Religion and Justice essays

Religion and Justice essays Stanley Kurtz and Jonathan Rauch are two well-respected journalists. In 2001, they engaged in a series of debates, published on National Review Online, in regards to the issue of same-sex marriages. In his article, Point of No Return, Kurtz was opposed to allowing gay couples to marry because marriage domesticates men based on what he described as the underlying dynamic of male-female sexuality. Rauch, a homosexual man, wrote Whos More Worthy in support of gay marriage because marriage is indispensably about the commitment to care for another person. These men both agree that the solution to ending the national debate is an amendment to the constitution defining what marriage means. If you asked 100 Americans to define marriage, receiving 100 answers, many of these answers would be based on religious principles. We should not make an amendment to our constitution based on religious doctrine. This country was founded on the principle of religious tolerance. We have even judged other nations for using religion as a means to control its citizens. For example, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, based on their interpretation of the Koran, Americans declared they were a rogue regime, and we removed them from power. Therefore, we must define marriage without any religious influence, or we will be just as guilty of imposing religious beliefs on American society as the Taliban was in Afghanistan. So, what is marriage? Websters dictionary defines marriage as any close union. A pretty broad definition, it does not mention gender. We all probably agree marriage is a long-term, committed relationship between two people, vowing to love and care for each other. Marriage has been predominately male-female for centuries. Who decided marriage had to be male-female? An explanation often quotes God as that decision maker. If we take out God as the reason for this, another g...

Margaret Knight - Queen of Paper Bags

Margaret Knight - Queen of Paper Bags Margaret Knight was an employee in a paper bag factory when she invented a new machine part that would automatically fold and glue paper bags to create square bottoms for paper bags. Paper bags had been more like envelopes before. Workmen reportedly refused her advice when first installing the equipment because they mistakenly thought, what does a woman know about machines? Knight can be considered the mother of the grocery bag, she founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870.   Earlier Years Margaret Knight was born in York, Maine, in 1838 to James Knight and Hannah Teal. She received her first patent at the age of 30, but inventing was always part of her life. Margaret or ‘Mattie’ as she was called in her childhood, made sleds and kites for her brothers while growing up in Maine.  James Knight died when Margaret was a little girl. Knight went to school until she was 12, and began working in a cotton mill. During that first year, she observed an accident at a textile mill. She  had an idea for a stop-motion device that could be used in textile mills to shut down machinery, preventing workers from being injured.  By the time she was a teenager the invention was being used in the mills. After the Civil war, Knight began working in a Massachusetts paper bag plant. While working in the plant, she thought how much easier it would be to pack items in paper bags if the bottoms were flat. That idea inspired Knight to create the machine that would transform her into a famous woman inventor. Knights machine automatically folded and glued paper-bag bottoms – creating the flat-bottom paper bags that are still used to this very day in most grocery stores. Court Battle A man named Charles Annan tried to steal Knights idea and receive credit for the patent. Knight did not give in and instead took Annan to court. While Annan argued simply that a woman could never design such an innovative machine, Knight displayed actual evidence that the invention indeed belonged to her. As a result, Margaret Knight received her patent in 1871. Other Patents Knight is considered one of the female Edison, and received some 26 patents for such diverse items as a window frame and sash, machinery for cutting shoe soles, and improvements to internal combustion engines.   A few of Knights other inventions: Dress and skirt shield - 1883Clasp for robes - 1884Spit - 1885Numbering machine - 1894Window frame and sash - 1894Rotary engine - 1902 Knights original bag-making machine is in the  Smithsonian Museum  in  Washington,  D.C. She never married and died on October 12,  1914,  at the age of 76. Knight was inducted in the  National Inventors Hall of Fame  in 2006.