Leave Me Alone Essay Example
Leave Me Alone Essay Example

Leave Me Alone Essay Example

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  • Pages: 8 (1969 words)
  • Published: September 21, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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I would like to start by explaining what this essay is not. This essay is not a whimsical attempt at Justifying the academic study of religion by suggesting it is of higher moral worth to do so. I have no interest in saying that Just because religion has no practical application, that should not stop me from studying it for my own interest. I will not try to spin the communication, writing or critical thinking skills that come with religious study, into generic qualifications that will open the world to the employment of my choice.

Finally, this is not an essay explaining how everyone should mind their own equines, though I sincerely wish that they would. To some extent I believe everything previously said, however these arguments are not good enough to serve my purpose. This

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essay is, first and foremost an attempt to free myself from the untouchable stupidity of the arrogant people that surround me. The range of comments, from the fairly innocent 'What will you do with that degree? ' to the condescending laughter hinting that religious study is useless, has become such an intolerable annoyance that I am forced to waste my time writing this rebuttal.

I can not even browse the internet without coming across articles that place religious study into a list of 13 useless degrees. In the following paragraphs, I hope to show that such a view is not only unjustified, it is unfathomably moronic. I'll start by giving a simple fact, according to the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religious Life, 84% of the world's population is associated with a religion. Moreover, of the 16% tha

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aren't, many hold a belief in God even if they don't associate that belief with a particular religion.

So when you study religion, you have an insight into the beliefs, patterns, behavior and moral codes of 84% of the world's population. A religious scholar while walking down the street bumps into someone, there is an 84% chance that person is religious, which meaner the scholar will already know something about the behavior of the other person. You may argue that knowing things about random strangers is useless, but you would be wrong. Religious study is first and foremost an interdisciplinary subject, which can baffle and disorient those with poorly developed minds, leading to their designation 'useless'.

So let us enter the business world to explore where religion can have an effect. In 2012, Mcdonald's opened a restaurant in India. The difference? It serves only vegetarian food. Therefore if you want a Big-Mac in India, you best bring your own. The change comes from the two dominant religions in India; Hinduism, with plenty of texts that prohibit the eating of beef, and Islam, whose teachings forbid the eating of pork. The Hindu text Rig Veda says, "The cow gives milk each year, O Man- regarded let not the Y¤thud¤an ever taste it.

If one would glut him with the besting, Again, pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee. " I cite this to show with what power religion can have over someone. Surely a Big Mac is not worth a flame piercing our vitals, though to the American suffering from heart burn, I suppose it is. Religion can transform a consumer market so

much, that any American would not recognize a Mcdonald's if the chain changed its Indian name. To be clear, market research is studying the behavior of strangers. Any attempt at this without knowing the religious motivations of the area, will forever be incomplete.

Keeping with the economic theme, Matthias Hell, produced a nice study that investigates the role that religion plays in international trade. He makes some interesting conclusions. Religions interact differently with each other, and he finds hat religions like Hinduism don't mind trading with different religions. In fact, they may actually prefer it, but because Hindus are divided up into a complex caste system it may be hard for other religions to recognize which Hindus are suitable trading partners. Muslims however prefer trading with their own kind, and place a higher value upon trade in general.

This is because the Koran speaks much of economic activity. Which makes sense due to Mecca's close proximity to an important trade route during Muhammad time. Conversely, the Bible doesn't say much, so Christians don't hold trade with much reverence, seeing it only as a necessity. I encourage you to read the entire study, as I can not hear do it full Justice. Religious study seems to be incredibly important for people/businesses effected by international trade, especially if those businesses are trading with countries who's dominant religion is different from their own.

The National recently presented a segment entitled "Ask Rexes. " In this segment, the political correspondent Rexes Murphy answered questions posited by watchers of the show. One young viewer asked what it took to become a political correspondent, to which he replied that you should

read history, science and mathematics. To be clear, when one studies religion, it doesn't so much change what is learned, as it does change the lens through which you learn it. So, a religion degree doesn't mean an absence of historical, scientific and mathematical knowledge, to the contrary, it meaner that we learn these things from a unique perspective.

In fact, we learn these things from a perspective particularly relevant in a post 9/1 1 world. In the world of journalism, religion certainly has its place, else you may end up like the horrid journalists on Fox News. I don't kid myself by suggesting that Journalism is an easy lied to break into, but someone with a unique degree, certainly has a better chance of breaking in than someone that blends in with the crowd. I argue that religion and Journalism go hand in hand because of religion's prominent position in man's history. I also say they go hand in hand, because religion is intimately related to so many contemporary issues.

