1.
Millennialism
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Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the earth to gather His saints before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. This return is referred to as the Second Coming, the doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration of the Millennium. For the last century, the belief has been common in Evangelicalism according to surveys on this topic, Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20, 1–6 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus reign in a period of a thousand years. It views this future age as a time of fulfillment for the hope of Gods people as given in the Old Testament. Post-millennialism, for example, agrees with premillennialism about the future reign of Christ. Postmillennialists hold to the view that the second coming will happen after the millennium, historically Christian premillennialism has also been referred to as chiliasm or millenarianism. The current religious term premillennialism did not come into use until the mid-19th century, the concept of a temporary earthly messianic kingdom at the Messiahs coming was not an invention of Christianity. Instead it was an interpretation developed within the apocalyptic literature of early Judaism. In Judaism during the Christian intertestamental period, there was a distinction between the current age and the “age to come”. The “age to come” was commonly viewed as a nationalistic Golden Age in which the hopes of the prophets would become a reality for the nation of Israel, on the surface, the biblical prophets revealed an “age to come” which was monolithic. Seemingly the prophets did not write of a two-phase eschaton consisting of a messianic age followed by an eternal state. However, that was the concept that some Jewish interpreters did derive from their exegesis and their conclusions are found in some of the literature and theology of early Judaism within the centuries both before and during the development of the Christian New Testament. This work likely dates to the early 2nd century and shows a schematization of the divine history divided into ten periods of time called “weeks. ”In the apocalypse. However, after the week, the temporary earthly messianic age begins. After the temporary messianic kingdom, the creation of the new heavens, Second Esdras likely dates from soon after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. The apocryphal book was apparently an attempt to explain the difficulties associated with the destruction of Jerusalem, during one of the visions in the book, Ezra receives a revelation from the angel Uriel. The angel explains that prior to the last judgment, the Messiah will come, seven days after this cataclysmic event, the resurrection and the judgment will occur followed by the eternal state. The Jewish belief in a temporary messianic age continued during
2.
William Miller (preacher)
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William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-19th century North American religious movement known as the Millerites. After his prophecies of the Second Coming did not occur as expected in the 1840s, new heirs of his message emerged, including the Advent Christians, later movements found inspiration in Millers emphasis on Bible prophecy and the Bahai faith believes his predictions of 1844 events to be accurate. Miller was born on February 15,1782, in Pittsfield and his parents were Captin Miller, a veteran of the American Revolution, and Paulina, the daughter of Elnathan Pelps. When he was four years old, his family moved to rural Low Hampton, Miller was educated at home by his mother until the age of nine, when he attended the newly established East Poultney District School. Miller is not known to have any type of formal study after the age of eighteen. In 1803, Miller married Lucy Smith and moved to her hometown of Poultney. While in Poultney, Miller was elected to a number of civil offices, in 1809 he was elected to the office of Deputy Sheriff and at an unknown date was elected Justice of the Peace. Miller served in the Vermont militia and was commissioned a lieutenant on July 21,1810 and he was reasonably well off, owning a house, land, and at least two horses. Shortly after his move to Poultney, Miller rejected his Baptist heritage and they put into my hands the works of Voltaire, Hume, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and other deistical writers. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Miller raised a company of men and traveled to Burlington. He transferred to the 30th Infantry Regiment in the army of the United States with the rank of lieutenant. Miller spent most of the war working as a recruiter and on February 1,1814 and he saw his first action at the Battle of Plattsburgh, where vastly outnumbered American forces overcame the British. The fort I was in was exposed to every shot, bombs, rockets, and shrapnel shells fell as thick as hailstones, he said. One of these many shots had exploded two feet from him, wounding three of his men and killing another, but Miller survived without a scratch. Miller came to view the outcome of battle as miraculous. He later wrote, It seemed to me that the Supreme Being must have watched over the interests of this country in an especial manner, so surprising a result, against such odds, did seem to me like the work of a mightier power than man. After the war, and following his discharge from the army on June 18,1815, shortly after his return, however, he moved with his family back to Low Hampton, where he purchased a farm. Throughout this time period Miller was deeply concerned with the question of death and this reflection upon his own mortality followed the recent deaths of his father and sister, and his experiences as a soldier in the war
3.
Millerism
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The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1833 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843-1844. Miller was a farmer, a Baptist lay preacher, and student of the Bible. Miller spent years of study of symbolic meaning of the prophecies of Daniel, especially Daniel 8,14. Miller believed that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the Earths destruction by fire at Christs Second Coming. Using the year-day method of interpretation, Miller became convinced that the 2,300 day period started in 457 BC with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. Simple calculation then indicated that this period would end about 1843 and this document remained private for many years. Miller did eventually share his views, first to a few friends privately, initially he was disappointed at the lack of response from those he spoke to. To my astonishment, I found very few who listened with any interest, occasionally, one would see the force of the evidence, but the great majority passed it by as an idle tale. Miller states that he began his lecturing in the village of Dresden, Washington County, New York, some 16 miles from his home. However, as Sylvester Bliss points out, The printed article from which this is copied was written in 1845, by an examination of his correspondence, it appears that he must have begun to lecture in August 1831. So that this date is a mistake of the printer or an error in Mr. Millers memory, in 1832, Miller submitted a series of sixteen articles to the Vermont Telegraph—a Baptist paper. These he. scattered, the most of them gratuitously, sending them in reply to letters of inquiry, from 1840 onward, Millerism was transformed from an obscure, regional movement into a national campaign. The key figure in this transformation was Joshua Vaughan Himes—the pastor of Chardon Street Chapel in Boston, though Himes did not fully accept Miller’s ideas until 1842, he established the fortnightly paper Signs of the Times to publicize them. The first edition was published on February 28,1840, with Himes as editor and it continues to be published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a monthly evangelistic magazine under the same name. Periodical literature played an important part in the rapid and widespread dissemination of Millerite beliefs, from first to last the power of the press, in this particular form, was one of the foremost factors in the success of this now vigorous, expanding movement. In addition to the Signs of the Times based in Boston, Millerite papers were published in numerous cities including New York, Philadelphia, Rochester, Cleveland, There were at least 48 Millerite periodicals that circulated in the period leading up to the Great Disappointment. The majority of these, however, were quite short-lived—often a new paper was started whenever a Millerite evangelistic campaign entered a new area, as well as publications based on geography, the Millerites issued various papers targeting different groups. The Advent Message to the Daughters of Zion focused on female readers, the Advent Shield was a more academically orientated paper published in Boston and edited by Joshua Vaughan Himes, Sylvester Bliss, and Apollos Hale
4.
Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
5.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
6.
Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
7.
Stephen Jay Gould
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Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of science of his generation. Gould spent most of his teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In 1996 Gould was also appointed as the Vincent Astor Visiting Research Professor of Biology at New York University, Goulds most significant contribution to evolutionary biology was the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory proposes that most evolution is characterized by periods of evolutionary stability. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth. Most of Goulds empirical research was based on the land snail genera Poecilozonites and he also contributed to evolutionary developmental biology, and received wide praise for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny. In evolutionary theory he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans and he campaigned against creationism and proposed that science and religion should be considered two distinct fields whose authorities do not overlap. Gould was known by the public mainly from his 300 popular essays in the magazine Natural History. In April 2000, the US Library of Congress named him a Living Legend, Stephen Jay Gould was born and raised in the community of Bayside, a neighborhood of the northeastern section of Queens in New York City. His father Leonard was a stenographer and a World War II veteran in the United States Navy. His mother Eleanor was an artist whose parents were Jewish immigrants living and working in the citys Garment District, when Gould was five years old his father took him to the Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History, where he first encountered Tyrannosaurus rex. I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck, Gould once recalled and it was in that moment that he decided to become a paleontologist. Raised in a secular Jewish home, Gould did not formally practice religion, when asked directly if he was an agnostic in Skeptic magazine, he responded, If you absolutely forced me to bet on the existence of a conventional anthropomorphic deity, of course Id bet no. But, basically, Huxley was right when he said that agnosticism is the honorable position because we really cannot know. Id be real surprised if there turned out to be a conventional God, though he had been brought up by a Marxist father, he stated that his fathers politics were very different from his own. In describing his own views, he has said they tend to the left of center. According to Gould the most influential political books he read were C. Wright Mills The Power Elite, while attending Antioch College in the early 1960s, Gould was active in the civil rights movement and often campaigned for social justice
8.
