Blasphemy

Being Queer- The Abominable Crime? Attraction, love, lust, attachment, emotions, relationships, sex, marriages- How are all these words so relatable to us, the Indian society, only when we think of a heterosexual couple. Why is it so hard for us to understand that these exact words apply to every human being irrespective of his sexual preferences. Why is it that we feel like we have the right to judge, criticise and reprimand what someone else does in his/her life. The norms and mindset of our…

Case Study 1 – Indonesian Nationalism and Terrorism In Indonesia, nationalism is based on Kebangkitan Nasional Indonesia, or “National Awakening of Indonesia” during the first half of the twentieth century. This movement led to the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch, culminating in the country’s independence in 1949. Today, modern Indonesia reflects on the figures, language, and literature of this movement as the basis of their nation, particularly in the post-Suharto era.…

Spectacle and thrill were a major component of life in the ancient Roman empire. The gladiatorial games could perhaps be considered the favorite form of entertainment among Romans at the time. The gladiators themselves came from a variety of different walks of life. Roman spectacle took place in arenas, and they occurred in a great deal of forms. The gladiatorial games are often confused with gladiatorial executions; however, the two are in fact quite different. One question that has intrigued…

The Islamic State is a large, violent, and Islamic organization that has recently emerged as the new face of terror following the Syrian revolution and the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Their main goal is to establish a global caliphate and unite the Ummah. In July 2014 the Islamic State started its own propaganda magazine called Dabiq. In the first issue there is a feature article entitled “From Hijrah to Khilafah”. This article accounts the history, methods, and motives behind the Islamic…

history of the death penalty begins with British colonists, who referred to the English penal codes in determining the law and the punishment. The codes include over fifty offenses that the death penalty could be used for, including rape, witchcraft, blasphemy adultery, and murder. The death penalty satisfied the goals of the law. The first criminals were be headed to make sure that they did not repeat their crime. The death penalty is fair and should be carried out in all states The most…

The question of Christ’s deity may be the single most important question that the Church has to face today. Many today claim that Jesus was just a good teacher and that he himself never claimed to be divine. In Islam, it is believed that the Christians corrupted his teachings to say that he was the Son of God. However, through this apologetics course, it has been shown verifiably that the New Testament is reliable and uncorrupted. This means that what Jesus says in the New Testament is most…

Around the year 400 BC, Aristophanes wrote the comedic play Lysistrata to convince Athenians to stop the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. The main protagonist, Lysistrata, is a brilliant Athenian woman who rallies a sex strike within Athens and Sparta in order to force a peace treaty between the two city-states. In addition to incorporating sexuality as a comedic element in his play, which the Greeks embraced as a natural side of humanity, Aristophanes also utilizes the elements: dramatic irony…

Religion is a major part of many people’s lives today, and as of today, 19 major religions exist around the world, with Christianity and Islam being the largest. Religion is where most people learn what they believe to be right and wrong; however, with so many different religious beliefs, not everybody will always agree. Many members of these religions feel the need to prove that their religious view is the one that everyone should believe. For people to force their religious beliefs onto others…

According to Pinker’s (2007) Ted Talk on the decline of violence, the Bible itself portrays early civilization as violent because “…in the Bible, one sees that the death penalty was the accepted punishment for crimes such as homosexuality, adultery, blasphemy, idolatry, talking back to your, and picking up sticks on the Sabbath.” Not to mention the acts of genocide that occurred in Armenia, The Holocaust, Cambodia Rwanda, Bosnia, and early 2000’s in Darfur are also part of the violent history.…

Discoveries that are motivated by need, curiosity and wonder all have the have the power to transform an individual’s perspective of themselves and others, leading them to gain independence and challenge social values. Such discoveries that lead to an individual’s transformation can be seen in Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’. Shakespeare demonstrates through the characters of the play how discoveries which stem from need, curiosity and wonder can transform them to become more independent, and…