;">But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"> T <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">he golden sun, the planets, all the infinite host of heaven, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">Are shining on the sad abodes of death, through the still lapse of ages. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">God himself culminates in the present moment, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">And will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">God may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">But God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">Yet when the devout motions of the soul come, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">Though they clothe God with shape and color. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0,204,255); font-family: Arial;">For everybody needs a God who looks like them. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;">

<span style="color: rgb(19,149,231); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * Christian songs are promoting faith as well as controling your music through your music.**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">

<span style="color: rgb(19,149,231); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="Gt0WluTpFTg" height="344" width="425" Bryant, William Cullen. “Thanatopsis.” Yale Book of American Verse. 1912. Bartleby: Great Books Online. http://www.bartleby.com/102/16.html |http://www.bartleby.com/102/16.html.
 * Works Cited:**

Emerson, Ralph W. "Nature." 1836. 28 Nov. 2008 http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/nature-contents.html Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self Reliance." Essays: First Series. 1841. Emerson Central.

Franklin, Benjamin. "The Autobiography." __Benjamin Franklin's The Autobiography__. 30 Nov. 2008http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/portals/7/language%20arts/ackerman/honors/franklinautobiographyexcerpt.pdf.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"> Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." Twice Told Tales. 1837-1851. 9 Dec. 2008 http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mbv.html Jefferson, Thomas. “Query 17." The Founder's Constitution Volume 5 Amendment I (Religion), Document 40 Published: 2000. The University of Chicago Press Jefferson, Thomas. <http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions40.html>.

Kidd, Sue Monk. //The Secret Life of Bees//. New York, New York: Penguin Books, Ltd., 2003. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(204,153,255); font-family: Arial;"> Miller, Arthur. //The Crucible.// New York, New York: Penguin Classics, 1954. Poe, Edgar Allan//. // "William Wilson." 7 Dec. 2007. [|http://www.online-literature.com/poe/47/.]

Thoreau, Henry David. "From Walden, or Life in the Woods." Elements of Literature Fifth Course Literature of the United States with Literature of the Americas. ed. Daniel, Kathleen, Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 2003. 234-244.

YouTube. Aaron Shust//: My Savior My God.// 5 Dec. 2008. [|www.youtube.com/v/Gt0WluTpFTg]