RESPOND TO THE QUESTIONS LISTED BELOW IN A SHORT ESSAY RESPONSE & ALSO TAKE THE TIME TO RESPOND TO SOME OF YOUR CLASSMATES IDEAS/ESSAYS... ASK QUESTIONS, DEBATE ISSUES... HAVE FUN!
Three religious traditions are associated with the region of Palestine (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) all have similar sacred texts that value peace. What does your religious tradition teach about peace?
Is that tradition reflected in this conflict?
How is religion used in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
How does the use of religion influence your opinion about religion in general or about a specific religious tradition?
Is there a distinction between “fundamentalism” and “religion”? Give examples of each.
What kinds of circumstances contribute to the acceptance of fundamentalist interpretations?
What might you do to change those circumstances?
9 comments:
In my religion we want to help create peace. God tells us to forgive people and it's not always reflected in this conflict. Some people want peace, but can't always create it. I respect every other persons beliefs and I cherish mine. Fundamentalism is exact out of the Bible and is very literal. Religions can be interpretations of hte Bible. If you are not very well educated or have had many hardships you might just go along with the religion. Having everyone be educated on religions could chage these circumstances.
My religion teaches to "love thy neighbor" even when they are different from you. I'm sure that in Islam and Judaism, they still value to respect other people, even if you may strongly disagree with them. This tradition is strongly disregarded in this conflict. The Israelis and Palestinians are blatantly disrespecting each other's rights to both live on the land. Religion is the main part of the conflict. Both sides want to have control of the city of Palestine, since both have a large religious ties to Palestine. This conflict about religion makes me doubt the validity of their actions, as they're both committing subtle heresy to themselves and strongly towards their opposition. They're both essentially challenging their own beliefs.
Fundamentalism is strongly following the set rules, laws, and traditions of a religion. A non-example of this a gay couple who is Christian, which strongly condemns homosexual relationships. An example is being an Orthodox Jew, who strictly follows all Jewish laws. Religion, to me, is simply the belief in a God and the celebrations and practices of it. An example is Protestant Christianity, which challenged Roman Catholicism but yet it still followed the ways of Christianity, without all of the traditions of traditional Catholicism.
Types of circumstances that may contribute to this is war. People will more strongly adhere to their religion's traditions, feeling that God will help them or spare them from danger. People will also see that some high power people are becoming more fundamentalistic and are influenced and more likely to follow this.
Not that fundamentalism is bad, but a way that it could be changed, because of the biases it can be involved with, are to educate on all religions, as Cora said, and to choose, if possible, more than one religion, or to just have faith in God, not to just follow the traditions and laws that come along with it.
I agree with cora and sam.
Amy, You need to write your own essay response, not simply say you agree with others, even if you would have some of the same arguments.
my religion teaches that you should love thy neighbor as yourself meaning that u should treat others how you would want to be treated. that tradition is not reflected in this conflict because if the un had treated the palestinians the way they wanted to be treated they would never have gave israel to the jews. religion is used in the conflict because both sides believe that palestine is there holy land and that it belongs to them. there is a distinction between religion and fundamentalism. an example of fundamentalism is a religion that no matter what the situation is they will refer to a set of rules. to change those circumstances you could educate people about other religions
As sam said, my religion teaches you to 'love thy neighbor'. The people are too caught up in a fight for the land that they both believe to be given to them. The land is holy for them all, and they use their religion to prove it. I believe in my religion, i'm not orthodox, nor radical, i don't mind other people and other religions, but i will stick with my religion no matter what.
My religon teaches that we should treat each other as we want to be treated and love everyone, even if they are from another religion. We also want to do are best to only create peace. Only those who want to talk to the group about stopping the conflict represent this tradition. In the Palestinian- Israeli conflict, both groups use their religon to say that the land belongs to them. I would never dislike someone because of their religon but in a way this conflict makes you want to be a little careful around people of similar religons because you wonder if they would be as extrem as some of the people over in the middle east. The distinction between fundamentalism and religon is simple. Fundamentalism is following a set of rules very strictly like orthodox Jews and religon is only the beliefs you have. It is anything from Catholism to Paganism. Circumstances that contribute to the acceptance of fundamentalism would be if another religon or group was persicuting or trying to overthrow another religon or group. To change these circumstances, we could have a stronger seperation of your religon and how you handle government issues. We might also make sure every one understood other religons so they understand different points of view.
In my religion they teach us to not only love your neighbor, but that there is a time for war and a time for peace. When the Hebrews of the Old Testament were journeying to the promised land no one stated that they went on without hardships. Jericho for example was standing in the way of the Israelites destination and they were instructed to destroy the city. Even though this example of violence is used by marching around a wall seven times it proves my point. I'd provide more examples but my familiarity with the Old Testament is not exactly up to date at this point in time. Although i do know that there were certain times the God instructed them to go to war. But with that being said i know that there is also times when bloodshed is unneeded.
According to the scriptures of the Bible, the Israelites were spawned from the seed of Jacob, who was the son that God intended Issac to have. But Issac has a second son named Ishmael, who Issac had with his servant girl. Ishmael, who if I can remember, is the father of the Islamic religion. Religiously, this is where the two separated. Ishmael was similar to Jacob, but was not Gods chosen. Hence the same with Islam being similar to Judah, but was not God chosen people.
Knowing that Christians are more similar to Jews, it kind of affects my opinion of the conflict. Being that they are the chosen people also factors in.
Fundamentalism is staying to a strict set of rules formed and based off the teachings of the Bible. I think that religion has been mistaken and often thought of what is fundamentalism. When bringing up religion to athiests they tend to ignore the subject being brought up. Trying to convince someone to devote their life and decision making to a bunch of strict rules and boring philosiphies [i butchered that word] usually strikes the thought of skepticism in peoples minds. In conclusion i think the two are somewhat similar, but are meshed by many into one, although not intended to be.
This is Brittany
In my reiligon it says at Exodus 20:13 "You must not murder." So hear though they go around killing others of dirrerent religions! All because they want more land.
Religion is pretty much what they're fighting over. So they say they believe in the Bible but they continue to make gross sins. They do exactly what the bible tells them not to do, which is to love the neighbor and not murder...which they are doing both!
Fundamentalism is when you follow something very strictly. So maybe there is someone who is maybe an Orthodox Jew and they follow the rules to the best of their ability.
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