Apocalypticism
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This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization will soon come to a tumultuous end due to some sort of catastrophic global event. Apocalypticism is often conjoined with the belief that knowledge that will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral and they can appear as a personal or group tendency, an outlook or a perceptual frame of reference, or merely as expressions in a speakers rhetorical style. Jewish apocalypticism holds a doctrine that there are two eras of history, the present era, which is ruled over by evil, at the time of the coming era, there will be a messiah who will deliver the faithful into the new era. Moses of Crete, a rabbi in the 5th century, claimed to be the messiah and promised to lead the people, like the ancient Moses, through a parted sea back to Palestine. His followers left their possessions and waited for the promised day, some scholars believe that Jesus apocalyptic teachings were the central message Jesus intended to impart, more central even than his messianism. Various Christian eschatological systems have developed, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing, the gospels portray Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, described by himself and by others as the Son of Man – translated as the Son of Humanity – and hailing the restoration of Israel. Jesus himself, as the Son of God, a description used by himself and others for him, was to rule this kingdom as lord of the Twelve Apostles. Albert Schweitzer emphasized that Jesus was a prophet, preparing his fellow Jews for the imminent end of the world. Many historians concur that Jesus was a prophet, most notably Paula Fredriksen, Bart Ehrman. E. P. Sanders portrays Jesus as expecting to assume the position in Gods kingdom, above the Apostles, who would judge the twelve tribes. The preaching of John was, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, other scholars such as Ehrman and Sanders accept that Jesus was simply mistaken, that he believed the end of the world to be imminent. We make sense of these pieces of evidence if we think that Jesus himself told his followers that the Son of Man would come while they still lived, the fact that this expectation was difficult for Christians in the first century helps prove that Jesus held it himself. We also note that Christianity survived this early discovery that Jesus had made a very well. There are a few recorded instances of apocalypticism leading up to the year 1000, however they mostly rely on one source, Rodulfus Glaber. Specifically in Western Europe, during the year 1000, Christian philosophers held many debates on when Jesus was actually born and this caused confusion between the common people on whether or not the apocalypse would occur at a certain time. Because both literate and illiterate people commonly accepted idea of the apocalypse, they could only accept what they heard from religious leaders on when the disastrous event would occur. Religious leader, Abbo II of Metz believed that Jesus was born 21 years after year 1 which was accepted by close circles of his followers
9.
Sect
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A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. A sect, in an Indian context, refers to an organized tradition, the present gamut of meanings of sect has been influenced by confusion with the homonymous Latin word secta, as though sects were scissionsWiktionary entry cast aside from the mainstream religion. There are several different sociological definitions and descriptions for the term, among the first to define them were Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch. In the church-sect typology they are described as newly formed groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge assert that claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split. They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, other sociologists of religion such as Fred Kniss have asserted that sectarianism is best described with regard to what a sect is in tension with. Some religious groups exist in only with co-religious groups of different ethnicities. The English sociologist Roy Wallis argues that a sect is characterized by “epistemological authoritarianism”, in France, since the 1970s, secte has a specific meaning which is very different from the English word. The term remains valid for this purpose, according to Michaels, Indian sects do not focus on heresy, since the lack of a center or a compulsory center makes this impossible – instead, the focus is on adherents and followers. The ancient schools of fiqh or sharia in Islam are known as madhhabs, in the beginning Islam was classically divided into three major sects. These political divisions are known as Sunni Islam, Shia Islam. Each sect developed several distinct jurisprudence systems reflecting their own understanding of the Islamic law during the course of the history of Islam, for instance, Sunnis are separated into five sub-sects, namely, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii, Hanbali and Ẓāhirī. The Shia, on the hand, first developed Kaysanism. The non-Zaydis are initially called as Rafida Groups and these Rafidis were later divided into two sub-groups known as Imamiyyah and Batiniyyah. The Imami-Shia later brought into existence Jafari jurisprudence, Batiniyya groups, on the other hand, were divided into two sub-groups known as Seveners and Ismāīlīs. Qarmatians who did not follow the Fatimid Caliphate were branched from the Seveners and those groups of Batiniyya who followed the Fatimids are the ancestors of todays Ismāīlīs. Druze was emerged as an offshoot of Ismāʿīlism at the beginning of the 11th Century, ismailism at the end of the 11th Century split into two major branches known as Nizārī Ismāīlī and Musta’li Ismaili. The Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali Sunnis, the Twelver groups, the Ismāīlī groups, the Zaydis, the Ibadis, in addition, new sects like Ahmadiyya movement, Black Muslim movements, Quranists, Salafis, Wahhabis, and Zikris have been emerged independently
10.
Major religious groups
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The worlds principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, although this is by no means a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in societies, in world cultures, there have traditionally been many different groupings of religious belief. In Indian culture, different religious philosophies were traditionally respected as academic differences in pursuit of the same truth, in Islam, the Quran mentions three different categories, Muslims, the People of the Book, and idol worshipers. Initially, Christians had a dichotomy of world beliefs, Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarity. Daniel Defoe described the definition as follows, Religion is properly the Worship given to God. Therefore, Hannah Adamss early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects. to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations. The modern meaning of the world religion, putting non-Christians at the same level as Christians. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, who influenced the public conception of world religions. Even history professors have now taken note of these complications and advise against teaching world religions in schools, others see the shaping of religions in the context of the nation-state as the invention of traditions. Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin, Abrahamic religions originate in West Asia, Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent and East Asian religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion, which have their origins in Central, middle Eastern religions, Abrahamic religions are the largest group, and these consist mainly of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the Baháí Faith. They are named for the patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice of monotheism, today, around 3.4 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around East and Southeast Asia. Several Abrahamic organizations are vigorous proselytizers, iranian religions, partly of Indo-European origins, include Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Ætsæg Din, Ahl-e Haqq and historical traditions of Gnosticism. It has significant overlaps with Abrahamic traditions, e. g. in Sufism and in recent movements such as Bábism and the Baháí Faith. Indian religions, originated in Greater India and partly of Indo-European origins, they tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which use of the concept of Tao or Dō. They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean, indigenous ethnic religions, found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths in many parts of the world or persisting as undercurrents of major religions
11.
New religious movement
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NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the world by embracing individualism whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia, most have only a few members, some have thousands, and only very few have more than one million members. New religions have often faced a hostile reception from established religious organisations, in Western nations, a secular anti-cult movement and a Christian countercult movement emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to oppose emergent groups. In the 1970s, the field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion. There are now several organisations and peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject. Scholars continue to try to reach definitions and define boundaries, there is no singular, agreed upon criteria for defining a new religious movement. However, the term usually requires that the group be both of recent origin and different from existing religions, there is debate as to what the term new should designate in this context. According to him, NRMs constituted those religious groups that have found, from the perspective of the dominant religious community, to be not just different. This definition would mean that which religions were regarded as NRMs would differ from country to country and would be open to change, as noted by scholars of religion Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, new religions are just young religions. Melton has stated that those NRMs which were offshoots of older religious groups, tended to resemble their parent group far more than each other. One question that faces scholars of religion is when a new religious movement ceases to be new, some NRMs are strongly counter-cultural and alternative in the society they appear in, while others are far more similar to a societys established traditional religions. There are also problems in the use of religion within the new religious movements. Since at least the early 2000s, most sociologists of religion have used the new religious movement to avoid the pejorative undertones of terms like cult. These are words that have used in different ways by different groups. For instance, from the nineteenth century onward a number of sociologists used the terms cult, the term cult is used in reference to devotion or dedication to a particular person or place. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church devotion to Mary and it is also used in non-religious contexts to refer to fandoms devoted to television shows like The Prisoner, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the United States, the term began to be used in a pejorative manner to refer to Spiritualism
12.
Utopia
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A utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia and you could also say that utopia is a perfect place that has been made so there are no problems. The term has been used to describe intentional communities, the term utopia was coined from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The word comes from Greek, οὐ and τόπος and means no-place, however, in standard usage, the words meaning has narrowed and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed as considerably better than contemporary society. Eutopia, derived from Greek εὖ and τόπος, means good place, in English, eutopia and utopia are homophonous, which may have given rise to the change in meaning. Chronologically, the first recorded utopian proposal is Platos Republic, part conversation, part fictional depiction, and part policy proposal, Republic would categorize citizens into a rigid class structure of golden, silver, bronze and iron socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in a rigorous 50-year-long educational program to be benign oligarchs, plato stressed this structure many times in both quotes by him and in his published works, such as the Republic. The wisdom of these rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources, the educational program for the rulers is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, during the 16th century, Thomas Mores book Utopia proposed an ideal society of the same name. Some maintain the position that Mores Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, but the homophonic prefix eu-, meaning good, also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly good place is really no place. Ecological utopian society describes new ways in which society should relate to nature and these works perceive a widening gap between the modern Western way of living that destroys nature and a more traditional way of living before industrialization. Ecological utopias may advocate a society that is more sustainable, according to the Dutch philosopher Marius de Geus, ecological utopias could be inspirational sources for movements involving green politics. Particularly in the early 19th century, several ideas arose. These ideas are often grouped in a utopian socialist movement. A once common characteristic is a distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money. Citizens only do work which they enjoy and which is for the good, leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of the arts. One classic example of such a utopia was Edward Bellamys Looking Backward, Another socialist utopia is William Morriss News from Nowhere, written partially in response to the top-down nature of Bellamys utopia, which Morris criticized. However, as the socialist movement developed, it moved away from utopianism, in a materialist utopian society, the economy is perfect, there is no inflation, and only perfect social and financial equality exists
13.
