'Christianity and Islam Essay\r'

'A few months ago, when a Vati heap authorised announced that Catholicism was surpassed by Islam as the valet’s largest faith, many a nonher(prenominal) lates agencies around the cosmea carried what sympathizemed to hold up been a largely unnoticed get by for this present generation †organized pietism. At to the lowest degree(prenominal) for whateverwhat time, renewed debates about whether or not mavin should indeed get word Islam as a righteousness that commands world’s largest followers surfaced wholeness afterwards another.\r\nThe issue many state think should not be dismissed is the fact that Christianity †a worship which combines an array of all its offshoots bodly Roman Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestantism, Anglicanism, Evangelicals, among others †life slightness has the largest adherents compargond to any other holiness, including Islam. Even if Christianity may be busted down into any(prenominal) larger or other smal l denominations, many people read to idea that since all Christians root their belief in Christ, cardinal must(prenominal) take them as belong to a singular theology, the largest in the world to be exact.\r\nTo consider Christianity as a single unearthly belief involves rounds of new separate debates. Surely, when the differences between the mainstream Christian blocks and the gibibyte of other minor denominations are brought into the fore, their respective beliefs depart manifest diversity, resemblance, opposition, and even contradiction. Tedious as this suffice may appear, one may not to that extent consider the fact that even in the Islam morality itself at that place are further classifications of social station that must be interpreted into careful account.\r\nAgain, it is legitimate to marvel whether it is proper to take Islam as a one(a) religion, or they too must be broken down into their finer types. As one may correctly observe, middleland variants in sp ite of appearance the world’s largest religions †Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. †appear to be a basically wedded fact. adept can perhaps enquire whether it is possible to list a study religion with millions, if not a billion of adherents, which does not withdraw any, or have not arrested from any inner prisonbreak at any given pose of its business relationship.\r\nIt may be sakiing to ask therefore, what accounts for the eventual(prenominal) familiar fall out of world religions in chronicle? Better yet, how must we attempt to extrapolate what happens in a religion that has been distinguishd into smaller aggregate types in the course of history? II. rationale and Scope This brief debate presents a example for divisions transpiring within world religions. save since the chain of studying the issue is broad (considering that there are many major(ip)(ip) world religions to cite), this research shall be restricted at tackling Christiani ty and Islam as chosen types.\r\nSpecifically, the study shall describe the events that transpired during the Catholic-Protestant dissever of the mid 1500’s for Christianity, and the Shiite-Sunni divide for Islam. To be sure, there are other identifiable divisions which can be noted in the history of Christianity. While there are small schisms involving â€Å"heretics” who worsen to accept fundamental Christian teachings, Christianity is said to have been divided into ii major blocks during the 11th century. It produced the dichotomization between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, which until the present all the equal exists.\r\nFor the purposes of limiting this study, the Christian division which shall be discussed in this study shall dwell on the Luther- guide Reformation of the 1500’s. Meanwhile, it is in like manner insightful to note even in the Islam religion, there have been various types of smaller divisions and schisms. For the purpos es of this study too, the rift between the Shiites and the Sunnis that was created in the wee long time of Islam religion shall be the one in focus. A presently analysis and interpretation of the sample religions use shall even out the conclusion of this study. III. Discussion Proper a.\r\nNature of organized religion Before relating the events defining the divisions that were experienced both by Christianity and Islam, it will be helpful to cite some theories to help explain the dynamics of religion. This is important since it shall depart a working perspective which is to be used later on in the analysis. Religion is a phenomenon which may be understood in many ways. Basically speaking, it refers to the common innate olfactory sensation or â€Å"belief in a Supreme existence” (McCutcheon, 2007, p. 22). Religion obviously stems from a belief that there is a higher world that must be worshiped or adored.\r\nBut religion does not contact to kind of mortalal belief alo ne. It also describes how a believer finds the need to belong to a association which shares the same belief, and thus obey a given manipulate of rules within it. Thus, another definition for religion may also be expressed as a â€Å"unified musical arrangement of belief and practices sex act to sacred things” which â€Å"unites (believers) into one single chaste connection” (McCutcheon, 2007, p. 22). Combing both definitions enable one to amply appreciate the fact that religion pertains to both a somebodyal ascent to God, and a commitment to a partnership, a set of rules and a specific set rituals.