For many people, religion is a very touchy subject. For most, it is a personal decision; people choose a faith that aligns with their beliefs, ideas, and faiths. Although people would like to think that religion is a personal decision, and they can adapt it to how they feel and what they believe, in practice, that is not the case. Religion represents a commitment to a set of principles that are not moldable, adaptable, or flexible. Religion, although it may be a personal belief, it is extremely defined, with little to no room for flexibility. If people try to modify their religion to their own beliefs or ideas, the pushback can be severe. The lines in religion and faith as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable are clear, and crossing them can bring serious consequences.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, religion prevails over individual thinking and common sense, as people desperately rush to seize control. In Umofia, religion is not a personal belief, but a way of life. Religion is the way that life is run, and if someone goes against those principles, they will be exiled by their community. When Okonkwo breaks the weak of peace by beating his wife, he has committed a sin, and the “The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish…. ”(TFA 30). Although Okonkwo has harmed no one else by beating his wife, he is villianized by the community for his actions. Although the general belief in the community is that violence during the week of peace is forbidden, how are they (or we for that matter), to know that that is what Okonkwo believes in? Perhaps Okonkwo is not a believer in the week of peace or perhaps not even in the ...
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When is religion not black and white? Religion is not black and white when there is a personal clash between two sides, when the value of the debate becomes so high that it becomes a personal matter instead of a superficial one. When the stakes are high, The personal side of things come out. Sometimes, people cannot bring their personal opinions to the mix because of the nature of the society that they live in, where they would be punished for doing so. But, the fact remains that religion is rigid because the structure of it and the society it is involved in demands it to be so.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print.
Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code. N.p.: Doubleday, 2003. Print.
Power, Carla. "Muslim Women Demand End to Oppressive Laws." TIME.com. N.p., 17 Feb. 2009. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
It is incredibly uncommon in this day and age for an individual to hold their own personal religion and line of beliefs. In most cases it wouldn 't even be categorized as a religion. Religion requires multiple persons. It is the breeding of individuals who see community as a defining factor in advancing their religious beliefs and immersing such beliefs into their lives. The aspect of community works differently amongst various religions, but one thing that seems to hold true across the board is that religion functions as a “social glue”. It can serve to hold individuals together, as well as an entire group of people. The counter-argument to this would certainly be that religion instead serves to rip communities apart. The latter to this is prominent in religious communities whose sole function is to impound intense religiosity into individuals in an atmosphere where the extensive nature and uniform of their beliefs are the highest priority. Jesus Camp, is a documentary that makes light of how religious communities function
It can be said that religion is one of the most controversial topics in our time. Everyone has their own different opinion of how they want to interpret religion,
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina. Women, Islam And International Law : Within The Context Of The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Western, David. “Islamic ‘Purse Strings’: the Key to Amelioration of Women’s legal Rights in the Middle East” Air Force law and Review Vol. 61. 0094-8381(2008): p79-147.
However, in the eyes of Okonkwo and others in Umuofia, the white men brought nothing but harm to their culture. They lost many men to their religion, including Okonkwo’s own son causing Okonkwo to fear that no one will offer him sacrifices after his death. The relationship between the village leaders and the church reaches a boiling point when a zealous convert murders the village’s python god. As a result, the leaders representing the spirits destroy the church and are imprisoned until a fine and a bribe is paid. When Okonkwo kills a government messenger out of anger and in the hope that war will ensue, he flees and hangs himself representing the impossibility for the two cultures to merge cohesively. Things Fall Apart examines how fragile a society and a culture is and creates a strong argument against imperialism .
