Good Example Of Religions Of The World Essay

I selected the topic “Religions of the world”. The main purpose why I selected this theme is my strong confidence that it is religion that shapes the fundamental convictions and attitudes of different cultures. Working on the theme will help me to explore and research the deepest and the most significant ideas that influenced the life of different societies through their development and up to present time. Religion is one of the most powerful tools that connects or separates people, the interdependence between religion and culture can be hardly underestimated. Influence of religion on culture, history, education etc. has been exerting in profound ways throughout the world history. In some societies religion shaped attitude toward water, hygiene practices and defined the range of needs. The problem of using contraceptives, attitude to death penalty, relation in the family, role of women, keeping the human rights are just few examples of the influence of religion on culture of different societies. To understand the great role of religion we should look at ongoing tensions in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine or speak about terrorist’s attacks throughout the world and power of such terroristic religious organizations like Al Qaeda, Boko Haram or ISIL and so on. A prominent American author Huntington claims that international relations and first of all international conflicts after the end of the Cold War will be determined by the relations between different civilizations, which he distinguishes by their religion and culture differences. In my paper I would like to point out how the religions of the world shaped the cultural and ethnic differences in different countries all over the world in such spheres like self hygiene, education, morality, rights of women and their place in the family, human rights in general, acceptance of the representatives of other cultures and religions, etc.

Bibliography

Esposito, John L. et al.World Religions Today. New York: Oxford, 2005.
Huntington, Samuel P. “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs (1993), <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/48950/samuel-p-huntington/the-clash-of-civilizations>.
Prothero, Stephen. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World - And Why Their Differences Matter. New York: Harperone, 2010.
Smith, Huston. World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions. Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 1991.