A Peaceful New Religion Movement

1:6 How are the political aspirations of Judaism given a spiritual fulfillment in Acts? What two interrelated traditions echo in question of the disciples about restoration of the kingdom to Israel? How does Acts confirm the hopes of the disciples?

It is difficult to provide a precise definition of religion as scholars think that there are various types of religion practices. (Sauchelli, 2016) According to Smith (1963); Wulff (1997), “religion” seemed to have a minimum of three different meanings in ancient Rome, including a superhuman power that must be respected, the feeling present in an individual observing and thinking of a superhuman power and ritual acts carried out in the name of a superhuman power. Argyle and Beit-Hallahmi (1975) stated that "religion" is a system of beliefs of a divine or superhuman power. Bellah (1970) defined "religion" as a set of symbolic forms and acts that relate man to the ultimate conditions of his

In a secular society religion is not necessarily decreasing in the public sphere purely based off the separation of the church and state but rather an opportunity for religious pluralism is created. Functionalist, Emile Durkheim views religion as an important aspect of society which will always exist and serve a purpose (Holmes, et al., 2015, p. 281). While the role of traditional religion is slowly declining, spirituality is rapidly increasing in Australia (Holmes, et al., 2015, p. 279). The ‘New Age’ is a new form of religion which came together in the 1960s as a movement “anticipating the spiritual transformation of the world,” according to Melton (2000 as cited in Beckford & Demerath, 2010, p. 2). Similarly to the proposition of Durkheim

Since the sixteenth century, the Spanish expanded their religious, Catholicism, to the America and settle their belief into the Native American. During the time period of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the religious upheavals caused many changes in the society not only in the America but also some Europe countries. This put a huge impact on the life of people in many countries.

The New Christian Right were a group of people in the protestantism took an part in the political affairs actively. Many issue came out during that time period that were contrary to the purpose of Christianity. In essence, the protestant tradition was the foundation of the American civilization.

The First Great Awakening, was a religious revitalization movement that came through the Atlantic region, and even more so in the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, forever impacting American religion & is widely known as the most important event for American religion during the eighteenth century. The First Great Awakening was inspired by an English Methodist known as George Whitefield along with other ministers, when many people in the rural areas rejected the Enlighted and rational religion that came from the Cosmopolitan pulpits and port cities. George Whitefield began this movement with speaking tours through the colonies (“The Great Awakening”).

Ever since its creation America has always been seen as the icon for peace and prosperity; however, just like every other nation in the world, America has encountered some exceedingly dark and sinister incidents of the past years. Like David Berkowitz’s killing spree in New York City during the summer of 1976, the Virginia Tech shooting that took place on the college campus in 2007, and even the horrific Oklahoma City Bombing that Timothy McVeigh orchestrated in 1995. But there is one event in particular that was even more heinous and stranger than any of those – the Jonestown Massacre. It was a mass suicide that occurred on November 18, 1978, in Guyana that took the lives of over 900 innocent people (The Stigmatized Deaths in Jonestown…

At days end on November 18, 1976, Jonestown was left lifeless. Jones watched as all of his followers (forced or under free will) drink the poisoned Kool-Aid as he commanded. Yet he did not receive the same way out, he was too cowardly and proud to take his own life, Jones was killed by one of his followers with a single gunshot to the back of the head (Jim Jones 2014). He died that day with his followers, with no punishment. The families of members of the cult will never have closure, no justice for those who had been killed.

For a person to die from the poison, it would take about five minutes, it was not a peaceful death either. Jones ended up not taking the poison like the rest of the members. He was later found with a self-inflicted gun shot wound in his head. It is not exactly clear why he did not joun the rest of them by taking the poison. These events shocked the world, people did not understand how one man could be so influential to convince a whole town of people to take their own lives. It was a horrific scene, images of hundreds of bodies that were covered all around the grounds of the compound quickly hit the media. Families lying together, holding hands, mothers holding their children, even notes were found with their bodies, declaring their final words and who they want their belongings to go to. Throughout all the course of these events, nine hundred and eighteen people died on November 18, 1978. It was widely talked about, people even started saying the phrase, "Drink the kool-aid", meaning that they were being brainwashed. There are several documentaries, interviews, and movies in connection with the events that occurred at Jonestown. Survivors spoke out about the conditions there and what they were told into believing. Jim Jones' own son is one of the survivors

(McCormick Maaga) He would hold what he called White Night events where he would force the followers to drink fake poison wine to test their loyalty. Jim Jones would even fake heart attacks or act like he was getting shot during the White Night events to see who would try to help him, and who would run. Deborah Layton Blakey lived in Jonestown for a few months before leaving in the spring of 1978. After Blakey escaped she attempted to get government officials involved in the problems going on in Jonestown, with little success. Blakey described the suicide plans in an interview “We were informed that our situation had become hopeless and that the only course of action open to us was a mass-suicide for the glory of socialism. We were told that we would be tortured by mercenaries – were we taken alive. Everyone, including the children was told to line up. As we passed through the lines, we were given a small glass of red liquid to drink. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We all did as we were told.” (Ulman & Abse 1983, 653).

I do think something like the Great Awakening could occur today. The Great Awakening was a significant religious movement that apprised the minds of colonists in aspects of religious faith and belief, liberty, equality, and self-reliance. They based ideas on new lights and old lights, concerning the change in faith of churches. For example, Nathanael Henchman was a minister in Lynn, Massachusetts. He blamed George Whitefield for breaking up all of New England’s churches and "declared that George Whitefield is a dangerous man, harmful to the religion of Jesus Christ." The excerpt from Henchman's letter expresses his perspective as a Congregationalist (Old Lights) who stated Whitefield's revivals to influence the people and stop peace and

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

After murdering a United States congressman Jones knew the end of his rule was near. He ordered his entire following, some 914 people, to commit what he called "revolutionary suicide." This included more than 200 children.

The family members called the U.S government and asked them to investigate Jonestown. The U.S government told California Congressman Leo Ryan about Jonestown and he decided to go there himself and make sure that everyone was okay. He took a newspaper reporter and a cameraman with him. When he got there one of the cult members threatened to kill him if he did not leave. Ryan decided to go back to the U.S, and fifteen other Jonestown members wanted to go with him. As they were boarding the plane, Jones sent over gunmen who killed Ryan, his cameraman, the reporter and some of the people trying to leave Jonestown. The rest managed to escape. When Jones heard that they escaped he told his followers that they could no longer live in peace and that they would all have to sacrifice their lives so they could live in another world of peace together. At exactly 5:00 p.m .the mass suicide started. Jones and his aides put sedatives, cyanide, and tranquilizers in grape flavored Kool Aid and gave it to everyone in Jonestown. The people who would not drink it were forced by the other followers.909 people drank the poisonous drink and all of them died, 232 of those people were children. By 7:00 p.m., all 909 people where dead. Jones himself did not drink the Kool Aid. He was shot in the head, either by himself or his aide is undecided.

The message of peace is a fundamental universal concern which is relevant throughout our world today. Peace is not merely the ‘absence of war’, but a state of mind in which a sense of tranquillity comes from actively working towards right relationships with individuals and God. To understand the way in which Muslims and Christians view peace it is imperative to understand the source of the teachings for each religion. The principles teachings of peace for Both Christianity and Islam are primarily found in the sacred texts of both religious traditions. Christianity looks to the bible and specifically the New Testament for teachings about peace, whereas Islam focuses’ on the Qur’an and Hadith to guide their beliefs of peace. These sacred