Democratic transitions recently became a topic of great discussion among political scholars as a domino effect of democratization began in Latin America in the 1970s and continued through Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. In many of these transitions, the Catholic Church[1] played a crucial role as the protector of civil society during periods of communist and right-wing authoritarian rule, as well as taking an active role to promote the establishment of democracy (Bruneau 1994, Levine 1980, Stepan and Linz 1996, Peréz-Díaz 1993, Ramet 1987). While the Church’s political role in transition is important, significantly fewer scholars have explored how democracy affected the Catholic Church within the national context (Eberts 1998, Ramet 1999, Vilarino and Tizon 1998). Even fewer have attempted cross-national comparisons of the Church, thus permitting generalizations to be made about the political influence of the Church since the institution of democratic governance (Casanova 1993, Gill et al.1998).
With the establishment of democracy the Church was expected to flourish, due to its organizational and political advantage within new democracies. However, initial research suggests otherwise. Using the involvement of the Church in abortion policy as an indicator of political influence, it is clear the cases of Spain, Brazil and Poland vary extensively. The Polish Church maintained the most political influence, followed by the Brazilian and Spanish Churches (Neilsen 1991, Volenski and Gryzmala-Mosczynska 1997, Gautier 1998, Casanova 1993, Linz 1991, Morris 1993). In Brazil and Poland, the Church played an instrumental role in the democratic revolution, making a political decline in the Church almost inconceivable. While initially th...
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...ee is regarded as a non-member state permanent observer allowing it to occasionally participate in General Assembly discussions and decisions and participate in UN International Conferences. Holy See, however, has no voting rights.
[3] Secularization refers to the number of clergy that disaffiliated from the Church (i.e. transfer from ecclesiastical to civil).
[4] Vatican II theology “stressed a very different notion of the Church as the people of God, assigned a more important role to the laity, redefined the authority of the Pope over the hole Church and the bishops over the diocese” (Mainwaring 1986). Vatican II theology stressed the need for social justice and vowed to help the less fortunate, this came to be known as the option for the poor.
[5] The Roman Curia is the collection of ministries for governing the International Church (Della Cava 1993).
Dissimilar to King Arthur’s opulent and boyish description, the Green Knight appears earthly, like an overgrown lumberjack in a debutante ball. His very entrance to the narrative aims to shatter Camelot’s superficial relationship with earthly trials. While Arthur seeks pleasure in hearing tales “of some fair feat” (92), the Green Knight undermines all formality known to be chivalrous challenging the king to a life risking game. With a “broad neck to buttocks” (137), (opposed to Arthur’s’ court depicted in the ever regal color red,) the Knight is clothed in green, the color of nature. He appears with no armor other then his faith, merely a utilitarian woodsman’s ax. While Green Knight is described like an animal who is said to have “wagged his beard” (306) yet understands the cyclical nature of life and truth of mans futility, it is only after Sir Gawain proclaims his lack of strength (though he says it at that point as a matter of chivalry) that he is able to ...
The autobiography of Malcolm X is most widely accredited for its inspirational incentives and exceptionally intense life experiences; the novel itself is a show-stopper. Malcolm X structures his craft through his untold stories and background through the behavior of style and substance. Malcolm creates more than a scene and feel of the novel, but allows the audience to accommodate a tight grasp on his emotions and disposition the life of a young African-American male during a racist time in history.
Autobiography of Malcolm X takes place during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and illustrates the life of an African American man spent majority of his life fighting for equal rights. Throughout the book, Malcolm X expresses his negative perspective toward white supremacy and actively speaks on behalf of his people for equality. One of the most life changing event in his life was when he converted to Islam. Religion played an important role in his awakening because it removed the blindness from his eyes and showed him that white people were the reason African Americans are suffering on a day to day basis. This essay investigates how Malcolm X’s autobiography puts into perspective how race is extremely complex race that no one can truly
Through the years from the medieval ages up until now, the Roman Catholic Church has always had a major influential presence in all walks of life for European people, whether it was for taxation, the establishing of laws, the rise and fall of monarchs, and even daily social life. Furthermore, the Catholic Church held such power that they could even appoint and dispose of great kings with just the writing of the pen. However, their power started to wane once human curiosity overcome ignorance and blind obedience. For example, the Enlightenment Age brought a series of shocking blows to the Church’s power such as disproving the Church’s theory of geocentricism and presented an age of questioning and secularism. In essence, by looking at the Church’s
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
...voice to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, but less known is the evolution that took place in Malcolm X's life as he came to understand the truth of Islam as established over 1400 years ago by the Prophet Muhammad of Arabia, may peace and blessings be upon him. Malcolm completed the hajj, a transformative experience for him, and travelled to foreign countries which allowed him to see the troubles of humans who were being oppressed in other nations just as he had witnessed African Americans being oppressed in the U.S. Although his life was cut short before we could realize the fullness of the positive impact that his voice could have had upon society, the example that he set as a Muslim man, husband, father, intellectual, political activist, and humanitarian is something that inspirational through time and should be remembered.
