The Importance Of Authority In A Community

In The Sacred Quest, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham attempts the search for a coherent definition of religion. While he doesn’t strive for a one-sentence interpretation of what indicates a real, organized religion, he arrives on several elements and functions to give meaning to his definition. To Cunningham, there are five elements that make up a religion: belief, feeling, action, individual and community aspects, and values. Cunningham argues that these five elements exists in order to explain what could not otherwise be explained, enable people to sustain hope in the face of difficult experiences, and provide ways of thinking that provide goals and respond to “great problems” in life (158). All of these aspects work

Only two religions allowed in a population, Voltaire says, would create animosity and competition between the two groups for power. But if all religions are tolerated, accepted, and represented, then peace will be prominent and government will function much for efficiently and to the benefit of all of the people. Everyone’s rights will be represented because all of the focus will not just be on one or two groups of people but a multitude of groups, creating religious equality for all.

The religious reclamation offered the all inclusive community the voice to talk up for their religious want, asks for, and stand up to the experts. The results of the Great Awakening and religious recuperation were to extend religious routine concerning different religions and also to segregated places of love with extended correspondence.

In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”

The essays that comprise Traditional Classics on Leadership present varying notions of authority and of challenging authority. This is largely due to the fact that this manuscript is comprised of essays from 31 contributors, ranging from well-known political theorists to some of the more salient voices for individuality that the world has known. Still, there are some points of commonalities in these essays that present a synthesized viewpoint of the concept of challenging authority.

There are many Mexicans who attend church on a regular basis but do not adhere to a religion. These people have the same moral and spiritual values as any of the other churchgoers, only they do not share the actual religion (Euan Alvarado). In a study done on suicide rates in Mexico for the Journal of Religion and Health, it was found that regular church attendance did more to lower suicidal thoughts in teens than regular internal or private worship (Hoffman 263). The importance of the community is shown in these results, as well as in the action that groups of Catholics take to build their community. Communities that form social movements to better their society justify their actions and make them sacred through their religion, which gives citizens a sense of belonging (Doran 84). The author also says that since Mexico has such a high percentage of religious practice, the less fortunate are brought together by Catholicism to create these communities (Doran 76). This is contradicted by the results of Hoffman’s study, which show that religion and communities bound by it are closer and more effective in helping their members than groups of the same kind in highly religious areas (Hoffman

In Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, authority is viewed as ruthless and the individual is portrayed as innocent. This is also emphasised in two related texts, Whose Life Is It Anyway? By Brian Clark, and Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont. The themes of ruthlessness and innocence are exemplified throughout all three texts, through the concept of the authority and the individual.

The conversation of assimilation into a discourse community has been a long standing presence in academic conversation. Especially if a religious community is given the title of a discourse community. Typical methods of assimilating new members into a desired religion usually standout. For example, representatives of a religious organization go door to door to give out information about the religion is common practice, it a simply direct. Daniel Olson states in his research that smaller religious groups find more committed members through leaving and joining the group, compared to larger religious groups (359). Although Rahsaan Maxwell and Erik Bleich uses Muslims as his topic, presents relatable assimilation reasoning that Muslims who were

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and

Religion is a major foundation for many cultures. It is present all over the world in many different shapes and forms. But all religions have one thing in common, communality. Naturally, with rituals such as congregation people of religion are brought together. This community worships together, but this relationship extends further than the confines of a church. Members of the same church, or religion, have the same core values, and these commonalities result in a community that would not have otherwise existed. When there is a disregard for religion, there is a loss of community and thus a step

There are many aspects of religion that causes positivity in the life of its followers. For one, religion is composed of a congregation of followers who share the same faith and beliefs that unite them with one another. Studies show that people, especially those without a family, feel comfort in religion because they feel welcomed by the members, along with being accepted by them. In many religions, members often gather together not only to partake in religious activities but also to pray together in

In this course, I found the connection between religion and politics the most important concept we’ve studied. With engagement and understanding of politics becoming increasingly important, it’s valuable to study the ways people both interact with politics and form their political opinions—and as we’ve seen, religion can play a huge role in both of these aspects. However, the way religious groups engage with politics can perhaps be generalizing when discussing major religions, seeing as these groups are often widely diverse and brimming with unique experiences. Therefore, I believe it is just as important to discuss the political dimension of religion with the social influences of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and the interrelations between them.

Throughout history, religion has proved to be the main source of social stability in different communities and cultural groups. Everything that is part of a societal system, including law, is influenced by religious beliefs and practices of that society. This being said, most religions are based on the theory that there is a single more powerful entity, that has control over aspects of which humans do not. For the longest time in history, sociologists have argued that peer group, political movements, schools and most importantly, the family to be agents of socialization. Because of this reason, they have ignored the role played by religion in the perpetuation of cultural as well as social

Today there are over 900 religious employee resource groups, according to the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (Cañas & Sondak, 2010). These affinity groups can help encourage religious understanding by offering panel discussions that educate employees on their beliefs. By allowing open discussion, answering religious questions and creating an open, welcoming religious environment in the workplace employees can better relate to one another through shared religious principles (Cañas & Sondak, 2010). When looking at the business case for diversity, not asking employees to hide their faith at work allows for greater productivity, and time and energy focused on business results (Cañas

Question #1) How does authority influence human behavior? What kinds of authority are the most influential?