Scientology: The Cult That Has Been Called a Religion The Church of Scientology has many deceitful practices that it portrays. It is a vicious and dangerous cult that masquerades as a religion. It practices a variety of mind-control techniques on people lured into its midst to gain contro...

Introduction The claim that religious experience can tell us nothing about god, because it is all in the mind strikes at the heart of the problem of religious experience. The study of religious experience, which took off with William James' definitive study in 1902, has put the topic at the ...

Believed to have been written from 2000-1800 B.C, the Book of Job is also commonly recognized as a Bible Wisdom Book. This piece of Hebrew literature was originally written as a set of instructions for the Jews. Set in the land of Uz northeast of Palestine the scriptures demonstrated the true meani...

Philip Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' is an interesting though complex piece of fiction that criticizes the influx of technology in our world through the use of robots. Androids in this novel are robots that appear like humans but lack the capacity of empathy and hence...

There are numerous controversial topics and issues that abound in the modern world. Some of these test the limits of our morals and ethics that it is sometimes difficult to determine what is black or white as a result of varying shades of gray. Abortion is one topic that has seen the battle lines dr...

Living in a multicultural society among people of different faiths, ethnicity, and nationalities has a number of obvious advantages as well as disadvantages. If an individual, or the society as a whole, is able to tap the positive synergy of diversity, there are enormous benefits to be gained. On th...

Since Biblical times, great importance has been placed upon the sense of the Jewish identity and the necessity for maintaining its purity. As the chosen people of God, Jews were for example not allowed to worship other gods or follow the practices of other nations. Observing the law and practices ...

Social ideology is a very important factor in social stability and change because it influences how the collective group responds to different social, political and economic situations. Religion is one of the principle social ideologies that impacts social stability and change, it is both a motivat...

Sider hit the mark when he writes in his article that there are "gaping holes in the ozone layer, polluted rivers, expanding deserts, denuded mountains, air-poisoned cities, and spiraling carbon emissions producing global warming." This present day ecological disasters are here and now and...

It is believed that there are approximately 4,200 religions worldwide. Each has its own set of values and beliefs that set it and the members apart. However, each has a similarity to other religions and their creeds. As a life-long Pentecostal, I, too, have a certain set of beliefs that are differen...

"Give me liberty, or give me death." Patrick Henry's words ring in my ears and yet I can not fully reconcile myself to the motivations they create. I am a man of the cloth; a man who set aside the battle-hardened skepticism of the military for a life spent preaching God's way. An...

"Blot out that day when I was born and the night that said 'a male has been conceived!" (3:1, p.57) The conventional, moralistic reading of the skeletal story of Job tends to take into consideration only the frame narrative of the tale. The framing Job prose fragment suggests a r...

"Imagine" by John Lennon is a philosophical song about peace in the world. It relates to "The Dream Weaver" by Jack Bowen because throughout the book, the Old Man asks Ian to "imagine" many things, from two artists, to their conversation being just a dream. Imagination is important to philosophy, ...

Early Colonial American society during the 17th and 18th centuries is characteristically bound by strong religious beliefs of Christianity. The New England inhabitants from Britain, who have established their respective colonies in the Americas, have brought with them their cultural histor...

In the study of sociology and politics of religion, Islam has been integral in analyzing how the unification of the church and state can be made possible under the Islamic setting. Indeed, Islam as one of the most dominant world religion, is more than a socio-political and religious phil...

Clerical celibacy is an important trait of Buddhism, and celibacy has also been mandated for various periods in the lives of many followers of different Eastern religions. To the Western mind that associates clerical celibacy with conceptions of sex-as-original-sin or of the priest as wed t...

Born in 1908, Louis L'Amour was to become on of the most prolific storyteller of the 20th century. His narrative style, easy to understand, as if actually telling the story, as well as his captivating stories of the west and the frontier days and ability to relate fiction with personal e...

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner's work, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, was inspired by the suffering he experienced with the tragic death of his son, Aaron. He, like many people who experience tragedy and loss, especially the loss of a child, experienced a search for meaning and a crisis ...

For society to continue to progress, I believe the concepts of morality and truth must be examined and re-infused into society. Morality and truth are the most crucial component of being a decent human being, and without such aspects of humanity, society would crumble. In some respects, society...

Bernard Shaw wrote his dramas, particularly "Man and Superman," in response to the idea that drama should merely entertain or to portray human characters as they seem to be in conventional life. "Man and Superman" transgresses conventional narrative structures of Victorian drama. It deta...

Cloning: Right or Wrong? How would you like to create your child by looking through a catalog? Just think, no worries of mental problems, the right color eyes, or even the right color hair. To some people, this is exactly what they are looking for, but for others, this is playing with God&ap...

"Bless Me Ultima" In the book "Bless Me Ultima", by Rudolpho Anaya, there were two families represented, the Marez family and the Lunas family. These two families were very different, but were brought together by the marriage of Gabriel Marez and Maria Lunas. Through the eyes o...

One of the filthiest words I know of is "religion". I consider it dirty because it seems to be one of the most devisive concepts/words among humanity. More wars have been fought over "religion" than any other cause. People who might possibly have to share something w/ one another might not e...

Why is art necessary? "It is necessary for us to give physical form to things we feel, think, and imagine." We use art in everyday living such as communicating information, day-to-day living, spiritual sustenance, personal expression, social and political purposes, and visual delight. Art can ...

New York Times, on Sunday, November 8, had an article on sentences addressed by a Federal judge to three members of the antigovernment Montana Freemen for conspiracy and fraud; the article stirred my memory and concern about this paper, as well as brought into play many of the dilemmas d...