The Church was criticized for a large number of things by the Protestants. One of these was the religious exclusiveness that the Church demonstrated. The Church believed that there is only one true Church, the Roman Catholic Church. This belief turned the word ‘church’ into a proper noun. Another thing that the Church was often criticized for was the lack of separation between Church and State.
The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established as "holy experiments" by the puritans. This group of English Protestants, whose only wish was to "purify" the Church of England, began to receive savage punishment from England for their religious beliefs. In turn, driven by religion, thousands of the religious zealots immigrated to New England to worship God in the way that they saw fit. However, although the Puritans did leave England, running from there own religious persecution, once they had established themselves they self-righteously employed the
Elizabeth Perricone 397 Dan Churchwell-Introduction to Philosophy Research Paper 1 2/22/2013 Anti-Intellectualism among Evangelicals Philosophers have been opposing, contemplating, and defending the idea of God for centuries. The majority of philosophers in today’s day and age take the arrogant view of pushing the concept of “God” out of their philosophy. They do this by their prideful standing against submission or conceiving a being higher than themselves and seeing those who believe in such a being as, leaning on a mere crutch that humanity has surpassed long ago. The poor opinion America’s culture has on the Christian Church’s intelligence is not surprising. Movies and TV shows have been portraying Christians as judgmental, mindless, know-it-alls for years.
Wells states; “This book [No Place for Truth] produced only half the picture I wanted to present, however. It offers an explanation of the cultural factors that have diminished the place and importance of theology in the church, but it offers no suggestions for a remedy of the problem.” He attempts to provide solutions, from a theological perspective, to the problem presented in his first book where modernism, technology, culture, and pastors bear a significant part of the blame in the changes the modern believers are facing in our churches today. Dr. Wells premise that Christianity has experienced,
Then there is the people who don’t put in the time and effort to grow as a believer in their religion, like not wanting to pray, go to church or study up and learn more about what they believe in. These followers have a weak dedication but on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are followers with a strong devotion to what they believe in. They are willing to face any trial such as persecution or even death because their beliefs are just so strong. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, a martyr is defined as “one who chooses to suffer and die for ones faith or principles.” (Agnes 397) Martyrs have been around since they made their mark in society during the Roman Empire. They continue on their legacy even today especially in other parts of the world like China or Japan.
(Radmacher, Allen, and House,2004, p. 503) Jeremiah was told by God that, "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (NCV, Jeremiah 1: 4-5) The people of Judah once had an affinity with God until they began having an unfaithfulness to the covenant and live idolatry. The once loved and sought after love of God from the people of Judah was no more, they began to worship other Gods, trees, and rocks.
But most modern Christians have a more hardened view of homosexuals than they’ve ever had. Some see homosexuals as being in direct league with Satan, as they also believed about "witches". Gays are seen as a direct threat to society and to the sanctity of the family. Homosexuality is referred to as an abomination. Next to abortion, nothing seems to unite Christians more than the fear of homosexuality.
The church is built on Christ Jesus, and not on people. If the people are not ready to worship with us because we don't accept their dress and adornment, why then do we conform to theirs? It is better we don't pay attention to them, than bring them in, and at end corrupt thousands of our dear ones. I think it is better to have a church of two people, than have millions of corrupt and deceitful pretenders who go to extent of turning the Sabbath day into a funfair. It has becoming a norm - in fact, it is already a norm - today for the Christian woman to wear
Church and State: Religion in America has led to many heated debates going all the way back to our founding fathers. Jefferson brought to light the idea of separation of church and state. The separation is revolved around keeping religion out of politics, or vis versa. However it is a broad term when it comes to how one interprets whether it’s favorable towards public worship and acknowledgment of god or not. It touches most aspects of government leading to how much the federal government incorporates religion yet restricts states from doing the same.
The church we are talking about in this context is more the organized institution of church and not the sanctuaries some people confide in or, the community that the Sunday sermon can bring to people. The extreme radicals in religion are prevalent in all religions in the world and these will frequently get predicated against all people who are part of these religions. These stereotypes are almost always negative and most of the times they are not even close to the truth. The most dominant stereotype in our western world is of course faced towards Muslims. These stereotypes can be dangerous because it generates hate and fear making otherwise intelligent people