Friday, January 31, 2020

The Triumph of Science Over Religion Essay Example for Free

The Triumph of Science Over Religion Essay In her book, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, Frykholm (2004) explains her interest in evangelism – that, in fact, her family had converted to evangelical Christianity and she had explored the faith in depth during her teenage years.   However, the author was not able to find the answers to her religious questions.   This made her a skeptic, as religious people would refer to her as. As a matter of fact, Frykholm realizes the differences between her beliefs and those of evangelical Christians.    She mentions, for example, that she was living with her fiancà © before marriage, while Christianity manifestly prohibits fornication.   Moreover, the Left Behind series appeals to people who are homophobic among other things, also according to the author.   Thus, she refers to the rapture culture – of the believers in rapture – as a part of Christian fundamentalism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The book, Rapture Culture, is a qualitative study relating the views of readers of the Left Behind series.   Frykholm seems to have undertaken the project because of her deep interest in evangelical Christianity.   Yet, she has approached the study as a disbeliever in evangelical Christianity.   She criticizes many of the beliefs of Christianity, which practicing Christians might consider as mockery.   It seems, however, that Frykholm would like the readers of the Left Behind series to help her understand the reasons why they believe in the rapture while she does not. She finds that the series strengthens the faith of some of the readers, while others find the series interesting because it allows them to learn what they had never paid attention to.   Frykholm discovers that the readers of the series differ in terms of what they gain from books about rapture.   All the same, it is not only a discovery of their understanding that the author is concerned with.   She describes her own perspective of Christian beliefs at every turn.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Frykholm’s doubts about Christianity are not unique in our time.   There are countless people in the United States and the Western world as a whole who were born into Christian families but have given up the practice of religion.   Fornication is quite common among such people.   Furthermore, it is considered abnormal by them to oppose homosexuality, even though the Bible strictly speaks against it in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Practicing Christians are of the opinion that this is one of the signs of the end times.   Frykholm, on the other hand, is confident that the rapture culture is the culture of a people that differ from her fundamentally.   Hence, the title of the book sheds more light on the ‘us versus them’ mentality of Frykholm as well as the evangelical Christians.   Needless to say, religion is at odds with the cultural norms of the majority in the West today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is, therefore, important to understand the history of the division in society as far as the practice of religion is concerned.   Frykholm does not have a problem referring to her book as a qualitative study, which suggests that scientific understanding is easier for her.   But, she is not the only person in the West who finds it easier to respect science as opposed to religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By the sixteenth century, the Western experience with religion had turned bitter.   The Catholic Reformation, also referred to as a Counter Reformation, was a response to the great Protestant Reformation in Europe during this period of time.   There were two elements of the Catholic Reformation.   First of all, Catholics were being called for a renewal of piety and of virtue in the form of renewed commitments to prayer as well as mysticism.   This component of the Reformation was particularly evident in the clerical orders.   The ordinary folks had nothing whatsoever to do with this component of the Reformation, seeing that even the clerical orders were not looked upon as worthy guides.   Secondly, the Church was being asked to reform in order to deal with unparalleled as well as swift changes in society, and abuses that accompanied those changes.[1]    There was turbulence witnessed in the societal structure, and one of the reasons why it was necessary to initiate the Catholic Reformation was that the humanists had revived classical pagan philosophy in the fifteenth century, using the new miracle of printing to shift the attention of society from the after life to the present.[2]   At the same time as the classical pagan philosophy was being circulated, the Church was going through a period of decline with a desiccation of scholastic thinking.   Internal abuses at the Church were also well-known, and these involved simony, the sale of indulges, multiple benefices, and much more.[3]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Church could not be trusted as much as it was meant to be.   As a matter of fact, the condition of religion in the sixteenth century was characterized by turmoil.   King Henry VIII of England created the Church of England in the year 1533 A.D. by splitting from the Roman Catholic Church.   Around the same time, the French Wars of Religion were waged between the Catholics and the Huguenots in France.[4]   How much confusion such chaos would have birthed in the minds of Western Christians with respect to their religion could only be imagined.   Christianity was, after all, supposed to be a religion of peace and unconditional love.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Western religion around 1500 A.D. was chiefly Christian, and the sixteenth century has been described as â€Å"probably the most intolerant period in Christian history.†[5]   It was not the scientists that were killed during this time because they came up with new ideas.   Rather, in the sixteenth century, there were thousands of people that were killed because they were called heretics by religionists.   Michael Servetus was only one such individual.   He was burned in 1553 A.D., alive, on the order of John Calvin in addition to the city authorities, because he had made theological speculations that Calvin believed to be falsehoods.[6]    To put it another way, the religious authorities of the time would not allow people even to deviate in their thinking with respect to religion.   Christians of the West were required to think of Christianity in the way that the religious authorities felt was appropriate.   Critical thinking or questioning was not allowed by any means.   What is more, the religious authorities were known to be corrupt enough for places of worship to be closed down.   