A Higher Power

In The Sacred Quest, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham attempts the search for a coherent definition of religion. While he doesn’t strive for a one-sentence interpretation of what indicates a real, organized religion, he arrives on several elements and functions to give meaning to his definition. To Cunningham, there are five elements that make up a religion: belief, feeling, action, individual and community aspects, and values. Cunningham argues that these five elements exists in order to explain what could not otherwise be explained, enable people to sustain hope in the face of difficult experiences, and provide ways of thinking that provide goals and respond to “great problems” in life (158). All of these aspects work

The religious reclamation offered the all inclusive community the voice to talk up for their religious want, asks for, and stand up to the experts. The results of the Great Awakening and religious recuperation were to extend religious routine concerning different religions and also to segregated places of love with extended correspondence.

This will be based on the chapter 4 Religion as "Truth-Claims", posted on Blackboard. First of all, Dianne L. Oliver makes a preface about her writings saying that religions claim to get the truth, and followers of diverse religions say that their truth is the only one true, and cannot be compare with any other. Also, she remarks that many of those religion followers use violence to uphold their own version of truth. Moreover, she let us know that she is going to consider the "True-Claims" of different religions, and show how those claims can influence the practices, behaviors, and ideas of religion followers. Next to the introduction, she considers that religion is very essential for understanding the fundamental questions in our daily lives.

The anthropological studies of religion show that individuals use religion to serve different purposes, but they rarely note that these functions are different in some cultures. These religions involve both cosmological and transcendental which vary in their beliefs and practices. The transcendental religions view the existence of the universe as strong evidence for God’s presence. This religion assumes a Supreme God created the universe and that he still maintains its existence. Cosmology, on the contrary, is highly individualistic in both character and philosophical outlook and they resist any common doctrinal stance. While transcendentalists believe in ultimate power in supernatural powers, cosmological religions believe in ultimate power from the natural world. The essay will compare between two cosmological religions which include, archaic religion and the primitive religion as well as one transcendentalist religion of Christianity together with how disenchantment de-legitimize cosmological religions.

In “Congress and the Quest for Power” by Lawrence Dodd (1977), politicians enter Congress with the sole incentive to obtain power for their own arbitrary reasons. However, this power requires reelection; by being reelected, they are proving that are conforming to society's traditions, creating an air of personal equitableness, and helping themselves gain the the necessary skills that justify the exercise of power. The member of Congress soon develops an incumbent advantage and is no longer afraid of losing his position, whichever one it may be. As the hunt for power and authority continues, he moves through different phases that bring him closer and closer to the end of his goal. For example, the politician will gather up support from the electoral base by doing casework and joining housekeeping committees and legislative and committees that have to do with their district’s needs. If he finds himself successful, he will move on to serving primary committees such as those dealing with commerce, education, and labor. He becomes a legislator and focuses on national concerns rather than the more local ones, gaining power as he does so. If the Congressman is able to get this far in

For purpose of this essay, religion will be defined as a collection of institutional beliefs and customs concerning humanity and the purpose of the universe [1]. Key beliefs within religion that will be explored, as well as there relation to reason, are:

Spirituality and religion are often seen as significantly positive resources for individuals dealing with hardship and adversity throughout the life course. Spiritual coping is often effective and most often employed when in unfathomable situations or faced with "problems of human insufficiency" (Pargament, 1998). However, spirituality may also be diminished when it becomes associated with demoralization or negativity, such as when one feels abandoned by faith or condemned by the world (Van Hook, 2013) in their current situation or experience. Higher powers and spiritual connection then begin to appear either irrelevant or beyond reach, and viewpoints become fatalistic as individuals resign to the belief that their faith has not helped them.

Relig-ish affirms the fact that, for many people, abandoning one’s faith isn’t a lazy act, but is “a mindful and appropriate response in an expanding world” (5). Mee-Chapman recognizes the diverse spiritual needs of her audience and carefully guides us through the process of creating “a set of right-fit spiritual practices that are rooted in your history, authentic to who you are today, and creative enough to grow with you” (6).

Religion is constructed on faith and belief of an individual even though it is the individual choice to follow it or not. It has stirred a lot of debates for years; those who are trying to prove that God exists throughout history and follow to modern day. While, those who are atheist are trying to prove their point of God does not exist. There are still more and more theories and debate over the subject of religious view. It is a matter of theism versus atheism; new and old philosophers have joined the debate and all with different sides to another philosopher’s theory or view on the matter. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the reasons given by Louis Pojman of why religion is good or bad, as well as evaluating Bertrand Russell argument about religion. This can define the meaning of life and the creation of life as we know it. It can change views or switch sides for there is always another explanation to exactly what religion is all about and having a superior ruler that created all.

If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no

Finally, the third section will dwell on the controversial topic of faith, and human’s need for belief. Religion has done an excellent job in manipulating human’s need for trust. Therefore, the combination of these three sections should compel the reader to better understand why such a false belief, such as religion has had such success throughout history.

Religion emerges from the human susceptibility for protection and use it as a tool for liberation from the bitter realities and perplexities of the world. “Religious ideas are teachings and pronouncements about facts and states of external (or internal) reality that convey something one has not discovered for oneself and which assert the right to be believed” (Freud 88). We must object to religious claims because there is no proof to substantiate them and merely ideas we follow for generations. Religious ideas are beyond the control of reasoning, as if we don’t validate our beliefs and behave that our beliefs have a substantial basis of support. Religious ideas are teachings, not the thought that

Religion and spirituality reach into the depths of the human psyche and strongly influence a nation’s way of life.

However, there is another side to religion, one that is quite contrary to idea of unification and acceptance. When looking through the scope of history, we can also see religion as an exclusionary tool, often used to differentiate groups of people on an innate level. As many of these idealogies attempt to assert

ABSTRACT: After 350 years of continual social transformations under the push of industrialization, capitalism, world-wide social revolutions, and the development of modern science, what reasonably remains of the traditional faith in divine transcendence and providential design except a deep-felt, almost 'ontological' yearning for transcendence? Torn between outmoded religious traditions and an ascendant secular world, the contemporary celebration of individuality only makes more poignant the need for precisely that religious consolation that public life increasingly denies. People must now confront the meaning of their lives without the assured aid of transcendent purpose and direction. The