"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say: " you helped this happen. This could be if we all fast and pray this could be god's call to revival"
Jerry Falwell's thoughts on the September Eleventh terrorist attacks.
The average person might hear all those words spoken out of hate and total disrespect. However in Fallwell's mind his religion deems those words not only necessacary but truthful. Fallwell according to his religious beliefs Fallwell does actually believe that the September Eleventh attacks were committed because said groups brought on gods wrath. This is one of the main points brought up by Bruce Lincoln throughout the book, Holy Terrors: Thinking about religion after September 11. The book attempts to "think" through the nature of religion in order to identify its main components: Discourse, Practice, Community, and Institution. Lincoln attempts to specify religion historically changing relation to other aspects of culture. Lincoln also explains his take on how religion is practiced in two forms The Maximalist and The Minimalist approach.
The religious Maximalist approach to religion Lincoln notes, rather than "fundamentalist" a Maximalist believes that religion should permeate all aspects of social , indeed of human existence"(5). Basically what Lincoln is saying that Maximalists believe religion should take precedence in our social order and not be constrained to any singular facet of our social world. Lincoln also uses the term Minimalist which is more or less the opposite of Maximalist. Minimalists, believe that religion should be "restricted to an important set of (chiefly metaphysical) terms, protects its privileges against state intrusion but restricts its activity and influence to its specialized sphere"(5). The Minimalist makes sure that religion stays within its own "sphere" and does not spill over into economical or political order.
Lincoln then sets out his definition of what a religion must consist of, and split it up into four parts. The four parts being Discourse, which contains the verbal and textual examples of "transcendence", Practice which contains the rituals done religously, Community the people practicing said religion and construct their reality around it, and Institution recognized as understanding and representing the religion.
Lincoln is split in four different parts: the total war, ideas of Death, the long food
Even though Sikh Americans have experienced a heightened amount of animosity, it is quite a warm feeling when communities and groups gather to support victims of hate crimes as stated in this excerpt, "It has happened before in New Jersey. But this time, an act of hateful vandalism has drawn an avalanche of support for a victimized Hindu family, highlighting the growth of networks aiming to assist South Asian-American victims of bias crimes. The family of five arrived home in Wayne last Saturday to discover their house and walkways spray-painted with anti-Indian and anti-Hindu epithets. Police disclosed the incident on Wednesday, and said the family also had been targeted with hate mail and graffiti in January."(Crouse) The community responded by putting out calls and e-mails in an attempt to reach the family. This was done by Asian-American civil rights leaders after they had read about the incidents. Other local actions of support came in the form of one bank branch's offer to cover the cost of removing the graffiti and a contractor's offer to do the work for free. There are many hate crimes that have been inflicted on Sikh Americans, but it is important to realize there are positive and supporting reactions from different communities to try to alleviate this type of racism.
Religion of the protestant church was an important factor in the pre-war timeline culture. The Second great awakening, which occurred in the 19th century, greatly impacted American society. This new point of view in terms and matters of faith led northerners to cherish the theory of Christian perfection, a theory that in fact was applied to society in an attempt to eliminate social imperfection. On the other hand, southerners reacted by cherishing a faith of personal piety, which focused mainly on a reading of the Bible; however, it expressed very little concern in addressing society’s problems.1
Although I do not consider myself a radical secularist, I identify more strongly with Walzer’s viewpoints. He stresses the importance of the structural, ritual, and political/cultural aspects of society necessary to successfully separate religion from politics. I strongly agree that a sharp institutional divide between church and state needs to exist, in which the church does not interfere in matters of the state and vice versa. I believe it even vital that countries, such as the United States, possess constitutions that state there will be no official state religion. In this way, religious toleration and equality will be undeniable. In terms of this institutional divi...
One of the most disturbing things about living in New York City since 9.11 has been the way in which the U.S. has been able to wage war on Afghanistan and now maybe Iraq, with very little public outcry. I’d like to suggest that behind the apathy, certain traditions of Christian biblical interpretation may be at work, traditions that feature feminine figures in very particular ways. These are interpretive traditions around salvation history, and apocalypse.
As James Madison, the fourth President of the United States said, “The religion of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man, and it is right of every man to exercise it as they may dictate” (Haynes, C...
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.” Library of Congress. Accessed May 14, 2014. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html.
