Are You Ready To Die For Our Time Analysis

Are You Ready To Die For Your Faith And What You Believe In?

Freedom of speech and religious tolerance are values people in the United States today take for granted. But rewind three hundred years and one comes to a precarious turning point in World History, and the beginning of American History known as the American Revolution. The result was the Bill of Rights, including the First (1st) amendment. There was even some conflict and compromise in this case. However, in other situations, such as the Japanese Christian Persecution in Japan during the 17th century, adequately portrayed in Silence by Shusaku Edno, freedom of speech and religious tolerance are far harder gained at a far higher price.

Silence opens with the harsh realization of

The novel itself is ruthless and alternately depressing and horrifying. Speaking volumes, it describes how God is silent. Nevertheless, as ‘silent’ as it might seem, Silence effectively interprets it as reality. Moreover, there is absolutely no freedom of speech, and because it is a persecution, absolutely no freedom of religious tolerance. The people are depressed and fearing for their lives. Sabastian Rodrigues, the main protagonist in the novel, says, “These Japanese Christians are like a ship lost in a storm without a chart. I see them without a single priest or brother to encourage and console, gradually losing hope and wandering bewildered in darkness.” (Silence, 31). This quote clearly expresses the people’s feeling of helplessness in their own country. In American culture, most people would describe freedom of free

Silence also conveys the direct correlation, or lack of one, between free speech and freedom of religious tolerance.

Many people do not know this, but the American Colonists did have a big fight for freedom of religious tolerance, which resulted from Britain’s harsh control over their American Colony, and the fact that the Church of England was the main prominent religion of the time. But that doesn’t mean it was the only religion. “This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.” (Barack Obama, America’s History of Religious Tolerance). It is a historical fact that the vast majority of early-generation Americans were Christian, and so were many immigrants. Granted, many immigrants were also Puritan, and Protestant,