Christian eschatology
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Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology dealing with the last things. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology is the study of the destiny of humankind as it is described in the Bible, eschatological passages are found in many places in the Bible, both in the Old and the New Testaments. There are also many examples of eschatological prophecy, as well as church traditions. Treatment of eschatology continued in the West in the teachings of Tertullian, the word was used first by the Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius but only came into general usage in the 19th century. They are by no means exclusive and are often combined to form a more complete. Most interpretations fit into one, or a combination, of these approaches, Preterism is an approach which sees prophecy as chiefly being fulfilled in the past, especially during the first century. Prophecies in general, therefore, have already been fulfilled, other Preterists consider the Book of Revelation to be a symbolic prophetic presentation of the struggle of Christianity to survive the persecutions of the Roman Empire. There are two views within Preterism, that of Partial preterism and Full preterism. Preterist beliefs usually have an association with Amillennialism, the belief that the Millennial reign of Christ began during the establishment of the Early Church. Preterists usually consider events such as the Great Tribulation as having occurred during the siege, Early Preterist theologians included Eusebius and John Chrysostom. Historicism is an approach which sees prophecy as being fulfilled in the past, present and future, specifically, Historists consider the Book of Revelation to be a symbolic prophetic presentation of the struggle of Protestantism to survive the continuing persecutions of the Papacy. Historists usually consider events such as the Great Tribulation as having occurred during the period of papal supremacy from 538-1798. The subject of the Revelation to John the apostle was large, Elliott, the first six seals of the book of Revelation outline the temporary prosperity of the Empire of heathen Rome followed by its decline and fall which covers the time period A. D.96 –396. Most prophecies will be fulfilled during a time of chaos known as the Great Tribulation. Futurist beliefs usually have an association with Premillennialism and Dispensationalism. Futurist beliefs were presented in the Left Behind series, in Idealism, also known as spiritual or nonliteral approach, the Book of Revelation and other eschatological materials are interpreted symbolically. There were different schools of thought on the afterlife in Israel during the first century, the Sadducees, who recognized only the Torah as authoritative, did not believe in an afterlife or any resurrection of the dead. By soul, Seventh-day Adventists theologians mean the person
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Second Coming
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The Second Coming is a Christian concept regarding the future return of Jesus to Earth after his first coming and ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The belief is based on messianic prophecies found in the gospels and is part of most Christian eschatologies. Views about the nature of Jesus Second Coming vary among Christian denominations, most English versions of the Nicene Creed include the following statements. he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Several different terms are used to refer to the Second Coming of Christ, In the New Testament, the Greek New Testament uses the Greek term parousia twenty-four times, seventeen of them concerning Christ. The word is used six times referring to individuals and one time referring to the coming of the lawless one. The etymology of the Greek word parousia is related to para beside ousia presence, in English parousia always has a special, Christian meaning. The Bauer-Danker Lexicon provides the definition. of Christ, and nearly always of his Messianic Advent in glory to judge the world at the end of this age. The Catholic Encyclopedia article on the General judgment states, In the New Testament the second Parousia, the Saviour Himself not only foretells the event but graphically portrays its circumstances. The Apostles give a most prominent place to this doctrine in their preaching, besides the name Parusia, or Advent, the second coming is also called Epiphany, epiphaneia, or Appearance and Apocalypse, or Revelation. The time of the second coming is spoken of as that Day the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, the day of the Son of Man, and the last day. Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared, from this we know that it is the last hour. The position associating the Second Coming with 1st century events such as the destruction of Jerusalem, some Preterists see this coming of the Son of Man in glory primarily fulfilled in Jesus death on the cross. They believe the signs are already fulfilled including the sun will be dark. Will be shaken, and then they will see, moreover, Jesus was reported to have told his disciples, Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Some, such as Jerome, interpret the phrase this generation to mean in the lifetime of the Jewish race, however, other scholars believe that if Jesus meant race he would have used genos not genea. Most English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the statements about Jesus. he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come
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Kingship and kingdom of God
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The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of Gods kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, also, a Kingdom of the Gods is common in paganism such as Mount Olympus in Greek mythology or the phrase King of the Gods. The Kingdom of God and its equivalent form Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel of Matthew is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Drawing on Old Testament teachings, the Christian characterization of the relationship between God and humanity inherently involves the notion of the Kingship of God, the Quran does not include the term kingdom of God, but refers to Abraham seeing the Kingdom of the heavens. However, Baháí writings do use the kingdom of God. The term kingdom of God does not appear in the Hebrew Bible, although his kingdom, yours is the kingdom, O Lord is used in 1 Chronicles 29, 10-12 and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom in Daniel 3,33, for example. The Hebrew word malkuth refers first to a reign, dominion, or rule, when malkuth is used of God, it almost always refers to his authority or to his rule as the heavenly King. The enthronement psalms provide a background for this view with the exclamation The Lord is King. 1 Kings 22,19, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and Daniel 7,9 all speak of the Throne of God, although some such as Saadia Gaon. The phrase the Kingdom of God isnt common in intertestamental literature, the term does occasionally, however, denote an eschatological event, such as in the Assumption of Moses and the Sibylline Oracles. In these cases, Gods Kingdom is not the new age, along these lines was the more national view in which the awaited messiah was seen as a liberator and the founder of a new state of Israel. The Gospel of Luke records Jesus description of the Kingdom of God, for indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. The Apostle Paul defined the Kingdom of God in his letter to the church in Rome, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, in the Gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus speaks frequently of Gods kingdom. However, Jesus never defines the concept and he assumed this was a concept so familiar that it did not require definition. The Kingdom of God is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, drawing on Old Testament teachings, the Christian characterization of the relationship between God and humanity inherently involves the notion of the Kingship of God. Most of the uses of the Greek word basileia in the New Testament involve Kingdom of God, Matthew is likely to have instead used the term heaven because the background of his Jewish audience imposed restrictions on the frequent use of the name of God. However, Dr. Chuck Missler asserts that Matthew intentionally differentiated between the kingdoms of God and Heaven, Most commentators presume that these terms are synonymous. However, Matthew uses Kingdom of Heaven 33 times, but also uses Kingdom of God five times, even in adjacent verses, Kingdom of God is translated to Latin as Regnum Dei and Kingdom of Heaven as Regnum caelorum
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Prophecy
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Prophecy is not limited to any one culture. It is a property to all known ancient societies around the world. Many systems and rules about prophecy have been proposed over several millennia, the related meaning thing spoken or written by a prophet dates from c. 1300, while the verb to prophesy is recorded by 1377, the former closely relates to the definition by Al-Fârâbî who developed the theory of prophecy in Islam. According to Western esotericist Rosemary Guiley, clairvoyance has been used as an adjunct to divination, prophecy, Modern research in prophecy is a pseudoscience. In general, a diviners foretelling or a prophetic prediction of the future does not adhere to the scientific method, from a skeptical point of view, there is a Latin maxim, prophecy written after the fact vaticinium ex eventu. The Jewish Torah already deals with the topic of the false prophet, the Haedong Kosung-jon records that King Beopheung of Silla had desired to promulgate Buddhism as the state religion. However, officials in his court opposed him, in the fourteenth year of his reign, Beopheungs Grand Secretary, Ichadon, devised a strategy to overcome court opposition. Ichadon schemed with the king, convincing him to make a proclamation granting Buddhism official state sanction using the royal seal, Ichadon told the king to deny having made such a proclamation when the opposing officials received it and demanded an explanation. Instead, Ichadon would confess and accept the punishment of execution, Ichadon prophesied to the king that at his execution a wonderful miracle would convince the opposing court faction of Buddhisms power. Ichadons scheme went as planned, and the officials took the bait. The omen was accepted by the court officials as a manifestation of heavens approval. In ancient Chinese, prophetic texts are known as Chen, the most famous Chinese prophecy is the Tui bei tu The New Testament refers to prophecy as one of the spiritual gifts given by the indwelling Holy Spirit. From this, many Christians believe that the gift of prophecy is the ability to receive. The purpose of the message may be to edify, exhort and comfort the members of the Church, in this context, not all prophecies contain predictions about the future. The Apostle Paul teaches in First Corinthians that prophecy is for the benefit of the whole Church, a recognized form of Christian prophecy is the prophetic drama which Frederick Dillistone describes as a metaphorical conjunction between present situations and future events. The gift of prophecy was acknowledged in the Church after the death of the apostles, in his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin Martyr argued that prophets were no longer among Israel but were in the Church. The Shepherd of Hermas, written around the mid-2nd century - John A. T. Robinson dates it before 85 AD, irenaeus confirms the existence of such spiritual gifts in his Against Heresies
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Book of Revelation
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Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
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Society
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In the social sciences, a larger society often evinces stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups. A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant and this is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology. The term society came from the Latin word societas, which in turn was derived from the noun used to describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least civil. Without an article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity, Society, in general, addresses the fact that an individual has rather limited means as an autonomous unit. Cultural relativism as an approach or ethic has largely replaced notions of primitive, better/worse. Societies may also be structured politically, in order of increasing size and complexity, there are bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and state societies. These structures may have varying degrees of power, depending on the cultural, geographical. Thus, an isolated society with the same level of technology. A society that is unable to offer a response to other societies it competes with will usually be subsumed into the culture of the competing society. Sociologist Peter L. Berger defines society as. a human product, and nothing but a human product, according to him, society was created by humans but this creation turns back and creates or molds humans every day. This is similar to the earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. This system of classification contains four categories, Hunter-gatherer bands, tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige. Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments, in addition to this there are, Humanity, mankind, upon which rest all the elements of society, including societys beliefs. Virtual society, a society based on identity, which is evolving in the information age. Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms of organization and this cultural evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal food stocks to become agrarian villages, villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states, many societies distribute largess at the behest of some individual or some larger group of people. This type of generosity can be seen in all cultures, typically
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Henri Desroche
