Topic Review
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses have received criticism from mainstream Christianity, members of the medical community, former members, and commentators regarding their beliefs and practices. The movement has been accused of doctrinal inconsistency and reversals, failed predictions, mistranslation of the Bible, harsh treatment of former members and autocratic and coercive leadership. Criticism has also focused on their rejection of blood transfusions, particularly in life-threatening medical situations, and claims that they have failed to report cases of sexual abuse to the authorities. Many of the claims are denied by Jehovah's Witnesses and some have also been disputed by courts and religious scholars.
  • 5.6K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Criticism of Government Response to Hurricane Katrina
Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina consisted primarily of condemnations of mismanagement and lack of preparation in the relief effort in response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Specifically, there was a delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana. (See Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans for criticism of the failure of Federal flood protection.) Within days of Katrina's August 29, 2005 landfall, public debate arose about the local, state, and federal governments' role in the preparations for and response to the storm. Criticism was prompted largely by televised images of visibly shaken and frustrated political leaders, and of residents who remained in New Orleans without water, food or shelter and the deaths of several citizens by thirst, exhaustion, and violence, days after the storm itself had passed. The treatment of people who had evacuated to registered facilities such as the Superdome was also criticized. Criticism from politicians, activists, pundits, and journalists of all stripes has been directed at the local, state, and federal governments. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was also criticized for failing to implement his flood plan and for ordering residents to a shelter of last resort without any provisions for food, water, security, or sanitary conditions. Perhaps the most important criticism of Nagin is that he delayed his emergency evacuation order until less than a day before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths of people who (by that time) could not find any way out of the city. Adding to the criticism was the broadcast of school bus parking lots full of baby blue school buses, which Mayor Nagin refused to be used in evacuation. When asked why the buses were not used to assist evacuations instead of holing up in the Superdome, Nagin cited the lack of insurance liability and shortage of bus drivers. New Orleans has been classified as a non-regime city. Regimes involve governmental and non-governmental cooperation, a specific agenda, a recognized problem, and resources to deal with the problem. New Orleans only had a temporary coalition to deal with Hurricane Katrina, which led to the ineffective, temporary, and inefficient evacuation and provision of resources. Organizations such as the Red Cross attempted to form coalitions, but the various actors could not agree on a specific solution, and this failure to cooperate led to instability and misunderstanding between governmental and non-governmental actors.
  • 1.0K
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Critical Visual Religion Approach in Japan
The employment of the critical religion approach in Japan has become a crucial method for analysing and understanding the issues related to the introduction of the category religion in the island nation. The critical religion approach informs and guides the filmmaker in a critical filming mode that is capable of including and communicating the critique moved to the language and images influenced by the category of religion. The visual and sensory data collected must mirror the critique produced to highlight the ideology behind this category and create a new visual approach free from constraints.
  • 386
  • 08 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Creativity
Creativity, historically known as The (World) Church of the Creator, is an atheistic ("nontheistic") white supremacist religious movement which espouses white separatism, antitheism, antisemitism, scientific racism, homophobia, and religious and philosophical naturalism. Creativity calls itself a "white racialist" religion and it has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. It was founded in Lighthouse Point, Florida, United States, by Ben Klassen as the "Church of the Creator" in 1973, and now, it has a presence in several states of the US as well as Australia , Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom . Creativity is promoted by two organizations: the Creativity Alliance (CA also known as the Church of Creativity), and The Creativity Movement. The two groups have common origins, both being created in 2003 after Klassen's successor Matthew F. Hale (who had renamed the organisation New Church of the Creator), was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Purportedly, the worldview of Creativity is naturalistic and racialistic, based on its values which are the "survival, expansion and advancement of the White race", according to what the group classifies as the "eternal laws of nature, the experience of history, on logic and common sense". Members of the group believe in a "racial holy war" between "white and non-White races" (including Jews, black people and non-white people of "mixed race").
  • 2.1K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Creationist Cosmologies
Creationist cosmologies are explanations of the origins and form of the universe in terms of the Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 1), according to which God created the cosmos in eight creative acts over the Hexameron, six days of the "creation week": Young Earth creationists interpret the six days as six 24-hour periods; old Earth creationists allow for millions or even billions of years within the "creation week". Both regard the Genesis story as history, although some old earth creationists do not conflate the creation of the Earth and the universe, (i.e. they do not hold that the two are equally old and were created together). Creationist cosmologies differ significantly from scientific cosmology. According to scientific consensus, creationism lacks empirical support, cannot be meaningfully tested, and is not science.