Reconstruction did however have several accomplishments, including liberalized state constitutions, public schools systems in the South, and internal improvements. “Whatever laws protects the white man shall afford ‘equal’ protection to the black,” according to Thaddeus Stevens. But this was for the most part not true, and the failures of Reconstruction greatly outnumbered the accomplishments. Politically, the South remained the same as it had before, Democratic. The blacks did gain freedom but were far from equality. And the great amount of corruption during this time period marks Reconstruction as a failure. (American History: A Survey, Alan Brinkley)
Religion in Latin America has always been tied closely to Catholicism because of the influence of Europeans who came to settle South America, bringing along their Catholic foundation. With the early formations of governments in Latin America, church and state were closely linked. The church had significant influence over what happened in the political realm of the countries’ relations. The case was no different for Colombia. The Catholic church has played a significant role in the history of Colombia, assuming an esteemed status in the country and exercising control over different areas of the government and public affairs, but as time passed its role in power has taken a slight downturn.
Then what would be the warrior ideal in Middle Ages? How do the main character of the poem show such ideal? I think these are the important questions to be raised for the understanding of Sir Gawain and the Green knight. In this essay, I would like to discuss about the ideal knight manifested in the poem and analyze the meanings and functions of the three characters; Gawain, Green knight and King Arthur.
In the Autobiography of Malcolm X the narrator tells about his life growing up in the 1920’s which was a time of great racial conflict between whites and blacks. Throughout the text the author uses words, structure, and style to add to the power and beauty of the text.
Parents play a large role in encouraging children to read and enabling them to become confident readers. Parents are aware of what motivates their child and can choose books that will stimulate their child’s interest. Research shows that by parents reading aloud to their children is essential in order for them to become successf...
The first Catholic priests came to South America with the conquistadors and through social and political force superimposed 16th century Catholicism upon conquered peoples and in subsequent generations upon slaves arriving in the New World. Catholicism has, likewise, frequently absorbed, rather than confronted, popular folk religious beliefs. The resulting religion is often overtly Catholic but covertly pagan. Behind the Catholic facade, the foundations and building structure reflect varying folk religious traditions. (2)
Ford Motor Company announced the launch of the Escape Hybrid SUV in a National Geographic magazine in 2004, with one ad reading; “Green vehicles. Cleaner factories. It is the right road for our company, and we’re well underway”. They continued to try and persuade readers of their commitment to the environment with the remodelling of their River Rouge factory, but they failed to mention that only 20,000 of these promised Hybrid SUVs would be produced per year, or that they would continue to commission almost 80,000 F-series trucks a month. Additionally, a short time before the ads release, the Envir...
Books contain valuable information and powerful ideas that can help guide the children to become better individuals. An inspiring book passage can influence them to aspire for greater things and to be who they want to be. This is the reason why parents and educators encourage children to develop excellent reading skills. Not only is it essential for survival in the school environment, but in everyday life as well.
Secondly, if the children are encouraged to read whatever appeals to them, they are self motivated to read much more. Consequently, the more they read, the more they can widen their own knowledge about the world around them in an easy way and then the more perfect their personalities can be. For example, with children who spend lots of time reading interesting fairy tales, fables or history legends the moral lessons can be instilled naturally into their minds and will be remembered much longer as they are not as dry and dull as sentences like you should do this or you are not allowed to do that uttered by their parents day by day.