Human Dignity Essay

Decent Essays
Human dignity is a popular topic amongst all religions, especially when regarding death and what follows. Within every culture or religion, human beings have individual beliefs associated with death. Within Catholicism and Hinduism, human identity is considered ethical and spiritual, rather than material. Both religions believe that dying marks the death of a person’s body, but their soul lives on. Yet in saying this, each culture has certain views and beliefs which are predominantly unique to their culture, when it comes to the question of the afterlife. It is necessary for each religion respect human life in order to respect and understand human dignity, but how do the two cultures provide an answer to the issue, and mystery, of the afterlife?
It is the belief of Catholics that life’s purpose is simply to have life and have it to the full, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Catholics strive to love God with their heart, mind and soul, and to love their neighbour as they would themselves. Love is an important virtue within Catholicism. Many Catholic teachings stem from love. The virtues highlighted in the Catholic scriptures
…show more content…
Within the Hindu faith, dying marks the death of the individual’s body, and the rebirth of their soul. In other words, the physical body’s lifespan is limited, but their soul is eternal. Hindus place great significance on the concept of the afterlife because of this. Hindus strive to respect their soul, and others, as they believe that their soul will live on even when their body ceases to live. Human dignity is incredibly important in the Hindu faith. It is their belief that each person’s soul, just like their body, is still subject to impurity. A Hindu must live righteously to avoid tainting their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hindus believe in karma, dharma,vedas and moksha. Karma and Dharma have a cause and effect relationship. Dharma is the actions that you took in life or a past life whether the actions were good or bad. Your karma is your reward. If you do good Dharma you will receive good karma and vice versa.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hinduism Vs Buddhism

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    They believe in a better realm being promised once someone passes on. Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, going back more than 3,500 years. It is a complex and diverse system of philosophies and traditions. Although there are numerous gods and goddesses one can worship, the emphasis is on an individual spiritual experience. Today, there are nearly one billion Hindus, making Hinduism the world’s third largest religion (Heaven: How Five Religions See It, JJ Streaming Films).…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Right to Death with Dignity American citizens suffering from a terminal disease are being denied the right to end their suffering by not legalizing euthanasia or physician assisted suicide. This is a controversial topic because some individuals believe that there is little difference between euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide and murder. Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide are both means of ending ones life by ingesting lethal medication on their own or by a physician administering the lethal medication versus a person dying naturally. The process of dying can be slow and excruciatingly painful for the patient as well as their loved ones watching this process, people should not have to endure such torture. This raises the…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death with Dignity Facts Ascension Death with Dignity refers to what is also known as physician-assisted dying. There is a lot of debate around this issue. Pros and cons abound. Opinions are plentiful in both directions for a person’s legal right to choose when and how they will die. While some areas are gray and more subjective, there are some facts to consider.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that helped give African Americans equal rights such as voting, integration, and equal opportunity in jobs. It lasted for a century, but it peaked in the 1950’s and 60’s with events such as Plessy v. Ferguson, integration of Central High School, “I Have a Dream” speech, etc. The most significant events in moving civil rights forward for African Americans was Montgomery Bus Boycott, bombing of Birmingham Church, and Selma marches. Although these events helped move civil rights forward, the negative attitude towards African Americans in the Deep South made it harder and longer to fight for equality. The attitudes towards African Americans were often discriminatory and oppressive.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    RE Essay – Ani Gemmill Hinduism and Catholicism couldn’t be more different however when it comes to the belief in life after death many similarities occur. In both religions the concept of life after death is based on a higher being or God in which they aim on returning to. (e.g. Brahman for Hindus and God for Catholics.) When Hindus die they believe in the concept of samsara meaning death and rebirth. They live their next life through karma.…

    • 3960 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Afterlife Beliefs

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ancient Death and The Afterlife Death is a natural process that occurs to everybody, in one way or another. The afterlife is best defined as the place your soul goes after death. While seeming most plain and obvious, the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Hindus all believed different, yet similar things happened when a person passed away. Beginning with the Mesopotamians, they saw death as a sinful process. Although, the afterlife was glorious and your spirit would live on.…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Ability to Die With Dignity Since November of 1994, physician assisted suicide (PAS) has been a hot topic among the U.S. when it was legalized in the state of Oregon, and barely at that. After the final votes were casted it was legalized based on a 49% to 51% ratio in assisted suicides favor. While both are referenced as “dying with dignity” PAS and euthanasia are often confused, the medical definition for assisted suicide is “suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indication of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information” whereas euthanasia “requires action from someone other than the person who’s life is being ended” according…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is a beautiful idea of how there is a consequence or accomplishment after death that relies on the good deeds or poor actions that would determine the new life the person would receive. Hindus believe that the soul is everlasting, that it travels from body to body through many painful lifetimes in an attempt to clear and repay any lousy debts. As Hindu follower Benna Crawford notes in, “Describe the Hindu & Buddhist Belief of Reincarnation,” “the endless repetition of birth, death, and rebirth, called Samsara, is a painful process of inching toward perfect merit, working off bad deeds, and achieving moksha or liberation.” The…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Death Traditions Essay

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Death Traditions of World Religions There is no questioning that all beings on Earth inevitably die, however; each global religion has their own traditions pertaining to life’s final chapter. As a matter of fact, there is no concrete knowledge of the after life. Each religion reflects their personal values and teachings through their beliefs of the events that follow death. While researching, I discovered that some religious beliefs are alike, some very different, and some intertwined with each other.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has been argued that Catholicism and Islam are very similar monotheistic religions as they believe in a significant event that occurs once an individual dies. In summary, the Catholic Church teaches that the soul enters heaven, purgatory or hell depending on the supremacy of a person’s life. The Islamic perspective on life after death teaches that after death, an individual must wait until the Day of Judgement, which is known by Allah, for resurrection. Although these two monotheistic faiths share some differences in regards to their beliefs on life after death, they also present some similarities. Although there is substantial information about this topic, the question still remains…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Value of life What is the value of life? The value of life can be seen in many different perspectives. Common sense seems to dictate that the value of life is based on financial income not morality. Many people assume that there is no sense of morality when they put a price on a life.…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Justice And Mercy Essay

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Justice and Mercy Our understandings of justice and mercy are greatly influenced by our views of Jesus and redemption. Through texts like “Gods Work of Grace”, “A Spectrum of Views: Traditional Christian Responses to the Holocaust”, and verses in the books of Luke and Isaiah, we see a variety of different viewpoints that shed light on this topic. A good starting point in understanding our views of justice and mercy is in the book of Luke. In this story we hear about Jesus approaching a few men who were traveling to another village and were talking about Jesus not being in the tomb.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Hinduism, the soul of an individual reincarnates all over again and again until it becomes appropriate and perfect then reunites with the Divine. Hindus believed that their soul will enter into different and several bodies in the form of births and deaths. The explanation of Hinduism for reincarnation is the unfulfilled desires are the primary reasons for their rebirth. This tenet also provides the devotees the opportunity to evolve spiritually through different valuable experience that they gain in their different incarnations.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inhumanity: Then and Today What makes a human has been argued upon for unmeasurable amounts of time but there are some points commonly agreed upon. Of course humans are the sole species that have ability of speech (Choi para 10), but humans are the only animals that can express emotion through means such as laughing and crying (Burton para 3-4). Humans also are the only living creatures that can have beliefs and reasoning, which in a way helps explain the subject of the Holocaust. In World War II the Nazi party along with the Wehrmacht, or the German armed forces committed horrendous war crimes.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays