Religious Phenomenon

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Garrett Kurtz 11/27/12 Religion 101 Religious Phenomenon’s When reading both of these articles the one that really stood out to me in terms of interest was the article Women & Islam: The rise and rise of convert. This article really stood out to me because of the staggering statistics about how many of the converts was women. During the last decade 100,000 Britons have converted to Islam from their previous religion and seventy percent of the converts were women (Peppiatt 1). This statistic is up from the previous decade which only 60,000 Britons had converted (Peppiatt 1). It is so curious to why there is such an increase in the number of converts into the religion of Islam and why so many of them are women. In the article it…show more content…
The social dimension that Smart states says “The increase in division between Church- or mosque or temple- and State (true in the modern West and some Eastern and some other countries) means that citizens can, both inwardly and outwardly, affirm different beliefs including the rejection of all formal systems of belief” (Smart 131). This changes the whole perspective of religion for everyone. This shows that you don’t have to believe everything that is said in a place of worship, like a mosque. Even though it applies to all religions, it applies to Islam as well. These converts are subject to follow strict Muslim guidelines but it does not say anything about the beliefs does it? This is a benefit to the converts. The converters are benefited by this part of the social dimension because it allows them to convert to Islam without having to believe in everything that is stated in the Quran or by the leader of the rituals at the mosque. This gives the converters a choice and choices are always good in religion. In the last paragraph of the story of Donna Tunkara it talks about women in Islam and how it is difficult to cope with some time. She says “There needs to be more resources for women who convert. I know some mosques that won’t allow women in. But in the Koran there is an emphasis on women being educated” (Peppiatt 3). This is a great point. Women in Islam who are new to the religion can be educated properly about the religion. I understand why some
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