Why Separating the Church from the State is the Best Policy Essay Example for Free

Why Separating the Church from the State is the Best Policy Essay Those sympathetic toward the British dissenters and critical of the aristocratic foundations of eighteenth-century British life have found it easy enough to dismiss Burkes arguments as a simple defense of Whig oligarchy. [1] But Burkes belief that religion and society, church and state, stood or fell together was only the latest and perhaps most eloquent expression of a very old tradition in all of Christendom. For men of Burkes temperament, the lesson was finally driven home by the general weakening of religious establishments in America after the Revolutionparticularly the formal disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Virginiaand the assault on religion by the French Revolution. [2] It is probably more difficult for Americans, whose government and society rest precisely on the very political philosophy and religious nonconformity which Burke opposed, than for citizens of more historically grounded nations, to view his defense of established religion and the confessional state with great sympathy. But in this authors view, it is well worth the attempt. Jacques Maritain observed some forty years ago that while the confessional state may have only constituted the legal rather than the living, vital form of medieval sacral civilization, nevertheless medieval man and woman entered civil society and citizenship only through membership in the Church. Modern man and woman are citizens regardless of religious affiliation. Maritain cited the view of the distinguished Catholic theologian, Charles Journet, who distinguished between the Christian state which was at the service of right and truth, and the modern state which justifies itself in the service of freedom and the realization of human dignity. According to Journet: It would be incorrect to describe medieval times as those of a confusion between the spiritual and the temporal . . . Their interrelations were characterized in medieval society by the fact that the spiritual order did not confine itself to acting on the temporal as a regulator of political, social and cultural values. It tended . . . to become . . . a component element in the structure of society . . . Those who did not visibly belong to the Church were from the first dismissed society: the heathen over the frontiers, the Jews into ghettos. Those who, having first been Christians, afterwards broke with the Church, as heretics or schismatics, constituted a much greater dangerthey shook the very bases of the new society and appeared as enemies of the public safety. [3] All justification of views supporting the need for the true faith to force compliance comes in the last analysis from St. Augustine. Peter Brown has called him the first theorist of the Inquisition and explains that his pessimism and belief in predestination allowed him to disbelieve in the wisdom of permitting error to do battle freely with truth in a competition of ideas, the preferred choice of a John Milton, perhaps of a John Locke, and of all liberals. Augustine was convinced that sinful man required firm handling, in his term discipline. This was how God had ruled Israel, and Christian society could do no less. [4] Burke himself, during the intense excitement of the French Revolution, did not shrink from praising even the Spanish Inquisition, along with Joseph de Maistre, finding that as to the clergy, they are the only thing in Spain that looks like an independent order, and they are kept in some respect by the Inquisition, the sole but unhappy resource of pub-lick tranquility and order now remaining in Spain. As in Venice, it is become mostly an engine of State, which, indeed, to a degree, it has always been in Spain. It wars no longer with Jews and Hereticks: It has no such war to carry on. Its great object is to keep atheistic and republican doctrines from making their way in that kingdom. [5] In view of the fact that for St. Thomas Aquinas nothing less than the Eucharist created the civic community, and because the conservative model of the good society was always medieval Europe, can one doubt that religion must lie at the foundation of the conservative understanding of citizenship? [6] Perhaps no one has understood the religious foundations of citizenship as well as J. G. A. Pocock. His analysis deserves our full attention: To those for whom all intolerance is ridiculous and unnecessary, it is hard to imagine a world in which differences in religious belief had serious political consequences; but if Jesus Christ were less than an equal person of the holy and undivided Trinity, still more if he were a divinely appointed human being and not himself divine, there could be no thought that the Churchany Churchwas part of his continuing divine presence on earth, or in any corporate sense part of the presence of God among men. Religion could only be a community of belief or opinion among those who voluntarily held beliefs or opinions in common; it could not be the institutional form of a communion between God and men . . . . Richard Price desired more than toleration for Protestant Dissenters; he desired a full equality of civil rights, irrespective of denominational membership or doctrinal subscription.

