Leaving The Church Research Paper

The process by which Scripture has been preserved and compiled is one whose history is worth noting. The early church had many opportunities to share the Good News of Christ via word of mouth, but from the time of Christ’s resurrection until the mid-second century, there had not been a single culmination of writings considered to be essential for the purposes of

Throughout the entire world there are issues with our societies brought upon by the lack of clear thinking and/or compassion. Many of these issues may not be problems necessarily but just topics discussed when the word “issue” is brought up. One can clearly compare our society to the society described in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. In this novel the society Huxley has created is meant to be a utopia, made up of a hierarchy known as the caste system. Social classes in both societies create issues due to the fact that everyone has always had different standings in society.

With the release of their newest CD, Watch the Throne, many of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s most exclusive tracks have come under scrutiny. One particular song containing debatable yet obvious theological symbolism is “No Church in the Wild.” Citing and exclaiming their religious and social beliefs, as well as their activities in today’s society in this new song, Kanye West and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) show deep symbolism of today’s culture, the influence of Plato and Socrates on them, as well as their controversial lifestyles. Also, containing a featured chorus by Frank Ocean and a bridge by The-Dream, these parts

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

Surely humanity suffers when the function of sex corrupts by representing it as a service or commodity and religion corrupts when it is a matter of dry rituals or abstract doctrines; consequently, underscoring the situation with confusing sex scandals. As a result, sexual misconduct is a major issue in the churches today. Child molestation within the churches reeks of priests being caught-up in lust and unmistakably is a real sign that the brotherhood lacks guidance of the profound reality of the LORD’S sexual identity. Notably, in these past several decades, an enormous amount of priests, along with various other ‘proclaimed’ Christians, predominantly waver with uncertainty, puzzled why they have sexual desires and totally unaware of their Divine sexual heritage. Concurrently, just as the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church also suffers from sex scandals worldwide. Figures released to the Associated Press in 2007, reveals that the numbers of these sex abuse cases appear higher in the Protestant Church than in the Catholic Church. At any rate, the process in obtaining Protestant sex abuse statistics evolves as harder to come by and sketchier because the denominations happen to be less centralized than the Catholic Church. Various Protestant congregations occur independently, making reporting even more difficult.

Social issues have plagued the women and minorities of our country for decades upon decades, degrading them as if emotions and morals were not evident amongst them. The article entitled "Affirmative Action" states that as representation of minorities and women became more and more necessary, a movement called "affirmative action" became an important issue. Affirmative action is not limited to the uplifting of certain genders and races, but it focuses on establishing standards of certain ethical codes. Affirmative action concentrates on a broad array of issues including equal opportunity, systematic exclusion, and diversity.

Have you ever wondered how sexuality is viewed in the eyes of a different culture? Since America is a melting pot specifically with the Latino culture we have and is a very diverse country, it still carries culture identity. When you have a set cultural ideology for example the Latino Culture ideology, it sets the rules and norms for gender and sexual identity. In this essay we will be talking about how religious aspects of the Latino/a culture are affecting how people view sexual orientation. How religion in the Latino culture creates a discrimination against homosexuality and non-gender norms. This topic was chosen because I believe it is interesting how some cultures are used to believing that certain rituals and big events have to be within a man and a woman and cannot be both. I have personally witnessed how sexuality does affect the Latino culture; and has been involved in the rituals that make it so heteronormative. Through evidence of religious cultures, gendered identities and family structures we will see how religion in the Latino culture shapes and forms sexuality. I will be examining how Catholicism shapes cultural norms for sexual orientation and gender identity, how heteronormativity is reinforced as the main stream within the religious Latino culture and how it is insensitive towards homosexuality. How having family and social circles that are used to a culture around are perpetuating gender identity against sexuality.

