Religion+Discussion

Reminder of Instructions
For this week, you still need a paragraphish response and two short replies. As I read through last week’s, I noticed that the replies to the other postings were most effective when they directly referenced something and either supported it or refuted it with a specific reason or example. The same was true of the paragraphs: the best ones had specific examples. Please be sure to add these, especially if they come from your book!

Background Information
For more information on Islam in general, consider the going [|here] or clicking on the Islamic star and crescent below. (If it prompts you for a password and user name, dcsdk12 is the user name and the password is media.)

Many people asked about the difference between Islam and Christianity. While the differences would depend on the denomination of each religion, some of the main differences are referenced [|here]. Again, this chart is intended to simplify the faiths for the sake of comparing them and may not hold true for different branches of Islam or Christianity. It was one of the few I could find that was not created by a Islamic or Christian organization.

This Week's Ideas
After reading through the notes taken by Brittany, Jordan, Kelly, and Stephanie I was intrigued by what they wrote and what areas we still didn’t address. I’m going to post a few questions below based on their notes and questions students wrote on their purple sheets but failed to ask. Read through them and then hit the discussion tab to add your own two cents.

If you don’t like any of the questions, you may start your own thread with a reflection on the topic of religion and its impact in the Middle East/America. If you have a question you think would provoke discussion, add it and count it as one of your two short replies.


 * In terms of women’s rights, how does religion (or lack there of) in America compare to religion in the Middle East?
 * Does religion in America have as big a role in politics as is does in the Middle East?
 * How does the impact of religion in America compare to the impact of religion in the Middle East in terms of every day life?
 * Mohammad said during his talk on Monday that there were some big rules in Islam (no sex before marriage) and some small rules (head covering). The important thing was to follow the big rules. Can someone claim to be a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Vegetarian, Atheist, Christian, etc., follow only some of the rules, and still be that religion?