First Formal Writing Assignment
Religion in the New Millenium
I would like you to compose a persuasive essay (think of it as a long newspaper
editorial) of from five to seven pages Taking into account the following resources:
- The Secular Humanist Declaration
- The Grand Inquisitor (pages 1-80)
- Gould's Full House
- Your own experience and thoughts
- other materials of the course which you might consider, if you wish, are
- The Dhammapada and Buddhism
The Readings from Genesis, Exodus and
Deuteronomy
The Gospel of Mark
"Jesus of Montreal" (movie)
The "Franciscan Tradition" statement
on the Foundations web page.
Some questions which you might want to consider in adopting your position:
- Is religion a holdover from the past which should be abandoned?
- Is religion the hope of the new millennium which should be promoted? Should religious
experience take new forms or should the forms of religion be governed by tradition?
- Take a position either favoring or opposing religion or, possibly, both favoring and
opposing it. Your position might or might not be your own. You could take a"devil's
advocate" position and try to argue the side with which you disagree. I would like
your essay to be a piece of "persuasive" writing. That is to say, you should try
to persuade the reader to adopt the position which is outlined in the paper. Some further
questions which might be of interest in your essay:
- Is belief in God consistent with the discoveries of modern science? Is Gould right when
he argues that human reality is the result of the probabilities of evolution?
- Is religious belief largely a relic of the past?
- Is religious belief possible in light of the terrible suffering and evil of the 20th
century, e.g., the Jewish Holocaust, the atomic bomb, starvation and famine, the suffering
of children in America and elsewhere? If it is, on what basis does it stand?
- Can one be both a believer and an unbeliever at the same time? If so, what would this
mean?
- Are we witnessing the "death of religion" or its "renaissance"?
Timelines for the Assignment
Thursday, March 16: First draft of paper due
Tuesday, March 21: Peer group meetings.
Tuesday, March 28: Final drafts due.