\r\nWhen seen under the lenses of scientific inquiry (e. g. anthropology, sociology, philosophy, etc. ) religion reveals patterns and dynamism consistent with human belief system, knowledge, busy and relationships. This means that religion is molded into the belief system of the believers. For instance, if Christians hold that Christ in his lifetime was humane to th e poor, it follows that they too, since they follow Christ, must do something good for their less fortunate brethren.\r\nOr if Moslems take Mohammad as their example, and Mohammad was a deeply spiritual man, they too must not take spirituality lightly in their lives. apparitional mindset is committed to certain courses of action (Slater, 1978, p. 6); and these actions are meaningful only because believers draw their identities from a person or a belief system they thrust †be it the Lordship of Christ, or the greatness of the Prophet Muhammad (Slater, 1978, p. 82). This is one of the primary reasons why religions possess their â€Å"continuing identities” (Slater, 1978, p. 82).\r\nSo long as a gathering of Christians make themselves to the teachings of their religion, say Catholic perform, they will carry on to be Catholics. As indeed, so long as a radical of Moslems identify themselves to the teachings of their religion, say Shiite group, they will remain to be ide ntified with it. What explains the shift in a belief system is when one cannot any more identify either with a teaching, or specific religious structures. It is a global rule that key to a religion’s perpetuity is establishing an identity.\r\nWhen people step up to feel alienated with what they used to hold or believe it, it can explain why a group of believers create their own groups to accommodate their otherwise alienated belief system. To help establish the point, it may be good to lay down two glaring examples. b. The Shiite-Sunnis Divide Islam was born at least five hundred years after Christianity was already an institutionalized religion. But what started out only as a small biotic community following Muhammad, Islam grew in exponential proportion in just a short span of time.\r\nWithin the rapid product came bitter dis strayes and eventual breakaways. Although Islam is a religion which does not readily recognize that there are divisions within them, scholars are almost unanimous in agreeing that some factions already broke from within the Moslem community dating back to the days when the religion itself was precisely beginning to be constituted. In a sense, Islam is a religion broken down into at least two major divisions even before it got to be formally established as a religious phenomenon.\r\nIt all started when a certain man named Muhammad, who by the way was born in 570 to a rattling poor family, begun to attract followers after experiencing visions and revelations (Renard, 1998, p. 7). His paper spread in neighboring places, and soon put in himself at odds with ruling empires for the large total of followers he had gathered. after(prenominal) this increasingly expanding community finally settled in Mecca in 630, Muhammad would clog up two years after (Renard, 1998, p. 7).\r\nHis death would and so see his community figure in a prolonged tug-of-war for rightful succession, and would officially begin the spue within the newl y established religious community. One group claimed that Muhammad chose his rightful successor in the person of his son named Ali before he died. The other group contested the claim and said, no instructions were do by the Prophet whatsoever. Instead, they held that it was appropriate for to appoint leadership themselves, and eventually chose Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father-in-law, as the first of the iv caliphs (meaning wellspring), to rule the Islam community.\r\nThose who embraced the leadership of Ali were eventually known as the Shiites, while the followers who believed Abu Bakr’s caliphate eventually came to be known as Sunnis. As such, the neat legal separation within the just- appear Islamic religion has been established. Since it exists up until today, it can be described as the â€Å"largest institutional division within the Muslim community” so further (Renard, 1998, p. 13; Ayoub, 2004, 72). c. The Catholic-Protestant Divide The era that colored th e Catholic-Protestant divide was a church service marred with controversies, silent disenchantment and an ever growing discontent among Christian faithful.\r\nAs history would show, it was through and because of Martin Luther †and his whole ebb generating protests against the Church †that the radical break from Catholicism was to be established. But hundreds of years before the supposed break, there had already been numerous events that point to the restlessness within the membership of the Church which it tried to quell. What were the controversies about? As early as the 1300’s, roughly two hundred years before Luther was born, an ordained priest by the name of John Wycliffe started to publish series of attacks against some of the major teachings and traditions of the Church.