Stop and frisk. One of the most controversial issues of today's society. This dates back all the way to 1967 with the case Terry v Ohio. In this case, an officer by the name of Martin Mcfadden, patrolling his surrounding area, noticed two African American men acting “suspiciously” in front of a store on a street corner at 1276 Euclid Avenue. Mcfadden described the men to be alternately walking back and forth and conversing while taking breaks in between. He also stated that the two men later met up with another African American male one block over and soon after, rejoined him in front of the store once more.Officer Mcfadden believed he was witnessing what seemed to be a “stick up”; nuisances “casing a job”. Mcfadden stated he feared not only

The second chapter, “Writing the Homophile Self”, describes the struggles many homosexuals face in Christianity. White analyzes the relationship, or lack thereof, some individuals have with religion due to the damning nature of homosexuality. In contrast, others did choose to continue to follow God and find comfort in more accepting congregations. Regardless, many homosexuals pushed for a social reform rather than the therapeutic methods. Doing so, the homophile movement brought same-sex relationships to light within the modern world and modern

The “Mattachine Society: Statement of Purpose” document’s intent is to emphasize the social ostracism the unsusceptible culture has executed on the homosexual minority. However, the “Southern Baptist Convention: Resolution on Homosexual Marriage” document’s intent is to illustrate how devilish homosexual marriage is. The Mattachine Society writes, “The Society provides the instrument necessary to work with like-minded and socially valuable organizations, and supplies the means for the assistance of our people who are victimized daily as a result for our oppression” (Gosse 41). To explain, the Mattachine Society is providing a dignified standard for one of the largest minority groups in America today, and its ethical and social principles serve as an example for homosexuals to pursue. Ultimately, the support group want to take action to elevate themselves from the image the public has created fro them. Furthermore, the SBC writes, “Whereas, God makes it clear in the Scripture that even desire to engage in a homosexual relationship is always sinful, impure, degrading, shameful, unnatural, indecent, and perverted (Rom. 1:24-27), so any effort to extend the meaning of marriage in order to sanction the satisfaction of such desire must also be in every case sinful, impure, degrading, shameful, unnatural, indecent, and perverted” (Story and Laurie 155). In this quote, the Convention is enumerating how homosexual marriage is completely and thoroughly evil according to God’s standards in the Bible. Uniquely, the tone of the Gosse document is remarkably polite and sympathetic, whereas the tone of the Story and Laurie document is repulsive and

There is a direct correlation between the education received by today’s youth, and the controlled education in Brave New World. The thought of education has changed in recent years. We no longer are teaching children to think, but we are teaching them to know that a, b, c, or d will be the answer. The children in Brave New World have to go through conditioning, a process in which they are taught (without choice of their own) what they will like or will not like. We as a society in whole, need to realize that slowly we are working our way from having an opinion of your own, to thinking what the masses think.

The Chinese Christian church in the United States often has ethnic characteristics, but different Chinese churches often have special concentration in the composition of the congregation, which reflects the tide of Chinese immigrants in different stages. For example, descendants of early immigrants from southern China usually have their fixed church. International students from the mainland of China have the church which they set up together. And other "informal immigrants" also formed Christian organizations. According to Aihui Lee, she divides American Chinese Christianity into four categories.

The most critical social problem of the 21st century is Capitalism. Capitalism today is what use to be the color line as defined in the early 1900s by W. E. B Du Bois as: the question of the relation of the advanced races of men who happened to be white to the great majority of the undeveloped or half-developed nations of mankind who happen to be yellow, brown or black (Karenga). As Du Bois researched the color line, Capitalism in America is a systemic system of oppression transcended through time and space. In the 20th century, systems of systemic oppression were overt and known methods of suppression, alienation and repression, while today they are more covert in both practice and those who oppress.

Many priests, after taking the vow of celibacy, discover that they can’t suppress their sexual feelings towards others. Many priests have secret relationships that they hide from their parish. Good Tidings is an organization set up by a woman and her husband, a former Catholic priest, to help priests who have fallen in love to decide whether to leave the priesthood. The organization has been contacted by almost 2000 women who were sexually involved

Willy Brandt once remarked:” Western Europe has only 20 or 30 more years of democracy left in it; after that it will slide under the surrounding sea of dictatorship” (Crozier, Huntington, Watanuki, 1973, 2). It would seem that democratic governments have become increasingly unable of facing “the challenges of the modern world”. Specifically, democratic European governments have become increasingly incapable to adequately represent the interests of the governed, while economic growth has also produced forces within nations that could potentially lead to the potential “regression”(Crozier, 1973, 49-50) of European states from democracy into tyranny (Crozier, 1973, 49-50).