Clarke writes:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In January, 1535, the newly appointed Vicar-General of the English Church, Thomas   Ã‚  Ã‚   Cromwell, sent out his agents to conduct a commission of enquiry into the character and value   Ã‚  Ã‚   of all ecclesiastical property in the kingdom.   Overtly, they were reformers, exercising the new   Ã‚  Ã‚   powers accorded to the Crown by the Act of Supremacy: from time to time to visit, repress,   Ã‚  Ã‚   redress, reform, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences,   Ã‚  Ã‚   contempts and enormities . . . which ought or may be lawfully reformed.   But Dr. Richard   Ã‚  Ã‚   Layton, Dr. Thomas Legh, Dr. John London, and the other tough-minded and venal officials   Ã‚  Ã‚   chosen for the job had no doubt what the Crown expected of them.   It took them only six   Ã‚  Ã‚   months to submit for Cromwells scrutiny an accurate and detailed tax-book, the Valor   Ã‚  Ã‚   Ecclesiasticus.   Along with it came evidence of corruption and scandalous immorality in   Ã‚  Ã‚   Englands monasteries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Such evidence was not hard to find, for by the 16th century many of the religious houses   Ã‚  Ã‚   had long since lost their sense of purpose.[7] The religious turbulence of the sixteenth century was continued into the seventeenth century.   The government of England had become known for its harassment of Catholics as well as Jesuits.   On 20 May 1604, certain religious men began to plot the destruction of the government after having heard Mass.   One priest knew about the plot, and was made to pay the price of this knowledge later on.[8]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The religious authorities of the Near and Far East were not facing religious turmoil around that time, however.   Nor were the people of the advanced civilizations of the Near and Far East being confronted with religious confusion.   Furthermore, scientists of the Near East were especially involved with their work during the sixteenth century, as for a number of centuries before.   The Ottoman astronomer, Taqi al-Din, created astronomical tables in the sixteenth century.   These tables were considered as accurate as the ones made by Tycho Brahe in Denmark during the same period of time.   All the same, the Ottomans are known to have ceased their support for scientific innovations and research a century later, as their priorities took a shift.[9]   The West, on the contrary, continued scientific explorations even after the sixteenth century. The East had maintained its religions.   It was only the West that had showed immense intolerance toward different religious beliefs and practices, even with respect to its own faith.   Whereas religious authorities stopped Westerners from thinking and reasoning, science opened up a new world for the ordinary people.   They were not called heretics because of their new scientific ideas.   Rather, people who came up with new scientific ideas were in the company of many others who came up with great new ideas in the scientific arena.   Giordano Bruno, Girolamo Cardano, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, Paracelsus, John Napier, and Andreas Vesalius are only few of the important Western scientists of the sixteenth century. Besides, the same century saw the birthing of Copernicus’ theory, the import of new plant species from the Americas into Europe, and new inventions that revolutionized manufacturing and other features of living.   The wheel-lock musket, the helicopter, the spinning wheel, the pocket watch, the diving bell, the seed drill, the camera obscura, the knitting machine, the compound microscope, the Gregorian Calendar, and the enameling of pottery were all brought into the world in the sixteenth century.[10]   So, while religion disappointed people, science brought renewed hope of existence through new products and discoveries.   No scientist could be killed in the name of science.   Hence, science was safely meant to stay on in the West despite the good or bad luck of religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Frykholm seems to have chosen the safe side, although believers in rapture may not believe in her safety in the afterlife.   According to the latter, this division would remain real until final judgment time.   The author of Rapture Culture, on the other hand, does not claim to understand the truth of religion as opposed to the truth of science. Bibliography Clark, L. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th Century. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007, from http://www.historynet.com/. Frykholm, A. J. (2004). Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Oxford University Press. Hogge, A. (2005). God’s Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth’s Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. How the Idea of Religious Tolerance Came to the West. MacroHistory. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007, from http://www.fsmitha.com/review/index.html. Lewis, J. J. (1998). Women Saints: Doctors of the Church. London: Penguin. Timeline 16th Century. Magic Dragon Multimedia. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007, from http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline16.html. Olin, J. (1990). Catholic Reformation: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent, 1495- New York: Fordham University Press. Pollen, J. H. (2004). The Counter Reformation. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: K.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Knight. [1] J. H. Pollen, â€Å"The Counter Reformation,†The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: K. Knight, 2004). [2] Jone Johnson Lewis, Women Saints: Doctors of the Church (London: Penguin, 1998). [3] John Olin, Catholic Reformation: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent, 1495-1563 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990). [4] â€Å"Timeline 16th Century,† Magic Dragon Multimedia, available from http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline16.html; Internet; accessed 16 November 2007. [5] â€Å"How the Idea of Religious Tolerance Came to the West,† MacroHistory, available from http://www.fsmitha.com/review/index.html; Internet; accessed 16 November 2007. [6] Ibid. [7] Lindsay Clarke, â€Å"The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th Century,† available from http://www.historynet.com/; Internet; accessed 16 November 2007. [8] Alice Hogge, God’s Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth’s Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005). [9] â€Å"Cutting-Edge Science in the Middle East;† available from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/science/index.html; Internet; accessed 16 November 2007. [10] â€Å"Timeline.†

