...In recent years some sociologists have claimed that the west is becoming more secular. Secularisation is where religious belief, practiced and institutions loose social significance. There has been evidence to suggest that church attendance and the number of baptisms and church weddings are declining. However some sociologists reject secularisation theory and argue that religion is simply changing, rather than declining. They believe it is changing as a result of changes in wider society, such as, greater individualism and consumerism, or a shift from modern to late modern or postmodern society. Davie is one of these sociologists; in her view religion is taking a different, more privatised form. She explains this by giving the example of that people no longer go to church because they feel they have to or because it is respectable to do so. She says that although churchgoing has declined it is simply because attendance is now a matter of personal choice rather than the obligation it used to be. As a result there is believing without belonging, where by people hold religious beliefs but don’t go to church. Therefore the decline of traditional religion is matched by the growth of the new form of religion. Davie also notes a trend towards vicarious religion, whereby people are experiencing religion second hand. This is a typical pattern in Britain and northern Europe. In these societies people still use the church for rites of passage, rituals that make a change of status such...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...Assess the view that religious beliefs and practices are changing to reflect a new era of diversity and choice. (33 marks) Some sociologists reject the secularisations theory, they are beginning to say that instead of religion declining, it is changing, in terms of changing to reflect a new era of diversity and choice. Sociologists such as Davie argue that religion isn't declining but the need to publicise it is reducing, religion is taking a more privatised form. This can explain the decline in churchgoers; they no longer feel like they have to go to church to be religious, now attending church is a matter of choice rather than society frowning upon those who chose not to go. This has brought around ‘believing without belonging’, thus the decline of traditional religion is matched by the growth of a new form of it. Proving that modern society is not becoming increasing secular but forming new religions through choice and diversity. However, Voas and Crockett reject the claims Davie puts forward, explaining that if her thesis was to be true the British Social Attitudes survey from 1983 to 200 would show that belief in God is increasing, although it shows that not only is church attendance declining but also peoples belief in God. If Davie were right with new religions forming the surveys would've shown higher levels of belief. Bruce also interjects the view that if those who are religious are not willing to invest time into attending church, this must reflect the declining...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...Consequence of Religious Tolerance/Intolerance This paper will first define several words related to the title, expose some consequences of religious intolerance, and finally explain how religion connects with our culture. Our team discovered while looking at different religions that there were many religions than what we will define here. It is certain that a discussion about religion will at some point bring up the subject matter of there being so many different religions, and do they have any common components. Our group agreed that although that are many differences, there are some similarities, impacting four basic areas, such as : what people believe, what people do, what people think, and what people feel. For many people religion is their way of life. David Barrette in an a weekly column writes, “it is well known that those who think about their own religion often work hard to establish what they believe to be the correct interpretation for the time in which they live.” Another thing to take into consideration before moving on to the next definition is behavior. Behaviors of religion according to David Barrette could include rituals, meditation, and prayer, much of this list is learned after joining a particular religion, and again these all in turn become a way of life. In each particular religion, most members live very close to others practicing the same religion for comfort, strength, and in order to keep growing stronger in order to help newer members as...
Words: 2492 - Pages: 10
...TITLE 5 Compensatory time off for religious observances. (a) These regulations are issued pursuant to title IV of Public Law 95-390, enacted September 29, 1978. Under the law and these regulations, an employee whose personal religious beliefs require the abstention from work during certain periods of time may elect to engage in overtime work for time lost for meeting those religious requirements. (b) To the extent that such modifications in work schedules do not interfere with the efficient accomplishment of an agency's mission, the agency shall in each instance afford the employee the opportunity to work compensatory overtime and shall in each instance grant compensatory time off to an employee requesting such time off for religious observances when the employee's personal religious beliefs require that the employee abstain from work during certain periods of the workday or workweek. (c) For the purpose stated in paragraph (b) of this section, the employee may work such compensatory overtime before or after the grant of compensatory time off. A grant of advanced compensatory time off should be repaid by the appropriate amount of compensatory overtime work within a reasonable amount of time. Compensatory overtime shall be credited to an employee on an hour for hour basis or authorized fractions thereof. Appropriate records will be kept of compensatory overtime earned and used. (d) The premium pay provisions for overtime work in subpart A of part 550 of title 5, Code of...