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Henri Desroche was a French sociologist. His writings center on the sociology of religion and cooperative systems and he was a priest in the Dominican Order. Henri Desroche was born 12 April 1914 in Roanne, France and he attended the Collège Saint-Pierre of Villemontais before entering the seminary in the diocese of Lyon. He joined the Dominicans in Angers in October 1934, there he took the name of Henri-Charles and added the s to his name, becoming Henri-Charles Desroches. He completed his studies in Chambery and was ordained a priest in Annecy in July 1936. On September 30,1977 Desroche received a doctorate from the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University. The American Shakers, From Neo-Christianity to Presocialism Jacob and the Angel, An Essay in Sociologies of Religion The Sociology of Hope Cipriani, Sociology of Religion, An Historical Introduction. Desroche, Henri at Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Henri Desroche at Cahiers dÉtudes Bastidiennes. Henri Desroche. by Cercle Condorcet de Roanne
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Oppression
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Oppression, in sociology, activism, social critiques, and other forms of discourse, is a term used to describe systems, relations, or behaviors which disadvantage some groups or individuals. A variety of movements are concerned with resistance to oppression. Social oppression is the socially supported mistreatment and exploitation of a group of individuals, social oppression is based on power dynamics and an individuals social location in society. An individuals social location determines how one will be perceived by others in the whole of society and it maintains three faces of power, the power to design or manipulate the rules, to win the game through force or competition, and the ability to write history. These inequalities further perpetuate themselves because those oppressed rarely have access to resources that would allow them to escape their maltreatment and this can lead to internalized oppression, in which subordinate groups essentially give up the fight to access equality and accept their fate as a non-dominant group. Social oppression can be inflicted on both a macro and a micro level, the macro level focuses on institutionalized oppression, and how individuals within the dominant group are able to apply their resources so that they continue to remain in power. There are many institutionalized barriers that stand in the way of subjugated groups for progressive movements to overcome, examples of social oppression on the macro level are the vast differences that occur in education systems, healthcare policies, and adherence to the law. On a micro level, we look at interpersonal interactions that occur in daily lives and our perceptions of people shape these conversations as the result of stereotypes and believed social norms. From a gender perspective, women have historically seen as the less dominant of the sexes more suitable for home life. With this in mind, most advertisements for domestic products are geared towards women, with more colors on their packaging. Delving further into social oppression on both a macro and micro level, we turn to Black feminist Patricia Hill Collins to what she calls the matrix of domination. The matrix of domination discusses the nature of four domains of power, including the structural, disciplinary, hegemonic. Each of these spheres work to sustain current inequalities that are faced by minority groups, the interpersonal domain is guided by perceptions due to the spheres in the matrix of domination, and therefore plays out in everyday life. The interpersonal domain is situated within the perspective of standpoint theory, standpoint theory deals with an individuals social location in that each person will have a very different perspective based on where they are positioned in society. For instance, a White male, living in America will have a different take on an issue such as abortion than that of a Black female. Each will have different knowledge claims and experiences that will have shaped how they perceive abortion, from an oppression viewpoint, standpoint theory proves to be quite pertinent. Oftentimes certain aspects of society, and the knowledge that they hold, are kept suppressed because they are viewed as points of view. This leaves their voices unacknowledged, and their perspective from mainstream society, institutional Oppression occurs when established laws, customs, and practices systemically reflect and produce inequities based on ones membership in targeted social identity groups
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Pacifism
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Pacifism is opposition to war, militarism, or violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud, a related term is ahimsa, which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, in Christianity, Jesus Christs injunction to love your enemies and asking for forgiveness for his crucifiers for they know not what they do have been interpreted as calling for pacifism. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, Mohandas Gandhi propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called satyagraha, instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. James Lawson, James Bevel, Thich Nhat Hanh and many others in the Civil Rights Movement. Pacifism was widely associated with the much publicized image of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 with the Tank Man, historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas as an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare. Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the form of pacifism as anti-warism. Teichmans beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as, a pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong, in a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. Pacifism may be based on moral principles or pragmatism, principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and interpersonal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found, some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others, by no means is all nonviolent resistance based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists, sometimes, as with the civil rights movements march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex, the principle is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to undesirable results than non-violence. Although all pacifists are opposed to war between states, there have been occasions where pacifists have supported military conflict in the case of civil war or revolution. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, French pacifist René Gérin urged support for the Spanish Republic, Gérin argued that the Spanish Nationalists were comparable to an individual enemy and the Republics war effort was equivalent to the action of a domestic police force suppressing crime. Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature, during the Warring States period, the pacifist Mohist School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states
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Jonestown
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Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project formed by the Peoples Temple, an American religious organization under the leadership of Jim Jones, in northwestern Guyana. It became internationally notorious when on November 18,1978, a total of 918 people died in the commune, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations, the poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan, an act that Jones ordered. Four other Temple members committed murder-suicide in Georgetown at Jones command, while some refer to the events in Jonestown as mass suicide, many others, including Jonestown survivors, regard them as mass murder. All who drank poison did so under duress, and more than a third of victims were minors and it was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until September 11,2001. In recent years, the Jonestown massacre has been the subject of conspiracy theories. The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the mid-1950s, though its roots and teachings shared more with biblical church and Christian revival movements than with Marxism, it purported to practice what it called apostolic socialism. In doing so, the Temple preached that those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism. In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then still a British colony – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in Brazil, after Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California in 1965. In the early 1970s, the Peoples Temple opened other branches in California, including Los Angeles, in the mid-1970s, the Temple moved its headquarters to San Francisco. With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Peoples Temple, unlike many other figures who are considered cult leaders, Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others, the plan listed various options, including fleeing to Canada or to a Caribbean missionary post, such as Barbados or Trinidad. For its Caribbean missionary post, the Temple quickly chose Guyana, conducting research on its economy, in October 1973, the directors of the Peoples Temple passed a resolution to establish an agricultural mission there. The Temple chose Guyana, in part, because of its own socialist politics, former Temple member Tim Carter stated that the reasons for choosing Guyana were the Temples view of a perceived dominance of racism and multinational corporations in the U. S. government. Jones also thought that Guyana was small, poor, and independent enough for him to obtain influence. The site was isolated and had soil of low fertility, even by Guyanese standards, the nearest body of water was seven miles away by muddy roads. As 500 members began the construction of Jonestown, the Temple encouraged more to relocate to the settlement, Jones saw Jonestown as both a socialist paradise and a sanctuary from media scrutiny. In 1976, Guyana finally approved the lease it had negotiated with the Temple for the over 3,000 acres of land in Northwest Guyana on which Jonestown was located, in 1974, Guyanese government officials granted the Temple permission to import certain items duty-free
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Aum Shinrikyo
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Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. It gained international notoriety when it carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have responsible for another smaller sarin attack the previous year. Those who carried out attacks did so secretly, without being known to ordinary believers, Asahara broadcast his singing, insisting on his innocence through a radio broadcast on a signal they purchased in Russia and directed toward Japan. Its founder, Chizuo Matsumoto, claimed that he sought to restore original Buddhism, in 1992 Matsumoto, who changed his name to Shoko Asahara, published a foundational book, and declared himself Christ, Japans only fully enlightened master and identified with the Lamb of God. His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world, Asahara outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a World War III instigated by the United States. Robert Jay Lifton, an American psychiatrist and author, says that Asahara described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear Armageddon, humanity would end, except for the elite few who joined Aum. Aums mission was not only to spread the word of salvation, Asahara predicted Armageddon would occur in 1997. Kaplan also notes that in Shoko Asaharas lectures he referred to the United States as The Beast from the Book of Revelation, in the opinion of Daniel A. The name Aum Shinrikyo, usually rendered in English as Supreme Truth, derives from the Sanskrit syllable Aum, used to represent the universe, followed by the Japanese Shinrikyo written in kanji. In 2000, the changed its name to Aleph—a reference to the first letter of the Phoenician, Hebrew. It gained the status as a religious organization in 1989 and attracted a considerable number of graduates from Japans elite universities. Although Aum was considered controversial in Japan, it had yet to be associated with serious crimes and it was during this period that Asahara became obsessed with Biblical prophecies. Aum published several magazines including Vajrayana Sacca and Enjoy Happiness, adopting a somewhat missionary attitude. when they emerge to rebuild civilization. In private, both Asahara and his top disciples reportedly continued their humble lifestyles, the exception being the armored Mercedes-Benz gifted by a wealthy follower. In rather rare footage, Asahara is seen on the street in front of a clown doll resembling himself. This was to be accomplished by practicing ancient teachings, accurately translated from original Pali sutras and these efforts resulted in Aum becoming one of the fastest-growing religious groups in Japans history. Initiation rituals, assert the authors of the book, often involved the use of hallucinogens, and religious practices often involved extremely ascetic practices claimed to be yoga. These included everything from renunciants being hung upside down to being given shock therapy, in October 1989, the groups negotiations with Tsutsumi Sakamoto, an anti-cult lawyer threatening a lawsuit against them which could potentially bankrupt the group, failed
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Terrorism