William Shakespares Poem My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Ess

William Shakespare's Poem "My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun" 'My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun' is a poem written by William Shakespeare about the love towards an imperfect woman. He explains that although his mistress is imperfect, he finds his love special and 'rare.' If the modern day reader is not careful, he/she might be quick to assume the role of the woman that Shakespeare writes about. Although the word mistress now refers to a sweetheart or a woman who lives with a man without being married to him, in Shakespeare's time, it meant a woman who rules others or has control. With that understood, the reader can focus on some important conventions of this poem- theme, tone, and form- to better understand and appreciate the piece. The theme of this poem is to ...

Banking Concept of Education: Paulo Freire Dislikes Essay

Paulo Freire severely scrutinizes the banking concept of education. He dislikes everything about the traditional teaching method, where the teachers just fill the students with information and hope the students retain it long enough to spit it back out to them on tests. He argues that students are led to â€Å"memorize mechanically† the information lectured by a teacher. He would strongly oppose the use of grades in the schooling system. Truly, students are getting graded on how well they can memorize random facts as the tests that encourage memorization of material make up a very large portion of the grading system. In his strong argument against the banking concept of education, Freire gives in a little to the opposition, as he admits, â€Å"they [students] do, it is true, have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store.† I feel that this is the key to individuality in school. Freire is correct in the way that he portrays the schoolin g system. Students mostly just receive and memorize information from their teachers; thus, they never really critically think about the material. Nevertheless, the techniques that each individual student learns and masters to accomplish these demands shape his/her success later in life. I agree with Freire that, with respect to truly learning the material and retaining the knowledge for a long period of time, simple memorization is very poor. Last year, I took an AP United States History course. The material covered in the course was the same as the material I â€Å"learned† in my eighth and ninth grade United States history classes. The only difference was that this time around, we were going to study the content further in-depth, which Freire might find pleasing. Once the course got underway, I soon realized that I had to completely relearn the material, as I had completely forgotten everything I learned in the eighth and ninth grade classes. It was not because I did poorly back then, but because after the ninth grade class was over, I had no need to retain that information. I was no longer being graded on United States history, and thus, I flushed that information out of my brain to make room for new material to memorize. Once my senior year AP course began, all of the similar material seemed new to me. In Doing School, Denise Clark Pope explains a very similar phenomenon that Eve Lin experienced. â€Å"Once she took an exam, she said most of the facts she had memorize ‘emptied out of her brain.’ She was required to move on to the next assignment to keep up with the pace of the class. Taking time to reflect or to engage with the material would only slow her down and adversely affect her grades.† (Pope 155-56). Freire would oppose this. He would want students to slow down and really analyze the information thoroughly. On the other hand, I feel that in today’s fast-paced society, being able to sh ift gears so quickly is a necessary trait. I attended a medium-sized school, Saucon Valley School District, all the way up from kindergarten. With about two hundred students graduating each year, we all knew each other fairly well. However, since sixth grade, I embarked on a journey with about twenty other students. We chose to follow the path of an â€Å"honors student† taking more rigorous classes than others. We attended almost all of the same courses every day of the year and got to know each other and hang out with each other outside of school a lot more than with others in the grade. By high school, we were so closely knit that someone came up with the name, the â€Å"honors family,† and it just stuck with us ever since. The label was true though. It was like a family, as study sessions were conducted before big tests and all-nighters were pulled for group projects. We pushed each other to do better and worried when others were falling behind. Yet, just like most of the students in Doing School, we were very competitive about our grades as we strove to get the highest marks on a test or paper. I do not believe any of us went as far as Eve Lin did though, in relation to keeping her summer college class a secret just so that she had an edge on everyone else (Pope). Although it was not as extreme as in Faircrest High School, competition in the â€Å"honors family† at Saucon Valley was definitely present. Competition, motivation to succeed, and enthusiasm was amongst the â€Å"honors family.† I wish the same could be said about the rest of the grade. During my senior year, I decided to take Calculus I and II at Lehigh University, and thus, had scheduling conflicts at high school. The Honors Government and Economics class overlapped with my Calculus courses, so I needed to simply take the regular class of Government and Economics. Here, I got a glimpse of how other classmates performed in class. I interacted with many of these students in extracurricular activities and even in Physical Education, but very rarely in a core class. The desire to learn was very low in my Government and Economics class. It was not that these students were not intelligent. They just merely did not care about their grades, GPA, or class rank. Many of these students were perfectly fine with getting a C in the class. After all, a C was a passing grade. Passing was all that mattered to them. Many were fine with doing the minimum to get by just so that they could graduate high school and adventure out into the work force. The teacher seemed to realize the situation as well; she gave very little work to the class throughout the semester and based the tests off of the already-filled-in note packets she handed out regularly. Very little material was covered, even though the class lasted over ninety days. Overall, this class seemed like a complete waste of time for me. I was not coping with stress, competition, or a rigorous curriculum like I had for the rest of my classes. There was very little motivation for me to truly gain knowledge from the class as well, since I was already getting an A in the class and did not need to take time away from my other classes to study for tests. After taking the class and looking back upon it now, I realized that I can take literally nothing productive from it. It was a waste of time that did not provide me with any skills necessary or helpful for my life after schooling. Unlike the average students’ classes, the â€Å"honors family† classes gave me the necessary practice for the real world. I received so much more knowledge than others on how to succeed even with obstacles in my way. These traits and techniques on how to succeed are very similar to those Denise Clark Pope outlined in the conclusion of Doing School. Throughout high school, I gained and perfected an absolutely necessary trait of success: time management. The five students at Faircrest High School were always making the best of their time. They worked on homework during class periods and took free periods and weekends as a time to catch up with their work (Pope). Similarly, I needed to do the same if I wanted to keep up with the â€Å"honors family† work. I participated on the school soccer team in the fall, basketball team in the winter, and baseball team in the spring. The time after these extracurricular activities was insufficient to complete my work. I needed to use as much free time throughout my day as possible to complete assignments. As one might imagine, one evil coming from such a workload and extracurricular activities is stress. The students Pope researched at Faircrest all underwent stress. I, as well, was under an enormous amount of stress. Big projects seemed to always be due at the same time, and final exams were always clumped together in a two-day span. Many members of the â€Å"honors family† sacrificed their well-being through a reduced social life and poor sleeping habits in order to complete the workload. In return, we mastered the skills of coping with stress and managing out time. These skills will benefit us in the long run as we enter adulthood and the work force. Often times I did not understand why I was pushing myself to such a limit. I thought to myself that most of the students not motivated to achieve success had such an easier life. They went through school carefree and had loads of free time after school and on the weekends to hang out with friends. Nevertheless, I knew why I chose to push myself to the limits. I knew that my time to shine would come later in life and all my efforts would be worth a life full of success; the characteristics for success were instilled in me through the competit ion of grades and the workload I endured in school.