Words: 6497 - Pages: 26
...Assignment Title: Cultural Diversity Context The unit aims to introduce you to a range of beliefs held by individuals within our society. It will help you to understand and value the ways in which we are different. You will learn what is meant by cultural diversity and about the beliefs of individuals from a wide range of different religious and secular backgrounds. The unit covers the factors that influence the equality of opportunity within our society which will help you to promote the equality of opportunity for service users in health and social care environments if you move to a career in this area of work. Task Overview You are a Learning Disabilities Nurse at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and as an additional responsibility you are responsible for the promotion of Equality and Diversity on the ward in which you work. This involves updating displays and leading staff training exercises related to equality, diversity and non-discriminatory practice. Date of issue: Date of submission: Learning outcomes On completion of this unit, you should: 1. Know diversity of individuals in society. 2. Understand beliefs and practices in different religious or secular groups. 3. Understand factors that influence the equality of opportunity for individuals in society. 4. Know the role of legislation, codes of practice and charters in promoting diversity. Refer to the assignment task sheet and the criteria tick...
Words: 1396 - Pages: 6
...Memorandum concerning alleged religious discrimination Religious discrimination is similar to all discrimination and yet completely different. Discrimination is broadly defined by giving preferential treatment or undue hardship on another person due to their religion, physical impairment, race, marital status, ethnic back ground or a number of other reasons. Religious discrimination is more difficult to access by appearance than say physical impairment. A person in a wheel chair or with a foreign accent is easy to distinguish as in a protected class. Religious beliefs are the individual’s beliefs and it is only the individual that knows this belief. This fact puts more burden of evidence on the plaintiff. This is a choice that the individual is allowed to change at any given moment. We must allow these choices to be made and accommodate but we must be made aware of the conflict. Religious discrimination is the lowest of all EEOC claims but this number has doubled in recent years (EEOC compliance Manual, 2008). It is obvious by the rapid increase in claims that a potential for unseen lawsuits may be developing within our organization without our deliberate attempt or without our knowledge. During World War II, the United States confined thousands of US citizens of Japanese descent. Currently, the climate in our country is one of discontent with those of Muslim backgrounds or appearing of Arab descent. This fear by outsiders of those cultures stems...
Words: 3212 - Pages: 13
...a personal matter to most people. Discussing these matters with strangers, or writing about them may be difficult at the very least. I have never given deep thought to what my personal belief system is nor have I written out or explored my thought processes on religion. I have always thought what my belief system is what it is. I have never studied the Bible and I do not have such strong convictions that my ideas cannot change. While science continues to evolve and try to explain everything in the universe one thing remains constant on Earth, almost all humans, no matter where he or she live, have some sort of religious belief or religious tradition. Their beliefs may be structured and a commonly held conviction of a traditional religion or it may be something such as atheism. My personal beliefs are as follows; I believe in an all empowering entity. I believe in God. My belief in the trinity is as follows, God is the Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ came to Earth and died to atone for the sins of man, the Holy Spirit is within each person as long as the individual believe in God and Jesus Christ. I cannot explain how I came to these beliefs. My family has never been overly religious and we never attended church so my beliefs were not ingrained from birth. Me religious belief system is almost like an entity that you cannot grasp, I have it in my heart and mind but it is probably cannot be explained in writing. I was raised in a predominately Mormon area in South...
Words: 1181 - Pages: 5
...------------------------------------------------- Religious intolerance Contents * 1Definition * 2Historical perspectives * 3Contemporary attitude and practice * 4See also * 5References * 6Further reading * 7External links ------------------------------------------------- Definition The mere statement on the part of a religion that its own beliefs and practices are correct and any contrary beliefs are incorrect does not in itself constitute intolerance (i.e., ideological intolerance). Religious intolerance, rather, is when a group (e.g., a society, religious group, non-religious group) specifically refuses to tolerate practices, persons or beliefs on religious grounds. ------------------------------------------------- Historical perspectives According to the 19th century British historian Arnold Toynbee, for a religious establishment to persecute another religion for being "wrong" ironically puts the persecuting religion in the wrong, undermining its own legitimacy.[1] ------------------------------------------------- Contemporary attitude and practice The constitutions of some countries contain provisions expressly forbidding the state from engaging in certain acts of religious intolerance or preference within its own borders, examples of such include The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Article 4 of the Basic Law of Germany, Article 44.2.1 of the Constitution of The Republic of Ireland, Article 40 of the Estonian Constitution...
