Category: Influence of Christianity

The treatment of women and minority groups has had a largely negative impact on the morally correct standards of religions. Christianity and Islam are the two biggest religions in the world. Their sacred texts (the Bible and Qu’ran) state clearly their opinions of how women should be seen; however, both the Bible and the Qu’ran treat outsiders/minorities (not including women) as equals. Christianity has now conceded to the fact that women were initially seen as a minority during the time of Jesus; although, the current followers claim to have changed the way they see others, no longer as individual minorities but rather an equal society of beings.

The Bible and Qu’ran clearly state opposing views on women and how they shall be seen compared to men; however, both sacred texts share the same views on other minority groups such as; gays, prostitutes, non-believers in their particular religion, sinners and the poor. The Bible uses the word “man” throughout its pages. Females, like males, are made in God’s likeness and image according to Genesis 1:27. In Galatians 3:23-29 there is neither male nor female in Christ. All are heirs to the promise. Not only are women given the right to be children of God, but they are given the right to pray as well as be forgiven, healed, delivered, loved, and counseled by the Holy Spirit. Women in the Qur’an are important characters and subjects of discussion in the stories and morals taught in Islam. Some of the women in the Qur’an are portrayed in a positive light, while others are condemned for their actions. While the Qur’an does not directly name any woman except for Mary, women play a role in many of the stories that the Qur’an tells. These stories have been subject to manipulation and rigid interpretation in both classical commentary and popular literature from patriarchal societies. In the New Testament parables, the Lord threads stories of women who sought an audience with Jesus and received it. Their voices were heard. These women were seen, healed, provided for, and delivered. (John 7:11-17, Luke 13:10-17, and Luke 1:26-38 show examples and further explain this) Often, Jesus’ interaction with women flowed against the tradition and understanding of society. But man-made rules didn’t stop Jesus—women either. Both the Bible and the Qu’ran make clear distinctions about how women are equal to men and should be treated as such. Neither the Bible nor the Qur’an (Koran) has a lot to say about homosexuality, and what they do say relates only indirectly to contemporary discussions about gay rights and same-sex marriage. Like pre-modern scholars of law and ethics, these books assume heteronormativity. Scriptures and later writers usually referred only to particular sexual acts and did not raise the issue of personal sexual orientation. For religious conservatives, though, both Muslim and Christian, the occasional derogatory reference to same-sex acts is enough to prove their inherent sinfulness in all circumstances. The bible does not talk explicitly about gays (homosexuality), the only major references to this topic are; Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11)(Levitical laws condemning same-sex relationships) The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If you find anyone doing as Lot’s people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done (38:4447). (The Conversation, 2019)It is doubtful whether any passage of the Qur’an refers to lesbian acts though the condemnation of women who commit indecency (4:15) is sometimes read this way. A few hadith warn women against seeing or touching each other when naked. (Biblegateway.com, 2019) Leviticus 18:20; ‘You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.’ Chapter 18 verse 22. ‘If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ‘ Chapter 20 verse 13. (En.wikipedia.org, 2019).

