The Future Of Religion :: essays research papers

The future of religion 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light…'(Gen 1:1.5) '…then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. '(Gen 2:7) This part from the bible is a typical example of what people used to believe before scientists came and gave logical explanations to the questions of mankind.It is possible, of course, to define a non-supernatural "religious" worldview that is not in conflict with science. But in all of its traditional forms, the supernatural religious worldview makes the assumption that the universe and its inhabitants have been designed and created by "forces" or beings which transcend the material world. The material world is postula ted to reflect a mysterious plan originating in these forces or beings, a plan which is knowable by humans only to the extent that it has been revealed to an exclusive few. Criticising or questioning any part of this plan is strongly discouraged, especially where it touches on questions of morals or ethics. Science, on the other hand, assumes that there are no transcendent, immaterial forces and that all forces which do exist within the universe behave in an ultimately objective or random fashion. The nature of these forces, and all other scientific knowledge, is revealed only through human effort in a dynamic process of inquiry. The universe as a whole is assumed to be neutral to human concerns and to be open to any and all questions, even those concerning human ethical relationships. Such a universe does not come to us with easy answers. We must come to it and be prepared to work hard. According to Thomas W. Clark science and religion are in a battle from the day that scientists g ot in the fields of the theologises

A compare and contrast Analysis of “The Metamorphosis” and “The Things They Carried” Essay

Society’s alienation and misunderstanding of humanity can transform once life, both Gregor Samsa and Norman Bowker suffered from isolation. Freedom is truly conquered when one is at full peace spiritually; one can be imprisoned in its own thoughts, desires and memories. To follow I will provide examples form both narrative texts were both characters are imprisoned in their own thoughts, desires and memories. In the process of discovering true freedom Gregor is pressured by society and his family to support them after his father lost his job. â€Å"At the time Gregor’s sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family to forget as soon as possible the catastrophe that had overwhelmed the business and thrown them all into a state of complete desire.† Trapped in a jam box where he must be exceptional, with a work mentality to support the family. Hating his job as a travelling salesman, but must continue doing it to pay off his parents’ debts all he talks about is how exhausting the job is, how irritating it is to be always travelling: making train connections, sleeping in strange beds, always dealing with new people and never getting to make new friends or even a loved one. We can see this on the text when he has the magazine cover instead of a real picture with a friend or a loved one (pg 89). â€Å" Hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady, with a fur cap on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into wich the whole of her forearm had vanished!† Leaving behind his desires as a human being all he will think about was his father’s debt and how much he will have to work to help his family. Gregor had earned so much money that he was able to meet the whole family expenses. We can see evidence in the text on (pg 111). â€Å"They had simply got used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted and gladly given, but there was no special uprush of warm feeling.† His family has used Gregors noble hearth for their own benefit, for comfort since he was able to meet the whole family’s expenses and in returned cold hard words, and isolation were given to him, no love. No true family love disgusted by the truth cockroach he had become, an animal treated like one left in the dust, completely alone slowly becoming a curse in his sister’s eyes and the rest of the family. We can see some of the sister’s rejection toward Gregor when she brings in the food on (pg 107). â€Å" But his sister at once noticed, with surprise, that the basin was still full, except for a little milk that had been spilled all around it, she lifted it immediately, not with her bare hands, true, but with a cloth and carried it away.† Trapped inside a body that repulses his family months passed by and Gregor is physically and mentally abused by his father several times, starving for true family love. At the end of the text when Gregor finds humanity, he feels no shame about anything or anybody he moves toward the music fights towards something that he felt passion about without thinking about the others. Is when Gregor truly understand the meaning of freedom and what it is to be human. On the other hand Norman Bowker and courage soldier, a survivor from the Vietnam War who fought for our freedom. A true warrior earned 7 medals in his soldier journey and he will not see the greatest in him. Having difficulty adjusting to everyday life in the late afternoon on the Fourth of July holiday, Norman drives around the lake on his dads Chevy for hours, passing time and thinking about his life before the war, as his memories from Vietnam. He remembers driving around the lake with Sally before the war thinking about how his friends have gotten married or moved away to find jobs. Complete alone, isolated from his family and the world he imagines a conversation with his dad. We can see that Norman Bowker has no pride in him constantly putting himself down like it was no brave thing to accomplish the 7 medals on (pg 162). â€Å"Well this one time, this one night out by the river†¦ I wasn’t very brave.† â€Å" You have seven medals.† â€Å"Sure.† â€Å" Seven. Count ‘em. You weren’t a coward either.† â€Å" Well, maybe not. But I had the chance and I blew it. The stink, that’s what  go to me. I couldn’t take a goddamn awful smell.† Norman continues to drive around the lake while listening to the radio and thinks more about courage and cowardice was something small and stupid. Thinking about the incident that led up to Kiowa’s death on that rainy shit field and recalls the scene with great detail as the memories play again and again in his mind. Torturing him every second, thinking that he could have done more, and extra effort would have saved him and putting the guilt on him. His consciences was stronger them him unable to cope with his life, trapped in thoughts. The war was over and his not free, his locked in in his horrible memory punishing him every second of his life, complete alone from the world and eventually killed himself. He hanged himself. Overall both text Frank Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis and The Things They Carried contributed me to a better constructive symbol of what means to be human since we see the downfalls and rises from each character. Gregor provides the strength to fight for your beliefs for what moves you in life as a person. I realized that one has to enjoy life have friends spend time with their love ones and grow as a person, not just work because at the end you may never know what can happen and Norman Bowker taught me that we have to be at peace with our sol and mind, learning to forgive ourselves to turn the page of that horrible experience we had in life, even if sometimes can take a life time.

