What is the meaning of Christmas in an increasingly secular and globalized world? Christmas is traditionally observed as the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. In the bible there are two accounts of this birth‚ the gospel of Mathew and the gospel of Luke. Our current narrative contains elements of both and draws from outside the synoptic gospels. The historical accuracy is arbitrary. The French anthropologist Leevi Strauss‚ a student of tribal myths and cultures‚ asserts that myths are
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Secular Individualism My original title for my Capstone Thesis was supposed to be "How Individualism Related to the American Vision." The further into the assignments for this class the further away from believing all of what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about in his essay "Self-Reliance" (1841‚ 1847). I have not completely given up on all of the points he made in his essay though. Some of the ideals that Emerson stated that I do still believe are‚ "To believe your own thought‚ to believe that
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Informative Speech- Wedding Traditions around the world. Topic- Marriage rituals around the world. Purpose statement-Even though getting married is one of the things we all share in the world‚ everyone has their own unique way of doing it. Organizational Pattern- Specific Introduction Attention Getter- Wasn’t the day of your wedding one of the most special days of your life? I got married last year‚ a big full traditional wedding‚ and it was definitely very special and very memorable
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Weir to comment on the injustices of modern culture and the development of characters as a result. In the film Witness the Western World influences and changes the characters through the new experiences they face and encounter. Throughout the course of the film the Amish boy‚ Samuel Lapp undergoes many changes as he is influenced and corrupted by the horrors of the Western World as appose to the Amish culture which dwells on living a pacifist lifestyle within which he lives. The murder scene in Witness
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Examine religious and secular beliefs regarding the value of human life (AO1-45 MARKS) The value of human life is a concept which is interpreted in many different ways within religion and with secular communities. For example Christianity holds strong belief in concepts such as Imago Dei and the sanctity of life. Christians also hold strong belief that we are given value in terms of free will and a god-given soul. Alternatively‚ humans are given value in the Buddhist faith through the process of
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Religious specialists are very important to their community. African communities‚ like many others‚ have seasonal festivals‚ perform rites of passage‚ and communicate with the unseen world. In order for the communities to perform such events‚ they must have religious specialists. A religious specialist‚ either men or women‚ ranks above ordinary humans. They each have a vital force and knowledge‚ that gives them the ability to mediate between society and the invisible world. The goal of all religious
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Religious Believers Understand More About the World than Scientists To discuss this statement first we must look at the definition of understanding. Religious believers and scientists would probably differ in their definitions and therefore disagree from the beginning. A religious person would perhaps say that understanding the world means knowing how to be a good person‚ how to live a good life and fulfill God’s plan. A scientist would probably disagree‚ saying that understanding the world is
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The threat Class 081 NO.15 Renie With the development of society and the upgrade of facilities‚ people can reach news all around the world with no efforts. As a result‚ they learn certain problems threatening our world‚ such as terrorism‚ extremism‚ poverty‚ totalitarianism‚ and so on. However‚ when pondering what the most dangerous threat the word faces today is‚ people’s opinions vary. As far as I’m concerned‚ terrorism is the most dangerous one‚ since it brings us lots of distress and
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03/08/2012 Religion Paper #2 What is Western Civilization and how does one describe it? Where does the west begin and were does it end‚ what exactly is the meaning of civilization? These are the questions that we have to ask ourselves. Because people are often both partial and biased‚ our definition of Western civilization is going to be comparative to how we see ourselves in this day and age. So let’s take a look into a brief description of what is meant by Western culture‚ and two specific examples
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The Playboy of the Western World gains its title from the scene in which Christy can’t be beaten in play at any of the village sports‚ hence he becomes the "playboy." The phrase "of the Western World" leads the way into Synge’s theme of Irish mythmaking‚ then still especially noticeable in unsophisticated peasant groups. With the inclusion of this phrase‚ the myth of the playboy encompasses the whole world. Mythmaking deviates from reality‚ as is made clear by the stretch of the title: Irish village
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