Christianity did not begin until after Jesus’ death; therefore, the religion followed was Judaism. During the time of Jesus Christ, the role and idea of women (within Judaism) was drastically different than it was for men, as it was in the time of Muhammad. Jews believed that the life of a male’s primarily responsibility was public based, while a woman’s life was extremely confined to the point of not exceeding the inner family. This was the cause of the people’s beliefs; whereas, Muslims followed a code of conduct. The women in Muslim societies and communities (during the time of Muhammad) faced gender-based inequalities associated with the so-called “patriarchal gender system.” The system features consist of male domination, early marriage (and consequent high fertility), restrictive codes of female behavior, the linkage of family honor with female virtue, and occasionally, polygamous family structure. Although Judaism did not discriminate by abiding by a patriarchal system, they had strict expectations of women. Women had little rights and were considered of lesser stature. The women with whom Jesus spoke were believed to be only illiterate women. They were separated from men in private, public and religious life. This is due to the fact that the people did not consider it incumbent upon women to learn to read in order to study the Scriptures. Based on the passage in Deut. 4:9, “teach them to thy sons,” it was declared that women were to be exempt from the commandment to learn the Law of Moses. Although both religions discriminated women, In Muslim areas, veiling and sex-segregation form part of the gender system. Causing them to do so legally, while the Jews did so on account of, what they believed to be, upholding their high stature. Therefore, both religions had negative actions and beliefs of how women should be treated during the time of their founder. In touching the leper, Jesus also defies Levitical law. When the Son sent forth the disciples with instructions to heal the sick, cleansing the lepers was specifically mentioned in Matthew 10:8. Leprosy symbolizes the defilement of sin which results in separation from God and the community. (En.wikipedia.org, 2019) By doing this Jesus showed compassion towards the minority groups. Evidence from the Arabic sources clearly demonstrates that lepers were treated with a great degree of trepidation during Muhammad’s lifetime. Muhammad exercised caution on permitting close contact with lepers but still thoroughly held that contagions, such as leprosy, were transmittable only through the will of God. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9780230339491_3 This shows Muhammad’s dislike towards the minorities.

Christians today rejoice in the fact that women now are affirmed in professions, in secular leadership, in government, even as heads of government; that women have the vote; that women are welcomed into the workforce. Few, if any, traditionalists argue that we should stop educating women, encouraging them to be lawyers and doctors and teachers, or being allowed to vote. I think we should learn from this. Contemporary Muslim women’s activism in claiming an interpretive role within the Islamic tradition tends to focus on three key aspects of religious life: reciting, teaching, and interpreting the Qur’an; participating in and leading public worship and interpreting Islamic law. There is a multiplicity of voices in these debates, some conservative and some self-designated ‘progressive,’ with some claiming a position of equality with men and others affirming certain unique roles for men and women. Vibrant, passionate, and often contentious, these debates are among the most important in defining Islam in the twenty-first century. Women are increasingly present in highly visible positions of religious prominence, although, to date, few have significant positions in the religious establishment and none have achieved the highest positions, such as grand mufti or ayatollah. Today, many religious people are becoming more affirming of same-sex relationships, even in denominations with official stances against homosexuality. (En.wikipedia.org, 2019).It is, however, forbidden by law to conduct same-sex marriages within its churches. The ‘church allows same-sex couples to have special prayers after their wedding’, but does not allow gay priests to marry (En.wikipedia.org, 2019). The Islam community fllow their laws on gays, their laws state; when looking at the issue of gay marriage, two main features of the Shariah are most pertinent. First, the Shariah is law. It is concerned primarily with actions as opposed to emotions or wishes. Second, marriage in the Shariah is not a sacrament. Stripped of all the cultural accretions Muslims have added on, and minus the obviously crucial elements of love and companionship, marriage is nothing more than — literally — a contract between a man and a woman (Brown and Brown, 2019).

Historically, the interpretation of Islam has been largely a male endeavor. Although the first convert to Islam was a woman (Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah), and women played an important role in the transmission of hadith (the sayings and deeds of the prophet Muhammad) and the development of Sufism, women have generally been marginalized from the male centers of Islamic interpretation, including both scripture and law, and leadership roles in public worship. But this has changed in recent times. What seems to happen within the first few centuries is the activities women might have had in the beginning begin to get curtailed as you have the development of a hierarchy of clergy members with bishops, presbyters and deacons, and it’s pretty firmly established that women should not be either bishops or priests. Even though women tend to get excluded from those functions, they do have some roles including joining a group called the widows or deaconesses in the fourth century. In both religions, I do believe that the founder of each would somewhat be somewhat satisfied with the level of improvement in the treatment of women. However, in saying that, there is still much confliction and debates on whether women are receiving enough equality in Isalm and Christianity.