Words: 1012 - Pages: 5
...The Religious Life of Planet Earth Strayer University REL 211 World Religion Deborah Sarmiento Professor: Zipporah Glass November 3, 2012 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF PLANET EARTH 2 The Religious Life of Planet Earth Upon arriving on the planet Earth it is my job to determine if people on earth are religious. To determine this I will try to find out what religion is and what it looks like. Secondly, I will try to describe three examples of behaviors or beliefs of religion observed and then I will explain what the function of religion appears to be on Earth. In conclusion, I will try to determine how else my observations could be interpreted. According to the dictionary religion is defined as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Religion implies a group of believers concerned with matters thought to be sacred. It involves a specific set of beliefs and specific set of rituals. It also involves notions of the right way to live. Discuss three examples of behaviors or beliefs observed that meet religious criteria. It seems that America has always been a religious country. It is generally accepted that more than half the American people attended a place of worship over a weekend. Most Americans attend services on Sunday...
Words: 836 - Pages: 4
...Elements of Religious Traditions Paper When speaking about religious beliefs, many things can come to your mind and need to be considered. When beginning this topic let’s start off with defining what “religion” means According to "Dictionary" (2013), “it is a set of beliefs usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often have a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs “. By this definition we can say that religion has personal meanings depending on the individual’s beliefs or what they are influenced by. In the following paper elements of religion will be introduced, the relationship with divine will be reviewed followed by the relationship with sacred time, the relationship with scared space, and lastly an examination of how these all relate to each other will be conducted. This paper will also review the critical issues that are presented when studying religion. Relationship with Divine In religious beliefs when speaking about divine the first thing that comes to mind for me is what is called a deity, considered to be supernatural people that are considered being sacred and divine. The meaning of the word divine is “godlike” which makes deities to be perceived as divine because of their supernatural powers individuals believe they have. But not in every religious belief do they have deities’ some beliefs such as; According to Molloy and Hilgers (2010), “The religion Zen Buddhism does not worship a divine being” (Chapter 1). Others such as for example...
Words: 730 - Pages: 3
...American Intercontinental University Unit 4 Individual Project MGMT345-1403A-01 Diversity in the Workforce Part IV: Civil Rights Act: Title VII 1964 Legislation: Reasonable accommodation for religious practices. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers to discriminate against individuals because of their religious beliefs. This law does not apply to religious organizations or companies with less than 15 employees. (Civil Rights Division, N.D.) This policy states that an employer must reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee as long as it does not create undue hardship on the employer. (Civil Rights Division, N.D.) An undue hardship is defined, as an employer does not need to incur more than minimal costs in order to accommodate an employees religious practices. (Civil Rights Division, N.D.) When examining the religious beliefs of the Orthodox Jewish religion there are practices that could easily be accommodated and some practices that would be difficult to accommodate for an employer. Two practices that would be difficult to accommodate are Sabbath or Shabbat, which is the Jewish day of worship. The official day is Saturday and it is observed from Sundown on Friday until Saturday. During this time Orthodox Jewish are not permitted to work, drive cars, cook, use electricity, or touch money. (Everything you need to know about Orthodox Jews, 2010) If the company works on Saturdays it would be very hard to exclude...
