Review Of Abraham Joshua Heschel's 'No Religion Is An Island'

Many individuals have their own set of theories, experiences and viewpoints on religion, this however has been critical on how individuals vision their own set of concept on religion and spirituality. Kamran Mofid Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (2008), argues that Australia is one of the multi-faith, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural nations in the world. This array of cultures conveys countless diversity and disparities including religious beliefs. Thus, a study was conducted in a profane Australian society to examine in what way religion and spirituality is ostensible in Australia

Religion is a pivotal aspect in society to date with a diverse array of religions known to be practised in Australia, creating opportunities to embrace individuality though also sparking social divisions. French sociologist, Emile Durkheim described religion as “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden -- beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community”(Jones, 2011). So how does religion influence Australian society? With a vast incline in religions practised in Australia, it is extremely feasible to presume that it does affect Australia significantly. It is through cultural diversity, morality and ethics and laws in which the true relevance of religion in Australian society can be identified.

Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core and author of Acts of Faith, exemplifies the idea of religious pluralism, the acknowledgement of diverse religious groups and their ideologies, and portrays how America can apply this concept to its society in order to possess a better sense of equality as a whole. Patel expresses this belief through his yearning for religious identity. His own personal experiences have shaped his pluralistic position towards religion and life. America would be able to achieve a well functioned society if its citizens would be more open minded and educate themselves on the opinions and beliefs of others.

Australia’s three most common non-Christian religious affiliations were Buddhism (2.1% of the population), Islam (1.7%) and Hinduism (0.7%). Of these groups, Hinduism experienced the fastest

The present religious landscape in Australia is one that has changed significantly from 1945 up until now. Christianity is still currently the most popular religious tradition in Australia, however has seen a steady decrease in numbers due peoples interests in other religions and a non religious focused society. Due to immigration Australia has seen significant increases in followers of Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Because of Australia’s consumeristic society, denominational switching has become more common, especially in the Protestant denomination. New Age religions have become increasingly popular recently due to peoples search for individual fulfilment, in the form of happiness, health and meaning in life. Secularism in Australia is now a belief that forefronts society due to scientific discovery and individualism.

There is an ‘us and them’ mentality in terms of Australian relations with Muslims living in Australia. There seems to be several reasons for this. The Australian society doesn’t seem to cater nor care for the traditions and religion of Muslim people living in Australia, there is a high volume of discrimination and racism targeting Muslims. Western Sydney and Charles Sturt university recently conducting a survey regarding the issue of the marginalisation of Muslim

The practises, beliefs and values of Christianity and Islam have an impact on Australia society; however, the media exploits the perceived tension between the two groups which has led to discrimination and violence. Over many years the way of which an individual lives their life has been shown to be affected by the religion of which they follow. This affects the way of life throughout the community surrounding these people, as well as having an impact on the social issues throughout this particular community. Christianity has a huge impact throughout Australia, this includes through schools, dress codes, the way of which people live in their day to day lives. Christianity has always been a highly popular religion throughout Australia as

On February 24, 2017, Dr. Shaun Casey was the Global Religious Studies keynote speaker at Bridgewater State University. Dr. Casey’s focus was to bring greater understanding of world religions

Whilst Australia’s religious diversity begins to grow so too does the concern of the reported incidents of religious discrimination impacting the lives of people of many different religions in Australia. It is important to understand the impact this discrimination has in order to address the issue.

Eventually tensions eased following the events of World War II, “especially after the Japanese threat to the nation [...] united Australians who were previously divided by denominational and ethnic boundaries.” (Reid, n.d) Further endeavours sparked by Vatican II enhanced ecumenical cooperation between the two denominations which would ultimately lead to the harmonious attitudes that all Catholics and Protestants promote today.

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

War and conflict is very much prevalent in society today. Whilst many believe the cause to be religion, this is far from the truth. Mere, ignorance of the truth about core beliefs and lack of knowledge of religion is the true cause of war in our world, furthermore politics. Judaism, a religion very much centred on peace is one of the many religions stereotyped and judged in today’s society based on the violence fed through the media. By examining the core beliefs, sacred texts, rituals and exploring the dimensions and socio historic contexts of the religion it is evident that Judaism at the core is a peaceful and tolerant religion, which promotes inter-faith understanding through

Many of us individuals face conflicts almost everyday in our lives. People of all culture have challenging in their lives that they come across a certain incident and get confused in what decision to be made. These conflicts could be a conflict between oneself and another person, an inner-conflict, a conflict between oneself and nature, one and society, or oneself and God. There are positive and negative intercultural conflicts that occurs every day. An example of a positive conflict could be two different cultures compliment one another on the way they dress or how good their food is in the way they prepare it in their culture, or just communicating and respecting one another with the issue that needs to be addressed openly. A negative conflict is when someone has a lack of communication and unwilling to compromise. According to lecture 6, “intercultural conflict occurs when differences in goals, expectations, and values stem from broader cultural differences” (COM-263 Lecture 6, 2017). This paper will describe an incident that happened in France with a Muslim women on how the conflict arose, the best way to handle the conflict, and one recommendation that comes from a Christian Worldview.

Religion, as defined by the High Court of Australia, is ‘a complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence’ (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005) and can be studied either substantively or functionally (Berger 1974:126). Substantive studies of religion fall predominantly in the realm of theology and are more concerned with defining religious beliefs; their historical accuracy; and the existence of supernatural entities (Holmes, Hughes & Julian 2007:425). Sociology however, concerns itself primarily with the relationship between religion and society, examining religion as a social construction (Van Krieken et al. 2010:350-1) and concerned only with the substance of

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