During medieval times, multiple changes occurred. Most of which were extremely influential moments in history. These changes would be some of which affected and influenced the modern world. The movement of people and religions such as Christianity and Islam underwent numerous changes. It is definite that most, if not all of these changes have influenced and affected the modern world that we know today.

One of the biggest changes that impacted the world during the middle ages, was the spreading of Christianity. By the time the early middle ages had come to an end, nearly all of Europe was Christian or under Christian rule. The first major spreading of Christianity came when the Roman empire declared its state religion had come to be Christianity. When the Roman empires days were over and it began to collapse, the religion had already moved into the African countries of Sudan (then known as Nubia) and Ethiopia. Although the middle east was to be taken over by the rule of the Islamic Religion, Christianity was still able to inhabit and become the known religion across nearly all of Europe. When the Roman empire was taken over by various Germanic kingdoms, they were all to be Christian converts. Meanwhile the population in which lived in Ireland changed to Christianity during the fifth century and Britain had Christianity brought to it during the Roman occupation. Although this is just a few of the example where Christianity was spread, it is clear that it only grew as a religion over time and it definitely grew the biggest during the middle ages. The religion definitely would not be where it is today if this major spreading hadn’t occurred during this time period.

Although Europe saw the spread of Christianity, the middle eastern countries of the world were being influenced by a different religion, the religion of Islam. The first time Islam was ever founded was in the country of Arabia, it was founded by a prophet with the name Muhammed. When Muhammed eventually met his death (632 AD), every Arabian tribe was following the Islamic religion and in the time frame of a little bit over 100 years, the followers of Islam (Muslims) had managed to conquer parts of Africa, various kingdoms in Asia and even small portions of south-western Europe. Over time though, the religion managed to spread even further, just a few of the countries it came to conquer being Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, most of Spain, and even central Asia; right up to the Chinese borders. They were able to overthrow the Persian empire of Sassanian and even took Egypt from the hands of the Byzantine empire. The Islamic religion being equally as powerful as the Christian religion, it influenced the middle east so heavily that the world would surely be extremely different if these peoples hadn’t taken over as frequently as they did.

The practice of migration, conquering, overpowering and the movements of groups of people is a major factor of history. Many countries in which we know of would not be the same or wouldn’t even be as developed as they are now if it weren’t for a tribe taking over a few hundred years ago, or city being burned down by a rival kingdom. The biggest time period in which the most changes occurred due to civilisations continually moving around, settling new lands and taking over already settled colonies was the middle ages. In China, the Han dynasty was overthrown in 220 CE, which set the whole country back quite far, as the Han dynasty had brought with it an immensely rich empire in which would even trade with Persia and Rome. Invasions from the Mongolian Nomads, Turkish and wars between separate Chinese states meant it was another 360 years before China was placed back in balance by the beginning of the Sui dynasty. Then in India, Prince Chandragupta founded the Gupta Empire in 320 CE, and his offspring would eventually move on to colonise an entire empire in which filled most of Northern India. Although this was one of the greatest feats the world had seen at the time, his country was ravaged by the White Huns, who were known to be able to slaughter whole populations. During the three centuries in which followed 180 CE, the power in which Rome once had began to fizzle out, as barbarians moved into its colonies. And 296 years later (476 CE), a man by the name of Odoacer who was a German chieftain dethroned the very last Roman emperor. This even is more than often used by historians as a marker, the moment in which began the Middle ages and saw the close of the Ancient world. Throughout many repeated attacks there were two civilisations in which were able to remain sturdily. The Byzantine (Persian empire – Europe) and the Sassanian (Persia). The smaller colonies in which resided in the Western Roman empire all deemed themselves to be Roman and lived under the authority of the Eastern Roman emperor; and for hundreds of years the Byzantine empire was the only thing keeping Roman traditions and culture alive. Although, when these two colonies were nearing their end, they ended up becoming feeble and fragile due to wars in which they were battling against each other. Byzantine was eventually taken out by Turks in 1453 CE, whereas Persia didn’t last so long; being overrun by Muslims in 651 CE. All of these wars, changes, colonisations and conquering’s have given us the culture and homes in which we have today. If even one of these wars didn’t take place, we could be living in completely different countries to the ones we do now, calling different lands home and having neighbouring countries being different as well. The current government could be different as well, presidents and prime ministers could not have existed, and we still could be living under the rule of a king or emperor. The movements of people during the middle ages has definitely given us all of the countries and states we know of today.

