...The exact dates of the Middle Ages are misleading, Historians place the beginning of the period between the death of the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 395 and the fall of Rome to the Goths in 410. Also known as The Dark Ages, the term may be more a judgment than an actual period of history, because of the lack of available sources that could be used evaluate the period were lost or destroyed due to years of war and insurrection. After the fall of Rome in 410, life changed dramatically. The aqueducts that once delivered fresh water to citizens fell to ruin because maintenance was no longer funded, and even worse, the once great architectural marvels were harvested by peasants to build their homes. As well, the complex system of waste removal...
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...Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights, that regulate our everydaylife, religion becomes unnecessary. Religion establishes a basic understandment of morality, but since we got laws, basic rights...
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...New Age Religion: The Body, Mind, Spirit Holistic Health and Modern Medicine Just like the world has evolved through time in almost every aspect, religions have not stayed the same either, new religions have been created with their roots in old traditions. Different religions have been formed and established with this day and age. Some are science-related; some are traditional; other religion deviates from the norm; and some consist of combinations of traditional and new ideas. Example of this is the New Age movement. However, it is not a new religion it is considered old but became popular only in 1970s. It is a compilation of different practices, beliefs, teachings and religions that are being practiced by different ancient societies around the world. This religion treats the body, mind and soul as one entity and considered them interconnected. It promotes traditional medicine from different cultures, religions and beliefs found everywhere in the world. It can also be viewed as holistic healing of illnesses and diseases (Puttick 129). Russell Chandler described it as “A hybrid mix of spiritual, social, and political forces, and it encompasses sociology, theology, the physical sciences, medicine, anthropology, history, the Human Potential movement, sports and science fiction” (17). Although New Age main point is to be something relatively new, making it the third larges religious group, its roots are as old as the eastern religions of Hinduism and...
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...Australia is home to increase religious diversity and religious variety. Its current religious landscape is shaped through the dramatic effect of immigration, the movements to and from religions or denominations, the exploration of new religious movements and the acknowledgement of no religion. These many reasons have created an increase and decrease of many religious traditions, as well as ethnic and cultural diversity in Australia. Post war immigration is directly linked to the emergence of Australia’s new wave of migration. This helped greatly in reshaping Australia’s religious connections with many religions and denominations in terms of ethnic diversity. Many religions existed elsewhere in the world but only appeared in Australia as migration and refugee patterns changed. When Indigenous Australians were counted in Census forms in 1960, a vast majority were Christian whilst some still had a desire to integrate Aboriginal spirituality and customs into Christian expression. Migrants whom entered after World War 1 were simply those who chose to assimilate and not change the British-European culture. This was because the ‘White Australia Policy’ was in place and it was racially prejudice, religiously intolerant and only accepted whites. However, by World War 2 Australia had to ‘Populate or Perish’, thus they were desperate to increase population for national security reasons and economic growth. This ultimately led to a huge population increase, as Australia accepted over 3...
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...compassion and selflessness, altruism, and the experience of inner peace. (Spirituality, n.d.) Religion is defined as the human quest for, experience of, and response to the holy and sacred. In religion, the religious expressions are in thought – the intellectual expression, in action – the practical expression, and in fellowship – the communal expression. These are also known as the ways that universal human activity expresses itself. (What is religion?, n.d.) Secularism is a wider view to the world that assures the independence in connection with all its strengths, qualities, values and behavior towards all sects, religion and other spiritual actions. Apparently, there are 3 different historical types of secularism - secularism that is against, secularism that is compliance too, and secularism that is bias towards religion. (What is secularism, n.d.) Although spirituality and religion have their own definition, but the truth is both of them are actually closely associated with each other. However, we often heard people said that “I am not religious, but I am very spiritual” or “spirituality is an important part of my life but not religion” (Mccorry, 2010), all these have clearly shown that spirituality is slowly replacing religion in our modern society life. In fact, a report stated that 72% of people between ages of 18 to 29 consider themselves to be more spiritual than religion. (Ball, 2010) An example could...
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...New Age Spirituality February 19, 2012 New Age Spirituality Is New Age Spirituality really new? Is it something old that has been creeping in and out as a worldview? The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun. “That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9). This paper will show that New Age Spirituality is not so new, but is an ancient religion which holds to the belief that there are many gods and is essentially the revival of the substitute faith called occultism (Martin, 1989, pg. 14-15). We will see that this spirituality movement is merely a clever attempt made by depraved mankind in his ongoing quest to be his own God. I will examine the opinions of scholars and come to the conclusion that the New Age Religion is actually the Old Religion repackaged. This paper will show that the New Age Religion leads to an unfulfilled life in contrast to Christianity which leads to eternal life. The New Age Spiritualism worldview is a hodgepodge of beliefs that combines many beliefs together into a sweet, appetizing, appealing sounding religion. But drinking from this “fountain” is detrimental to the soul. A little bit of cyanide in the Kool-Aid will kill (Martin, 1989, pg. 52). Cult leader, Jim Jones, was heavily influenced by New Age spiritualism. As a result of this, 915 people died in Jonestown, Guyana at his indirect hands in a standoff between...
