Religion and Theology

To say that Christianity is a religion based upon one text only is a great simplification of Christianity. Looking at Christianity from a developmental perspective, there were three main eras An early chaotic era with many different sects and religious writings, the long authoritarian era in which a small number of religious bureaucracies held sway and the late era when the authority of the religious bureaucracies was challenged and people came up with a variety of ways to understand the Bible.

The early era was marked by a wide variety of sects and preachers each claiming to represent the true teachings of Jesus. The four Gospels comprising what is called the New Testament of the Bible were composed in this period. Some of the main sectarian tendencies in this period were those that were in later years known as the Judaizers, these people held that all Jesus followers must adhere to Halakha laws of Judaism and had no concept of Christianity as a separate religion from Judaism. James, the first head of the Christians in Jerusalem and John of Patmos, the author of Revelations were some of the early Christ. A second group was composed of those who held that the non-Jewish followers of Jesus do not have to follow the purification and dietary rules etc. of Judaism, this group, led by Paul of Tarsus eventually evolved into the various Catholic and Orthodox bureaucracies of mainstream Christianity. A third group was composed of the mystical sects of Gnosticism. These groups had a diverse set of beliefs incorporating many different ideas from diverse religious movements. Of basic importance to other Christians was their belief that since God was perfect, it would be wrong to attribute the creation of evil to God, instead they postulated the existence of a minor wicked god or demon, the demiurge to which they attributed the creation of the Heavens and the Earth (Stilwell, 2009).

With the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity, the era formalization and standardization of Christian beliefs occurred. The standard text of the New Testament was prepared and a certain uniformity of religious dogma and rituals were imposed on populations under Christian rule. Along the way a quite a few splits occurred in the religious bureaucracy of Christianity, with minor differences in dogma and ritual among Christians of various geographical regions (Stilwell, 2009).

In the final era of Christianity a number of influential preachers attacked the monopoly of the Christian religious bureaucracy in Western Europe, forming new sects based on their own interpretations of the Bible. Once the religious bureaucracies lost the power to enforce uniformity in beliefs and rituals, everyone was free to interpret the text of the Bible as they saw fit and thus many denominations of Christianity were created (Stilwell, 2009).

What events and figures have shaped the development of Islam in the United States

Immigration from the Muslim world has been the main force behind the rise of Islam as a prominent religion in the United States. Two-thirds of all Muslims of the United States are immigrants from the Muslim world (McInerney, 2005).

Proselytizing efforts from Muslim immigrants have contributed to the conversion of many American converts to Islam however most of the converts to Islam occur among the African American community. Most of these converts are to Islamic movements indigenous to the African American community These Islamic movements have beliefs and rituals different from mainstream Muslims and arose from the African-American struggle for equal rights in the American society. Some of the important figures of these indigenous African-American movements are Noble Drew Ali the founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America movement, Elijah Muhammad the founder of the Nation of Islam movement, Malcolm X and Warith Deen Muhammad who were responsible for bringing a section of the African-American Muslim community closer to the beliefs and rituals of mainstream Muslims (McInerney, 2005).

How are newer religions different from older ones How are they similar

New religions may incorporate modern scientific knowledge or modern cultural ideas, two examples of such religions are the Ralians and the Scientologist, both of whom incorporate ideas found in science fiction literature into their beliefs.

New religions are similar to the old ones in the fact that they often require believers to sacrifice their time, labor or money in service of the religion. New religions are susceptible to splintering and sectarianism much in the same way as the old religions are. For example, the official Church of Scientology faces a number of rival splinter groups such as The Process Church and the Free Zone movement.

What effect do you think religious pluralism and the interfaith movement will have on the future of organized religion Explain your answer.

There are two things which can bind a person to a certain organized religion religious coercion and the belief that the religion represents the truth. The inability of the Catholic religious authorities to enforce a standard version of Christianity allowed not only the creation of multiple splinter groups, it eventually lead to the recognition that everyone ought to be free to believe in religion as they liked or not believe in religion at all. Many people left religion altogether, taking advantage of this new opportunity. The recognition by a religious group that their teachings may not contain all the truth or that there may be other parts of the truth is likely to bring further depletion in the number of believers in organized religion.

What are the central beliefs of Islam, and how are they reflected in the Five Pillars (McInerney, 2003)

A belief in the existence of an Omniscient and Omnipotent God, who is the creator of all and the only entity worthy of worship is the primary belief in Islam. In addition Muslims believe that God periodically invested select humans with prophet-hood, and these prophets were responsible for teaching the message of monotheism to others. Muslims believe that idol worship and polytheism occurs when humans forget the message taught to them by God through the prophets and these occasions the creation of a new prophet. They believe that the Prophet Muhammad was the last in the line of prophets which includes among others, Noah, Moses and Jesus. Muslims also believe that those believe in the prophets sent by God and abide by their teachings will, in the afterlife, end up in heaven, a place of eternal delight, while those who reject the prophets will abide in hell forever. Those who believe in the prophets but mostly commit evil deeds will suffer penance in the hellfire before being sent to heaven (McInerney, 2005).

The five pillars of Islam are five compulsory ritual actions that define the religious life of a Muslim. The first of these the profession of faith or Shahadah saying which with conviction causes a non-Muslim to enter Islam. The second pillar is the performance of the five daily prayers following ritual ablutions. The third pillar is a yearly almsgiving called Zakat in which rich believers give at least 2.5 of their accumulated annual wealth to the poor. The fourth pillar is the performance of abstaining from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn to sunset in the lunar month of Ramadan. The fifth pillar is the pilgrimage to Makkah, which all those who are able must perform once in their life time (McInerney, 2005).

These rituals are all considered methods of worship of God alone, therefore they reflect the belief in strict monotheism. They are performed according to the instructions received from the Prophet Muhammad therefore they reflect the belief in prophet hood. These rituals are done out of a fear of the punishment of hellfire and the desire for the reward of heaven, reflecting the belief in the afterlife.
Which of the Five Pillars do you feel would be easiest to fulfill, and which would be the most challenging (McInerney, 2003)

I feel that the easiest obligation to fulfill from the Five Pillars of Islam would be the yearly payment of alms. Even though 2.5 of yearly savings may add up to quite a large amount, the amount the government charges on a persons income is usually far more than this.

The most challenging ritual is the performance of prayer, at five times throughout the day because this requires a believer to maintain a certain discipline throughout their lives.