Christianity wouldn’t be where it is if the Romans hadn’t fully converted their entire empire to the religion. Islam wouldn’t be as big a religion as it is if it didn’t spread so widely over so little amount of time hundreds of years ago. The movement of people during the middle ages has so heavily affected the places we now reside and live in, as people and as whole cities and countries. It is sure that every small change in which occurred during the middle ages did affect the modern world and will still continue to affect the modern world every single day.

Religion, medication, and medical services have been connected in populace groups since the start of written history. Just as of late have these frameworks of mending been isolated, and this partition has happened to a great extent in profoundly created countries; in many creating nations, there is almost no such detachment. The historical backdrop of religion, drug, and social insurance in created nations of the West is an entrancing one. The principal emergency clinics in the West for the consideration of the mentally challenged in the all-inclusive community were worked by strict associations and staffed by strict requests. All through the Middle Ages and up through the French Revolution, doctors were regularly ministry. For a long time, strict foundations were liable for authorizing doctors to rehearse medication. In the American states, specifically, a large number of the pastors were likewise doctors—regularly as a second occupation that enhanced their pitiful salary from chapel work.

Care for those with mental health issues in the West additionally included its underlying foundations inside cloisters and strict networks. In 1247, the priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem (Later named Bedlam) was in London on the Thames River. Initially intended to house ‘distracted individuals,’ this was Europe’s (and maybe the world’s) first mental hospital. In 1547, in any case, St. Mary’s was torn down and supplanted by Bethlehem or Bethlehem Medical Hospital. Throughout the years, as common specialists assumed responsibility for the establishment, the clinic got popular for its insensitive treatment of the rationally sick, who were regularly chained, dunked in water, or beaten as a form to control them. In later years, an affirmation expense was charged to the overall population to watch the patients manhandling themselves or different patients.

It was not until present day times that religion and psychiatry started to part ways. This partition was supported by the specialist Sigmund Freud. Subsequent to being presented to the psychotic and crazy parts of religion by the renowned French nervous system specialist Jean Charcot in the mid-1880s, Freud started to underline this in a broadly perused arrangement of productions from 1907 through his passing in 1939. Included among these were: Religious Acts and Obsessive Practices, Psychoanalysis and Religion, Future of an Illusion, and Moses and Monotheism. These works left a heritage that would impact the act of psychiatry—particularly psychotherapy—for the remainder of the century and lead to a genuine faction among religion and emotional wellness care. That split was represented in 1993 by an efficient audit of the strict substance of DSM-III-R, which found about one-fourth of all instances of dysfunctional behavior being portrayed utilizing strict delineations. The contention has proceeded to the present day.

The connection between religion, explicitly Christianity, and mental health has been contemplated widely, showing impressive relationships among these factors. The translation of ordinary and unique encounters, the concordance with social standards, the contact with tasteful and creative articulations and images, just as numerous other life areas, are for the most part equivalently inserted in this individual and complex framework. Numerous studies show that religious practices may impact general physical wellbeing, life fulfillment, and abstract prosperity. This constructive effect on human prosperity turns out to be progressively clear among individuals under unpleasant conditions and physical sickness. Religion is subsequently viewed as a significant adapting factor in troublesome or unpleasant life conditions, and terminal sickness. For certain people, religious confidence may upgrade the capacity to adapt to contrary life occasions, while for other people, antagonistic life occasions may bring about more noteworthy religious confidence.

