Eliade isn't concerned about "the relation between the rational and the non-rational elements of religion but the sacred in its entirety" (275). ... Religious beliefs are symbolic expressions of social realities without which religious beliefs have no meaning. ... Hence, Weber grants to religion a molding power that it lacks in the theories of Durkheim and other reductionists such as Marx and Freud, who "account for religious ideas and actions as the result of some other cause – something more real and more basic, of which they are the mere expression, or effect&quo...

• Word Count: 1378
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Freedom of expression, information, freely choosing, changing and discarding one's religion and the right to life are some of the fundamental Human Rights, which are threatened by fundamentalism, going to the extent of advocating death for non-believers and freethinkers. ... Islamic Fundamentalism is a dogmatic, religion based ideology that obstructs the growth of a rational, secular morality based on human desires and needs. ...

• Word Count: 619
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

THE MARCH OF RELIGION TO THIRD MILLENNIUM: - Swami Ranganathanada wrote, "A scientific study of religion reveals two dimensions to every religion, especially to every one of the highly developed world religions, namely, religion as a socio-political expression, and religion as a path to the experience of God, or any value equivalent to." It is generally understood a historically conditioned socio-political expression of religion. ... RELIGION AND SCIENCE: - It is commonly believed that there is a conflict between the rationality of science and the assumptions of religion. ... Swa...

• Word Count: 1813
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Third argument: (1) Nature does nothing pointlessly. (2) A human being is the only animal with rational discourse, logon. (3) Rational discourse is for making clear what is expedient or harmful, and hence what is just or unjust. (4) It is community in good and evil, and just and unjust, that produces a household and a city. (5) Therefore, a human being is by nature a political animal. ... Aristotle thus thinks of a city as a form of human community constituted by a system of laws which embody a conception of what is just and what is unjust; only in such a community can human beings develop and...

• Word Count: 1587
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

NON-RELIGIOUS/ HUMANIST BELIEFS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WITHIN WESTERN SOCIETY While religious beliefs remain an important part of our society, western society is becoming more and more reluctant to place their faith in God . Parents have become more prone to letting their c...

• Word Count: 1216
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Granted the insufficiency of the two approaches just outlined, we are left with the apparent irrationality of the decision of faith, It is cannot be grounded either in a commonly accessible transcendental faith or in rationally demonstrable historical events, how can conversion be distinguished from a blind and irrational leap into the dark. ... As an expression of personal conviction, testimony draws its power form its appeal to the trustworthiness of the speaker. ...

• Word Count: 2454
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate