Polytheism God Is Dead By Nietzsche Essays - Philosophy Of Religion

Polytheism: God Is Dead By Nietzsche Reproduced, with permission, from THE FUTURIST, Published by the World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a fictional account of a madman who went about the town proclaiming that God is dead. Nietzsche's story is illustrative of a wave of atheism that spread through the intellectual circles of Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but that never caught on in society at large. The idea of the divine demise, however, did not die: A movement by theologians resurrected Nietzsche's thesis in the 1960s, amidst the other forms of radical thinking that characterized that decade. The cover of Time magazine for April 8, 1966, summarized it best with the boldfaced headline, Is God Dead? Despite the theologians' doubts, the next few decades marked a rise of religious fundamentalism among many Christians and Muslims and a return to traditionalist thinking among many Jews. Today, 96% of the U.S. population say they believe in God, a slight increase compared with surveys done half a century earlier. If he were to appear today, Nietzsche's madman would still find that he had come too early. What is the future of God? Will He ever truly die? One difficulty in answering these questions is the word God. It may seem like a simple word, but God doesn't mean the same thing to everybody: Various images and ideas of the deity appear throughout different times and cultures. So the first issue we need to look at is semantic. We need to study the way people have understood God in the past and what they believe today. Then we can address what concept of God is emerging for future believers. MANY GODS OR ONE GOD? One common theory about the Western image of a single, distinct God is that He arose out of a more ancient era of polytheism. Indeed, the first books of the Bible tell how the Israelite God Yahweh forbids his people to bow down before other gods, suggesting the existence of parallel deities. In many cultures today, God is not singular: A tribe of deities perform their individual tasks and attract their own followings. Hindus, for example, have never found reason to abandon their pantheon. While polytheism may seem primitive to Westerners, who have been reared with the idea that there can be only one God, it does have certain advantages and may not be merely a less sophisticated predecessor of monotheism. For one thing, if there are many gods, it may be easier to find one whose job description best fits your needs. If you are an artist or an expectant mother, you might be able to seek the assistance of a god specially attuned to your situation and more comforting to you than a god who controls the weather (who might be favored by farmers). More importantly, having a variety of gods who specialize in different aspects of life relieves the single great deity of attending to a multitude of specific concerns. This is simply the economic principle of the division of labor applied to religion. In addition, polytheism creates more confidence for the petitioner: You are more likely to get an answer from a god with an interest and expertise in your problem than to persuade the great God to become interested in your trivial concern. In Roman Catholicism, praying to saints for their intercessory power saves this advantage without compromising monotheism. The problem with polytheism, however, is that the gods who are interested in specific human concerns generally begin to look and act all too humanly themselves. It requires no stretch to imagine them engaging in the same kinds of self-interested behavior, such as bickering over jurisdiction and illicit love affairs, that we find among humans. They become less divine and less worthy of worship. By contrast, the problem with monotheism is that God becomes so great and so incomprehensible that He ceases to be available for ordinary human concerns. Thus the great trade-off: A God who is truly God (in the Western sense) isn't of much practical use; a god who is one of many scheming, self-interested gods doesn't inspire much awe. MONOTHEISM'S THREE-PRONGED PROBLEM Monotheism also contains another essential problem--one with implications for the future. The Western God of the Jewish-Christian-Islamic tradition illustrates the core difficulty in monotheism, a philosophical conundrum that has been called the theodicy problem. It is formulated as a trilemma and can best be illustrated this way: Among the following three statements, it is logically possible to reconcile any two of them, but the