Words: 1013 - Pages: 5
...individuals through faith and worship practices, the variety of religious beliefs impels conflict. This transpires because there is no tangible elements or components that can be perceive from our five senses, so there is no evidence to substantiate their beliefs and validate their idealism. However, these organized religious institution attempt to use spiritual practices, rituals, symbols and beliefs in attempts to illustrate a vivid depiction of this greater realm of reality (Axia, 2012).Also hoping this will be influential factors that will increase clout of their religion. Religion is encompassed by numerous political and historical entities that are profound to these religions. The people develop an strong emotional connection between these individuals and their beliefs. Once a person is emotionally involved in an idealism it can result in a positive outcome and promote exceptional social behavior or elicit negative actions. Religion can acquire a negative impact on society, an examples of this is war and hate crimes (Ganly, 2007).The Klu Klux Klan is a example of beliefs eliciting negative behavior. This radical group classified themselves as Christian group and states that their doctrine derives from their interpretation of the bible (Anti-Defamation, 2011). Their theology is strongly influenced by Christian Reconstructionism which is a movement that conveys to Christians to put their beliefs into action in all areas of life,...
Words: 792 - Pages: 4
...constructive discharge was in correlation with religious discrimination based on a work schedule policy change. The former employee states that the change in the work schedule policy was discriminatory, because it required employees to work on a religious holy day and due to this change the employee was forced to quit. Constructive discharge in employment law is typically when working conditions are so intolerable that the employee feels compelled to resign (Constructive Discharge, n.d.). Constructive discharge is a discriminatory practice that forces an employee to resign due to perceived intolerability in the work environment. Courts will typically agree with the claim of constructive discharge, if the court determines that any reasonable employee in a similar situation would also feel discriminated against if in the former employee’s position (Ford, Notestine, & Hill, 2000). Courts also require that an employee show that the working condition was so intolerable and that the employer made it purposely so, it forced the employee to resign (Ford, Notestine, & Hill, 2000). The burden of proof is placed on the former employee to show prima facie (first look) evidence that the employer did engage in discrimination against the employee (Friedman, A. 2005). Prima facie cases is when an employee is claiming religious discrimination must prove that the employee had a genuine religious belief and the employer duties conflicted with these beliefs; second, that the employee notified...
Words: 1960 - Pages: 8
...and Literature Date of Submission Explain how a given institution or symbol system in a nonwestern culture enhances the viability of that culture or, alternately, serves the purposes of some social group or category within that culture According to Madsen (101), syncretism refers to the fusion of differing religious forms and views into one. When related to religion, it often result into a creation of a new system of belief system which begins when alien viewpoints get introduced to an indigenous belief system and the traditions of the two systems intertwined and the new heterogeneous religion depicts characteristics of the component conglomerate of religious believes. Religious conversion refers to a continuous and consistent process of change in the religious believers’ practices. This is often realized through adoption of new systems and practice by abandoning some of their practices which may be considered as archaic (Hassing 247-248). Integration of the two ideologies explains certain religious factors which appear to be integrated between several bodies of religious belief systems. In movie The Other Conquest, the producer displays out two different belief systems adopted by the Spanish and the natives of the Aztec empire found in Mexico. The opening scene shows Topiltizn, the illegitimate son of Aztec Emperor named Moctezuma, thrashs about to move out from under a corpse. He survived the massacre at their place of worship had been raided by Cotes, he gradually...
Words: 1712 - Pages: 7
...Practices & Rituals I selected rituals and practices because I feel as though it varies so much in many different religions and many people don’t fully understand what other religions practice or why. Religious rituals are not just window dressing for the core beliefs of a religious tradition; ritual practices form identity and sustain tradition. In Christianity, which is the religion I study, we have worship services that include singing, prayer and a sermon. At home, most practicing Christians pray regularly and many read the Bible this helps Christians maintain our relationship with God, maintain their faith in God and peace of mind. However, People who practice Hindu religion have a completely different form of devotion that usually takes the form of rituals and practices associated with sculptures and images of gods in home shrines. With regard to the latter, traditional Hindus are expected to pass through four stages (ashramas) over the course of their life, in which they practice different forms of yoga. Rituals are also important to the Jain faith because it is through rituals that beliefs and values are expressed. The Jain religion practice monasticism; a specific way of living, worship, and meditation. Buddhism incorporates a variety of rituals and practices, which are intended to aid in the journey to enlightenment and bring blessings on oneself and others. For example, the practice of meditation is central to nearly all forms of Buddhism, and comes directly...
Words: 669 - Pages: 3