Deeb, Mary-Jane. Freedom House. Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa-Oman, 2010. http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=179 (accessed August 14, 2010)
Ukonwo’s first step of destroying himself would be beating Ojiugo during the Week of Peace. Neighbors ran out of their homes to witness what had taken place. “Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. Some of them came over to see for themselves” (11). Okonkwo forgot it was the Week of Peace and he beat her. “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess” (11). Okonkwo’s beliefs also impact his relationship with his daughter. Although, unbeknownst to Okonkwo, Ezinma is everything that he wants, just not a boy. Then Okonkwo makes the grave mistake of killing his son Ikemefuna, which could ultimately have been the down fall to Okonkwo. “Then something had given way inside him. It descended on him again, this feeling, when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna”
Things Fall Apart and The Second Coming " The Second Coming" By William Butler Yeats Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer, Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosened upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosened, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned The best lack of all convictions, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Chinua Achebe based his story, "Things Fall Apart," on the poem by William Butler Yeats called "The Second Coming."
When Ojiugo returns home too late to make dinner from getting her hair plaited during the Week of Peace, Okonkwo "beat her very heavily...[, and f]orgotten that it was the Week of Peace" (29) because he "was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess" (30). In extremely superstitious societies, like Umuofia, fearing a greater power, such as a goddess, typically keeps people in check. By completely disregarding any sort of respect, Okonkwo violently deals with a minor issue. As brutality is often his solution, universal justice sees that he ends up humiliated multiple times for his misjudgements. Later, as Nwoye struggles with the art of yam planting, Okonkwo swears, "I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. And if you stand staring at me like that... Amadiora will break your head for you!" (33). The very threat of personally strangling his son shows that Okonkwo shows no fear in sharing any aggressive thought that passes his mind. Strangling Nwoye will not fix any problem with his behavior, despite Okonkwo's ideas. So, as Nwoye grows farther and farther from Okonkwo and his family, universal justice sees that Okonkwo dies with a rope around his neck, a very similar punishment to what he would
Culture: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. The idea of culture is stressed greatly, and at the same time distorted in the novel Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe. Through the main character and protagonist of the book, Okonkwo, we recognize the distortion of African culture that takes place within the Umuofia tribe when threatened by the intruding missionaries, and how this deeply affects Okonkwo, who would do whatever it takes to protect his tribe and the culture and traditions that lie within it. Okonkwo's character is collectively made up of his wealth and honor, his dedication to his tribe and everything that it withholds, his fiery personality, and lastly, his pride and courage. All of these traits are what make Okonkwo the prestigious man he is, and I believe his character is what makes the story truly tragic.
Tavernise, Sabrina. "Muslim women use Koran in quest for equal rights." International Herald Tribune 17 Feb. 2009: 2. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
Soren Kierkegaard is one of the philosophers that addresses this question. He talks of the differences between subjective truth and objective truth. As stated above, subjective truth is an inward truth. As long as you believe the truth, nothing else matters. Objective truth is when something is universally true. An example of objective truth would be mathematics. Mathematics is true to everyone, and can be proved true. Subjective truth on the other hand cannot always be proven true. It is entirely possible that the subjective truth that someone believes in is the same as the objective truth. But, it is also possible that the subjective truth that someone believes in is completely different from that of the objective truth. So how does this all relate to religion? Well, we first have to address what faith is. When you have faith in something, you will believe that thing no matter what. So you could say that if someone has faith in something, they believe it to be subjectively true. Now, some people might think that the objective truth about religion woul...
"We Muslim women can walk into the modern world with pride, knowing that the quest for dignity, democracy, and human rights, for full participation in the political and social affairs of our country , stems from no imported Western values, but is a true part of Muslim tradition.
Living religion supplies a moral code for adherents to base their everyday life and actions upon, whilst also providing stability. These moral codes differ between each religion, but ultimately dictate the way
Religion should not make people feel as if they are forced to live a certain way, but it should be used as a way of thinking/deciding between right and wrong. No one is perfect and no one knows everything. That is why with religion, we are able to understand more than what is known. How does religion, work? “Starting with magic and religion, which views the world simply as an extension of the human mind, we eventually reach the age of science, in which we view the world as being ruled by universal laws” (Grey 1). This explains how and why science can easily replace religion. Religion for many people is a great support system for the disadvantaged, especially for those who are going through a lot in life. Not only that, but when people are