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Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. It is classified as fourth-generation warfare and as a violent crime, in modern times, terrorism is considered a major threat to society and therefore illegal under anti-terrorism laws in most jurisdictions. It is also considered a war crime under the laws of war when used to target non-combatants, such as civilians, neutral military personnel, a broad array of political organizations have practiced terrorism to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political organizations, nationalist groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments, there is no universally agreed upon definition of the term, and many definitions exist. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, more than 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism, Terrorism comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French government during the 1793–1794 Reign of Terror. The French word terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terrere meaning to frighten, the Jacobins, coming to power in France in 1792, are said to have initiated the Reign of Terror. After the Jacobins lost power, the word terrorist became a term of abuse, although terrorism originally referred to acts committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a terrorist, Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group Peoples Retribution in 1869. It is a form of state-terrorism, the concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel. The definition of terrorism has proven controversial, various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism in their national legislation. Moreover, the community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term terrorism is politically and emotionally charged, in this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated, The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. The international community has adopted a series of conventions that define. U. S. Bruce Hoffman, a scholar, has noted, experts and other long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. Four years and a second later, Schmid was no closer to the goal of his quest. Walter Laqueur despaired of defining terrorism in both editions of his work on the subject, maintaining that it is neither possible to do so nor worthwhile to make the attempt. Hoffman believes it is possible to some key characteristics of terrorism. A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C, such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization
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Classifications of religious movements
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Various classifications of religious movements have been proposed by scholars. In the sociology of religion, the most widely used classification is the church-sect typology, the typology states that churches, ecclesia, denominations and sects form a continuum with decreasing influence on society. Sects are break-away groups from more mainstream religions and tend to be in tension with society, cults and new religious movements fall outside this continuum and in contrast to aforementioned groups often have a novel teaching. They have been classified on their attitude towards society and the level of involvement of their adherents and this church-sect typology has its origins in the work of Max Weber. The basic premise is that there is a continuum along which religions fall, along this continuum are several additional types, each of which will be discussed in turn. Many labels are commonly employed by non-sociologists to refer to religions, sociologists, when speaking technically, will not use these labels interchangeably as they are designations for religions with very specific characteristics. These differing religions are often classified by sociologists as ideal types, ideal types are pure examples of the categories. Because there is significant variation in each religion, how closely an individual religion actually holds as their ideal type categorisation will vary, nevertheless, the categorisation scheme is useful as it also outlines a sort of developmental process for religions. Today, the Catholic Church has been forced into the category because of religious pluralism. This is especially true of Catholicism in the United States, the change from a church to a denomination is still under way in many Latin American countries where the majority of citizens remain Catholics. Islam is a church in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia states, Gods Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet. These nations are ruled under an interpretation of religious law. Saudi Arabia, however, lacks Johnstones criteria for an ordained clergy, in the Shia denominations, there is a professional clergy led by a Grand Ayatollah. A slight modification of the type is that of ecclesia. The state churches of some European nations would fit this type, the denomination lies between the church and the sect on the continuum. Denominations come into existence when churches lose their religious monopoly in a society, a denomination is one religion among many. When churches and/or sects become denominations, there are some changes in their characteristics. Sociologically, a sect is defined as a newly formed religious group formed to protest elements of its parent religion
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Ghost Dance
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The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous American Indian belief systems. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California, as the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Indian tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. The Ghost Dance was associated with Wilsons prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of living, an honest life. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act, in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, U. S. Army forces killed at least 153 Miniconjou and Hunkpapa from the Lakota people. The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilsons original teachings, the Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today. The Northern Paiutes living in Mason Valley, in what is now the U. S. state of Nevada, were known collectively as the Tövusi-dökadö at the time of European contact. The Northern Paiute community at time was thriving upon a subsistence pattern of fishing, hunting wild game. The Tövusi-dökadö during this period lacked any permanent political organization or officials, community events centered on the observance of seasonal ceremonies such as harvests or hunting. In 1869, Hawthorne Wodziwob, a Paiute man, organized a series of community dances to announce a vision and he spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased. They promised to return to their loved ones within a period of three to four years, Wodziwobs peers accepted this vision, likely due to his reputable status as a healer. He urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of celebration and he continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local weather doctor named Tavibo, father of Jack Wilson. Prior to Wodziwobs religious movement, a typhoid epidemic struck in 1867. This and other European diseases killed approximately one-tenth of the total population, the disruption brought disorder to the economic system and society. Many families were prevented from continuing their nomadic lifestyle, a round dance is a circular community dance held, usually around an individual who leads the ceremony. Round dances may be ceremonial or purely social, usually the dancers are accompanied by a group of singers who may also play hand drums in unison. The dancers join hands to form a large circle, the dancers move to their left with a side-shuffle step to reflect the long-short pattern of the drum beat, bending their knees to emphasize the pattern. Spier studied peoples of the Columbia plateau, Jack Wilson, the prophet formerly known as Wovoka, was believed to have had a vision during a solar eclipse on January 1,1889. It was reportedly not his first time experiencing a vision, but as an adult, he claimed that he was then better equipped, spiritually
27.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
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The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas and their descendants. The term Amerindian is used in Quebec, the Guianas, Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives. Application of the term Indian originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, eventually, the Americas came to be known as the West Indies, a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the blanket term Indies and Indians for the indigenous inhabitants, although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in the Amazon basin, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time, although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires. Many parts of the Americas are still populated by peoples, some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico. At least a different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples. The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are the subject of ongoing research. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to northwest North America. Alaska was a glacial refugium because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska for thousands of years. Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single population, one that developed in isolation. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years, around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets. Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to the south, archeological evidence of the latter would have been covered by the sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age
28.
Cargo cult
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A cargo cult is a millenarian movement first described in Melanesia which encompasses a range of practices and occurs in the wake of contact with more technologically advanced societies. Cargo cults often develop during a combination of crises, under conditions of social stress, such a movement may form under the leadership of a charismatic figure. This leader may have a vision of the future, often linked to an ancestral efficacy thought to be recoverable by a return to traditional morality. This leader may characterize the present state as a dismantling of the old order, meaning that social hierarchy. Contact with colonizing groups brought about a transformation in the way indigenous peoples of Melanesia have thought about other societies. However, many of these practitioners actually focus on the importance of sustaining and creating new social relationships, since the late twentieth century, alternative theories have arisen. The indigenous societies of Melanesia were typically characterized by a big man system in which individuals gained prestige through gift exchanges. The more wealth a man could distribute, the people in his debt. Those who were unable to reciprocate were identified as rubbish men, faced, through colonialism, with foreigners with a seemingly unending supply of goods for exchange, indigenous Melanesians experienced value dominance. That is, they were dominated by others in terms of their own value system and these goods are intended for the local indigenous people, but the foreigners have unfairly gained control of these objects through malice or mistake. Thus, a feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will, at some future time, give much valuable cargo. Symbols associated with Christianity and modern Western society tend to be incorporated into their rituals, the term cargo cult was first used in print in 1945 by Norris Mervyn Bird, repeating a derogatory description used by planters and businessmen in the Australian protectorate of Papua. The term was adopted by anthropologists, and applied retroactively to movements in a much earlier era. Discussions of cargo cults usually begin with a series of movements that occurred in the nineteenth century. The earliest recorded cargo cult was the Tuka Movement that began in Fiji in 1885 at the height of British colonial plantation era. Tuka was a leader who witnessed a loss of efficacy in his social group, a loss of land. The movement began with a return to a golden age of ancestral potency. Minor alterations to priestly practices were undertaken to update them and attempt to recover some kind of ancestral efficacy, colonial authorities saw Tuka as a rebel, and he was exiled, although he kept returning
29.
Pacific Islander
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Pacific Islander is a term used to refer to the peoples of the Pacific Islands. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Pacific islands consist of three regions, The islands scattered across a triangle covering the region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bound by the Hawaiian Islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, the rest of Polynesia includes the Samoan islands, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue Island, Tokelau and Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn Island. The islands of Kiribati, Nauru, the Marianas, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Pacific islands may also refer to any of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ethnolinguistically, those Pacific islanders who reside in Oceania are divided into two different ethnic classifications, Austronesian language peoples Austronesian peoples who speak the Oceanian languages, numbering about 2.3 million, who occupy Polynesia, Micronesia, and most of the smaller islands of Melanesia. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was enacted to restrict entry of Pacific Islanders to Australia, in 2008 a Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme was announced as a three-year pilot scheme. The scheme provides visas for workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, the pilot scheme includes one country each from Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia, countries which already send workers to New Zealand under its seasonal labour scheme. Australias pilot scheme also includes Papua New Guinea, in 20137.4 percent of the New Zealand population identified with one or more Pacific ethnic groups, although 62.3 percent of these were born in New Zealand. Those with a Samoan background make up the largest proportion, followed by Cook Islands Maori, Tongan, some smaller island populations such as Niue and Tokelau have the majority of their nationals living in New Zealand. To celebrate the diverse Pacific island cultures, the Auckland region hosts several Pacific island festivals and it includes people who indicate their race as Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, and Other Pacific Islander or provide other detailed Pacific Islander responses. The term Pacific Islands American is used for ethnic Pacific islander residents in U. S. states, honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press. American History Unbound, Asians and Pacific Islanders, xiv,499 pp. Smelt, R. & Lin, Y. Cultures of the world, New Zealand, tarrytown, NY, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark Thomas, Nicholas, Islanders, The Pacific in the Age of Empire, Yale University Press,2010. Asian Pacific Americans in the U. S. Army Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Association
30.