Since the September 11 attacks, numerous Americans have labeled Muslims in the United States as a risk to our country due to the fact that they share their religion with the extremists responsible for worldwide terrorism. Muslim that live in America continue to face isolation and danger because of their faith. Many people are responsible for this labeling, including journalists, politicians, and religious fanatics. Those mainly responsible for giving Muslims in America a modern day scarlet letter are the extremists themselves.
As Americans, we used to worry little about war, having enough to eat, travel, freedom, and our most basic everyday activities. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have forever changed the American way of life. We have become more concerned with our physical safety because of the endless terror attacks in America and other countries. Americans have certainly become more patriotic since September 11. Many of us watch the news to learn of any new terror attack or major offensive against cities in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, a variety of countries in Africa, Yemen and numerous other locations. The stock exchange hit bottom on September 21 in the 8100 range and is now back over 17,000 (Pellegrini). Oil prices have been dropping, which will help to boost our slowing economy. Unemployment rates will unfortunately probably remain the same. "Manpower, Inc. said Monday that its survey of United States companies' hiring intentions for the first three months of the year barely registered a pulse, but our commitment together to boost the nation's economy will ensure a bright future. America's future seems to be based on our new ideas formed since September 11, but yet we still carry on the problems of the past. There is still many Americans living in poverty. There is still illegal drugs that infest our nation with addiction and crime that encircles the drug trade. There are many children not getting a good education and many of whom who are fearful of violence at our schools. It is up to us as Americans to face these problems head on now more than ever before.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (ASD) are two stress disorders that occur after a traumatizing experience. PTSD is defined as a disorder that follows a distressing event outside the range of normal human experience and that is characterized by features such as intense fear, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event, and reliving the event. Acute stress disorder is defined as a disorder that is characterized by feelings of anxiety and helplessness and caused by a traumatic event. It also usually occurs within a month of the event and lasts from 2 days to 4 weeks. Dealing with experiences like the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001 were difficult for people and easily classified as traumatizing experiences. For times like these when a large number of people experience a traumatizing experience and will probably develop PTSD or ASD, there is no precedent for how to treat them. The only tool that can be used at these times is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), to classify the disorder. No real solution exists for a treatment process for an incident of this scale. The three journal articles I will be using show statistical data about how people dealt with these experiences and what percent of them developed PTSD or ASD. They also show how many people showed signs of these disorders but never contacted a professional to help treat it. Even as far away as Brussels, expatriates of the United States felt the effects of the attacks of September 11th.
An actual definition for civil religion is the worship of a form of government and the political principles associated with it. Civil religion has much in common with the traditional world religions such as a set of highly held beliefs and ideals. In the United States this includes the worship of democracy and republican government rooted in principles such as liberty, equality, equal rights, union, limited government, and due process of law. The latest stream of faith includes multicultural diversity and communitarianism (the “It takes a village to raise a child” mentality).
In light of the many perversions and jokes we send along to one another for a laugh, this is a little different. This is not intended to be a joke, it's not intended to be funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Societies will always have problems that cause some sort of reaction from individuals who believe that their social stability is being endangered. There have been a number of moral panics which have captivated society in terror and more often than not, owing to unfamiliarity. This essay will discuss the perception of a moral panic and will look at the case of the September 11th Terrorist attack against the United States of America, which triggered a colossal conflict of morality within modern day society. This essay will also analyse terrorism as a perceived deviance, the role of the moral entrepreneur and folk devil, in order to develop a level of understanding to the causes of this particular moral panic and its effects on society.
Smith states that the concept of “THE religion” and the idea of each religion having its own essence is recent and are of western origin. And he claims that the danger of making this definition created by the west a universal one, is simply putting the power in the hands of the west (Goosen 2015:18). This is what we saw happen in the past during the colonial era, religion became a pawn that could be controlled for the gain of only one party. Here Smith states that we should stop speaking of “THE religion” and the “essence of religion” in order to avoid such predicaments repeating
..., this paper will talk about the forms and structure of fundamentalism specifically in Christianity and Islam. To begin the inquiry of what fundamentalism is it’s pertinent to understand how it is structured, how it responds to mainstream religions and why it exists. To define fundamentalism, fundamentalism is a reaction, whether it be religious or political, against current societal mainstream dogma or ideology. With this reaction against any set of mainstream ideology politically and religiously, what makes a group fundamentalist are define through these characteristics as Richard T. Antoun of State University of New York at Binghamton. These Antoun defines fundamentalism as, “Fundamentalist movements are defined ideologically, by their opposition to and reaction against the ideology that suits the permissive secular society, the ideology of modernism” (Antoun, 3)