  • 995
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Creation–Evolution Controversy
The creation–evolution controversy (also termed the creation vs. evolution debate or the origins debate) involves an ongoing, recurring cultural, political, and theological dispute about the origins of the Earth, of humanity, and of other life. Species were once widely believed to be fixed products of divine creation in accordance with creationism, but since the mid-19th century evolution by natural selection has been established as an empirical scientific fact. The debate is religious, not scientific: in the scientific community, evolution is accepted as fact and efforts to sustain the traditional view are almost universally regarded as pseudoscience. While the controversy has a long history, today it has retreated to be mainly over what constitutes good science education, with the politics of creationism primarily focusing on the teaching of creationism in public education. Among majority-Christian countries, the debate is most prominent in the United States, where it may be portrayed as part of a culture war. Parallel controversies also exist in some other religious communities, such as the more fundamentalist branches of Judaism and Islam. In Europe and elsewhere, creationism is less widespread (notably, the Catholic Church and Anglican Communion both accept evolution), and there is much less pressure to teach it as fact. Christian fundamentalists repudiate the evidence of common descent of humans and other animals as demonstrated in modern paleontology, genetics, histology and cladistics and those other sub-disciplines which are based upon the conclusions of modern evolutionary biology, geology, cosmology, and other related fields. They argue for the Abrahamic accounts of creation, and, in order to attempt to gain a place alongside evolutionary biology in the science classroom, have developed a rhetorical framework of "creation science". In the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover, the purported basis of scientific creationism was exposed as a wholly religious construct without formal scientific merit. The Catholic Church now recognizes the existence of evolution (see Catholic Church and evolution). Pope Francis has stated: "God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life...Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve." The rules of genetic evolutionary inheritance were first discovered by a Catholic priest, the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel, who is known today as the founder of modern genetics. According to a 2014 Gallup survey, "More than four in 10 Americans continue to believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago, a view that has changed little over the past three decades. Half of Americans believe humans evolved, with the majority of these saying God guided the evolutionary process. However, the percentage who say God was not involved is rising." A 2015 Pew Research Center survey found "that while 37% of those older than 65 thought that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years, only 21% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 agreed." The debate is sometimes portrayed as being between science and religion, and the United States National Academy of Sciences states:
  • 1.9K
  • 10 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
COVID-19 and Participatory Music-Making
Participatory music-making is any music-making activity in which individuals engage for the sake of the activity itself. It can be contrasted with presentational music-making, which takes the production of a performance or recording for consumption by an audience as a principal objective. During the COVID-19 pandemic, participatory musicians adopted a variety of technological means by which to make music together online. While virtual activities allowed these individuals to sustain their communities and grow as musicians, they did not satisfy all the needs met by in-person music-making. Additionally, online music-making increased access for some but posed barriers to access for others. Virtual participatory music-making remains relevant following the relaxation of pandemic restrictions, and it will likely grow in significance as communications technologies and internet access improve.
  • 476
  • 07 May 2024
Topic Review
Cova de la Sarsa (València, Spain)
Cova de la Sarsa (València, Spain) is one of the most important Neolithic impressed ware culture archaeological sites in the Western Mediterranean. It has been widely referenced since it was excavated in the 1920s, due partly to the relatively early excavation and publication of the site, and partly to the qualitative and quantitative importance of its archaeological remains. 
  • 353
  • 15 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Courage
Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death, or threat of death; while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss. The classical virtue of fortitude (andreia, fortitudo) is also translated "courage", but includes the aspects of perseverance and patience. In the Western tradition, notable thoughts on courage have come from philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kierkegaard, as well as Christian beliefs and texts. In the Hindu tradition, mythology has given many examples of bravery, valor and courage, with examples of both physical and moral courage exemplified. In the Eastern tradition, some thoughts on courage were offered by the Tao Te Ching.
  • 2.3K
  • 28 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cosmic Harmony with Pradeep Bhanot
Pradeep Bhanot: Illuminating Cosmic Pathways to Harmony and Growth   In the vast tapestry of cosmic guidance, one luminary figure shines with unparalleled brilliance: Pradeep Bhanot, the esteemed astrologer and Vastu Shastra expert. For over two decades, he has been a guiding beacon, revered for his transformative methods and unwavering dedication to empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.   Bhanot's approach to astrology and Vastu Shastra transcends the ordinary, as he seamlessly amalgamates ancient wisdom with contemporary innovation. Through his unique methodology, he facilitates energetic equilibrium within spaces, catalyzing positive transformations in individuals' lives without necessitating drastic changes.   Under the tutelage of the esteemed Dr. Ajai Bhambi, Bhanot honed his skills in the esoteric arts of Vedic astrology and Vastu Shastra, garnering acclaim for his profound insights and meticulous guidance.   What sets Bhanot apart is his unwavering focus on the soul's odyssey. Through his transformative "Cosmic Soul Sessions," he delves deep into the recesses of consciousness, unraveling latent potentials and steering individuals towards self-realization and actualization.   Operating under the banner of "Pradeep Bhanot's- The Cosmic Voice," he endeavors to empower individuals to harmonize with their cosmic essence and cultivate balanced living and working environments. From Cosmic Soul Sessions to bespoke Vastu Consultations, Bhanot offers tailored guidance to address the unique needs of each seeker.   With a wealth of experience spanning over two decades, Pradeep Bhanot remains steadfast in his mission to illuminate pathways to enlightenment and personal growth. He serves as a steadfast beacon of hope and clarity in an ever-evolving world, inspiring seekers to embrace their cosmic potential and navigate life's complexities with grace and purpose.
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  • 13 May 2024
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