Religion In England And China Throughout history, the civilizations of both England and China have been deeply impacted by religion. In England, two main religions were practiced: Catholicism and Protestantism. While these two religions were practiced somewhat in China, especially Catholicism, they were not the major religions. Conversely, China s main religions over time have been Buddhism and Confucianism. Along with Taoism and Islam, these religions have helped to shape China.

A major driving force behind the culture of England was the Church of England. Henry VIII founded the Church of England in the 1500 s as a result of his dispute with the Roman Catholic Church. The Church was a very powerful political force http: www.gober.net victorian reports religion.html . English society was far from a secular one. Because of both its size and power, the Church was able to exercise great power of the people.

It was during the 18th century, 1738 to be exact, when the Evangelical movement began in England http: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk REevangelical.htm . The movement is believed to have begun when John Wesley was converted. Wesley was not allowed to preach in Church of England churches. Because of this, he was forced to preach mostly outdoors, and ultimately form his own organization, which began the Wesleyan Church.

Eighteenth century England was marked by strong feelings of anti-Catholicism. This was due to many reasons. The main reason was the popularity of the Protestant religion in England. The main religion, Anglicanism, was, in fact, a Protestant religion. The main reason for the conflict during this time period was the disagreement concerning the authority of the Pope. Protestants disagreed with the fact that the Pope was the center of the religion rather than Jesus. They believed that this went completely against Christian beliefs and what was taught in the Bible Haydon 1993:4 . There was also a great fear among the English that the Catholics would attempt to take over England and create a Papal monarchy. The fear was that if England became a Catholic-ruled nation, the English people would lose many of their freedoms and liberties. There were many social pressures and prejudices facing Catholics during this time. They could not hold public office. Catholics also could not receive degrees from the top universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Many were also prevented from gaining employment or fired from their jobs because of their religion Haydon 1993:14 . Some of this discrimination finally came to an end in 1778 with the passing of the Catholic Relief Act, which removed some parts of the anti-Catholic legislation. However, up until 1791, Catholics were not able to legally hold religious services.

Religion continued to have a great impact in China during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Probably the most important religion in China was Confucianism. Confucianism was not the prototypical religion, as it did not have a god Yang 1961:244 . Rather, it was more of a guiding philosophy for the Chinese people. Most of Chinese society during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was dictated by this philosophy. Many of the laws and customs that are still in practice today are based on Confucian philosophy. The main point that Confucianism brought to China was the idea of the five major relationships. These were: sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. What these relationships did was to end abuse by the so-called higher ups. Under this relationship system, the superior was to treat his subordinate with respect in order to be respected himself. Taoism also was a religion that had an effect on the people of China. The goal of Taoism is to create a relationship with the Tao, which is thought of as Christians think of God. Taoists believed that the key to happiness was to lead a good and moral life. This caused a great impact, as the Chinese were greatly discouraged, not only by law, but also by religion, to act in a moral manner.

Buddhism is another religion that affected Chinese civilization. Buddhism is similar to Taoism and Confucianism in that it taught the importance of good deeds. These three religions combined to form the basis on which many people in China still live today.

Christianity was most successfully introduced into China during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, many of the missionaries, the Jesuits in particular, tried to change the religion to conform to Chinese culture. This did not sit well with the Franciscans and Dominicans. They then appealed to Pope Clement XI. The Pope agreed with them and sent a representative to China in 1721 to enforce his ruling. However, the emperor of China at that time was angered by the fact that foreigners were trying to control religion in his country. Because of this, by 1740 all missionaries were removed from China Orr 1980:13-14 .

One aspect of Chinese religion that differed greatly from western religions was the worship of one s ancestors. Ancestor worship played a huge part in the everyday life of Chinese people. Every home contained altars representing dead relatives Yang 1961:29 . These ancestors were a part of everyday worship, as it was believed that something terrible would come upon them if they did not pay their respects to the deceased relatives.

Every civilization in the world has been affected in one way or another by religion. Religion can lead to both good and evil. Usually, religion has both effects on the civilization where it is practiced. Oftentimes religion has been a cause of war. In England, religion was a major cause of discrimination during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was very difficult for English Catholics to live normal lives during this time. Even though they believed in the same God as the English Protestants, they could not find a common ground. It seems as if the English, rather than fearing the Catholic religion, feared the power of the Pope instead. By allowing the Catholics to have pure religious freedom, the English believed that the tyrannical Pope would somehow have rule over them. They believed that the only way to keep the power of the Pope out of England was to limit the power of all Catholics within their territory. This was why Catholics were forbidden to hold public office and gain college degrees.

While religion in England seemed to serve mainly as a dividing force, in China it served to unite the people. While China had its share of discrimination, the religions that were practiced there mainly unified the people. Although there was such a diversity of religious practices, many of them were very similar. For example, Confucianism and Taoism had many of the same beliefs and philosophies. These religions both taught acceptance and tolerance for others. This played a large part in the success of the Chinese people throughout history.

The religions of England and China both helped to shape their respective cultures. Each country seems to have been affected differently by the religions that are practiced there. While Protestantism and Catholicism could not seem to find a balance in England, the many religions of China seemed to blend quite easily and without too much conflict. This is mainly because the religions practiced in England had human leaders. Religion, when left alone, can function with great ease. It is when people try to exercise control over the religion that the problems start. Conversely, the religions practiced in China had no human leaders. Rather, these religions were more like a set of philosophies that taught acceptance and tolerance of those around you. This is the main difference in the religion of China and England.

Bibliography: References

Haydon, Colin. Anti-Catholicism in 18th Century England. Manchester University Press. 1993. New York, New York

Orr, Robert G. Religion In China. Freedom Press, Inc. 1980.

New York, New York.