2012 phenomenon
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The 2012 phenomenon was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or otherwise transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae were proposed as pertaining to this date, others suggested that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scholars from various disciplines quickly dismissed predictions of concomitant cataclysmic events as they arose, December 2012 marked the conclusion of a baktun—a time period in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used in Central America prior to the arrival of Europeans. Although the Long Count was most likely invented by the Olmec, it has closely associated with the Maya civilization. The writing system of the classic Maya has been deciphered, meaning that a corpus of their written. Thus, the Maya date of 8.3.2.10.15 represents 8 baktuns,3 katuns,2 tuns,10 uinals and 15 days. There is a tradition of world ages in Maya literature. According to the Popol Vuh, a compilation of the accounts of the Kiche Maya of the Colonial-era highlands. The Popol Vuh describes the gods first creating three failed worlds, followed by a fourth world in which humanity was placed. In the Maya Long Count, the world ended after 13 baktuns. This means that the world reached the end of its 13th baktun, or Maya date 13.0.0.0.0. In 1957, Mayanist and astronomer Maud Worcester Makemson wrote that the completion of a Great Period of 13 baktuns would have been of the utmost significance to the Maya, in 1966, Michael D. Coe wrote in The Maya that there is a suggestion. That Armageddon would overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation on the day of the 13th. When the Great Cycle of the Long Count reaches completion, Coes interpretation was repeated by other scholars through the early 1990s. In contrast, later said that, while the end of the 13th baktun would perhaps be a cause for celebration. There is nothing in the Maya or Aztec or ancient Mesoamerican prophecy to suggest that they prophesied a sudden or major change of any sort in 2012, the notion of a Great Cycle coming to an end is completely a modern invention. In 1990, Mayanist scholars Linda Schele and David Freidel argued that the Maya did not conceive this to be the end of creation, there will be another cycle, said E. Wyllys Andrews V, director of the Tulane University Middle American Research Institute. We know the Maya thought there was one before this, commenting on the new calendar found at Xultún, one archaeologist said The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue – that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this
31.
Acaxee Rebellion
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The Acaxee Rebellion was an insurrection against Spanish rule in Mexico by Acaxee Indians in 1601. Their territory was about 125 miles north to south and 50 miles east to west, the area was called Topia and Tepehuana by the Spaniards. The Acaxee and their neighbors shared common features of culture identified by scholar Susan M, an epidemic swept the region in 1576-1577, killing many thousands of Indians including possibly many Acaxee, and additional epidemics broke out in 1590 and 1596-1597. Thus, by the time of the rebellion the Acaxee probably numbered only a few thousand, furthermore, their capacity to resist the Spanish was adversely impacted by their endemic warfare with the Xixime to their south and the Tepehuan to the east. The Spanish discovered silver deposits in Acaxee territory in the 1580s, several hundred Spaniards, black and Indian slaves, and Indian laborers migrated into the Acaxee country. They needed additional labor to work in the mines, through the Encomienda system the Indians were forced to work in Spanish mines. However, the nature of the Acaxee settlements was a hindrance to utilizing Indian labor. Jesuit missionaries assisted in concentrating the Indians in larger settlements for easier exploitation, in the “Peace by Purchase” plan to resolve the Chichimeca War in 1590 the Spanish had recognized the utility of missionaries in the pacification of the northern frontiers of Nueva Espana. The Jesuits were relative newcomers to Mexico and the Indians of Sinaloa, in 1600, the missionary Hernando de Santarén toured the region with a local encomendero, Captain Diego de Avila. In return, the Spaniards promised to them from their enemies and provide tools, seeds. Indians who resisted the Spanish demands were beaten, an Indian leader named Perico initiated the rebellion in late 1601. Using a mixture of Spanish and Indian religious practices, he promised his followers that the Spanish could be exterminated, the rebellion was characterized by messianic leadership and promises of millennial redemption during a period of violent disruption and catastrophic demographic decline due to disease. The rebellion aimed “to restore pre-Columbian social and religious elements that had destroyed by the Spanish conquest. ”Indian attacks over the first few weeks killed about 50 Spaniards. The Acaxee burned Spanish mining camps and buildings, including 40 churches, the siege was raised when reinforcements arrived from Durango. The priest Santarén led a delegation but several members of his group were killed as were members of another delegation led by a bishop. The Acaxee took up positions in the mountains and shut down most silver mining. In 1603, the Spaniards gathered an army of encomenderos and Indian allies and suppressed the Acaxee, executing Perico and 48 of their leaders, defiance and Deference in Mexicos Colonial North, Indians Under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX
32.
Boxer Rebellion
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The Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihequan Movement a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty. The uprising took place against a background of severe drought and the disruption caused by the growth of foreign spheres of influence, Foreigners and Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarter. Diplomats, foreign civilians and soldiers as well as Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were placed under siege by the Imperial Army of China, Chinese officialdom was split between those supporting the Boxers and those favoring conciliation, led by Prince Qing. The supreme commander of the Chinese forces, the Manchu General Ronglu, the Eight-Nation Alliance, after being initially turned back, brought 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army, and captured Beijing on August 14, lifting the siege of the Legations. Uncontrolled plunder of the capital and the surrounding countryside ensued, along with the execution of those suspected of being Boxers. The Empress Dowager then sponsored a set of institutional and fiscal changes in an attempt to save the dynasty by reforming it. The Righteous and Harmonious Fists arose in the sections of the northern coastal province of Shandong long known for social unrest, religious sects. American Christian missionaries were probably the first to refer to the well-trained, athletic men as Boxers, because of the martial arts. Their primary practice was a type of possession which involved the whirling of swords, violent prostrations. The opportunities to fight back Western encroachment and colonization were especially attractive to unemployed village men, the tradition of possession and invulnerability went back several hundred years but took on special meaning against the powerful new weapons of the West. The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle shots, furthermore, the Boxer groups popularly claimed that millions of soldiers of Heaven would descend to assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression. The Big Swords, emboldened by this support, also attacked their local Catholic village rivals. The Big Swords responded by attacking Catholic churches and burning them, the line between Christians and bandits, remarks one recent historian, became increasingly indistinct. As a result of pressure in the capital, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders. More martial secret societies started emerging after this, the early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement or a united purpose. Martial folk religious societies such as the Baguadao prepared the way for the Boxers, like the Red Boxing school or the Plum Flower Boxers, the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, for instance, Zhu Hongdeng, started as a healer, specializing in skin ulcers. Zhu claimed descent from Ming dynasty emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming imperial family and he announced that his goal was to Revive the Qing and destroy the foreigners
33.
Brahma Kumaris
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The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University or BKWSU is a new religious movement that originated in Hyderabad, during the 1930s. The Brahma Kumaris movement was founded by Dada Lekhraj Kripalani, who took the name Brahma Baba. It is distinctly identified by the prominent role women play in the movement, the Brahma Kumaris teaches a form of meditation that focuses on identity as souls. They believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God is the source of all goodness, in 2008, the movement claimed to have more than 825,000 regular students, with over 8,500 centers in 100 countries. The Brahma Kumaris, originally called Om Mandali, started in Hyderabad and it received this name because members would chant Om together, before having discourse on spiritual matters in the traditional satsang style. The original discourses were closely connected to the Bhagavad Gita, the founder, Dada Lekhraj Khubchand Kripilani was a wealthy jeweller who was respected in the community for his piety. He reported what he said were a series of visions and other experiences that commenced around 1935. He said he believed there was a power working through him. The majority of those who came were women and children from the Bhaibund caste - a caste of wealthy merchants and business people whose husbands and fathers were often overseas on business. After about three years of meetings it became clear that Om Mandali was giving special importance to the role of women. The group had named a 22-year-old woman, Radhe Pokardas Rajwani as its president, people from any caste were allowed to attend meetings. The group also advocated that women had the right to elect not to marry. In tradition-bound patriarchal India, these personal life decisions were the right of men. A committee headed by a number of important male members of the Bhaibund community began to form in opposition, on 21 June 1938 this group picketed Om Mandalis premises preventing members from entering. This caused considerable upheaval in the community, women attending were verbally abused, there was an attempt to burn the premises down and the police made several arrests. Many women and girls were victims of domestic violence in their homes. The picketing resulted in criminal proceedings being taken against both groups, and on 16 August 1938 the local District Magistrate ordered that Om Mandali be prevented from meeting and this ban was reversed on 21 November 1938 after an appeal to the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind. Nevertheless, in an increasingly sour atmosphere, Om Mandali had decided to leave Hyderabad, on 31 March 1939 the government appointed a tribunal to inquire into the activities of Om Mandali
34.