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Cummins UK :: Business Management Studies

Cummins UK Cummins’ has many worldwide locations spreading widely into each continent. The European and Central Area Headquarters are located at Iver in Buckinghamshire. The Global Headquarters are located in Columbus in Indiana (USA). A map to show the location of the Cummins plant in Daventry is shown below. The location of the Daventry plant is in a central position in the country and is close to motorways, train-stations, and an International Airport (Birmingham). This makes it ideal for products and materials to be delivered and distributed throughout the country and onto other countries. The majority of Cummins’ employees are from Daventry. The unemployment level is 4.8% nationally, it is significantly lower in the Daventry district. The current unemployment rate in Northamptonshire is 1.7%. Before Cummins decided to set up a plant in Daventry they should have looked at the various aspects: †¢ Does Daventry have the qualified and skilled employees that Cummins need? †¢ Is the wage rate high in the Daventry area? †¢ Do we need to be near our customers? †¢ How much will it cost to set-up and keep running the plant in the Daventry area? Below is a map to show the location of Cummins in Daventry. It shows the surrounding roads which can be important to the location of a premises. Businesses set up in certain areas can gain by receiving grants. The government has sectioned the UK into Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 is the section in most need of grants because of high unemployment, lower earning levels. Tier 2 is the areas are more local areas of the country. Grant eligibility - the main factors There are a number of factors that affect the eligibility for grants. Location of your business Each of the countries of the United Kingdom has its own range of grants available. Some areas get extra grants due to social deprivation or high unemployment. Some grants are given by local authorities to help local businesses. Size of your business You may only be eligible for some grants if your business is a particular size, measured either by turnover or the number of employees. Many grants are limited to small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - roughly one with fewer than 250 employees. Industry sector Grants are commonly targeted at industries that are economically disadvantaged. The government targets grants at industries they want to encourage. Grants rarely target retail businesses. Sales development increasingly attracts government grants, with an emphasis upon assistance to exporters. Grants are frequently targeted at manufacturing, farming and tourism. Businesses specialising in information technology and innovation are eligible for many grants. The purpose of the grant Grants are often awarded for a specific purpose such as purchasing

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Regulation in Mass Media Essay