O Little Town of Bethlehem in Spanish

O Little Town of Bethlehem in Spanish Here is a Spanish version of the popular Christmas hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem. It was originally written in English by American clergyman Phillips Brooks. Oh pueblecito de Belà ©n Oh pueblecito de Belà ©n, cun quieto tà º ests.Los astros en silencio dan su bella luz en paz.Mas en tus calles brilla la luz de redencià ³nque da a todo hombre la eterna salvacià ³n. Nacido el Mesà ­as ha, y en Su derredor,los santos ngeles de Dios vigilan con amor.Albenlo los astros; las nuevas proclamadque a los hombres dan la paz y buena voluntad. Oh, cun inmenso el amor que nuestro Dios mostrà ³al enviar un Salvador; Su Hijo nos mandà ³.Aunque Su nacimiento pasà ³ sin atencià ³n,aà ºn lo puede recibir el manso corazà ³n. O, santo Nià ±o de Belà ©n, sà © nuestro SalvadorPerdona nuestras faltas hoy y danos tu amor.Los ngeles anuncian la prometida luz.Ven con nosotros a morar, oh Cristo, Rey Jesà ºs. English Translation of Spanish Lyrics O little town of Bethlehem, how quiet your are.The stars silently give their beautiful light peacefully.But in your streets shines the light of redemptionWhich gives everyone eternal salvation. He was born the Messiah, and in his surroundingsGods holy angels lovingly keep watch.Stars, praise him; proclaim the newsThat they bring peace and goodwill to people. Oh, how great is the love that our God demonstratesby sending a Savior; He sent His Son.Even though His birth occurred without receiving attention,the quiet heart can still receive him. O holy Child of Bethlehem, I know our SaviorForgives our faults today and gives us His love.The angels announce the promised birth.Come dwell with us, oh Christ, King Jesus. Translation Notes Pueblecito is not capitalized in the title. It is the practice in Spanish to capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in composition titles. The interjection oh is less common in Spanish than in English but usually has similar meaning. Although their sound is the same, it should not be confused with the conjunction o nor the letter O. Pueblecito is a diminutive variation of pueblo, a word meaning people or, in this context, town. A diminutive can indicate not only that something is small, but also that something is the object of affection. So pueblecito might be thought of as meaning dear little down or sweet little town. Belà ©n is the Spanish name for Bethlehem. It isnt unusual for names of cities, particularly those well-known centuries ago, to have different names in different languages. Interestingly, in Spanish the word belà ©n (not capitalized) has come to refer to a nativity scene or a crib. It also has a colloquial use referring to confusion or a confusing problem. Note how in the translation many prepositional phrases have been translated as English adverbs. For example, en silencio becomes silently and con amor becomes lovingly. Although most such phrases can be translated word for word to English, it often sounds more natural to use adverbs in English. Astros can refer to stars or other celestial bodies. Estrella is a more common word for star. Beautiful light could be rendered as either bella luz or luz bella. With the adjective (bella) before the noun (luz), the phrase is given a more emotional quality than it might have otherwise, although the difference between the two isnt readily translatable to English. Mas is a somewhat old-fashioned word meaning but. More common today is pero. It shouldnt not be confused with ms, which usually means more. Although hombre normally refers to an adult human male, it can also refer to humanity in general, especially in literary use. In this way, it is much like the English man. Use of cun instead of quà © to mean how is infrequent in everyday speech and is limited mostly to poetic use. Manso isnt a particularly common word. It is often used to refer to docility in animals. Prometida luz is translated here as promised birth. Out of context, the phrase normally would be translated as promised light. But the phrase dar a luz (literally, to give to light) means to give birth, and prometida luz here is probably poetic reference to that meaning. Parts of this song use an unusual word order to maintain the correct rhythm for the music. Most notably, Nacido el Mesà ­as ha (the equivalent of something like born the Messiah has been) would typically be written as Ha nacido el Mesà ­as. It is extremely unusual to separate ha and other forms of haber from a past participle when forming the  perfect tense.

Denver City Council Ban on Urban Camping Case Study

Denver City Council Ban on Urban Camping - Case Study Example According to the study the proposed ordinance seeks to define the word camping, to include temporary stay on public or private property sheltering against any form of elements. This ordinance will be adopted under the police powers and premised upon the basis of protecting the health, safety and the general welfare of the public. It should be viewed that this ordinance is not merely a law that seeks to prohibit the mere act of sleeping on public or private property. The proposed ordinance to be passed banning unauthorized camping in the city is due to factors such as health and safety of its residents. People sleeping out in the open exposed to all manner of harm raises concern and bring with it a lot of harm. This proposed ordinance seeks to make it illegal to camp on "any private property without the express written consent of the property owner" and "any public property except in any location where camping has been expressly allowed." When people sleep exposed in urban areas, heal th and safety indeed are concerns. The ban comes as a wakeup call to the business owners within the region since tourists visiting the town are affected. Many business owners have to contend with people sleeping outside their place of work. This in turn has an effect on the economy, for example, crime rates have increased and there is so much filth within the area.2 Downtown areas have to be reclaimed, and not to be turned into an eyesore. Carroll also states that the increased encroachment by the homeless people on the streets of Denver causes the loss of the city as a place of entertainment. The author quotes the Mayor’s statements that losing downtown to the homeless is tantamount to losing the city itself. An increase in homelessness and encroachment also causes financial concern, since many meetings dwell on the issue. However, there have been increasing criticisms of the proposed law.