A considerable lot of the patients secured in Bedlam weren’t what we today would call mentally ill. Alongside the raving schizophrenics and psychopaths were epileptics and those with learning inabilities. These people were frequently neglected by their friends and family, taking into account a wild variety of misuse. The most infamous part of Bedlam was its accessibility to people in general. It was normal that loved ones would drop in on patients, yet for a long time, Bedlam was run like a zoo, where well off supporters could drop a peddling or two to meander the hallways. These visits were incessant to the point that they made up a noteworthy segment of the medical clinic’s operating budget.

Patients were dunked in chilly showers, starved, and beaten. William Black’s 1811 Dissertation on Insanity portrayed the refuge along these lines: “In Bedlam the strait waistcoat when necessary, and occasional purgatives are the principal remedies. Nature, time, regimen, confinement, and seclusion from relations are the principal auxiliaries”. He proceeded to depict the utilization of things like phlebotomy, and leeches,

Bedlam was horrendous to such an extent that it would routinely deny admission to patients regarded too slight to even think about handling the course of their treatments. During the year 1758, the conditions and medications in Bedlam were depicted as old by individuals like William Battie, M.D., who dealt with his very own asylums during his life.

Edward Wakefield, who ran the hospital after a few others, experiences terrifying conditions. He saw stripped, starved men fastened to the walls. The most pessimistic scenario was one James Norris, who was clad in a harness like device with chains running into the divider and into a connecting room. At the point when the staff saw fit, they would yank on the chains, hammering the Norris into the wall. Wakefield asked to what extent this had been going on, and John Haslam (The person in charge before Wakefield) let him know somewhere in the range of 9 and 12 years. Haslam accused the conditions for his lead surgeon, the butcher Bryan Crowther. In the long run, the two men were given up, and Bedlam started stepping toward progressively altruistic treatment of patients.

Numerous patients didn’t live through their stay in Bedlam. As of late, unearthing for England’s new cross-rail framework have revealed mass graves in London, including those of refuge occupants and plague exploited people. After patients died, their regularly deserted them, and the bodies were hurriedly discarded without advantage of a Christian entombment.

Clergy have truly given ‘healing’ through different otherworldly and medicinal modalities. Associations among religion and psychiatry are normally pushed, however there is meager research on Clergy illustrative models of illness. Clergy generally propose close causal connections between various classes and attributions. For instance, a supernatural explanation of disease may propose that a person’s way of life, financial conditions or individual disaster may leave them powerless against supernatural abuse and demonic exploitation, as said in the Journal of Religion and Health.

There is worry that clergy may need trust in managing psychological maladjustment. Indeed, even where suicide is a genuine probability, they appear to be inadequately prepared to make a proper referral. Additional harming maybe, clergy conspiracy with incredible socially educated convictions in black magic and evil belonging have become known in youngster misuse cases in the UK. Notwithstanding, similar to the clinician, the clergy is guided in this experience by the sufferer’s account which, given the specific situation, might be inclined towards an otherworldly translation and introduction of the issue. Albeit illustrative models and help-chasing are socially built and interceded, until now a great part of the emphasis has been on the patient’s convictions, dismissing the intricacy made by social associations and implications, intersubjectivity and power associations with other social specialists including that of the clergy.

A considerable lot of the causal attributions offered by the clergy look like other lay clarifications of mental illness. Be that as it may, the church network concerns uncovered how logical models of psychological sickness will in general be supported by affectability to limited good and sociopolitical matters. In addition, mental illness tends not to be viewed as essentially an individualized, illness substance, yet rather as symptomatic of increasingly inescapable otherworldly and social discomfort. (Journal of Religion and Health).

The impacts of individual life occasions among network individuals stand up to clergy over every one of the religions. Mourning and relationship issues make trouble in individuals’ lives and every so often incite an emergency of confidence. Clergy are then called upon to give clarifications to affliction or to give exhortation and backing. Individual life occasions and stressors are in some cases interrelated with other causal attributions. Along these lines, a developing commercialization impacts work-life parity to the hindrance of family life and connections.

