...------------------------------------------------- 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...
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...Social Compass http://scp.sagepub.com/ Theories of Conversion: Understanding and Interpreting Religious Change Lewis R. RAMBO Social Compass 1999 46: 259 DOI: 10.1177/003776899046003003 The online version of this article can be found at: http://scp.sagepub.com/content/46/3/259 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education Additional services and information for Social Compass can be found at: Email Alerts: http://scp.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://scp.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://scp.sagepub.com/content/46/3/259.refs.html >> Version of Record - Sep 1, 1999 What is This? Downloaded from scp.sagepub.com at University of Zambia on March 22, 2014 Social Compass 46(3), 1999, 259–271 Lewis R. RAMBO Theories of Conversion: Understanding and Interpreting Religious Change The author explores the nature of theory and provides an overview of resources for the study of conversion to Islam. Theory is valuable in so far as it illuminates different aspects of a phenomenon. Various theoretical approaches include some dimensions and exclude others. Scholars of conversion must be aware of theoretical issues and systematically utilize theoretical options with sophistication. Such an approach will expand understanding of conversion and also enhance comparative...
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...RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE A2 Philosophy of Religion What is Religious Experience? • A religious experience is a non-empirical occurrence and may even be perceived as supernatural • It can be described as a “mental” event which is undergone by an individual and of which that person is aware. • Such an experience can be spontaneous or it may be brought about as a result of training and self-discipline. • Recipients of religious experiences usually say what has happened to them has drawn them into a deeper knowledge or awareness of God. • It is very important to remember that the experience itself is not a substitute for the Divine, bit a vehicle that is used to bring people closer to the Divine. • The experience that each individual has is absolutely unique and cannot be shared with anyone. • Finally, genuine religious experiences seem to be encouraging, they do not condemn the individual, but help them to live a better life or, for example, to help others. Arguments from Religious Experience from William James. The most famous commentator on Religious Experience is William James (1842 – 1910) He recognised that the term mystical is used in a wide variety of contexts but suggested that using it to refer to “any person who believes in thought transference and spirit return” is far too ambiguous. His famous work “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, published in 1902 includes his categorisation of the four characteristics which, he claims, will enable us to...
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...Religious studies are a broad, multidisciplinary academic discipline to study the beliefs, and behaviors pertaining to different world religions. According to the author, unlike other major academic disciplines, the study of religion is not based on any unique methodology but is derived from several other fields of academia. This field of study is so broad that any attempt to develop a unique methodology would limit the scope of understanding and further research into the subject. Hence, religious studies derive inputs from several other fields of study and provide its scholars with a plethora of these derived methodologies. The absence of any unique methodology is dealt by incorporating several other academic fields and developing different approaches for interpretation and research. Scholars, who look at religion from the perspective of society, use one such approach. They look at both sides of the coin and study how society shapes religion and how religion has been shaped by the various societal factors. They also try to analyze the changing symbiosis of religion and society by adopting either a quantitative approach of statistical surveys or a qualitative approach. Another such methodology involves anthropological study of religion. The rituals, practices and behaviors of tribal groups provide a deep insight into the oldest form of religious habits, which have been carried for ages. This approach studies the traditions that have been carried by all these traditions from...
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...Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Langdon Gilkey are religious theorists who both propose theories of pluralist religious dialogue. Their theories turn out to be quite similar, with Cohn-Sherbok’s proposal actually fitting into one of the categories Gilkey proposes. Like many other theories of religious pluralism, their ideas tend to conflict with established religious ideas and may not be feasible for actual use in interfaith conversation. However, Gilkey finally concludes that in order to figure out a pluralist model for religious dialogue, it must first be observed in practice, rather than putting forth proposals that are conflicted in reflection. In the end, the best step towards religious pluralism is in practice, rather than in thought and reflection. Cohn-Sherbok, from the Judaic perspective, starts with the basics, with the history of Jewish inclusivism, before he turns to show how that could turn into pluralism. He explains how, before the Holocaust, Judaism has had a comparatively tolerant attitude towards other religions, while still believing that Judaism was the one true faith. They did not condemn other religions for their practices, as their prophets said that in the end of days all people would accept their God (Cohn-Sherbok, 121). After the Holocaust however, Jewish thinkers distanced themselves from Christianity (Cohn-Sherbok, 123) Unlike the exclusivist view of Christianity, Jews have a long tradition of toleration, with the belief that God’s will extends to other faiths...
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..."In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars." Richard M. Nixon. Many people believe that all war is caused by your religious beliefs but others disagree. One example is the Crusades. A crusade is a war fought on behalf of God. America uses this excuse all the time. The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions occurred between 1096 and 1291. The bloody, violent and often ruthless conflicts propelled the status of European Christians, making...
