Argueta 1

Connor Argueta
Peyton Bennich
Nathan Green
James Hutchings

Carol Sieverts

English 1010

28 March 2019

Annotated Bibliographies

Ayres, Crystal. “11 Pros and Cons of Separation of Church and State.” Vittana.org,
www.vittana.org/11-pros-and-cons-of-separation-of-church-and-state Access date, 03
March 19
The credibility of the Crystal Ayres is shaky considering little is known about what she
stands for or what she believes. The Reliability of the publisher is debatable at best because it is
a website that is not devoted to religion or politics.
The article’s main points include both pros and cons with mixing religion and politics
together in society. Religion and politics can occasionally have different interests or ideologies.
This can result in conflict between the two areas.
Ayres points are all very easy to read and comprehend. The document design is also very
well laid out and is pleasing to the eyes. The information from this article will be used in the
counter argument, that religion is a good thing to have in society and politics.

Callaway, Christopher. “Religion and Politics.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002, www.iep.utm.edu/rel-poli/. Access

date March 1st, 2019

The Author, Christopher Callaway is a professor at St. Joseph’s college of Maine. The
Publisher is an online encyclopedia but is well-sourced and well-researched.
Callaway’s main point is that Religion will often come into conflict with politics. But
there are times when Religion can be a support on which Government stands, finding and
defining those times is very important.
The document is well designed, although it is not the most interesting thing to look at.
The writing in it is academic and sometimes not the easiest to read, but the points are
understandable and relatable. Our group will be using this document to pinpoint the times when
Religion is harmful to government and vice versa, and we will use what we find to help guide
our argument and counter argument as to whether religion is bad or good for government.
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Lombardo, Crystal. “Pros and Cons of Separation of Church and State.”

Visionlaunch.com, Vision Launch, 15 Jan. 2017, www.visionlaunch.com/pros-and-cons-

of-separation-of-church-and-state/ Access date March 1st, 2019

Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. She has over 10 years of
experience with writing and researching. She has been an editor to three popular blogs that have
had over 500,000 monthly readers. The article is posted on Vision Launch which is a listing site
that wants to make it easy for people to find and read about social initiatives in the world.
The thesis of the article is that there are good and bad parts to separation of church and
state. But the cons being that the religious voice in schools and government are limited. Having
the separation limits the learning and opinions included in these places.
Lombardo makes the text easy to read by laying it out in two clear sections of pros and
cons. In each she clearly states and gives support for each argument. The text she uses is simple,
but also well written and she gives well detailed descriptions of how each is argued. The
information in this article will be used to support our argument on whether the separation of
church and state is a good or bad thing. We will use some of her examples to support our
argument/counter argument.

Leowy Arnold, and Don May. “It's Debatable: Religion's Influence on Government.” Lubbock

Avalanche, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 25 Aug. 2013,

www.lubbockonline.com/opinion/2013-08-25/its-debatable-religions-influence-

government. Accessed February 28th, 2019

Arnold Leowy and Don May, the authors of this article are both well-published in their
specific areas. Leowy is a Professor at Texas Tech University of Law. May publishes regularly
on his independent blog on Lubbockonline.com. The publisher is of fairly moderate views and in
the article, both sides of the argument are exposed and looked at fairly and equally.
May argues that Religion is highly important to our country and our constitution, while
Arnold strives to argue the opposite, that Religion is not important, and the only times that
Religion should have any effect on politics is when there is a secular truth that backs up the
religious one, the problems occur when believers try and force their morals on non-believers.
The quality of the debate is fairly high, when reading, the reader can tell that both
debaters know what they are talking about. They quote the founding fathers several times and
strive for accuracy. The document is highly effective because it encourages the reader to think
for themselves. The group will most likely be using this article to debate the argument and the
counterargument. Various thoughts from the debate will be incorporated into our ideas.
“Mixing Church and State.” AllAboutHistory.org,

www.allabouthistory.org/mixing-church-and-state-faq.htm. Access date, 03 March 19

 Argueta 3

The credibility of the author is not mentioned because it is a history based site. Same
goes for the publisher. The credibility of the publisher is better because it is an academic,
historical site. It is still a struggle to determine credibility because the author is not known nor is
he mentioned, no name is given in the article. The credibility of the article leans heavily on the
publisher.
The main point of the article is that even though there are parts people don’t like, the
majority of religions are good and will help people.
The points are all very easy to understand and read. The thought process is easy to
follow. The information will be used for the counter argument that religion is good to have in
society and politics.

Morell, Caleb. “Good and Bad Ways To Think About Religion and Politics.” 9Marks.org,

9Marks, Jan. 24th, 2017, www.9marks.org/article/good-and-bad-ways-to-think-

about-religion-and-politics/, Accessed February 28th, 2019

Caleb Morell is on the staff with the Campus Outreach in Washington D.C. and he is
currently a pastoral intern at the Capitol Hill Baptist Church. The article Good and Bad Ways to
Think About Religion and Politics is published by 9Marks.org is a reputable site for churches and
church leaders that guide them to becoming a well-organized and reputable church.
The thesis of the article is that religion and politics go hand in hand, and you must look
at it in a positive way. Morell gives good insight of the negative ways you can perceive politics
and religion and how those shouldn’t be seen that way. Also the good aspects of church and state
and how that is better to society.
Morell made the article easy to read by listing the good and bad ways to view it in
separate sections that are clearly listed. They give well detailed examples in each and how those
impact our view on church in politics. The information in here will be used to support the stance
that church and state together is a good thing for the people and society. We will use some of his
examples to support that side as we build our argument.

Rymel, Tim. “Why Religion in Politics Is a Bad Idea - The Good Men Project.” Google Search,

Google, 19 Sept. 2016, www.google.com/amp/s/goodmenproject.com/featured-

content/religion-politics-bad-idea-twr/amp/. Accessed March 5th, 2019

Rymel is the author of the article and was a former evangelical minister, his article had
plenty of evidence to back up his claims. It was published on google by The Good Men Project.
Although, there wasn’t credibility of the publisher.
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In this article he doesn’t take either side but in fact he states how Religion has had an
impact in voting in the past. Stating that in a Pew research poll, 70.6% of the United States
identifies as Christian, while 90.3% of congress identifies as Christian. Huckabee’s lament of
becoming a “God-centered nation” Which all seemed foolish to Rymel. He also brought up the
fact that Ted Cruz ran for president stating “Lord, here am I, use me. I surrender to you,
whatever you want.” (Cruz) And he felt that was a green light to move forward….I am certain:
This is God’s plan for me and I am humbled to be a candidate for President of the United States.”
Then Rymel talks about more things like Muslim and ISIS groups further on in the article.
Overall this article is made of great quality and has a lot of info to gain from it. With quotes
from different politicians and other religious aspects of this whole situation. This article will be
used in our group as a source of info. It will educate the reader on the side this article portrays. It
will be used to state our negative points of impact on government and politics.