The responsibility of the FCC and their regulations are often questioned if they are necessary or not. By examining Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could take the side that the regulation of media is necessary. Regulation of media is necessary to prevent a monopoly– which is one company controlling the entire market. If there was a monopoly on media then the company could charge and price whatever they want and only give service to those they wanted to. By having media regulations this is not able to happen. Natural monopolies in wired carriers, which are monopolies approved by the FCC, keep costs down and prevent a cluttering of wiring in the air or ripping up streets to install underground wiring. The first sign of natural monopoly was with AT&T and the telephone. According to Horowitz, it states: â€Å"Under the leadership of Theodor Vail, AT&T maintain the telephony constitution a natural monopoly. One policy, one system, and universal service’ was Vail’s ot-reapted slogan. † (Horowitz, Page 99) Vail argued that by having more then one provider there would be a waste of resources and if there was one provider pooling its resources they would be able to provide a better service to the customer. Though this might be true, unless there is regulation by the government this idea of natural monopoly would be horrible. Now the FCC regulates any kind of natural monopoly that exists within universal carriers of a med ia. The beginning of regulation began with the start of large scale communication, other then print, in 1835 when Samuel Morse proved a signal that could transmitted a message by wire. Morse used pulses of current to provide a written code on a strip of paper. This code became known as the Morse Code. Morse gave a public demonstration in 1838 to congress, but it took congress over five years to fund Morse’s experiment of the telegraph. Congress funded Morse $30,000 to construct a 40 mile experiment from Washington to Baltimore, using telegraph wire. It took six years before a message was sent and received over the telegraph wire. This was the first time a message had been transferred other then print or word of mouth. Western Union became the main provider of the telegraph service, and became a monopoly in 1867. The telegraph created the umbrella of commerce, which was the first time the government intervened with communications. According to Horwitz, a common carrier obligation was established for all carriers that provided service for the telegraph. Telegraph companies resemble railroad companies and other common carries, in that they are instruments of commerce and in that they exercise a public employment and are therefore bound to serve all customers alike without discriminations, they have doubtless a duty to the public to receive to the extent of there capacity all messages clearly and intelligible written and to transmit them upon reasonable terms but they are not common carriers, there duties are different and are perfo rmed in different ways and they are not subject the same liabilities. (Horowitz, Page 95, 96) What this law meant was that there could be no discrimination in who the provider wanted to extend service to. In 1895 the first radio message was transmitted by Marconi. Radio area waves were open to who ever could make a device to transmit messages to other people with the same device. Broadcasting became more and more popular. According to Horwitz, â€Å"broadcasting-the dissemination of electrical messages through the airwaves to an undifferentiated audience-may not have been contemplated, but it was inherited in the technology of radio. (Horowitz, Page 112) Radio became more and more popular and the government stepped in like they did with the telegraph and telephone and began regulating radio. The first major regulation was the Radio Act of 1912. Before this, radio waves were open to the public. The airwaves started to become too crowded and the U. S. government decided to take actio n. The Radio Act of 1912 established government control over the airwaves and created guidelines for issuing licenses and distributing radio airwaves. The Radio Act of 1927 was the second major act that was established to regulate the media industry. This act created the Federal Radio Communications (FRC), which was responsible for giving licenses to broadcasters. This act also made it so that the radio airwaves were a public resource. As a result, broadcasters were required to serve the public interest. The regulations of broadcasted media and the regulation of print media are different. The regulation of print deals with copyright laws. Anyone could publish anything they want but if some one uses someone else’s words without proper notation they could be sued. Print is regulated more when dealing with news print; for example the newspaper. Most print media would not use profanity or any kind of naked pictures. Print media is mostly written based on ethics. The writer tries not to take sides or out right seem bias towards one particular side. Broadcast media like radio have different kinds of regulations. In order to have air time on the radio one needs to have a license. Radio also must provide a public service toward the listener. Radio just like print media tends to stay away from profanity and over sexual connotations. Print media usually has a fee, whereas, radio is free to the public. Both of these media’s have regulations but have different kinds of regulations from the FCC. Overall, the world of mass media has many regulations that exist. These regulations are decided by the FCC, which is an independent government agency created under the Communications Act of 1934. At the beginning the FCC was responsible for regulating broadcast, telegraph, and telephone. Now the FCC has expanded its regulations to include new communication technologies such as: the satellite, microwave, cellular telephones, PCS service and private radio communications. As one could see, the responsibilities of the FCC are necessary in monitoring both the delivery system and the actual media itself. Overall, by using Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could tell the history of regulation and how important it really is to the people.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Case Study Customer Service Skills - 1440 Words

Part 1 a) Project summary Customers complained our staffs have very bad customer service skills and their service attitude are very rude. There are no customer service training provided to the staffs and each staff treat customers in their own way. The company is now losing customers because a lot of customer complaints and customers decide to not to come back to our company. The project is developed to help the company’s staffs to improve their customer service skills and knowledge and know how to treat customers correctly. I am hoping to achieve the result of 100% customer satisfaction level, increased business sales and increased business performance level. Benefits The benefits will be better customer service skills and knowledge for the staffs, better business sales and business reputation and help to bring more new customers to our company and all the company’s staffs know how to treat customers in the correct way. 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