Advertisements I INTRODUCTION Discrimination, different treatment of others based solely on their membership in a socially distinct group or category, such as race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, or disability. Discrimination can be viewed as favorable or unfavorable, depending on whether a person receives favors or opportunities, or is denied them. For example, a senior citizens’ […]
Study Materials
Religion Calendar
Advertisements I INTRODUCTION Calendar, system of measuring time for the needs of civil life, by dividing time into days, weeks, months, and years. Calendar divisions are based on the movements of the earth and the regular appearances of the sun and the moon. A day is the average time required for one rotation of the […]
Aboriginal Australians
Advertisements I INTRODUCTION Aboriginal Australians or Aborigines, original inhabitants of Australia and their descendants. The term Aboriginal does not include the Torres Strait Islanders, a much smaller indigenous population in Australia whose homelands are the islands off the tip of the Cape York Peninsula in far northeastern Australia. Archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal people have […]
Music and Religion
Advertisements Music I INTRODUCTION Music, artful arrangement of sounds across time. This definition is obviously very broad, but a narrower one would exclude too much. Music is part of virtually every culture on Earth, but it varies widely among cultures in style and structure. Definitions of music can change dramatically over a short time, as […]
Religion Minority
Advertisements Minority Group Minority Group, group of people sharing common ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds, especially when constituting a comparatively small proportion of a given population. Minority groups often have fewer rights and less power than majority groups. A primary factor in the existence of minorities is immigration, but settlement by one people can also […]
Religious Court
Advertisements Ecclesiastical Courts I INTRODUCTION Ecclesiastical Courts, tribunals exercising jurisdiction in religious matters. In its broadest sense, the term ecclesiastical court is applied to any former or existing tribunal established by religious authority. In a more restricted sense, it is applied only to the tribunals of the Christian church, which are also sometimes called Courts […]
Monasticism
Advertisements I INTRODUCTION Monasticism, also monachism, mode of life practiced by persons who have abandoned the world for religious reasons and devote their lives, either separately or in community, to spiritual perfection. The vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience under which they live are termed the evangelical counsels. A person bound by such vows is […]
Role of Religion in Taiping Rebellion
Advertisements Hong Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan or Hung Hsiu-Ch’üan (1814-1864), leader of the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864). Hong initiated a Christian movement that inspired the rebellion, which cost millions of lives and weakened the authority of China’s imperial Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty. Little in Hong’s childhood foreshadowed his later role as a rebel leader. Hong was born and […]
Missionaries
Advertisements Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I INTRODUCTION Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, major world religion of 12 million members, established in 1830 by Joseph Smith, known as the prophet. Followers of this religion are called Mormons. From a handful of members at the beginning, the movement has grown steadily through […]
Jews to Christianity
Advertisements Jacob Frank Jacob Frank, real name Jankiew Liebowicz (1726-91), Polish theologian and mystic, born in Podolia (now a region of Ukraine). He was the son of a rabbi and as a young man traveled in the Middle East, where the Turks called him Frank, their customary designation for a European; he retained that surname […]