This being said, I treat these following paragraphs on contemporary issues as ends in themselves, important because they effect a lot of people, not to prove Journalism and religion's intimate relationship. First, people die because of religion. The Babylonian exile resulted in the persecution and dispersal of Jews into the Jewish Diaspora. The crusades are an embodiment of the constant tension between the Christian and Muslim world. The Spanish inquisition again picked on and persecuted the Jews. To say that's part of a distant past however, could not be further from the truth.

Of course, the image of the World Trade Centers collapsing are

well ingrained into every mind that witnessed the event. The Boston Marathon bombings have been even more recently engraved into our minds. Remember Kong 2012, the video that attempted to disarm the leader of he Lord's Resistance Army? I can't imagine the heartlessness that must reside inside those that suggest religious study is useless when religion can very clearly be related to great violence and death. It is on this point that I shall wave my earlier promise not to claim myself morally superior.

I could go on citing more examples, however I will leave this to the reader,who should start with "god is not Great" by Christopher Hitchers (who was for many years a political correspondent), if you wish to explore religion's violent past in more detail, from genital mutilation to priests becoming a title too friendly. It is known by most that religion and science often wage war, what some people may find surprising however is that these wars can have real world consequences. The teaching of intelligent design in the classroom has been a hotly debated topic since the beginning of the 20th century.

Surprisingly, this issue still finds its way to the courts even within the last 10 years. In 2005 the case of Sterilely v. Dover gained national attention, and inspired books like "The Devil in Dover" by Laura Lobe. The court ruled that science class need explore the strengths and weaknesses of Darning's hero, and to show alternatives such as intelligent design. The court wrote out a notice to students, which would be read by science teachers at the beginning of each semester, explaining these things to the students.

align="justify">I bring this up not so you can judge whether intelligent design should be taught in science class (l don't think that it should), I bring this up merely to show that religion can influence what is taught in schools. There is also the complex issue of religious freedom vs. security. France became the first country to enforce a controversial public ban on the Muslim veils that omen are forced to wear. Here in Canada the Burma is allowed to be worn in public, except by government employees in Quebec, and when you're swearing a citizenship oath.

In an essay by the aforementioned Christopher Hitchers, he remarks "On the door of my bank in Washington, D. C. , is a printed notice politely requesting me to remove any form of facial concealment before I enter the premises. The notice doesn't bore me or weary me by explaining its reasoning: A person barging through those doors with any sort of mask would incur the right and proper presumption of guilt. Again, I am not bringing this up to suggest that bursas should or shouldn't be banned, merely to say that the wearing of such a headpiece has a direct effect on public security.

There are bigger issues surrounding the Burma however. Returning to Hitchers to explain, "Mothers, wives, and daughters have been threatened with acid in the face, or honor-killing, or vicious beating, if they do not adopt the humiliating outer clothing that is mandated by their enfold. " Religion does well to establish normative gender roles which often result in women being mistreated or subordinated. Though Islam is he favorite example of this fact here

in the West, every religion often has something to say about women.

For example The Laws of Mann (A Hindu text) says, "No man is able to guard women entirely by force, but they can be entirely guarded by using these meaner: he should keep her busy amassing and spending money, engaging in purification, attending to her duty, cooking food, and looking after the furniture. " This does not mean this is exactly what goes on in India, but that women's rights are often built directly into religious law. To some extent, the previous issues are obvious, but many people fail to see a injection between religion and the environment, however there most certainly is one.

For example, David Barker and David Pearce conclude in a study that "believers in Christian end-times theology are less likely to support policies designed to curb global warming than are other Americans. " The reasoning is that they believe will only allow the world to end when he decides it is time. Global warming is either a myth, or a vehicle through which God will destroy the world. On the flip side of this argument, there are plenty of eastern religions that support a oneness with nature, ND encourage environmental sustainability.

For example, in the Dado De Jinn it says "Therefore he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough. " Many other such quotations have been used in eastern texts to encourage a consciousness about the environment. In fact, my first religion professor's entire research was based around this concept. I again turn to the reader to investigate further, starting with Dry. James Miller's website. David

Barker, David Pearce and James Miller are some of the few that can see that religion is, without exaggeration, linked to our future as a species on this planet.

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