Irreligion

One of the most outstanding figures of the Islamic history in the nineteenth century was Jamal ad-Di Afghani (1839-1897) who was born in Iran. Afghani was a well-traveled political activist who became the leading spokesperson for Pan-Islamism, a political movement that fought against the incursion of the Europeans by uniting the Muslims around the world under one Islamic state. His journeys to the different countries he has been had significant influences on how his life was shaped. The trends…

Rousseau claims that the precondition of decency in terms of being human and most importantly a citizen is to believe in God. Therefore, he does not separate a place in his ideal state for atheists by accusing them being unsociable. Bayle, on the other hand, is against the notion that while religion makes people moral, atheism makes them immoral. He puts forward other motives of human behavior other than fear or love of divine and claims that an atheist might be virtuous as much as a religious…

Winning political independence from Europe, they aspired to a form of cultural independence. In the process, they dreamed of American literary and artistic life that would rival the greatest achievements in Europe. Americans believed that their “happy land” was destined to become the “seat of empire” and the “final stage” of civilization, with “glorious works of high invention and of wond'rous art.” The means of expression that this “independence” found was among other places in early American…

hat the world would be a better place if only secularist politics, were comprehensively instituted within political institutions. I will discuss this argument by looking at the issues that arise from theocracy in Iran, specifically the incompatibility of theocracy and democracy, and the issue of entrenching political policies in religious doctrines and what that means for change. I will then examine the different forms that secularism can take. Firstly, by examining the forced atheism of Soviet…

A WORLD OF WOVEN COLORS: OTTOMON KAFTANS Lauren Barrett ARTH 442.01: Islamic Art November 30, 2017 There has been much ado about clothing. Following the current trends is a style; likewise purposefully ignoring the trends is also a statement. Most of what we wear today is recycled from the past, whether it is clear-framed glasses or bell-bottom denim, styles and trends come and go. Clothing can serve as a symbol of power and wealth. The sumptuous Ottoman textiles,…

Essay 1C Between the late fifteen hundreds and the late eighteen hundreds, several European nations, mainly Portugal, France, England and Spain, were involved in a race to colonize the New World. This race would lead to interactions between the Europeans and the Native Americans who already lived there and monumentally affect both groups. Contact between the Native Americans and the Europeans challenged and largely extinguished the Native American worldview of communal land ownership, while…

As we turn to the issue of atheism, I believe some framework is necessary. Atheism is typically defined as a lack of belief in God and it is in the definition of God that the issue arises. Clearly, the two philosophers have a different definition of the word God. As hopefully made clear in the second and third paragraph, Spinoza thinks that God is an impersonal summation of all things (i.e. substance), while Berkeley thinks that God is a personal, thinking thing responsible for but distinct from…

Historians often regard the eighteenth century as one of the most criminal in the history of Early Modern England. Property crimes were the most common sort of vagrant behaviour, but some violent incidences did take place, usually in the form of riots. Many times, these riots were to express the general discontentment of the population against certain factors. Property crime was a certain eventuality, especially when the growing economic prosperity of England is considered. It is likely that the…

Religion is a set of morals, rules, behaviors and ethics shared by a community that are based on stories about a higher power that serve to guide its followers into a good path and outlook in life. The word religion itself doesn’t have a true meaning for me, it is a set of many words and meanings inside the religious branch. We can define religion by different contexts like ‘what is religion spiritually, politically, personally’, among other forms. “The language of religion has a great variety…

Nirguna bhakti is the devotion towards a formless, all-encompassing God. The word ‘nirgun’ means ‘devoid of qualities,’ referring to the lack of physical attributes in God. It is one of the two forms of devotion prevalent in Hinduism, the other one being Sagun Bhakti which sees God in a physical form. A prominent preacher of Nirgun Bhakti was Saint Kabir, one of the pioneers of the Bhakti movement. NIRGUNA is the eternal all-pervading and omnipresent divine consciousness. One of the prominent…