Religion and Modernity Essay Example

stop science and astronomy from progressing. One notable conflict between science and religion in recent times is the dispute surrounding stem cell research and cloning.

In 1997, when Ian Wilmut and his team successfully cloned an adult sheep, there was a widespread and uninformed reaction of fear and rejection from the public, professionals, and bureaucrats towards this new technique. Cloning involves multiplying cells and tissue to create a genetic replica of the original organism.

Cloning of Human tissue was quickly prohibited, but sampling of plant materials and related areas of research have been permitted. This includes limited cell regeneration and stem cell research, which aims to treat or prevent severe illnesses.

Despite its controversial nature and lack of widespread support, there are significant advancements and unlimited potential associated with this technology. Particularly in the field of agriculture, cloning offers numerous benefits such as increased yield, enhanced strength, and precise timing. One parent plant can generate a thousand new plants through cloning.

This enables farmers to increase their crop yield using fewer seeds. Additionally, selecting the best plants for cloning allows for the production of entire crops of healthy and thriving plants from a single strong parent plant. Moreover, cloned plants grow at a consistent rate, making harvesting more efficient. When it comes to animal cloning, improved breeding is a prime illustration of the advantages offered by technology. Animal cloning allows for the selection of the superior individuals within a breed as the subjects for cloning.

Cloning enables farmers to have the most robust or most productive animals on their farms. In the present global economy

and in many hunger-stricken regions, cloning could potentially be the optimal solution for countries with unfavorable growing conditions or those affected by natural disasters. However, various worries regarding health and moral aspects have hindered the achievement of flawless cloning techniques.

Cloning human tissue has various benefits for both food production and the medical field. One major advantage is the potential to eliminate the necessity of acquiring animal organs to replace damaged or deceased human tissue, considering that recipients often reject these animal organs.

Savulescu (2008) suggests that the United States is experiencing a shortage of human tissue, which can be attributed to an annual increase of approximately 10-15% in potential recipients and donor organs. The lack of supply compared to demand is caused by factors such as incompatibility between donors and recipients, the requirement for long-term immunosuppressive therapy, and the occurrence of severe side effects. One potential solution to this problem is cloning, which has the potential to provide a plentiful supply of almost perfect organs. However, ethical concerns arise regarding the moral implications and consequences associated with creating or duplicating human tissues.

Despite scientific progress, bureaucratic processes, and economic development, traditional religious beliefs still hold influence in society, resulting in opposition to human reproductive cloning.

Certain religious groups, including Evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholicism, hold the belief that a human soul is infused into the body at the moment of conception, granting the fertilized ovum complete human rights. Religion has long provided metaphors to aid individuals in comprehending their own psychological experiences. For instance, Christianity's belief in an everlasting and virtuous soul offers hope as a reward for behaving morally.

When it comes to cloning human tissue, there is a prevailing assumption that clones would lack souls.

Concern about the impact of cloning extends beyond Christians to practitioners of Hinduism and Buddhism, who share the belief that each being possesses a spirit. This spirit may or may not be a reincarnation of a previous spirit, and cloning is seen as compromising the natural progression of spirits and life. Immortality is often seen as a defining characteristic of the soul for many followers.

Religion can be seen as the death business, and it cannot accept any technology that would eliminate its market. Throughout the readings, it is evident that religion significantly contributes to gender inequality and the oppression of women worldwide. In Sea of Poppies, Deeti had to make a challenging choice to leave Kabutri behind due to the persecution she endured for rejecting her brother-in-law's marriage proposal and disappearing with Kalua, which brought her shame.

In her village, she confronted the risk of religious law being employed against her, which could lead to physical discipline or even fatality, because of her perceived moral transgressions. The book "Season of Migration to the North" illustrates numerous situations, including this one, that emphasize the challenges experienced by women in deeply devout societies. While the book primarily concentrates on the Middle East and Islam, it is crucial to acknowledge that regressive attitudes towards women are not exclusive to this area or religion.

Oppression of women has been present in various religions, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Although not all women suffer physical abuse or public humiliation, they still encounter different forms of persecution. In religious

customs, women are consistently denied equal involvement in ceremonies and rituals. An example of this can be observed in Judaism where men recite a morning prayer expressing gratitude to God for not being born female (Torah, 2012).