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...Alcohol Abuse and Dependence Correlated with Age, Gender, Ethnicity, and Religion [Name of Writer] [Name of Institute] Abstract This research paper entails the correlation of alcohol abuse with age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. This paper also explains in detail the implication that can be undertaken for the substance abuse. Alcohol is one of the factors that are creating the majority of the health problems in the United States, creating negative impacts on the life of an abuser’s family and children. Alcohol abuse has direct relation to the age, gender, race and religion. Table of Content Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 4 Age 4 Gender 5 Race 6 Religion 6 Strategies for Prevention of Alcohol Abuse 7 Conclusion 7 References 8 Alcohol Abuse and Dependence Correlated with Age, Gender, Ethnicity, and Religion Introduction In the United States substance abuse is one of the most common health problem that touches life of every individual in the family, child, community, and congregation. In contrast to the popular perception, the problem of substance abuse in the United States not only results in illegal drug usage like crack cocaine, but also in the form of the recreation known as soft drinks such as marijuana, along with the usage of extra medicine use prescribed by the doctors. The influence of substance abuse and alcohol abuse on families, children, and communities are dreadful in a manner like: negligence of family, abuse...
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...differences between social groups and their religious participation and in the types of belief they hold. There are clear gender differences in religious beliefs and participation. Sociologists have put forward several explanations for gender differences in religious belief and practice however these tend to focus on the reasons for women’s relatively high levels of participation rather than men’s lower levels. While the priesthoods of most religions are male, more women than men participate in religious activities and believe in God. For example, in 2005, 1.8 million women in England were churchgoers, as against only 1.36 million men. Miller and Hoffman (1995) identify two main theories explaining women’s greater religiosity. Firstly there is differential socialisation where women are taught to be more submissive and passive than men and these characteristics are associated with being more religious. Traditional religions tend to expect their followers to be passive and obedient. The second theory is structural location where women take part in religion because of their social roles. Men are more likely to take on the instrumental role whereas the women take on the expressive role. This gives women more time for church-related jobs. However as sociologists go on to quote this research and take these factors into account they have criticised it for no fully explaining why women are more religious than men. Greeley (1992) argues that taking care of other family members increases women’s...
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...The Age of Exploration took place from the 15th through 17th century. European explorers combined the Old and New Worlds through the Age of Exploration. The causes of the Age of Exploration resulted in the colonization of the New World. Religion, leadership, and money also known as God, Glory, and Gold were the causes of the Age of Exploration. Even though the Age of Exploration appears to have a good connotation it had some negative effects. The positive effects of the Age of Exploration had to do with people taking action. During the Age of Exploration there were many negative effects such as disease, slavery, and war, however, there were also many positive ones that still have an effect on the world today. The Age of Exploration was a very...
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...AND USE RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN VERY DIFFERENT WAYS TO WHAT EXTENT DO SOCIOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS AND EVIDENCE SUPPORT THIS VIEW? There are many different social groups within society and many different reasons why one would join a religion and follow a certain belief. Religiosity is related to age, gender, and social acts. Religion take help many people solve underlying problems where people are experiencing anomie. Religion can be defined in many different ways such as Weber defining it as a belief in a superior or supernatural power that cannot be explained through science. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the extent to which sociological arguments and evidence support the view that different groups have different social and spiritual needs and use religion and religious organisations in very different ways. Religiosity varies by age, this can be due to many different reasons such as the amount of time one has to participate and commit to a set belief. People younger than 15 and over 65 are more likely to be involved in a religious activity; however participation by those under the age of 15 takes part in the form of Sunday school and religious playgroups. Therefore, this portrays that they may have been brought up by their primary caregiver mother to attend Sunday school since they were young so attending is part of their weekly routine. As well, the elderly (over 65) are most likely to be retired so have more time to practice their religion by going...
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...Indigenous Religions Today Through ages, the human kind have seen civilizations rise and fall, religions flourish and than disappear without a trace. Currently, a number of indigenous religions are at risk of ceasing to exist. Indigenous religions all over the world are faced with such factors as spreading globalization and the world’s movement towards a society of individualists, which threaten the core values of indigenous religions worldwide. Globalization has been an ongoing process for ages. The arrival of Columbus to North America was a product of globalization and it caused a genocide of the people already living in North America for centuries. The European colonization of Africa enslaved millions of indigenous people. The conquistadors have completely destroyed the indigenous people of South America. All these people came in contact with indigenous people and strongly affected their lives. Globalization has been a problem for the survival of indigenous cultures or religions in the past and it became even a bigger problem in the modern age....
