Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity Essay Example for Free

Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity Essay Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity People of different religions are in contact with each other every day, and do not even realize it. Here in the United States there is a compilation of many religions. Three major religions not only in the United States, but also throughout the world are Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. There are many differences, and few similarities when comparing Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Not only are the backgrounds of these religions similar and different, but so are the practices that they still live out to this day. Hinduism originated between 4000 and 2000 BC. Hinduism believes in Karma, â€Å"you reap what you sow,† and reincarnation. Reincarnation is the belief that after death, the soul can come back to earth in another body. The Hindu trinity is the Brahma, Vishnu, and the Shiva, which are the three aspects of the same divine being. There are four goals in the life of a Hindu. They are Kama, Artha, Dharma, and Moksha. These mean the fulfillment of certain desires, wealth, religious duties, and not wanting things. The cow and the bull are both considered sacred and should not be slaughtered. So Hindus are forbidden from eating beef. There are many festivals affiliated with the Hindu religion, because they believe it keeps them close to their gods. At least once a month, there is a Hindu festival, where they celebrate their diversity. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam is the belief in the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims are monotheistic, and believe in the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars are the Shahada, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, and the Hajj. The Shahada means testimony, Salat is for prayer, Zakat is for giving, Sawm is for fasting, and Hajj means pilgrimage. According to Muslims, Muhammad was a cornerstone of Islam, and he was god’s messenger. For Muslims, the pig is an unclean animal, and is forbidden to eat unless prepared in accordance with prescribed rules. Intoxicating drinks and substances are prohibited. Christianity is a major world religion that adapted over 2000 years ago. It is the belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. The major text of Christianity is the Bible. The Bible concludes of an Old and a New Testament, and is a compilation of books. Christians have many ways of religious practices. There are festivals and feasts, which are usually celebrated on holidays. The communal worship takes place on Sundays and other days of the week in which people from the church come together for rituals. The last is private worship, which is used when one is alone, where they can engage in prayer, devotions, and spiritual practices. Islam is a religion founded by a prophet. In contrast, Hinduism is a group of religious traditions, established over a period of time. In Hinduism personalities do not count as much as the divine law or the dharma. So in Islam the message of Islam is far more important than the person of Muhammad himself. Unlike Christianity, Muslims do not worship their prophet. Unlike Islam, Hinduism is strictly monogamous. Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam all share similarities and differences. Unlike Hinduism, Christianity and Islam share the belief of only one god. Hindus have a god for fire, death, water, etc. The practices of Christianity and Islam are sometimes in groups, while Hinduism is practiced alone. All three religions believe in the efficacy of prayer. But Hinduism and Islam believe in the importance of remembering and reciting the names, words, and deeds of god, for inner purification. Unlike Islam and Christianity, Hinduism has the choice of an intervener between god and a person, such as a priest or a guru for assistance. Intimate relationships are not approved of in Islam and Hinduism. Dating is considered both irreligious and immoral. In these two religions along with Christianity, premarital sex is considered immoral also. In conclusion all three religions share that they believe in an afterlife, and strive for immortality. For all religions death is a normal and natural thing that leads to an eternal life. Christianity and Islam are closer together then Hinduism. Mostly Europeans adopted Christianity along with Islam in the 18th and 19th centuries. This means that both Christianity and Islam have been influenced in some ways by the European culture. The Europeans have pulled Christianity and Islam close together while the Europeans have never influenced Hinduism, which makes Hinduism different from the other two religions.

Blindness and Sight - Nothing and Blindness in King Lear :: King Lear essays

Themes of Nothing and Blindness in King Lear Many of the passages of King Lear, particularly those between the characters of Lear, Kent, the Fool, and Cordelia, all share a common theme. The theme of nothing, as well as the theme of blindness, echoes throughout the play. King Lear is in many ways about nothing. However, Kent, the Fool, and Cordelia make him more than nothing by serving faithfully, speaking bluntly, and loving unconditionally. The first occurrence of the imagery of nothing takes place between Lear and Cordelia. In this particular scene, Lear asks his three daughters to profess their love for him. When Cordelia is prompted to speak, she replies "Nothing, my Lord" (1.1.87). Here, Cordelia acknowledges that her other sisters are only putting on an act for Lear. Since she truly loves him the most, she cannot bring herself to praise him falsely. Instead, she says "I love your majesty according to my bond, no more no less" (1.1.92-93). In this short dialogue between Lear and Cordelia, the word "nothing" is said four times. What's notable is that each time it is said, it implies a different meaning. The purpose of this repetition is to show the audience its importance in the text and to make the ideas and imagery that go along with the word to be clear. By replying "nothing" when posed with the question of her love for Lear, Cordelia implies that there is nothing left to say since her sisters have already said al l that there is to be said. This particular passage, with its usage of the word "nothing" also takes on its own rhythm compared to the rest of the text. In a later passage between Lear, Kent, and the Fool, this imagery of "nothing" occurs again. In the Fool's first speech, he gives both Lear and Kent a little bit of his own brand of wisdom. To that, Kent replies, "This is nothing, Fool" (1.4.126). The Fool tells Kent "you gave me nothing for't" (1.4.128). The Fool then asks Lear "Can you make no use of nothing, nuncle?" (1.4.128) To that, Lear relies, "Why no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing" (1.4.130). These "nothings" that occur again here all seem to have different meanings as well. Kent tells the Fool that his wisdom is nothing, since it seems on the surface to not make any sense. When Kent tells the Fool this, the Fool tells him that it was just free advise, and that he was paid nothing for it.

