A primary cause of the Crusades was religious differences between the Muslims and the Christians. Christians made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and when they saw that their Holy Land was owned by Muslims, they felt that they had a religious obligation to take back this land. Muslims felt that the land belonged to them, and that what the Christians were trying to do was unmerited. This is an example of the external pressures both cultures experienced in relation to the ownership of their Holy Land. Christians were promised that if they joined the war, they would be forgiven of sins and guaranteed a place in heaven, which was irresistible to many people.
CONSTANTINE’S RELIGIOUS POLICY Constantine’s religious policy under his reign was to keep peace throughout the whole of the Roman Empire by stopping the persecution of Christians and allowing paganism to be practised together with Christianity, as well as being a follower of Christianity and using his own power to help it spread across his empire. Constantine’s religious policy also evolved greatly throughout his reign, from being a follower of paganism to finally the emperor that was largely responsible for the spread of Christianity which is still the dominating religion in society today. Constantine’s major aspect of his religious policy was his attitude towards Christians. Constantine himself was a Christian, the first Christian Roman Emperor, and was the one that formally ended what is known as the “Great Persecution of Christians”, which happened (approximately) around AD 303. However, he did not just stop the persecution, but went far further and gave the Catholic Church finances it needed in order to spread around the Roman Empire.
Jeff Kaetzel Fall 2012 Alexander II and the Emancipation of the Serfs Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861 primarily because of his deep religious convictions. Religion played a key role in Alexander II’s decision to emancipate the serfs because it served as an avenue through which he could address the pressures he faced from both his advisors and the sociopolitical developments in Russian society. The emancipation of the serfs was not a new concept in Russia. Alexander II used the previous autocrats’ push towards emancipation as a platform to launch his own emancipation efforts. He was able to utilize the previous autocrats’ work as a springboard for his reign to complete the act of emancipating the serfs.
In Ahura Mazda, the contention between Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu developed because Angra Mainyu wanted to have control over everything. The concept that good will always prevail over evil and all will come to an end was passed on to Christian beliefs. In Zoroastrianism, it states that after 12,000 years of battle Ahura Mazda will prevail over the wicked, in which everything will cease to exist. This is seen in Christianity that says at some point in time, God will conquer Satan and the Messiah will come and collect all
The dissolution of the monasteries, enabled by Cromwell’s actions, removed access to this outside influence from English spiritual life. Secondly, by ordering in 1538 that every parish church should possess a bible in the vernacular, Cromwell made the true source of religious knowledge available to every literate person. For the laity, the need for an omniscient, but more significantly, distant, authority was erased. Religious knowledge, and therefore influence over the congregation, was contained to English authorities. The Bible could be interpreted in a way which supported the dissolution of the monasteries and the royal supremacy, representing a clear transition of religious power to Henry and the monarchy from the papacy.
The Gregorian Reform’s most forceful advocate, Pope Gregory VII, is known as one of the great reformer popes and was a driving force in the eleventh-century religious reform movement. He initiated a series of reforms that dealt with the independence and moral integrity of the clergy; he was the first pope in several centuries that rigorously enforced the Church's ancient policy of celibacy for the Catholic clergy, attacked the practice of simony, and defended the papal authority in the Investiture Controversy. The Gregorian Reform’s main concerns were the moral integrity and independence of the clergy but it also had a large and lasting impact on the authority of the pope in the western world. Before the Gregorian Reform there were many corruptions in the church: the most detrimental being non-celibate priests along with simony. Gregory VII saw these offenses, how they were tearing away at the church as a whole, and wanted to abolish these practices.
The common belief today is that our nation, the United States of America, was founded on Christian principles by colonists who fled from religious persecution. Most American’s are under the impression that the Founding Fathers came from the same background as the Puritans or Pilgrims and instilled their Christian beliefs into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But the early presidents and patriots were generally Deists or Unitarians, who believed in one God, but found fault with organized religion. When you examine the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, you will see the absence of any reference to Christianity and the Constitution has no reference to God or religion except to ensure it wasn’t part of America’s framework. The United States of America was not founded on Christian principles but on the enlightened principle of human rights, that all people are created equal, and endowed with certain rights, among those are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
WORLDVIEW/RELIGION ANALYSIS PAPER Mike Michaels APOL 500 May 10, 2012 Introduction There are many ‘Worldviews’ regarding religion. The topic of this paper will discuss the Worldview known as Islam. Islam claims to be the only true religion, bringing the purest message of Allah and could have succeeded. This paper will contain a summary of Islam, a critique, a plan as to how Christians can share the gospel and a conclusion. Summary of the Worldview of Islam Islam, to surrender, is a worldview religion founded by Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn “Abd al Muttalib ibn Hashim; or more commonly known, Muhammad.
When examining the life of Constantine, one must first consider his life before he professed any affinity or allegiance to the Christian faith or Church. Constantine was a military man who was battling for control of the Roman Empire. The empire was divided between Constantine and Maxentius. The latter was content in maintaining the persecution of Christians, as Diocletian had done before him, while the former hoped for more religious tolerance to both Pagans and Christians alike.1 In the fall of 312 A. D., Constantine began to look for guidance from the God above all others, the God whom his own father had believed in. As Eusebius later related, he looked to the sky and saw a vision of a trophy of the cross emanating from the light of the sun and the message “conquer by this”.
The time the motto, “In God we Trust,” was formed was during the civil war and that it was a religious period of time. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," was the last change to The Pledge of Allegiance. This changed was made because of threats. That proved that America believed in God and that he would protect the country. In society today there are lots of non-believers in having higher power, so less people are going to church or picking up on a religion.