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Challenges of Religious Pluralism Essay

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For centuries, religion in America has been more of a family affair. What this means is that despite the different groupings, almost all major religions have been united under the same American experience. Almost all the main religious denominations have been required to conform to the dictates of Protestantism. Maybe this has been derived from the belief that almost all of these groupings have been responsible for shaping America as we know it today. However, many things have happened in the past few decades to change the way religions have been conducting themselves. One theme that has overly changed over the years is that of pluralism. For many years, America has been a haven of different groupings of people. The British immigration …show more content…

This philosopher incorporated the grouping of Aristotle in to Christianity. According to this law, all-important human principles have a proper reason that is dictated by nature. An example of this is sexual intercourse whose main goal is procreation. The church has repeatedly fought the use of contraceptives as a means of family planning arguing that it contravenes Gods purpose of procreation. To devout Catholics, this is a sign of immorality and should therefore be fought by all people of good will. Influence from outside has caused scholars in the church to question such things as sexuality in its different forms. This has called the church to realize, that society has changed and that there is need for the church to change too. Another area where the Catholic Church has modified its activities to suit European notions is on the issue of penance. Traditionally, the practice was administered on a very personal basis. In the process of penitents, those seeking forgiveness, would kneel in a specially made box known as the confessional. Usually, this box consisted of screens that divided the priest and the penitent. This was meant to create an air of anonymity between the two. The priest would then order the penitent to offer a set of prayer or observe other religious rituals for the forgiveness to take effect. However, over the years, people have criticized this move as too impersonal. This practice has been modified and today the practice

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