McCarthy 1

Sean McCarthy

Honors English 11

Mrs. Bouch

10/5/17

Religion is the backbone of life for so many inhabitants of planet earth, and does

everything from giving people strength, to completely changing lives. Without religion, there

would be no moral backbone for humanity, and entire nations and possibly even the whole world

would crumble. However, with the institution of religions in every day life, people can have a

positive direction to focus their energy no matter where they are located on the planet. But no

matter what religion one belongs to, almost every religion has certain consistencies between

them. Whether this is the Truth of God, how to treat others, origin stories, or the revelation of

God, these points are pinnacle to the foundation of a religion. For Catholics the truth of God can

be found in a great many places, but the main location, is within the Vatican II documents.

The truth of God is the centerfold of all religions, and for Christianity, this can be found,

throughout the Vatican II Documents. The document Dei Verbum states that “This mystery had

not been manifested to other generations as it was now revealed to His holy Apostles and

prophets through the Holy Spirit” (Second Vatican Council), which reveals that the truth of God
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was made evident through the crucifixion of Jesus, and the subsequent arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Another self-evident example of the Truth of God is revealed through the world itself, his

creation, as well as all of life including humanity. It is through this life that God gave humans

the ability to interact with one another, and the Vatican II documents also talk about how to treat

others who follow a different religion.

Interactions between religion is something that is largely controversial, but can also be

found in the before stated documents. Interactions between different people and different groups

openly expose the real intent and beliefs of that person or group, and the Catholic Church teaches

that everyone’s religion must be accepted, tolerated, and respected, regardless of race or

ethnicity. This toleration extends all the way to that of Puritans and Native Americans, which

was often overlooked in Colonial America. In many places, if someone wasn’t of the same

ethnicity, especially seen in the case of the Native Americans, they were seen as less than human

and very expendable. This is made clear through the hostile treatment from well-known colonist

and early explorers such as John Smith and Christopher Columbus respectively. The Vatican II

Documents however, state explain that everyone deserves the same amount of toleration and

respect as Catholics do (Beliefs and teachings). This also is made clear through the teachings of

Jesus Christ who teaches that the Golden Rule is to treat others how one wants to be treated

(School Religion Class).

Almost every Religion has an origin story, and a lot of these stories have a few main

things in common. As seen in the Catholic Origin Story, God first creates the world and the
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animals, and then creates humans in order to watch over his creation (Old Testament Stories

Chapter 3). Then evil is brought into the world through the serpent who is an embodiment of the

devil. This is overall very similar to the Navaho Origin story from the previous unit, in which

The Great Manito created humans to watch over his new earth. The thing that is often different

within these stories is how evil enter the world. For Catholics, it is through Satan in the form of a

snake who made eve eat the fruit (Old Testament Stories Chapter 3), and for the Navaho it was

through and evil magician who brought the evil qualities. These examples show that in some

way, god obviously exposed himself to humanity, after creating all of the earth and universe.

If you look at the Puritan beliefs, it is very apparent that God revealed himself to all

Christians in some way, shape, or form. The biggest example found in both Puritan beliefs and

Catholic beliefs, is the bible, in which God communicates with the members of either church,

and teaches them what he deems righteous and good. This is why education was so especially

prominent in Colonial Puritanism, because to learn of the glory of God, Puritans needed to be

able to read the scripture. Written scripture is truly a ubiquitous form of God’s revelation to his

people, because every form of Christianity contains a written form of God’s word (“Beliefs and

Teachings”). Without these scriptures, the true stories and teachings of Jesus and the prophets

very well could have been lost through the passing of time, and could have completely eradicated

any chance of Christianity’s survival.

Religion is a topic that people all over the planet think about and discuss on a daily basis.

Without religion, a lot of people would have no aim in their lives, and follow their every impulse
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good or bad. The truth of God, is something the gives people hope and faith within their lives,

and this truth is found in the Vatican II Documents. The similarities of all of these documents

also lead one to believe that there must be some aspect of truth to each of them. Overall these

documents explain a great much about the catholic faith, and give humanity a strong backbone

throughout their search for world peace, and righteous everyday life.
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“Beliefs and Teachings.” United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, United States Collection
of Catholic Bishops, 2015, www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/.
“Catholic Facts and General Knowledge - Prayers.” Catholic Online, Catholic Online, 2013,
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Cunningham, Lawrence, and Jaroslav Jan Pelikan. “Beliefs and Practices.” Encyclopedia
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Deering, Mary. “Puritans in America: Beliefs, Religion & History.” Study.com, Study.com,
2017, study.com/academy/lesson/puritans-in-america-beliefs-religion-history.html.
“Native American Religion and Values.” GCSE Bitesize, BBC, 2014,
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/shp/americanwest/religionrev1.shtml.
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Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2015, www.lds.org/manual/old-testament-stories/chapter-3-
adam-and-eve?lang=eng.
Pope Paul VI. Lumen Gentuim. Centre DioceÌ Saín De Documentation, Vatican, 1967, Vatican
City.
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Second Vatican Council. “Dei Verbum.” Dei Verbum, Vatican, 18 Nov. 1965,
www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-
ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html.