Orthodox Judaism restricts women in various aspects, such as their inability to become Rabbis or lead prayer services for mixed audiences. Chanting from the Torah and wearing traditional religious attire are also discouraged for them. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that this matter is not exclusive to Judaism.

Throughout Christianity, women have been consistently considered as inferior to men. This belief system is still evident today in a diminished form, as seen in the historical perspective of the Catholic Church. Various passages from the Bible further reinforce the concept that women are submissive and lesser than men.

According to Christianity, women should desire their husbands and be under their rule as stated in Genesis III. This biblical instruction indicates that men are intended to have authority over women according to divine will.

The New Testament discusses the subordination of women, emphasizing that wives should show respect to their husbands irrespective of social status. This mirrors a recurring theme in our readings, which portrays women as being treated unequally and valued primarily as domestic helpers for their husbands. Their viewpoints and ideas are deemed to be worth only half of those held by men.

Extremist Muslims are the main perpetrators of women's rights violations as they regard women as slaves or property, disregarding personal consent and excluding them from marriage contracts in Islam.

Islam regards women as only necessary for procreation and subsequently

disregards them. Like other religions, the Koran contains similar verses that belittle women. "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because men spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them."

The text discusses the concept of obedience in Islam, as stated in a verse from the Quran. According to this verse, individuals who fear disobedience should be warned and physically punished after being removed from their beds. Moreover, certain Islamic countries impose limitations on women's independence, such as restricting their property ownership rights, job opportunities, access to education, and subjecting them to beatings or even death if they are seen in public unaccompanied by a male relative. Although these actions are justified by religious beliefs, they raise concerns regarding whether intolerance and subjugation align with peace and modernity. It is evident that they do not.

Both organized religion and modernity have been resistant to progress and biased in their interactions. It is incorrect to assume that all supporters of modernity opposed religion. The opposition from dogmatic religious beliefs is not based on technical or humanitarian concerns, but rather on a belief system that contradicts scientific progress.

According to Dawari (2012), converting believers away from their strongly-held, literalistic faith is the only way to peacefully overcome opposition. However, not all religious authorities have opposed or struggled against modernity.

However, modernity has altered the way man interacts with others and the world, and in certain instances, even questions beliefs about the source of existence. Scientific advancements have debunked certain religious myths for

some individuals, while for others, these advancements only strengthen their belief in a higher power. It is important to note that religious ideals are neither negative nor incorrect.

As long as modern scientists question the existence of an all-knowing omnipresent being, religious debates regarding science and the understanding of creation will continue. Likewise, religion continues to exert influence over many extremist leaders who indoctrinate young individuals into believing that women are inferior to men, similar to how it still holds sway in discussions about slavery and women's oppression.

Although certain regions have experienced a slower development of modernity due to unequal distribution of technological advancements and their benefits, religion has consistently posed a direct challenge to social and scientific progress.

The defeat of organized religion has been crucial for the advancement of basic scientific understandings. However, despite this progress, there remain challenges that require education and understanding to establish common ground in the fight against religious idealism and social justice.

The text contains a citation from the King James Bible (pp. 1:20-22) about Esther, which is followed by a citation from the Journal of Evolution and Technology (vol. 13, pp. 1-15) discussing religious opposition to cloning. Additionally, there is a citation from an article by M. Bogart from May 25, 2009, comparing modernity and religion. All sources can be found at mysite.verizon.net/william.bainbridge/index.htm.The following web links are provided to explore various topics related to religion and modernity:

- Visit Michael Bogart Ministries' webpage titled "Modernity vs Religion" at http://mbogartministries.hubpages.com/hub/ModernityvsReligion.
- Access an article about "The Enlightenment" from Washington State University by going to http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html.
- Find a page discussing the topic of "Religion and Modernity" on Imam

Reza Network's website at http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=429.
- Explore the content dated back to October 3, 2010, on the Library of Congress website at http://www.loc.gov.The text discusses the conflict between science and religion, with references to various sources such as the Relativity Calculator website, Lu's book on Third World Modernism Architecture, Savulescu's article on cloning human beings, and the Torah. The text is enclosed in a paragraph tag with a style attribute for justified alignment.