Why Search Engines and Databases Produce Different Types of Results

Living in the Information Age (SOS-110-OL) Writing Assignment 2 The difference between what evaluative and assessment information is provided by an Internet search using Google. com and a search using EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier Database is extremely different. I started my searches by open two different internet windows, Google on one and EBSCO on another. My Google search and EBSCO search was â€Å"articles on privacy and security on the internet†. The top result from Google was ftc. gov. This page had a list of three different microsites, two did not have any articles and the other one did. The article I found was on Malware. When I evaluate this article from the techniques from the Berkeley site, it does not rate well. It has no author and it does not cite any sources. The one plus it does have is that it is from a . gov site. Even though it does not rate well I do trust this site. The reason why I trust the site is because in the fifth step of the evaluation process, listen to your gut reaction. Think about why the page was created, the intentions of its author. My gut reaction tells me the information is coming from a government cite so I trust it. The purpose of this article was to inform and educate, there were no other intentions other than to inform and educate. My top result from EBSCO was an article from Communications of the ACM called Privacy and Security as Simple as Possible, But Not More So. The authors of this article are very creditable and qualified on the topic. This article was published to inform, give facts and some opinion. The article’s sources are document with footnotes throughout. Overall, this is a credible and useful source of information. It as creditable authors and all of the information was backed up with creditable sources. Like I said earlier the difference between what evaluative and assessment information is provided by an Internet search using Google. com and a search using EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier Database is extremely different. Search engines locate web pages that contain the keywords that the users entered. They also can find articles but it can be difficult to narrow down results. Like the search I just completed â€Å"articles on privacy and security on the internet† the search engines finds web pages not articles, so most of the information that came back from the search did not really pertain to what I was looking for. The database search on the other hand searched for actual articles that pertained to the subject that I was looking for, it is more organized and easier to access. Database much like the internet have massive amounts of data in which they can pull information but databases mainly will pull their articles from newspapers, magazines, journals and electronic reference sources so it is a more creditable source. Internet search engines and database searches can both provide good sources of information when doing searches. I found that the database search was more organize and had more information that pertained to my subject.

The Jameson Raid, December 1895

The Jameson Raid was an ineffective attempt to overthrow President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic in December 1895. There are several reasons why the Jameson Raid took place. Tens of thousand of uitlanders had settled in the Transvaal following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. The influx threatened the political independence of the recently formed republic (negotiated at the 1884 London Convention, three years after the 1st Anglo-Boer War). Transvaal relied on revenue generated by the gold mines, but the government refused to grant the uitlanders the franchise, and kept upping the period required to qualify for citizenship.The Transvaal government was considered to be excessively conservative over economic and industrial policy, and the various non-Afrikaner mining magnates in the region desired a greater political voice.There was a significant level of distrust between the Cape Colony government and that of the Transvaal republic over Krugers attempt to claim control of Bechuanaland in contravention of the 1884 London Convention. The region was subsequently declared a British protectorate. Leander Starr Jameson, who lead the raid, had first arrived in Southern Africa in 1878, lured by the discovery of diamonds near Kimberley. Jameson was a qualified medical doctor, known to his friends (including Cecil Rhodes, one of the founders of the De Beers Mining Company who became premier of Cape Colony in 1890) as Dr Jim. In 1889 Cecil Rhodes formed the British South Africa (BSA) Company, which was given a Royal Charter, and with Jameson acting as emissary, sent a Pioneer Column across the Limpopo River into Mashonaland (what is now the northern part of Zimbabwe) and then into Matabeleland (now south-west Zimbabwe and parts of Botswana). Jameson was given the post of administrator for both regions. In 1895 Jameson was commissioned by Rhodes (now prime minister of Cape Colony) to lead a small mounted force (around 600 men) into the Transvaal to support an expected uitlander uprising in Johannesburg. They departed from Pitsani, on the Bechuanaland (now Botswana) border on 29 December. 400 Men came from the Matabeleland Mounted Police, the rest were volunteers. They had six Maxim guns and three light artillery pieces. The uitlander uprising failed to materialize. Jamesons force made first contact with a small contingent of Transvaal soldiers on 1 January, who had blocked the road to Johannesburg. Withdrawing during the night, Jamesons men tried to outflank the Boers, but were finally forced to surrender on 2 January 1896 at Doornkop, approximately 20km west of Johannesburg. Jameson and various uitlander leaders were handed over to British authorities in the Cape and sent back to the UK for trial in London. Initially they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death for their part in the plan, but the sentences were commuted to heavy fines and token prison stays - Jameson served only four months of a 15 month sentence. The British South Africa Company was required to pay nearly  £1 million in compensation to the Transvaal government. President Kruger gained much international sympathy (the Transvaals David verses the Goliath of the British empire), and bolstered his political standing at home (he won the 1896 presidential election against a strong rival Piet Joubert) because of the raid. Cecil Rhodes was forced to retire as prime minister of the Cape Colony, and never truly regained his prominence, although he negotiated a peace with various Matabele indunas in his fiefdom of Rhodesia. Leander Starr Jameson returned to South Africa in 1900, and after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902 took over leadership of the Progressive Party. He was elected prime minister of the Cape Colony in 1904 and lead the Unionist Party after the Union of South Africa in 1910. Jameson retired from politics in 1914 and died in 1917.