Individuality and Religion
All muslims are terrorists, all catholic priests are child molesters, all Jews are greedy, money-crunchers. Sickening stereotypes like these are examples of why, in today’s society, religion is such a touchy subject. There is an atmosphere of emotion surrounding religion because many people believe that religion and conflict are often associated with each other. Most of the time, the debate about religion is whether or not it is violent and oppressive or peaceful and stimulates equity. In some cases, extremists use religion as an excuse to terrorize others and gain power. Author Gordon Allport discusses in his book, The Individual and his Religion, many major types of religion. In addition, Allport investigates the
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Mature religion is defined by different characteristics such as mature religion being well differentiated, dynamic, comprehensive, integral and heuristic. (Allport 64) Mature religion is defined as having an open-minded outlook on religion. People use religion in a mature sense to have a better understanding of their spiritual selves and to reflect on the person that they are, or are becoming. Being well-differentiated can mean being reflective, critical and being able to recognize what is important and what is not. (Allport 65) This aspect of mature religion grows and becomes free of childish insights and egocentric concerns, where religion was associated. Another characteristic of mature religion, is it being dynamic. This means that the belief system runs so deep in a follower, that it affects their direct lives, and behaviour. It is balanced and has realistics views for life and humanity. It is comprehensive in the sense that it fulfills all of life’s motives with a purpose and reason. Mature religion is integral in the way that a mature religious person should integrate all aspects of human life with their belief system. (Allport 78) They must find a way to integrate their beliefs and acknowledge the existence of evil without letting it affect their personal lives. Finally, mature religion is heuristic, because this means that beliefs should be held tentatively until they can be proved. This means being open to growth, new ideas, and progress. It is not mature to think that the followers religion is the one and only religion. Mature followers should be aware that it is possible for there to be another possible
Religion is one of the many factors that define an individual. So, any threat to a person’s beliefs is a threat to his or hers’ very being. The clash between Muslims and Christians is just one of the many groups with distinct differences and beliefs. Therefore, these differences in religion often influence political rivalries as well. Throughout history, someone observing world affairs may note that religion is a contentious issue; however, political tension emerges from this very issue in recent times. Doing so has labeled politics as the core of many conflicts worldwide. These battles between religions also inhibit agitation by one group against another, for gaining reputable land, wealth, and political power. Thus, politics is the primary
In his essay, Rodriguez believes that the diplomatic affairs we see on the evening news are merely being disguised as a religious war. The fight over oil or land when in reality it is the fight between whose side God is on, the attacks under the control of Al Qaeda when perhaps it’s the greed for power or world domination. According to Richard, these religious wars are allowing terrorism to become prevalent; often times within the same culture (147).
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
In his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens dissects and criticizes the various claims of religions and the tragic events that have been caused by various religions. The title of the book sums up the arguments of Hitchens in this book in the fact that he makes many arguments of why “religion poisons everything.” The majority of the chapters in this book discuss why he believes religion to be a manmade notion that has led to more trouble than anything else in the world. Most of his focus is on the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism but he does fit in criticism of other religions as well. The topics he chooses to discuss range from the sketchy origins of Mormonism to the problems with circumcision. Through his various arguments, Hitchens not only claims that religion is manmade, but also that the idea of any type of divine being is absurd.
All too often in modern society it is the differences and conflicts that serve to separate religious groups that are emphasized. The mainstream media, fundamentalists’ propaganda, and other sources choose to ignore the numerous similarities that many religions share, and instead focus on the divisive elements. In this paper, I will attempt to shed light on the many commonalities in dogma that I believe exist between the major religions of the world. I also want to illustrate the fact that in addition to having similar core teachings, many religions have histories that have either endured or arisen during times of persecution. It is ironic that in many cases, the persecution that a particular group faces happens to be at the hands of the mainstream of a society who at one time or another had been persecuted themselves for their religious beliefs.