Geography and Facts on Disney Theme Parks

Disneys first theme park was Disneyland, located in Anaheim California. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. In the 1970s, the Walt Disney Company developed its Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Division after the construction of the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. Since its founding in 1971, the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Division has been responsible for expanding its original Disney parks and building new parks all over the world. For example, Disneys original park, Disneyland, was expanded to include Disneys California Adventure Park in 2001. The following is a list of the Disney parks located around the world and a short summary of what each park includes: Disneyland Resort This is the first Disney resort and is located in Anaheim, California. It opened in 1955 but has been expanded since and now includes Disneys California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney and luxury hotels such as the Disneyland Hotel, Disneys Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, and Disneys Paradise Pier Hotel. Walt Disney World Resort This resort was Disneys second project in Orlando, Florida and is an expansion of the Magic Kingdom which opened in 1971. Today its theme parks include the original Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disneys Hollywood Studios and Disneys Animal Kingdom. In addition, there are water parks, shopping centers, and a large variety of hotels and resorts at or near this Disney location. Tokyo Disney Resort ï » ¿This was the first Disney resort to open outside of the United States. It opened in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan in 1983 as Tokyo Disneyland. It was expanded in 2001 to include Tokyo DisneySea which features a nautical, underwater theme. Like the U.S. locations, Tokyo Disney has a large shopping center and luxury resort hotels. In addition, the resort is said to have one of the largest parking structures in the world. Disney Paris ï » ¿Disney Paris opened under the name Euro Disney in 1992. It is located in the Paris suburb of Marne-la-Vallà ©e and has two theme parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park), a golf course and many different resort hotels. Disney Paris also has a large shopping center called Disney Village. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort This 320-acre park is located in Pennys Bay on Lantau Island, Hong Kong and opened in 2005. It consists of one theme park and two hotels (Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disneys Hollywood Hotel). The park has plans to expand in the future. Shanghai Disneyland Resort The most recent Disney Park is in Shanghai. It was approved by the government of China in 2009 and is expected to open in 2014. Disney Cruise Line The Disney Cruise Line was developed in 1995. It currently operates two ships- one of which is called Disney Magic and the other is Disney Wonder. They began operating in 1998 and 1999, respectively. Each of these ships travels to the Caribbean and have a port of call at Disneys Castaway Cay Island in the Bahamas. The Disney Cruise Line plans to add two more ships in 2011 and 2012. In addition to the above-mentioned theme parks and resorts, Walt Disneys Parks and Resorts Division has plans to open additional parks in Europe and Asia. It also has plans to expand several existing parks such as the Hong Kong and Paris locations. Source: Wikipedia. (2010, March 17). Walt Disney Parks and Resorts - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Parks_and_Resorts