America in the 1950's Religious Oppression for All? Essay Example

The 1950's, a time of renewal for the United States, yet was all that came out of the atmosphere productive for the continuous growth of the U.S.? The world was recently recovering from a terrible worldwide conflict that touched the lives of every being that drew breath. It was a time of renewed sexuality (1950's, MSNBC) , where stars such as Marilyn Monroe dominated the film industry and where the concept of organized religion took a steep downward turn that it has never recovered from. The emergence of many newly founded religious groups and the growth of others that had been previously established created an unstable atmosphere of competition between the differing denominations. Yet, Many good things did come from the newfound religious tolerance. The 1950's were a time of great religious awakening, yet this time of renewal produced more negative than positive results. Before looking into what went right and wrong during the 1950's, the concept of what religion is must be examined. Religion is a system of thought, feeling, or action shared by a group that gives members an object of devotion; and a frame of reference relating individuals to their group and to the universe (Religion, History Channel.com). There are many different types of religion, and they range in theme to a great degree. The beginning stages of religion are animism, ancestor worship, and spiritism. These deal with the worship of animals, dead relatives and mystical spirits respectively. These are the more rudimentary forms of religion that are found more often in less-developed countries. The second type of religion is what has been termed the higher religions. Among the many categories in the higher religions is polytheism, which holds that there are many gods. Also included are Monotheism, in which there is only one God, and dualism, which boasts two gods of equal strength where one god is evil and the other is good. The famous writer C.S. Lewis has compared both these two