Other than life issues, different clergy felt that psychological sickness was frequently identified with individual helplessness. Along these lines, the powerlessness to adapt to ‘weight’ and feeling undesirable were viewed as significant components. Some clergy likewise examined how loss could imperil otherworldly and emotional well-being, to a limited extent through despondency, yet additionally through drawing in with types of mysticism outside customary confidence structures.

In ancient Mesopotamia, priest-doctors treated the rationally sick with magico-strict ceremonies as mental pathology was accepted to veil satanic belonging, Exorcisms, mantras, prayers, and different supernatural ceremonies were utilized to drive out the detestable soul. Exorcisms are a blasting industry in the United Kingdom, somewhat determined by worker networks and Pentecostal churches of worship, as indicated by a report from a Christian research organization. In any case, by far most of individuals being exorcized have psychological well-being issues that need mental help. On the other hand, submission was used to speak to the unwanted soul with increasingly human devices such as dangers, renumeration, discipline, and some of the time accommodation. These were wanted to be a powerful fix.

Christians accepted that all disease was delivered upon people by God as discipline for submitting sin, and even evil spirits that were thought to cause a few ailments were credited to God’s fierceness. However, God was additionally observed as a definitive healer and, by and large, Christian doctors were ministers who had uncommon methods for engaging the higher power so as to fix ailment. Along similar profound lines, they credited ailment to devils and accepted that great wellbeing could be accomplished through appropriate insurances to anticipate and shield one from diseases. These included satisfactory cleanliness and virtue of the mind and body accomplished through great deeds and contemplations.

There was likewise proof of a particular conviction: the lunar cycle was raised, as a causal plausibility by two clergymen, one Christian and one Anglican: “Someone once said to me that people are affected by the phases of the moon and the people who are religiously obsessed will start to be more, I don’t know whether I believe this or not, but people can be affected in this way – they become sort of hyperactive, they start fidgeting in church, and won’t sit still and they will sort of be far more aggressively mobile, I don’t know whether that’s true or not but it does need people to be honest doesn’t it”

There are God-dreading, Bible-accepting, admirably proposed Christians who approach psychiatry with a level of doubt given the inclination for specialists to take basic good issues, give an extravagant name, and afterward pardon unethical lead as a sickness.

At the point when we think about Jesus’ comprehension of evil presences, notwithstanding, it is truly not agreeable to recommend that he was constrained by an absence of logical information. Evil spirits, in the event that they exist, are profound creatures and Jesus came to bring otherworldly truth. Most likely, He would not acquiesce to incorrect sees with respect to the impact of malice in human lives. Moreover, the Gospels give proof that Jesus really observed the giving out of evil presences a role as a piece of his strategic mission on earth (Lk 13: 32), and that he made it a piece of the mission for his followers (Lk 9: 1). In this manner, one should be reluctant to acknowledge any thought that Jesus was essentially agreeing to, or effectively conspiring with, a crude misjudgment of the idea of psychological sickness. Regardless, somewhere else, the Bible proposes that Hebrew culture did without a doubt have a comprehension of dysfunctional behavior as being isolated and unique in relation to demonic activity or human malicious (Sa 21: 13).

Christians have held a wide range of perspectives on how we ought to apply New Testament records of evil presence (or ‘demonisation’) to the development of a contemporary comprehension of otherworldly and mental disease. Following the illumination, and especially inside increasingly scholarly or logical circles, it has been prevalent to ‘demythologise’ the Gospel accounts of evil spirit possession. Anthropologists, psychotherapists, analysts and specialists see convictions about demonology as being socially or socially decided clarifications for issues which can generally be completely clarified in sociological, psychodynamic, mental or mental terms. In any case, numerous Christians (especially in some magnetic circles) still accept that evil presences truly exist as real profound elements, and that they can antagonistically influence or attack the lives of people today.