Stephen Orchard, Evangelical Eschatology and the Missionary Awakening. Journal of Religious History, June 1998 v22 n2 p 132 20 .

Yang, C.K. Religion In Chinese Society. University of California

Press. 1961. Los Angeles, California

Yi, Jimmy. The Religious Climate of Victorian England http: www.gober.net victorian reports religion.html. 3 27 00

There are several different criticisms that have been commonly levelled at science and scientists as a whole. During the course of this essay I shall attempt to identify these criticisms and identify the reasoning behind each of them. The first of these criticisms is that science has been given similar status to a religion. It was commonly thought in the early days of science that science would eventually develop a theory for everything, thereby replacing religion through removing the ambiguous and the incomprehensible parts of life with which religion dealt. In many ways science has replaced religion in the 21 st century, as it has become the object of faith and even devotion. A blind faith has been placed in the unquestionable correctness of science and scientific research. It was Emile Durkheim who first advanced the theory that given enough time, science would replace all traditional religions to be replaced by a formal, unquestionable religion based upon science.

It is the arrogance of many scientists that leads us to believe that scientific theories are facts, and can be treated as truth replacing religion by explaining the facts behind the creation and existence of the world. The problem with this belief that science is unquestionable fact and can be treated in a similar way to a religion is twofold. First, scientific theories are advanced through observation and experimentation, these theories can never be proved entirely correct since they are based only on certain observations, as the full facts can never be known, a theory can only be said to be correct in so far as it is correct from the observations made given the facts available. Secondly, science and religion can never be directly linked since they do not overlap in any shape or form. Science deals with the physical, religion with the insubstantial. In their very essence the two are diametrically opposed to one another and can t be compared. In short, science deals with the how, religion with the why. Although science attempts to understand the world around us, how it was created and how we and other creatures came to exist, it can never fully explain the automated human search for a higher being.

There seems to be a desire within humans to believe in something larger and greater than that which is visible and physical, something science can never explain. For this reason, science can never replace religion, as it simply does not explain enough. It s explanations fall far short of what would be needed to satisfy human curiosity. Religion, in general, does a much better job of explaining what needs to be explained about human nature. However, Scientists in recent years have attempted to give their work a status of being unquestionably correct. As I have already explained, the truth of science or the correctness or otherwise of a given theory can never be entirely proved. A theory can only be proved correct in so far as it is correct given a certain set of facts, and without having all the facts available, a theory can never be given the status of absolute fact, and consequently, no scientific theory can ever be proved, although it can be proved false through further research. However, this strong criticism of science can be taken even further. Karl Popper put forward the theory that scientific facts of the present day are simply probabilities, and only hold this status until such time as new evidence emerges allowing the theory to be dropped or adapted.

Thomas Kuhn took this criticism of scientists even further, he believed that scientists, for the vast majority of the time, went to great lengths to fit their experiments to already existing theories, or when new information was taken into account, and it was simply accommodated by existing theories rather than new theories being created. Kuhn went further in his criticism; he claimed that when new theories were advanced, it was normally due to a competition between two scientists. Eventually, one theory would emerge victorious, however, this emergence, claimed Kuhn, had little to do with the correctness or otherwise of the theory and more to do with the political connections and status of the scientists involved in the battle. Feyerabend takes his criticism of the methodology of science to the extreme and claims that the scientific experiments are not based on observation of facts, but interpretation of what was seen. He claimed that theories were not so much formulated by experimentation and careful experimentation, but more through conjecture, metaphysical speculation, inspiration and revelation. This treats scientists as creative and irrational, making observations fit preconceived ideas, instead of the objective, rational, self-critical people they attempt to be. A further criticism that has been levelled at science is that it is heavily dependent on cultural background and presuppositions, and not the value-free discipline that it is so frequently thought to be.

This relies on the idea that a culture will only examine and discover that which is important to that culture. Science is currently accused of Eurocentricism . This refers to the western dominance that is exerted over scientific research. The result is that scientific study revolves around solving problems that afflict the western world, rather than attempting to solve far more difficult and profound problems afflicting the third world. For example, much funding is currently being given towards finding a cure for cancer. A further criticism of western science is that it is based on economics. Those who benefit most from a breakthrough in medical science are not those who benefit from the treatment as patients, but those who benefit as investors as they are the ones who receive the money from the sale of the treatment to health services and hospitals. There is also an arrogance about western methods of conducting scientific experiments. The western scientists appear to believe that there is only one way in which to conduct scientific experiments, there are no exceptions or contradictions. In actual fact, there are many varied ways of approaching science, and different cultures have different emphasise when examining the world around us according to their individual culture. In conclusion, the supremacy of science has been brought about by the arrogance of western scientists.

For many years, scientists, through deception, have implanted the idea in people s brains that scientific theories are unquestionably correct despite all information to the contrary. In fact, scientific supremacy has been taken so far through arrogance that the truth of science, as well as being rarely questioned, has gained the status of religion in our modern society, although science can never explain the human tendency to a belief in a God or a supernatural being, nor can it prove to the contrary. In this, however, I believe we see even more apparently the human desire for something to believe in, and despite its many flaws, for some people, science provides the alternative to a religion. Furthermore, in the attempt to maintain the belief that all scientific theories should be taken as gospel, scientists simply attempt to fit new information into old theories, or when a theory must be disregarded, it is described as unscientific . Scientific theories are also subject to human observation and therefore preconceived ideas, notions and creative thoughts. In this respect therefore, the observations can be made to fit the preconceived ideas. The supremacy of western science over other scientific cultures is also questionable as there are different ways to conduct science. In short, western science has arrogantly given the impression that there is only one true scientific method, that used by western scientists. This arrogance has led western peoples to believe unquestioningly in what scientists say, and those who read it unquestioningly apparently regard all scientific theory as absolutely correct.