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Compare And Contrast Why We Are Infidels And Imagine There's No Heaven

Decent Essays

Todd Cagle

DeGraffenreid

English 102

5, October 2015

Synthesis with "Why We Are Infidels" and "Imagine There's No Heaven"

In the essays "Why We Are Infidels," By E.L. Doctorow and "Imagine There's No Heaven" by Salman Rushdie both authors give hidden meanings when reading between the lines of each essay. The authors Rushdie and Doctorow might have completely different writing styles, but they both focus on humanism when it comes to these two writings. With the idea of humanism both writers heavily use logos, pathos and ethos to obtain the deeper meaning. In "Imagine There's No Heaven" Rushdie uses a way of writing that makes the text more exciting. In the text, Rushdie makes a point that he does not completely believe in religion practices …show more content…

Rushdie states," And if too many people are being born, as a result, in part, of religious strictures against birth control, then too many people are also dying because religious culture, by refusing to face the facts of human sexuality also refuses to fight against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases" (390). Rushdie gives hints that he thinks religion causes the spread of STDs because some practices don't allow the use of protection and is a big reason the world is overpopulated. Further on, Rushdie says, "To choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities" (390). Rushdie then uses ethos by making the reader feel like if they believe in religion than that they cant make life decisions for themselves. He then continues and says, "The ancient wisdom are modern nonsenses" (391) which show that he completely rejects the old teachings. Rushdie then ends his paper by showing he is very careless and that it's only his way or the high …show more content…

Doctorow then makes points through the ideas he wrote. Doctorow writes, "our religions or religious cults testify to the deeply serious American thirst for celestial connection" (387). The author then shows that American need spiritual connection and is why Americans practice their beliefs. Doctorow then uses the statement, "The abolitionists decried slavery as sin against God. The South claimed biblical authority for its slaveholding" and the statement "Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups invoked Jesus as a sponsor of their racism" (388). Doctorow obviously makes proof that Americans only use religion to show hatred and their reasons for crime. The use of logos is used a lot and Doctorow specifically uses it to make the readers understand the title and overall meaning of what "Why We are Infidels" is supposed to mean. Doctorow then makes statements that show that he thinks infidels give hatred because of their differences in religious

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