\r\nIn 1372, he was summoned and reprimanded by Church regime for his teachings that dwelled on the following: his denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation (a belief that the bread and wine used in celebrating the Eucharist is transformed into the real body and billet of Christ), attacks on the authority of the Pope as the head of the Church, corrupt practices within the Church, and emphasis on discussion and the use of Scriptures for teaching the doctrines of the Church (Cook, 2008, p. 95). Wycliffe probably delineated the first courageous voices which tried to confront what’s wrong with the Church.\r\nIn fact, he did try to discharge legitimate concerns about both the divisive doctrines and sorry discipline which the Church at that time practiced. age after, Luther would pick up from where his predecessors had left out. In 1517, he released his Ninety-Five Theses to the public †a collection of ninety-five protests against many Church teachings †both doctrinal and moral †and Church practices, such as indulgences (spiritual merits obtained in shine for monetary donations), celibacy (the promise for priests not to marry), Eucharist, amon g others (Cook, 2008, p. 100).\r\nSince the general religious atmosphere at that time was already ripe for reforms, his ninety-five theses were easily duplicated and spread throughout the German empire †a testament, as it were, to a huge popular support he enjoyed for the risks he took. Luther’s break from the Church was formally established when he burned the Papal bull Exsurge dominie (a decree which threatened him of excommunication if he did not recant his protests) in front of many people in a public square (Cook, 2008, 101).\r\nAfter which, he did subsequently ask the authorities of the German kingdom to support his cause for Church reform. Luther is remembered as a man who broke the Catholic Church apart. True enough, even before he died, he already saw the far reaching do of his call for reforms he perhaps initially did not intended to jumpstart. Thanks to Luther, Christianity would never be the same again. The â€Å"Germany after (the) Reformation” move ment in the mid 1500’s became a home to a new breed of Christians who came to be branded as Lutherans, Calvinist, Reformers, or even Protestants (Pennock, 2007, p. 168).\r\nIn principle, Luther earned the reputation of being an agent of division within the Christian religion. IV. closing To be sure, Christianity and Islam are not the only major religions in the world which had suffered a kind of break-up from within. spiritual divisions are commonplace, and that variations sprouting from within large communities may be brought about by various factors. When divisions occur, one normally observes that differences pertaining to a host of issues including (but not trammel to) doctrines, practices, or even recognized leadership croak patent.\r\nAs earlier mentioned, the dynamics of religion may help explain why a feeling of alienation (or a loss of identity) can free energy a believer or a group to break-away from mainstream religion to form their own set of practices and no rms independently. Christianity and Islam were taken as exemplifications. In the points that were developed, it was seen that they share a history with lots of bitter disputes, which in turn led to an eventual division. But both religions suffered from internal rifts quite differently as well.\r\nIslam’s division was more political in nature, as two major factions with their respective claims to rightful succession to their now-dead Prophet-leader tore the emerging community apart †thus, the Sunnis and the Shiites. Christianity on the other hand, after experiencing many breakaway groups in the course of history, had to suffer yet another major blow from internal disputes led by Martin Luther in the 1500’s on account of doctrine and practices. What followed was a Christian religion torn once again, which ushered the creation of a volumed faction named Protestants.\r\n apparitional divisions can be put under rigorous inquiry. There are viewpoints that consider the se divisions as something that separate one group after another, while there are those who propose to see the same divisions as something that merely distinguish (but not separate). While the two viewpoints may be reasonable in their respective senses, this study places much interest not on their â€Å"distinguishability” or â€Å"separability”, but on the fact that, truly, religious divisions from within happen.\r\nReferences\r\nAyoub, M. (2004). Islam. Faith and History. Oxford: Oneworld. Cook, C.. (2008) The Routledge mate to Christian History. in the buff York: Routledge. McCutcheon, R. (2007). Studying Religion. An Introduction. London: Equinox. Pennock, M. (2007) This is Our Church. A History of Catholicism. Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press. Renard, J. (1998)101 Questions and Answers on Islam. New York: Paulist Press. Slater, P. (1978). The Dynamics of Religion. Meaning and Change in Religious Traditions. San Francisco: Harper and Row. (Also consulted) htt p://ca. news. yahoo. com/s/capress/080330/world/vatican_muslims\r\n'