Mark Juergensmeyer in his book, Terror in the Mind of God, stated that religion provides the ideological resources for an alternative view of public order (Juergensmeyer, 2003). This supports the previous definition stated earlier by Brian Jenkins who pointed out that radicalization is imposing one’s beliefs on society (Gartenstein-Ross and Grossman, 2009). Juergensmeyer further stated that all religions are inherently revolutionary and have elements of public violence to support their justification in the name of God and a higher being (Jergenmeyer, 2003). Understanding motivations, reasoning and influences of the radicalization process will help contribute to mitigate religious violence along with identifying a proactive approach to prevent conversion to terrorism in the homeland.
Nelson, Jack. Is religion killing us?violence in the Bible and the Quran / Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.. 2003 Print.
Since the beginning of documented history individuals have held strong to their religious beliefs and the right to practice religion in their own ways. As a result of various religions in society people have been hated and persecuted for their religious choices. Examples of this hatred and persecution are the Nazi concentration camps where thousands of Jews were killed, the Crusades in the middle-ages, and more recently the terrorist attacks of September 11. Some may wonder what relation such catastrophes have to the practice of religious freedoms; the answer can often be found in the influence of the messengers or leaders of certain religious orders. Since many religious followers believe that their religious leaders; such as priests, rabbis, popes, and prophets posses the true power of God, they go to great lengths to follow them.
Throughout history most religions have been primarily based around putting their God above all others, and showing love and acceptance, however in today’s society religion appears to be the fuel to a fire of hate. Religion as a whole has become the most controversial and the most violent cause behind some of the most world breaking news, from wars in the Middle East, to death threats to doctors in my home town. This violent mentality of religion first is demonstrated in the short story A Father by Bharati Mukherjee. In this short story the main character, Mr Bhowmick, creates a miserable life for himself based on what his religion says is acceptable. His family, however, lived life and cherished the freedoms of living in America by creating happiness and accomplishment in their lives. The jealousy of Mr. Bhowmick for a more joyful existence is demonstrated when his religion drives him to an act of violence out of anger and hate.
Religion can be viewed from many different perspectives. People throughout the world hold different religious values. One person’s religious value will not match the religious values of another person. Globalization as a whole has affected the way we view the different religions and our feelings towards them; it has moved towards a more symbolic representation of ideologies. Many have come to believe that the west is more superior to others. Martha Crenshaw argues that globalization is a key driver of terrorism because there is a comparison between countries having less access to means of production and others having more access. Furthermore, most religions go against each other’s beliefs and as for Islam; they have neglected the ideologies of the west. In order to understand how religious values are interconnected is through language games; we think in certain ways because of issues of power.
Religion is intertwined with culture, economics, politics, and modern social relationships on every dimension. Whether you attend a cathedral, a synagogue, or a mosque, habitually, intermittently, or abstain entirely, you simply cannot escape religion.
There are many knowledgeable books that introduce religions as well as specific religious traditions. However, students are naturally introduced to abstract methodological issues such as observer bias, rather than the religions themselves. If religions of the world are not approached with purpose and method, then students are likely to gain “stereotypes… of misinformation supplied by certain sectors of the media” (Chryssides & Geaves, 2014). Thus, in order to see how religion is lived in day to day life, one must “walk a mile in [the] moccasins [of religious people]” as Smart (1998) says. Therefore this essay will attempt to answer why it is important to study religion off campus and how this may challenge traditional understandings of religion.
Burns, Thomas J. "Islam." Religion and Society. OU Campus' Dale Hall, Norman. 14 Apr. 2014. Lecture.
In this essay, I will explore the religious experience in general and some of its variations around the world. The focus will be on the types of religious beliefs and religious leaders, especially in small-scale societies. An exploration of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or any other major religion is beyond the scope of this essay. The approach taken is that of cultural relativity--religious practices or beliefs are not evaluated in terms of their "correctness" or "sophistication" but, rather, in terms of their function within the societies that have them.