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...article examined, and the overall significance of the article appraised. By doing this, it will be possible to read this paper and obtain a general feel for all the articles the have been provided. WHAT DO WE EXPERIENCE IF WE HAVE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE? By Peter Antes. This article looks at why people who have religious experiences never “...saw a person who was totally unknown in the respective religious context where the apparition took place.” (Antes 3). Why don’t people ever see the God(s) from other religions, why do some people “...see Kali or Durga, while in Christian contexts, if the vision is that of a woman, St. Mary is seen instead.” (Antes 3). This thesis is rather profound in the fact that almost every religion claims to have religious experiences and divine visions, but never of the God(s) from other religions. An interesting contrast shown in the body of the article is between Madeleine Le Bouc, and Ramakrishna. The former, was said to be quite mad by Doctor Pierre Janet while the ladder was considered a saint. Antes points out that “...they had similar types of experience which, according to their surrounding milieus, found very different explanations: a medical one in terms of mental illness in the secular context of France, and a religious one in the Indian context of Hindu spirituality.” (Antes 2). By using this approach, the findings will be more valid as this argument explores “...the field of Psychology of Religion.” (Antes 3). There is an example that uses...
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...Is Religious experience a valid and trustworthy argument for the existence of God? Introduction In this essay I shall be making a case for why I believe Religious experience to be a valid and trustworthy argument for the existence of God, I will be focusing primarily on the Christian faith and some of it’s faithful adherents. I shall address some counter arguments, and conclude with what I believe counts for a valid religious experience, so as to decipher, to an extent, subjective human experience in contrast to what adherents to their faith would believe is a universal, absolute truth. Religious Experience The argument for ‘religious experience’ being a valid and trustworthy argument for the existence of God is often termed ‘the argument from perception’ as the one experiencing perceives that the experience itself is birthed by something or someone independent of the recipient . The logic behind the ‘argument from perception is that since there are so many people who at various times in history have claimed to have Theistic perceptions, there simply must be something to them’( Gellman,17,2001). Concerning the area of ‘Religious experience’ It is interesting to note that in an article for ‘The Guardian’ by columnist Mark Vernon, he cites renowned Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James as stating that the ‘strongest evidence for the existence of God was found in personal, inner religious experience’ ( Vernon, 2010). After extensive...
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...Religious Splits Christianity is the world religion with the greatest number of followers. The name Christian comes from the title given to Jesus of Nazareth – ‘the Christ’ which is a Greek word which means ‘Messiah’. Christianity began in Palestine in the 1st century CE as the claimed fulfillment of God’s promises to the Jews. There are many different types of Christianity practiced; the major division is between Western (itself divided into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) and Orthodox Christianity. Christianity is a belief system that has had immense cultural and political consequences. Christianity comes from the life and teachings of Jesus (5BCE-30CE approximately), a Palestinian Jew. Worship is undertaken in buildings called churches. Entry in to the Christian Church is via Baptism and is usually undertaken when the person is a baby though denominations such as Baptists wait until the person is old enough to confirm personally their own Christian faith. In denominations where Baptism is the norm for babies, Confirmation is undertaken where the person personally affirms the vows undertaken for them when they were baptized as a baby. Christians believe worshipping in a group is important and this is usually called a service which takes place in a church on a Sunday (Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday). Each denomination worships in a different way. Some may be only slight while others are more noticeable. The most important differences...
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...SIXTY DAYS AFTER CORPORATE LEADERSHIP MODULE-THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP IN CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION INTRODUCTION One day, a gentleman came to my office and in the course of our conversation he sought to convince me to become an Adventist. When I asked if he would like to become a Catholic instead, he immediately responded in the negative without assigning any serious doctrinal reasons. What was even more interesting was that he attended Catholic schools from the basic to the high school level. Next, to elicit his sociological reactions, I asked him to read a book by Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher. The book is titled WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. Without bothering to read even the first page of the book, he dismissively responded, “I don’t read such books; they are satanic.” I recognized immediately that he was in a state of dissonance, a state of conflict for he was sweating profusely in spite of the chilling temperature in my air-conditioned office: his psychological posture was that as an academic and a budding sociologist, he was supposed to read as widely as possible but reading books that would challenged the basis of his faith was asking for too much. So, the questions are: Why is religion such an emotive and volatile phenomenon? Why do people kill in the name of religion which often carries the message of peace, love and reconciliation? Why do people engage in apparently irrational behaviours in the name of religion? The answer is simple:...
