Women in Islam
Covered Muslim women may seem like opressed and dependent women, but if u look closer you will find out the exact oppisite. I have found out that women choose to cover themselves, by wearing the hijab, burka, etc.... These women feel that by covering themselves up they are empowering themselves. When they are covered then they can only be judged by their personality, not by their physical features. This is why most women choose to cover up, they are not Usually forced like people may think.All American Muslim
I don't know about you, but I find TLC's new show "All-American Muslim" very interesting. I am glad that someone decided to air this type of show, it is not very often that you see a educational and entertaining reality show. This show actually serves a true purpose in our society, it is tearing down all of peoples misconceptions about the Islam religion (I know it did for me). This show lets people see that being Muslim is not about a race or a nationality, it is simply what it is, a religion. You can be an American, Nigerian, Chinese, etc.... Muslim. Being a muslim should not change the way people veiw you.Muslim festivals
I think that it is really facsinating to see how dedicated muslim people are to their religion. They do not do anything half way, they give it their all. They even commit to the practices that seem impossible to other people, like fasting for a month (eating when the sun goes down) and cutting themselves. Honestly, I admire their devotion to their religion.Orthodox Jews
An orthodox jew A.K.A a teccher in my school A.K.A Mrs. Urszuy came to our class to talk to us about being an orthodox jew. She really opened my eyes up about judaism. The one thing that she talked about that really interested me was about how she chose to be an orthodox jew. The difference between an orthodox jew and a regular jew is a lot (in my eyes). A regular jew, has simpler rules to follow,especially for the woman. As an orthodox jew you have to be more modest and committed to your religion, were as a normal jew you can pretty much interprete things in you own way, live a more "relaxed" life.
Looking out for numero uno!
Have you ever been called selfish? It stings doesn't it. I Bet you would prefer the term self
interested. I believe that we are "wired' to be selfish, as a baby we are selfish. When we
are first born, we cry all the time. You expect your caregievers to drop everything they
are doing to change you, feed you, and or hold you. It is not our fault that we like to take
care of ourselves first. Like Darwin said, only the strongest survive so why not make
yourself as strong as possible.
setting the record straight?
Today a christian pastor came into our classroom to enlighten us on christanity. I really
like the way he made no judgements on other religions. when we asked about if he felt
that other religions were wrong, he said he didn't want to judge others, that it wasn't his
place. The speaker was very nice and understanding, but I feel that he was too nice and
understanding. He never really answered our questions, pretty much beat around the
bush and came back to the begining, and never gave us a straight answer. I would have
liked him to give us some kind of direction, some "judgement". I appreciated his respect
but I still never got my answer the question, that I have been asking for years. I remeber
a time in my church (Grace Community Church) that we were doing a Q&A session. It
was a month long lesson consisted of the church sending in their questions about our
faith via, text and e-mail. The pastor would then base his sermon off of our questions, I
texted my question and I never got a response... "Do you belive that there is more than
one path to God?" if not then, "How can God send people to hell, because they are
simply doing what Jesus's desciples are doing, (they don't know any different)?
America and Christianity?
Does America follow a christian Philosophy?... Well it depends on how you would define Christian Philosophy. When I think about chrisitans I think about helping others and reaching out to the people in need. If that is how you define a christian philosophy, then absolutely count America in. When people, even other countries need our help, we give it to them (whether they ask for it or not). So in the sense of "loving your brother" and helping eachother, then yes. The religious aspect of chrisitanity is where America falls short, though we are giving and kind, we are still a secularlistic Country, we love the money, we are capitalist. Also we don't enbody the real religious aspect of christianity, because the country is mixed with so many other religions. Though our background is Chrisitian and that is how the nation was raised, we can no longer affiliate the whole country with that one religion, it wouldn't be fair to the other religions. Like I said we care about the people living in this country.
In God We Trust
The fundamentals of christianity
For as long as I could remember I have always been a christian. But as I got older I started to hear all of these terms that I had never heard of, but supposedly everyone knows them. for example the holy trinity. I had no idea what that was about until I took World religions class. I started to wonder if I was a true christian because I didn't know all of the key terms. When we first started to study chrisitanity I went home to my mom and asked her about the different things that I thought good christians should know, I did not want to be just, "playing church" as Brother Wright would say. When I asked her she knew them all, she told me that I never learned all of the fundamentals, because I never really went to sunday school. In Nigeria they didn't have a sepreate class for children and when I came to America we had our own church, and not enough kids or even people to have different classes. So instead of getting it all broken down and explained, I got the adult version and just had to roll with it. Now as a young adult I like to attend church, (when I don't have to work) and learn about my faith.
choose your own philosophy
The one philosophy that represents the contemporary world is Jeremy Betham and John
Mill’s utilitarian philosophy. These two men believed that the greatest good should impact most of the population. They also believe in qualitative pleasures, mind over body. Feed the mind over the body. Lastly, they feel that that law should help most of the society. This ethic code would benefit today’s world because in this day and age people are trying to accommodate everyone’s different lifestyle and by following this ethic code I think we would have happier people. For example there would be no homosexuals, different religions, or races (they would exist), but they would not be in the decision making process. We would just all be considered people, not divided into categories, just the greatest good for the greatest population.
Thomas Aquinas would be the runner up in modern day ethics. Aquinas, like Betham and Mil, also believe that people’s happiness is very important. Aquinas believes that humans should live in an ordered society. By living in an ordered society, people know what rules should be followed in order to keep the peace and happiness. Aquinas starts to develop his own theories when he develops the idea that what you feel on the inside should also be exterior. In this society many people do not show what they are thinking and/ or feeling, this is usually as a courtesy to others. For example if you really hate someone and want to cause them some type of harm, you are supposed to just ignore the feeling, most people we raised with the saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” Most people still live by this lesson, but if we all followed Aquinas’ philosophy there would be a lot of ciaos in the world. Aquinas also thought, what is good, is also right. This is very far off from today’s actions. because these days everyone has a very different opinion on what is good, there are many different lifestyles. So what is good for someone may be wrong for others.
Immanuel Kant has talked about something very similar to this point. Kant claims that what is wrong is always wrong. Again, in this time you can’t make broad statements as this. The world is no longer black and white; there are a lot of shades of gray. What is wrong in one situation can be completely justified in another. In an ethical situation, killing someone can be defined as wrong and right in different situations. Killing for hate is wrong, killing as self defense is more acceptable. Kant also has another thought that does not fit in this present time. He feels as though the “moral code” should be universal. This is also a proclamation that cannot be accomplished in today’s society. There are many different customs throughout the world. What people believe is right in America, may turn out to be a different case in India. Back in the days it was easier to generalize the ethics, because everyone lived by one certain law (the bible). The people, who chose otherwise, were usually prosecuted. Kant’s Philosophy of humans should be a means, not the ends can be better swallowed by today’s society. Human, life itself should be cherished. Humans should not the main part of the end result but the key to the solution.
Philosophers, such as, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Aquinas, and Jeremy Betham and John Mill have become famous for their unique “take” on life. These four philosophers have created their own ethical compass, what they believe to be the “status qou.” In order to be original there had to have been some basic point. After analyzing it is plain to see how different each philosopher’s point is, though it is still up to society to decide which opinion is best for their lifestyle.
A sign of weakness?
Like many other people I find forgiving someone that has given me a lot of trouble
very hard. Mos tpeople never forgive one another after a bad situation. They feel as
though by forgiving someone that they are being weak by letting the person "slide
by". What most people do not know is that forgiveness actually takes a lot of strength.
when you forgive you are letting go of all the hate indside. Rememebr, forgiveness is
not for them, it is for you.
