The Potential of the Raëlian Movement through Humanism
The Raëlian Movement, which began in late 1973, is a relative newcomer to the scene of world religions. While its late arrival has presented some difficulty in drawing followers, the movement has significant promise. The Raëlian Movement is overtly optimistic in its belief of the innate ability of humans to live prosperous lives. The Raëlian Movement combines principles of secular humanism effectively with scientific accounts of religious events to create a philosophy that has significant potential.
On December 13, 1973, a French man named Claude Vorilhon claimed that he encountered an extraterrestrial being. The alien, called Yahweh, explained that he was a representative of an advanced race of beings, the Elohim, who created humankind is their image via cloning techniques. As an experiment, humanity failed to achieve equilibrium within itself and the world it lived in. Throughout history, the Elohim sent prophets to Earth to guide people’s way of life based on that of the superior race. A primary reason that people failed to achieve that peace is that the prophets, “whose teachings, actually scientific and not religiously oriented, had been misunderstood.” (Laderman 248) Religions thus misinterpreted the Elohim’s teachings, and their different understandings of them separated humanity.
Shortly following his encounter with Yahweh, Vorilhon changed his name to Raël, “The Messenger.” The Elohim told him that he is the 40th and final prophet. On August 6, 1945, America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, representing the apocalypse. In this sense, ‘apocalypse’ refers to humanity’s revelation that, in the age of...
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<http://www.Raël.org>
1“The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles.” 4 December 2003.
Council for Secular Humanism. 19 April 2004.
<http://www.secularhumanism.org/intro/affirmations.html>
“A Secular Humanist Declaration.” 4 December 2003. Council for Secular Humanism.
19 April 2004.
<http://www.secularhumanism.org/intro/declaration.html>
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
In The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village, renowned scholar Eamonn Duffy investigates the English Reformation. Duffy pears through the eyes of the priest of a small, remote village in Southwestern England. Using Sir Christopher Trichay’s records of the parish, Duffy illustrates an image of Reformation opposite of what is predominantly assumed. Duffy argues the transformation that took place between 1530 and 1570, through the transition of four monarchs, was much more gradual that many interpret. Even though state mandate religious change affected the community of Morebath, the change did not ensue the violence that is often construed with the Reformation. Sir Christopher Trichay’s leadership and his portrayal of community life, the development and removal of St. Sidwell, and the participation in the church through stores develop Duffy’s argument of appeasement rather than violence during the English Reformation.
During her entire rule, Elizabeth I allowed for England to reach an equilibrium in its religious affairs through “The Elizabethan Settlement”, or her religious compromise. The Book of Common Prayer, issued by the Edward VI’s advisor Thomas Cranmer, was restored by Elizabeth....
During the Renaissance, people were dedicated to studying human works. They would observe from real life to gain inspiration, new ideas, and to try to recreate the world as they saw it in their art. New techniques such as scientific and atmospheric perspective were created, changing art forever. Artists would use their skills to create works for patrons, from the Church, various guilds, and other religious orders. During the High Renaissance, Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Vatican Palace. The first of the rooms he decorated was The “Room of the Signature”, where he painted The School of Athens. Originally, this room housed Julius II’s personal library, but later on it would be the room where papal documents were signed. In 1508, Raphael began painting four frescoes that represented theology, philosophy, law, and the arts. As stated in Janson’s History of Art Volume II, This fresco “represents a summation of High Renaissance humanism, for it attempts to represent the unity of knowledge in one grand scheme.” Raphael’s The School of Athens is a prime example of humanistic art, as evidenced by the subject of the art itself, the classical elements in the piece, and it’s scientific and illusionistic rendering.
During the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in the arts, and the traditional views of society came into question. People began to explore the power of the human mind. A term often used to describe the increasing interest in the powers of the human mind is humanism. Generally, humanism stresses the individual's creative, reasoning, and aesthetic powers. However, during the Renaissance, individual ideas about humanism differed.
Looking the historical moment we are living at, it is undeniable that the media plays a crucial role on who we are both as individuals and as a society, and how we look at the...
Last week, this author spent several hours researching background information on the Church of England and the English Puritan beliefs centering on the fate of the Jews in eschatology. As it was determined, and with the actions of King Henry the VII, and the restrictive nature of the clergy, the Church of England found itself going through its own sort of reformation which was separate from the Protestant Reformation started by Luther. Therefore, it was concluded that the Church of England was both in disarray and a breeding ground for dispensational thoughts and beliefs. Thus, the focus of this week’s research, using Ehlert’s Bibliography of Dispensationalism and Watson’s text, Dispensationalism Before Darby, centered on identifying the major players and their beliefs about dispensationalism just prior to Darby.
The 14th Century put a great strain on British society, especially the Church. In a time when salvation was needed, the Church failed to provide it, but remained a wealthy landowner and a strong political player. The people’s reaction was heard loudly near the end of that century and would be heard even louder in the coming religious changes that loomed ahead.
In conclusion, these two short stories written by Shirley Jackson and Salman Rushdie have expressed the idea of what rebellion and conformity has affected the relationship between religion and individuals through the characters who expressed their feelings towards things that did not seem to fit in their societies. Through the similarities, differences, and resolutions that these two stories both share, the real message that can only be summarized in one way: do not be afraid to express your true feelings and don’t let things like religion take over your entire life. Things like spiritual guidance can really take a toll on an individual’s behavior and few of their own lives as we saw in Jackson’s “The Lottery”. Through these stories we now know that the relationship between religion and individuals can be very strong in some cases.
Like Wyclif's Lollard heresy, the English Protestant Reformation, over one hundred years later, would draw support from both the common people and the royal establishment. Among the many causes of the Reformation, one stands out as the most important because it alone brought about a specifically English reformation. The religious drive of the common people to create a more open system of worship was a grassroots movement of reform, similar to the reformations taking place across Europe. The political ambitions of those at the highest levels of government to consolidate power in the person of the monarch, however, is what made a reformation of the Church in England into a specifically English Reformation.
The media play an indispensable role in modern life, and are considered amongst the most powerful and inaccurate sources of social information, education and entertainment. Our mass media is an electronic (TV, film, video, videogames, internet) visually dominated media with print (newspaper, magazine)...
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
The questions about the existence of life and the creation of the world are always mind-boggling and fascinating, however, the real answer to these questions may never surface. All there is to rely on are the myths, stories and legends passed on from generation to generation by ancestors and the clues they have left. This essay will try to uncover the ancient Mesopotamian and Hebrew views on existence and creation by looking at sources like the Genesis and other ancient Mesopotamian texts and poems. Mesopotamians and Hebrews had contrasting views on how they explained the events in their lives, and through analysis of ancient sources, those differences will be outlined. In such populated and booming areas, human conflict was inevitable and some of the law codes that were placed in effect to establish order within the society will be examined. Throughout it all, god and religion played a central role in these ancient civilizations.
You may wonder about, "The Renaissance" and its relationship to another term, "humanism" which fits into the same time period. If you check the dictionary, you will find that both terms can be used in a broad sense or more specifically. Humanism refers generally to a "devotion to the humanities: literary culture." (My definitions come from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). According to that definition we should all be humanists.
Russell, C. (1996). The Reformation and the creation of the Church of England, 1500-1640. In J. Morrill (Ed.), The Oxford illustrated history of Tudor and Stuart Britain (pp. 258-292). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.