Branch Davidians
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Some of those who accepted the reform message had been removed from membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church because of their supplemental teachings. Today, the original Davidian Seventh-day Adventists and the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are two different and distinct groups, the doctrinal beliefs differ on such teachings as the Holy Spirit and His nature, the feast days and requirements, and who had the prophetic office since Victor Houteffs death. From its inception in 1930, the movement believed themselves to be living in a time when Bible prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass as a prelude to Christs Second Coming. In 1993 the ATF, FBI, and Texas National Guard laid siege to their property for 51 days. The siege ended with a raid which resulted in the deaths of the Branch Davidians leader, David Koresh, as well as 82 other Branch Davidian men, women, and children, and four ATF agents. In 1929 Victor Houteff, a Bulgarian immigrant and a Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath School teacher in a church in Southern California. He presented this message in a book, The Shepherds Rod, The 144, the Adventist leadership rejected Houteffs message as contrary to the Adventists basic teachings and disfellowshipped Houteff and his followers. However, there was controversy over the method the leadership took to disfellowship Houteff. In 1935 Houteff established his headquarters to the west of Waco, after Houteff died in 1955, the segment of the group loyal to Houteff continued as the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. A splinter group, the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, was begun by Benjamin Roden, after Lois Roden died, a bitter power struggle ensued between Lois Rodens son George Roden and her designated successor David Koresh, eventually won by Koresh. David Koreshs arrival on the Waco compound in 1981 was well received by everyone at the Davidian commune. Koresh had an affair with the then-prophetess of the Branch Davidians Lois Roden, when she died, her son George Roden inherited the position of prophet and leader of the commune. However, George Roden and Koresh began to clash and this illegal activity gave Koresh an opportunity to attempt to file charges against Roden, however he was told he needed evidence. The trial ended with the finding the followers of Koresh not guilty. After the followers were not guilty Koresh invited the prosecutors to Mount Carmel for ice cream. By the time of the 1993 Waco siege, Koresh had encouraged his followers to think of themselves as students of the Seven Seals rather than as Branch Davidians. During the standoff, one of his followers publicly announced that he wanted them to thereafter be identified by the name Koreshians, one modern incarnation of The Branch Davidians exists under the leadership of Charles Pace, a former follower of Koresh. Pace left the Branch Davidians in the mid-1980s and he claims that Koresh twisted the Bible’s teachings by fathering more than a dozen children with members’ wives
35.
British Israelism
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The movement includes the claim that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David. The movement never had an organisation or a centralized structure. Various British Israelite organisations were set up throughout the British Empire and in America from the 1870s, the central tenets of British Israelism have been refuted by evidence from modern genetic, linguistic, archaeological, and philological research. British Israelism arose in England, then spread to the United States, gawler published Our Scythian Ancestors, which is considered an influential text to the British Israel movement. At the end of the 19th century, Edward Hine, Edward Wheeler Bird and he said that there was a very real danger that the movement would take over the Church of England. In Russia, the controversial self-declared Zionist priest Hippolytus Lutostansky claimed that the British people were of Jewish origin, during the 1890s, the Anglo-Israel Association had 300 members, it was based in Britain and founded in 1879 by physician George Moore. Hine later departed for the United States where he promoted the idea overseas, in 1919, the British-Israel-World Federation was founded in London, and Covenant Publishing was founded in 1922. William Pascoe Goard was the first director of the publishing house, during this time, several prominent figures patronized the BIWF organization and its publisher, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone was Patron-in-chief in pre-World War II days. One of the most notable members was William Massey, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, due to the expansive nature of the British Empire, believers in British Israelism spread worldwide and the BIWF expanded its organization to the commonwealth. Howard Rand promoted the teaching and became National Commissioner of the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America in 1928 and he published The Bulletin, later renamed The Messenger of the Covenant. More recently, it has been renamed Destiny, during its heyday in the early 20th century, British Israelism was also supported by John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher. A prolific author on British Israelism during the later 1930s and 40s was Alexander James Ferris whose When Russia Bombs Germany sold over 60,000 copies. The teaching of British Israelism was vigorously promoted beginning in the 1960s by Herbert W. Armstrong, Armstrong believed that the teaching was a key to understanding biblical prophecy, One might ask, were not biblical prophecies closed and sealed. And even now they can be only by those who possess the master key to unlock them. Armstrong believed that he was called by God to proclaim the prophecies to the Lost Tribes of Israel before the end-times, Armstrongs belief caused his separation from the Church of God Seventh Day because of its refusal to adopt the teaching. Armstrong created his own church, first called the Radio Church of God and he described British Israelism as a central plank of his theology. After Armstrongs death, his church abandoned its belief in British Israelism. It offers an explanation for the origin and its abandonment by the church at its official website
36.
War of Canudos
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The War of Canudos was a conflict between the state of Brazil and a group of some 30,000 settlers who had founded their own community in the Northeastern state of Bahia, named Canudos. After a number of attempts at military suppression, it came to a brutal end in October 1897. This was the deadliest civil war in Brazilian history, the conflict had its origins in the settlement of Canudos (named by its inhabitants Belo Monte meaning Beautiful Hill, in the semi-arid backlands in the northeast tip of the state of Bahia. It was a background for dissatisfaction with the recently installed Republican regime. He claimed to be a prophet and predicted the return of the legendary Portuguese king Sebastian of Portugal, soon his preaching and the promises of a better world attracted almost 8,000 new residents. Fearing an invasion of the city of Juazeiro by the Conselhistas, a visit by two Capuchin friars to Canudos was not enough to calm the population, one of them mistakenly accused Antônio Conselheiro of trying to raise a monarchist sedition. This caused great alarm among the government, which then asked for help from the federal government. The United States of Brazil was only recently founded, and it was felt at the time that the rebels were monarchists and separatists, a bad example, president Prudente de Morais called for a punitive military expedition and the Brazilian Army began preparations in November 1896. A second expeditionary force was mounted under the orders of the Minister of War and it consisted of 557 soldiers and officers, under the command of Major Febrônio de Brito, who attacked the now well defended village of Canudos on January 6,1897. After a successful attack of infantry and artillery against the enemy’s trenches, however. The Army responded with a still larger expeditionary force, the prestige of the armed forces and the new government were now at stake. An experienced colonel, Antônio Moreira César, mounted a force with three infantry battalions, one cavalry and one artillery battalion, all newly armed and trained. Despite the new knowledge gained about the size and resolve of the rebels, pressured, the Federal government prepared a new expedition. This time, it was more planned, with the aid of a war cabinet. Furthermore, their leader and towering figure, Antonio Conselheiro, had died on September 22, probably of dysentery. After Canudos was encircled and unmercifully bombarded day after day the rebels were unable to resist further, the best-looking surviving women were made captive and sent out to brothels in Salvador. Some authors, such as Euclides da Cunha estimated the number of deaths in the War of Canudos as being of ca,30,000, but the real number was probably lower. Euclides da Cunha did not see the fighting but did bear witness afterward, however, it is all we have
37.
Catholic Apostolic Church
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During the 1840s, a movement to restore ancient Christianity in Britain and the West used the name Catholic Apostolic Church. For this use, see Ancient British Church, British Orthodox Church, Celtic Orthodox Church, the Catholic Apostolic Church was a religious movement which originated in England around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States. While often referred to as Irvingism, it was actually founded nor anticipated by Edward Irving. The Catholic Apostolic Church was organised in 1835 under the lead of apostles, within the movement itself, the name Catholic Apostolic Church referred to the entire community of Christians who follow the Nicene Creed. The impulse to the movement in the 1820s was given by the Anglican priest James Haldane Stewart. He made an appeal to this by means of more than half a million pamphlets which were spread throughout Great Britain and they longed for renewed spiritual power, as had been visible in the first century after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the young church. This movement was by no means restricted to the British Isles, with investigations and prayers being offered in France, Germany. In 1830, prophetic utterances were recorded in Port Glasgow, Scotland, among dissenters and Karlshuld, Bavaria and these took the form of prophecy, speaking in tongues and miraculous healing. They were regarded as the answer to the prayers many had prayed and these occurrences spread in Scotland and England where certain ministers allowed their practice, although they were not approved of by existing church authorities. However, they died out in Bavaria under the opposition of the responsible clergy and he attracted thousands of listeners, even from the highest circles, and during his summer tours in Scotland believers came to listen to him with tens of thousands in attendance. Irvings relationship to this community was, according to its members and he was hailed by his followers as the forerunner of a coming dispensation, not the founder of a new sect. Around him, as well as around other congregations of different origins, coalesced persons who had driven out of other churches. Shortly after Irvings trial and deposition, he restarted meetings in a hall in London. These, over the course of the two years, accepting the presence of restored apostles and guided by claimed words of prophecy. This congregation became known as the Central Church, one of seven that were defined in London as forming a pattern of the whole Christian Church. Within the congregations mentioned, over the course of a short time, in 1835, six months after Irvings death, six others were similarly designated as called to complete the number of the twelve. These, together with the seven congregations in London, the coadjutors of the apostles, the seat of the apostolic college was at Albury, near Guildford. They retired there immediately after their separation to set in order the worship and their teaching was brought to the people by the evangelists and pastors, and by the ministers of the local churches for those who accepted their ministry
38.
