TOPIC: The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
Below, I am sharing my writing on the topic. It is my second practice with the Analytical Writing section. (English is not my first language.)
This question raises the controversial issue of whether people are better as a society to question authority. Although the issue of following authority blindly opens an argument in every different topic such as father’s authority in family or president’s authority in a state, it is very important issue when it comes to religious leader’s authority over believers. Religious leaders are not elected unlike politicians or they don’t know their believers in person like a father knows his family members. Having said that, throughout the history, religious leaders shape the believers’ life majorly. In some countries where religion is practices as law, religious leader has the authority to decide on very wide range of matters including whether to execute the suspect or whether women can drive.
Religious leaders’ authority changes based on the way the state handles its people’s right to practice religion. For example, there are unnumbered religion practiced by Americans. Every American citizen has a right to practice his religion of choice without any state intervention and therefore he can choose to follow the authority of his religion. However, not because state would not allow but also American society is critical towards absolute obedience a religious leader is unlikely to have a major in affect in an American citizen’s life than a religious leader has in a Saudi Arabian citizen’s life. In Saudi Arabia, citizens by choice or force tend to follow their religious authority without any question. Religious leaders in Saudi Arabia has more power than any president has in a democratic state. They can legally punish women for disobediying their husbands or an ordinary citizens for failing to disobey the government. Even though some Saudi Arabian citizen question their authority as a result of previous generations failure to stand up against power abusing religious authorities, today a Saudi Arabian citizen is too weak to stand up against such abuse or a religious leader in Saudi Arabia is too powerful for a citizen to disobey.
Although it is very likely that there are religious authorities that don’t abuse their power even in Saudi Arabia, the risk of absolute obedience to a religious authority is too high and therefore the people should always question authority and make their life decisions based on their judgment.