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...indicates that people over the age of 18 to 24 are more likely to be non-religious compared to those age 65 and over. A Christian Research carried out in 1979 and 2005 was able to show evidence of this occurrence. In 1979, 598 thousand individuals attended church, by 2005 the number decreased to 231. While those of 65 and over had also decreased, the number of attendance within the age group was still much larger than the number of attendance from groups of the lower age. The reason for the decrease in religious participation for the younger generation can be due to the changes occurring in society relating to religion. According to Voas and Crockett the age difference in religious participation is due to the generational effect. The idea of this theory is that over the years society had and will become more secular which in effect means that those of the new generation will become less religious than those before them. Additionally, Bruce argues that due to the decline of religion as a social institute this has hand an effect on those of the younger age. This is because the church had once provided education for the children however now this has been overtaken by the state. This in result means that religion is losing its influence on the children thrus leading the younger generation down a path that lacks religious considerations. Similarly, Hervieu-leger argues that here has been a cultural amnesia where the knowledge of traditional religion which is supposedly passed down...
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...Assess sociological explanations for the increasing number of religious and spiritual organisations and movements in society today. (33 marks) In society some people hold religious beliefs without belonging to an organised group, whereas others express their beliefs through membership of a religious organisation. Troeltsch distinguished between two main types of religious organisations – the church and the sect. Churches are large organisations with millions of members, run by a bureaucratic hierarchy of priests, who claim a monopoly of the truth. Churches are universalistic aiming to include the whole of society as they place few demands on their members. However people of the higher class tend to be more attracted as they are ideologically conservative and are often close linked to the state. Sects are small exclusive groups opposed to wider society, expecting a high level of commitment from its members. Sects tend to draw their members from the poor and oppressed, many of the sects are led by charismatic leaders. The only similarity between churches and sects is that they both believe they have a monopoly of religious truth. Sects are often short lived organisations only lasting a single generation or less. As well as churches and sects. Sociologists have identified other types of religious organisations such as denominations and cults. Niebuhr describes denominations as lying midway between churches and sects. Membership for denominations is less exclusive compared to sects...
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...argue that religion is a source of domination and oppression. However, unlike Marxism, they see religion as a product of patriarchy, rather than capitalism. They argue that religion is patriarchal in that women are exploited by men and seen as subordinate. Feminist sociologists are interested in how women have become subservient and how religion has promoted patriarchy. This view is not just shared by female and feminist sociologists. Anthony Giddens argues that; "The Christian religion is a resolutely male affair in its symbolism as well as its hierarchy. While Mary, the mother of Jesus may sometimes be treated as if she had divine qualities, God is the father, a male figure, and Jesus took the human shape of a man. Woman is portrayed Gender is a major part of religion, and it is believed that women are more religious than men. Religious participation is also a big part of religion along with religious organisations. A number of studies have proven different views on the relationship between gender, religious participation and religious organisations. There are a number of religious organisations including; churches, sects, denominations and cults. A number of studies have some that women are more religious then men. Whatever women's influence and status may have been in religious organizations, studies have consistently shown that women are more religious than men. Miller and Hoffmann (1995) report that women are more likely to express a greater interest in religion have a stronger...
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...practical matters are emptied of any spiritual significance. Secularisation according to Wilson is the process whereby ‘religious thinking, practice and institutions social significance,’ that people are more interested in leisurely pursuits and that society and religion has become more pluralistic as a result of globalisation. Exclusivists think that secularisation is definitely happening whilst inclusivists argue that it is not happening, rather that society is experiencing resacralisation, that there are other religions such as NRMS and New Age Spirituality which are equally valid. Woodhead and Heelas suggest that there are two versions of secularisation. Firstly the disappearance thesis states that modernity is bringing about the death of religion. This thesis tends to use Church statistics as evidence. Crockett found that in 1851 40% Church attendance and in 2007 2% attended. In 2002 2/3 attended a religious service such as weddings no more than once a year. However there are problems concerning the use of Church statistics, regarding their reliability and validity. Statistics tell us very little about the social meaning of religion as Davie suggests many people can believe without belonging. Bellah also notes that religion is now private and individualised, such qualitative beliefs may be invisible to the sociological eye and consequently difficult to measure using quantitative methods. Opinion polls are also problematic as it tells us very little about these social meanings...
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