The debate on whether abortion is right has remained a longstanding source of contention among members of the various fronts of our society. On one hand, proponents claim of the view that making abortion illegal is a contradiction to the ability by women to enjoy their right to life and freedom of c...

If you have ever gone to school, then you have most likely recited the "Pledge of Allegiance" numerous times. Did you ever notice the part of it that said "under God?" The Pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Christian socialist; it was to be said in the public school...

In contemporary American society, a general topic for moral discussion is euthanasia, the act of painlessly ending the life of a person for reasons of mercy. This is usually done in cases in which the person is hopelessly sick or injured. Although by this definition euthanasia may clearly seem to ...

In Philip Hefner's article Cloning as Quintessential Human Act he claims that cloning of humans is acceptable if it is done with great care, with special attention given to the fact that one does not destroy the "spiritual dimension of life". Hefner presents several arguments in his s...

Animal Rights Throughout recent history, although mostly in contemporary American society, a general topic for moral discussion is the ethical treatment of animals. Much debate has resulted from this topic, with the major question being, "should animal life be given the same respect as hum...

The Compatibility of Faith and Reason When comparing the two selections by W.K. Clifford and William James on the compatibility of faith and reason, I feel that both arguments make very valid points. However I do think, after careful reading and based on my own experience, that William James h...

This essay aims to respond to "No stopping religion's misguided missile" article by Richard Dawkins. The article first appeared in The Guardian and has since been reprinted in many newspapers worldwide. The core thesis of Dawkin's argument relates to the potential danger aris...

Grounds of Religious Faith and The Existence of GodIf asked the question, What are the grounds for religious faith? One would probably sitand ponder on an answer for quite some time. However, you have to go right to the mainargument, that argument is whether or not god exists. That is the topic of...

Identifying Rhetorical Devices A foreign policy expert? What marvelous irony that a man who couldn't name the president of Pakistan or find Yemen or even Iraq on the world map is now considered a foreign policy expert. Someone in the administration should tell Bush the word is "nuclear" and n...

ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY On the time scale of the history of the Earth an individual human lifetime is a mere blink of an eye. We're born, we live, and we die. What is the point of living? If we're all going to be dead in the end anyway, what difference does it make what we do with our lives? Does the f...

Emile Durkheim, in his Elementary Forms of Religious Life, proposes a new sociology to attain a deeper understanding about humanity. He makes the assumption that all societies are intrinsically the same and runs with it. Using the notion that the Australian Aboriginal society is like that of the We...

It may seem similar and it may not, but what we do know, is that they both believe that they are Muslims. The Islamic beliefs of the black American male and the males of the Middle East are the same. My argument lies in the question of whether or not Africans can call themselves true Muslims, believ...

In this paper, I am going to explore the differences between communism and socialism and how different the thoughts and opinions of these two ways of life are from the current western views on religion and God. To explain about the differences between socialism/communism and western thoughts on rel...

Abstract Religious beliefs and the zeal of Missionaries and Preachers had an undeniable influence on America's history since the first explorers set foot on this continents shores. Religious was used as a tool to justify individual goals and to provide society with the justification for...

The Justification of a Life-Centered Perspective Santa Cruz is a city known for its beach access and huge redwoods. These redwoods have lately come into an environmental debate regarding their co-existence with the lime kiln, and the subsequent new growth dominance of the redwoods over the kil...

Pascal builds his argument in "Man and the Universe" out of a series of paradoxes, seemingly contradictory truths. In writing, "Man and the Universe," Pascal reflected his views on what is our place in the world as human beings. Pascal's writing shows a harmony be...

Euthanasia Discuss the potential implications of legalizing euthanasia in New Zealand and examine its possible advantages and disadvantages. Do humans have any rights when it comes to their own deaths? Euthanasia is a very controversial issue being discussed in today's public forums. Most...

Discussion of end of life issues can be quite complex. Arguments on both sides of the issue can be extremely passionate due to the presence of deeply held emotional beliefs among opponents. This characteristic of the debate is fully inescapable in instances such as these. Despite the natural ...

Machiavelli's treatment of ethics and morality is amoral. This is so because he simply talks about what it takes to be an effective leader. In no way is Machiavelli promoting immorality. He speaks of immorality acts in order for a ruler to serve the greater good of his people. He looks at polit...

What is a Human Being?There are three main viewpoints in argument on what a human being is. Those viewpoints are empirical, rational and metaphorical. Empiricists base their views on observation and experimentation. Rationalists rely on reason as the best guide for belief and action. A metaphori...

If you take a look up out in the sky on a seemingly clear night, try and ask yourself how the stars, the moon and everything else came to be. Again the question of existence takes over your mind the same way it did everyone else's years ago. How did the world begin? What was the cause? Who was ...

There is no doubt that our environment is in the face of crisis. The threats that our ambiance suffers is the product of man's exploitation of nature. However, whether the answer to this problem is to completely change our worldview remains controversial. Lynn White, Jr. argues in his essay The...

The 1973 United States Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision, while providing for some semblance of legal structure to the political debate over abortion, has led to further question within moral and religious aspects of our society. In that decision, the Court found that a woman had the right to choo...

There is a growing trend in America today that something drastically needs to be changed in our school system. The public is scared to send their children to a place where they could potentially be shot, stabbed, beaten, or be subjected to drugs on any given day. The morals of this country\'s youth ...

What is reality? How can we tell truth from untruth? People\'s willingness to comprehend these concepts has been reflected in the discussions of different philosophers. These discussions have not always developed in the same direction, although they sometimes had common points as well. Such a patter...