Chabad
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Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is an Orthodox Jewish, Hasidic movement. Chabad is today one of the worlds best known Hasidic movements and is known for its outreach. It is the largest Hasidic group and Jewish religious organization in the world, the name Lubavitch is the Yiddish name for the originally Belorussian village Lyubavichi, now in Russia, where the movements leaders lived for over 100 years. He established a network of more than 3,600 institutions that provide religious, social and humanitarian needs in over 1,000 cities, spanning more than 80 countries and all 50 American states. Studies conducted between 1993 and 1996 stated the movement is thought to number between 40,000 and 200,000 adherents, in 2005 the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs reported that up to one million Jews attend Chabad services at least once a year. In 2013, Chabad forecast that their Chanukah activities would reach up to 8,000,000 Jews in 80 countries worldwide, the movement was based in Lyubavichi for over a century, then briefly centered in the cities of Rostov-on-Don, Riga, and Warsaw. Since 1940, the center has been in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. While the movement has spawned a number of groups, the Chabad-Lubavitch branch appears to be the only one still active. Sarna has characterized Chabad as having enjoyed the fastest rate of growth of any Jewish religious movement for the period 1946-2015, in the early 1900s, Chabad-Lubavitch legally incorporated itself under Agudas Chasidei Chabad. The Chabad movement has been led by a succession of Hasidic rebbes, the main line of the movement, Chabad-Lubavitch, has had seven rebbes in total, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founded the Chabad movement in the town of Liozna. He later moved the center to the town of Liadi. Rabbi Shneur Zalman was the youngest disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezritch, the Chabad movement began as a separate school of thought within the Hasidic movement, focusing of the spread of Hasidic mystical teachings using logical reasoning. Shneur Zalmans main work is the Tanya, the Tanya is the central book of Chabad thought and is studied daily by followers of the Chabad movement. Shneur Zalmans successors went by last names such as Schneuri and Schneersohn and he is commonly referred to as the Alter Rebbe or Admur Hazoken. Rabbi Dovber Schneuri, son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman, led the Chabad movement in the town of Lyubavichi and his leadership was initially disputed by Rabbi Aaron Halevi of Stroselye, however, Rabbi Dovber was generally recognized as his fathers rightful successor, and the movements leader. Rabbi Dovber published a number of his writings on Hasidic thought and he also published some of his fathers writings. Many of Rabbi Dovbers works have been republished by the Chabad movement. He is commonly referred to as the Mitteler Rebbe, or Admur Haemtzoei, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, a grandson of Rabbi Shneur Zalman and son-in-law of Rabbi Dovber
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Cheondoism
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Cheondoism has its origins in the peasant rebellions which arose starting in 1812 during the Joseon dynasty. Cheondoism is essentially Confucian in origin, but incorporates elements of Korean shamanism and it places emphasis on personal cultivation, this-worldly social welfare, and rejects any notion of an afterlife. Cheondogyo translated literally means religion of the Heavenly Way, where cheon means Heaven, do means Way, and gyo means religion, teaching, -ism. In keeping with its roots in Confucian thought, Cheondoism venerates Heaven as the principle of good and justice. According to the doctrine, the term Hanul does not only mean Heaven. This title implies the quality of Heaven as instructor, that is a belief that man and things are not created by a supernatural God, over time, Cheondoism has also adapted elements of other Korean religious traditions including Taoism and Buddhism. Cheondoism originated from the Donghak, a Confucian movement that arose in the 19th century as a reaction to Western encroachment, while the Donghak movement began with Confucian scholar Choe Jeu, it did not become a religious movement until the 3rd patriarch, Son Byeong-hui. Choe Jeu formulated the Donghak ideology in the 1860s to help ease the lot of the suffering from abject poverty and exploitation. His ideas rapidly gained acceptance among the peasantry. Choe set his Donghak themes to music so that farmers could understand, accept. His teachings were systematized and compiled as a message of salvation to farmers in distress, Cheondoism as a religion evolved in the early 1900s from the Donghak peasant liberation movements in the southern provinces of Korea. As a result, he changed the name of Donghak to Cheondoism. During the waning days of the Joseon Dynasty, King Gojong himself embraced Cheondoism, the King added Buddhist rituals and codices to the new religion, which was organized into a formal organizational hierarchy. As of 2005, Cheondoism had about 1.13 million followers and 280 churches in South Korea, very little is known of the activities of Cheondoists in North Korea. According to official statistics, Cheondoism had 2.8 million adherents in North Korea as of 2000, Cheondoists are represented in North Korean politics by the minor Cheondoist Chongu Party. Donghak Peasant Revolution Sinism This article incorporates text from Korea Web Weekly, Korea Web Weekly is not an independent source of information but is instead associated with various North Korea government sources. The Emergence of National Religions in Korea
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Christadelphians
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The Christadelphians are a millenarian Christian group who hold a view of Biblical Unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries, the movement developed in the United Kingdom and North America in the 19th century around the teachings of John Thomas, who coined the name Christadelphian from the Greek for Brethren in Christ. Basing their beliefs solely on the Bible, Christadelphians differ from mainstream Christianity in a number of doctrinal areas, for example, they reject the Trinity and the immortality of the soul, believing these to be corruptions of original Christian teaching. They were initially found predominantly in the developed English-speaking world, congregations are traditionally referred to as ecclesias and would not use the word church due to its association with mainstream Christianity, although today it is more acceptable. The Christadelphian religious group traces its origins to John Thomas, who emigrated to North America from England in 1832, following a near shipwreck he vowed to find out the truth about life and God through personal Biblical study. Initially he sought to avoid the kind of sectarianism he had seen in England, in this he found sympathy with the rapidly emerging Restoration Movement in the US at the time. This movement sought a reform based upon the Bible alone as a sufficient guide, however, this liberality eventually led to dissent as John Thomas developed his personal beliefs and began to question mainstream orthodox Christian beliefs. The history of this appears in the book Dr. Thomas, His Life and Work by a Christadelphian. During this period of formulating his ideas John Thomas was baptised twice and he based his new position on a new appreciation for the reign of Christ on Davids throne. The abjuration of his former beliefs eventually led to the Restoration Movement disfellowshipping him when he toured England, the Christadelphian community in Britain effectively dates from Thomass first lecturing tour. His message was particularly welcomed in Scotland, and Campbellite, Unitarian, two thirds of ecclesias, and members, in Britain before 1864 were in Scotland. In 1849, during his tour of Britain, he completed Elpis Israel in which he laid out his understanding of the doctrines of the Bible. Since his medium for bringing change was print and debate, it was natural for the origins of the Christadelphian body to be associated with books and journals, in his desire to seek to establish Biblical truth and test orthodox Christian beliefs through independent scriptural study he was not alone. Among other churches, he had links with Adventist movement and with Benjamin Wilson, in terms of his rejection of the trinity, Thomas views had certain similarities with Unitarianism which had developed in a formal way in Europe in the 16th century. See History of Unitarianism Although the Christadelphian movement originated through the activities of John Thomas and he believed rather that he had rediscovered 1st Century beliefs from the Bible alone, and sought to prove that through a process of challenge and debate and writing journals. Through that process a number of people became convinced and set up various fellowships that had sympathy with that position, in 1864 he began to publish The Ambassador of the Coming Age magazine. This was renamed The Christadelphian in 1869 and continues to be published under that name, Roberts was prominent in the period following the death of John Thomas in 1871, and helped craft the structures of the Christadelphian body. Robert Roberts was certain that John Thomas had rediscovered the truth, initially the denomination grew in the English-speaking world, particularly in the English Midlands and in parts of North America
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Christian Israelite Church
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The Christian Israelite Church was founded in 1822 by the prophet John Wroe. From 1822 to 1831, the church had its headquarters in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, United Kingdom, wroes followers intended to build a wall around the town with four gateways. The wall was never constructed, but the four gatehouses were, popular opinion in Ashton-under-Lyne turned against Wroe when he was accused of indecent behaviour in 1831, but the charges were dismissed. The Church spread to Australia and the United States of America, one of his followers was Carl-Friedrich Zimpel, an ambassador for the European countries. In God Almighty, Creator of all things, in the existence of Satan, the Devil, in whom God allowed iniquity to be placed. That God created a spirit-existence in which the devil manifested evil and that God created our physical world, to which each person comes with a body and a soul made alive by a spirit from the spiritual creation. That God gave His people instructions on the way they should live and that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That God has reconciled the world to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. That through belief in the sacrifice of Jesus, believers are counted as righteous before God and that Jesus Christ will return to this earth again, subdue the power of Satan and reign forever and ever. That the return of Jesus Christ is near and we are living in the period described in Scripture as the latter days and that there are promises in the Scriptures especially to Israel - Gods chosen people
