Comparative religions

Option Three: Take a philosophical or theological stance on any idea stemming from past or present culture. Use the religions we have studied to support your stance. As evidence, also use quotations from a variety of sacred texts to support your argument. The paper is not looking for the Christian answer or the Hindu answer. However, the paper is asking you to use the ideas within religions to argue a stance on any issue. Suggested Questions (to help you brainstorm a topic, although you can choose your own question): Is war ever justified? Would Christianity exist if Constantine, the Roman Emperor, had not made it the official religion of the empire? What makes a person evil? Are humans basically good? Is religion used to replace another addiction, such as alcoholism or drug addictions? What is love? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Is the Declaration of Independence actually more influenced by the Protestant Reformation than the principles of the Enlightenment? Can a person be a Christian and a Buddhist simultaneously? What causes human suffering? How might Confucian and Taoist ideas improve the economic struggles across the world? What does the psychological model of Carl Jung have to do with Gnosticism and Hinduism? Do personality and culture express how you approach religion? How is atheism a religion? How might Hinduism and Jainism improve the diet of Americans? How have revelations or out-of-body experiences defined religious or cultural traditions? Should insurance companies support alternatives to antidepressants, such as meditation? Suggested Texts can be located at the Internet Sacred Text Archive (http://www.sacred-texts.com), British Library Online Gallery of Sacred Texts (http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/index.html), and other places, including Apple and Android Apps.