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...Assess the usefulness of typologies in our understanding of religious organisations (33 marks) Religions are based upon very heterogenic principles and are structured in different ways, making them different of each other and therefore proving that they are not universal as some sociologists argue. Typologies within religious organisations have helped as to define religions and prove that they are based on religious pluralism and that they can be era-dependent, or in other ways can become outdated. Troeltsch was the first sociologist to divide religions into three different typologies; churches, sects and denominations, with very different characteristics and objectives. Troeltsch proved that some aspects of religions can be very different, like the background of members, the relationship to society or the tolerance towards other faiths and based upon this principles he divided each religion into one of his tree basic typologies. Troeltsch defines churches as large organisations with a universal appeal and defines Christianity and Islam as universalistic and as the main churches with a very close relationship with the state. Churches can have as mentioned a very close relationship with the state and the government, such as the Church of England, which has `monopolised´ the demands of the British society by becoming the predominant religion in the country. The Church of England has a very close relationship with the government, but also with the monarchy and therefore `jealously...
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...Liberty University The Contribution of Baptists in the Struggle for Religious Freedom A Research Paper Submitted to Dr. Jason J. Graffagnino in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Course CHHI 665 Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary by Brian M. Hyde Lynchburg, Virginia Saturday, December 6, 2014 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 IN THE BEGINNING 2 THE STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND 4 THE STRUGGLE MOVES TO THE NEW WORLD 7 CONCLUSION 11 WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY 14 INTRODUCTION In this nation, and in much of the Western world, the right of each individual to worship as his or her own conscience dictates, or not to worship at all, is one that is all too often taken for granted. Few consider the tremendous lengths gone to and the enormous price paid by so many to obtain and preserve this right. In the United States when one does reflect on this matter his or her thoughts rightfully focus on the many men and women of the armed forces who fought to gain and keep the freedoms the citizens of this nation enjoy. What is often overlooked is the contributions of Baptists in the centuries long struggle to obtain religious freedom. Their struggle began not in the American colonies but rather in England a century earlier. “The freedom of religious belief and behavior which modern Baptists and others take for granted was forged in the crucible of persecution in seventeenth-century England” McBeth adds that, “No group can claim more credit for the Act of Toleration, passed by Parliament...
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...Delusions Between Religion and Religious Beliefs Glenn Watkins Park University 3 December 2010 Abstract This paper discusses the results a study conducted by Mental, Health, Religion and Culture regarding a qualitative study examining the relationship between religious beliefs and delusions. The paper discusses the definition of delusions as well as religion and makes a stark comparison between the two. The paper includes many different religions and how each claims having a monopoly to salvation. The study included white males from seemingly the same background who were diagnosed as having symptoms of delusions ranging from ages 34 – 57. The paper also discusses several theories as discussed in class regarding thoughts from Erikson, Sullivan and Fromm. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief historical summary of why the author has contention with religion and religious beliefs. Key words: Delusional, fanaticisms, capricious, analogous, and tantamount. When one person suffers from delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from delusion it is called religion. - Robert M. Pirsig There is a close kinship to the relationship between religious beliefs and religious delusion. Merriam-Webster defines delusion as a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also: the abnormal state marked by such beliefs. Religion is defined as...
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...Historiographical perspectives of religious pluralism in Zimbabwe Zimbudzana Chimudzimu julius Preface Religion in Zimbabwe like in the rest of Africa plays an important role in the lives of people. In Africa a person is born into a religion. Rites of passages from the time of birth, even at conception, have a religious meaning. The dominant religion is the traditional religion which is practiced in different ways in different places. The Ultimate being worshipped through the ancestors is the creator God. All of creation is sacred. That means the trees, animals, peoples ,lands, rivers, wells, springs, forests and insects are sacred. Every space is sacred in ATR. The advent of foreign religions has forced people to abandon the traditional religion but in practice it is not possible to abandon it completely because it does not require daily or weekly attendance. One’s family can worship for and on behalf of the absent family members. In Zimbabwe the biggest challenges to traditional religion is/was Christianity and to a lesser extend Islam. There are records where Christianity failed to take off for very long periods. In Matebeleland the missionaries failed to make a single convert in a very long time. Christianity made significant inroads because of empirical colonization. It was seen as the religion of the Master and as such subjects had to identify with the master. Though there is no official proclaimed state religion, Christianity is taken by many to be the religion...
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...The Quaker religion was the most controversial and radical religions that arose from the civil war in England. The Quakers, like the Puritans detested political and religious authority. It was the Quaker belief that everyone deserved complete religious freedom without persecution from authority, the Quakers also openly allowed women to become involved and participate in religious affairs. During this time practices such as these infuriated many of the opposing religious factions. In New England Quakers often received harsh punishments and harassment for undermining religion, and Puritans often tortured and even executed the Quakers (Shi and Tindall p.66). As such William Penn’s commonwealth colony of Pennsylvania arose in 1681. Penn encouraged...
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