Summary Carmen Rivera - 961 Words

Carmen Rivera has been in and out of the system for the last years 20 years of her life. Carmen grew up with a dysfunctional family. Her Mother was an Alcoholic and a cocaine user, who work as a bartender from 8 am to 8 pm. â€Å"I used to come to the house on my way back from school, watching my Father (Emanuel Rivera) beating my Mother because she didn’t brought money to the house† Carmen explains. Her Father Emmanuel Rivera was worst of a drug addict then her Mother was. â€Å"My father was the one who introduce me to the world of drugs and taught me how to shot up drugs in my vein. At a young age my father raped me and started molesting me until his death â€Å"1980†. During that time I started prostituting at a very young age in hunts point. I was only Seven (7) years old at that time. You would see car pulling over and parking in a straight line just to get a night with me.† Carmen started drugs and prostitution at very young age. This may had happe n to you, and it may happen to you one day. The biggest factors that led her to prostitution was the influence of drugs that was influenced by her Father. She couldn’t financial support herself because due to her age. She had to substitute school time for prostitution. She has enter the juvenile system various time. The system has offer her many form of diversion program, and including intermediate sanction in her later years. The many diversion program that was offer to her was counseling, treatment, individual or group therapy,Show MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesNetworked Organizations 20 †¢ Helping Employees Balance Work–Life Conflicts 21 †¢ Creating a Positive Work Environment 22 †¢ Improving Ethical Behavior 22 Coming Attractions: Developing an OB Model 23 An Overview 23 †¢ Inputs 24 †¢ Processes 25 †¢ Outcomes 25 Sum mary and Implications for Managers 30 S A L Self-Assessment Library How Much Do I Know About Organizational Behavior? 4 Myth or Science? â€Å"Most Acts of Workplace Bullying Are Men Attacking Women† 12 An Ethical Choice Can You Learn from Failure