Writing Topic: Compare and contrast the way that relationship is perceived in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” J. D. McClatchy’s “Jihad,” and Salman Rushdie’s “Imagine There’s No Heaven.” It can be said that religion is a part of every person’s life. If one does not profess a certain religion, then one no doubt has a tendency for a religion. If one does not have a tendency for a religion, then one is probably against certain religions, or perhaps all religions. In all these ways, religion touches the lives of people, be it for the positive or negative. Relationships between people and religion develop quickly and powerfully, and we can view these relationships under the microscope of literature.
When a religious person comes to a time in their life where there are some doubts or questions about their faith/belief, they oftentimes refer to the origination of religion. With this in mind, the foundation of religion can very easily be mythology. Every religion has some story about the origination of earth and human beings. For example, in Christianity “the fabulous character of myths is evident in the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam [,] and in the talking serpent in the Garden of Eden” (Schmidt 185). Most devout Christians would take offense if someone claimed that the story that proves their existence is in fact a myth.
A Christian could just say you know this due to the way God made the earth and humans. A more intelligent designer. Functionalists say that religion gives the answers to people. Functionalists say that religion offers common beliefs and shared identities which binds people together in society. They say it is conservative and when a community is cooperating such as practising worship together in church it creates a social harmony among everybody.
Durkheim also argued that ritual and ceremony are essential to bind society together. He points out that most religions have ceremonies especially at critical life stages. For example, christenings, marriages and funerals. Ceremonies take people away from the profane part of their life into the world of the sacred where they can feel in touch with higher forces. This creates unity within the social group, which then generates a ‘collective conscience.’ Durkheim drew on secondary research of religious beliefs and practices in the Australian Arunta tribe of aborigines.
Religion was important in early government as it would be integrated into governments up until the seventeen hundreds. Governments would mandate laws and social reforms based on their religion. The three main religions that emerged were Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Each of the three uses the same basic structure to run their religion, but each twist it in their own certain ways to make it their own. Early on if you had anything to do with religion you where considered higher up in the society, this belief would last until the Roman Empire and into some of the Middle Ages.
They have 5 key functions of religion in modern society. One of these functions is socialization. They say the main function of religion in modern society is to socialise society’s members into a value consensus by investing values with a sacred quality. These values become ‘moral codes’. For example, The Ten Commandments are ‘moral codes’ which influenced both formal and informal control.
The three great western religions---- Judaism, Islam and Christianity, share similarities and differences. Even though they have the common roots and common elements, differences emerged when these three religion grew. However, Judaism, Islam and Christianity stand out as the main religions in the world and their believes cover all over the continents, influence billions of believers in the world. Judaism, the most historical religion in all three, was founded by Abraham—the first and the greatest prophet of the God. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, which Jews only believe in one God.
(Julian Huxley biologist). According to Dictiontary.com (2012), Religion is defined as the belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny. Religion has many meanings to different people.
Christianity for example has many different types of people like Catholics, Protestants among others. I find it interesting how there are similarities among different religions but most of the time they only see their differences in order to condemn each other and prove they are the only “right” one. Christianity caught my attention because as Stearns says how coverts brought religion, the Latin writing system, and different artistic and intellectual instruments associated with Roman Christianity. Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are major religions around the world and millions of people practice them. An important factor for Christianity to be known around the world was the connection that Europe had with the Americas.
Religion From an Alien’s Perspective Shawntara McCaskill Instructor: Phillip Vanvleck Course: Religion 212 Date: November 4, 2012 From our perspective life form on planet earth has been involved in activities unexplainable by common laws of science. These activities have something to do with what they believe in. Common explanations by our kind include terms like culture, tradition and the most interesting of all: religion. For our report, we have set specific criteria for the determination whether the dominant species on earth are religious or not. According to our reports, religion is somewhat of a backup emotional connection that each individual has when he has lost complete hope in the world.