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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious institutions & organizations
Since 1876, Jehovah's Witnesses have believed that they are living
in the last days of the present world. Charles T. Russell, their
founder, advised his followers that members of Christ's church
would be raptured in 1878, and by 1914 Christ would destroy the
nations and establish his kingdom on earth. The first prophecy was
not fulfilled, but the outbreak of the First World War lent some
credibility to the second. Ever since that time, Jehovah's
Witnesses have been predicting that the world would end "shortly."
Their numbers have grown to many millions in over two hundred
countries. They distribute a billion pieces of literature annually,
and continue to anticipate the end of the world. For almost thirty
years, M. James Penton's Apocalypse Delayed has been the definitive
scholarly study of this religious movement. As a former member of
the sect, Penton offers a comprehensive overview of the Jehovah's
Witnesses. His book is divided into three parts, each presenting
the Witnesses' story in a different context: historical, doctrinal,
and sociological. Some of the issues he discusses are known to the
general public, such as the sect's opposition to military service
and blood transfusions. Others involve internal controversies,
including political control of the organization and the handling of
dissent within the ranks. Thoroughly revised, the third edition of
Penton's classic text includes substantial new information on the
sources of Russell's theology and on the church's early leaders, as
well as coverage of important developments within the sect since
the second edition was published fifteen years ago.
Venturing into "impossible" territory once again with Christian
Satanism, this book provides its reader with the option to be both
as only real wisdom could allow.
On January 29, 2001, President George W. Bush signed an
executive order creating the White House Office of Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives. This action marked a key step toward
institutionalizing an idea that emerged in the mid-1990s under the
Clinton administration--the transfer of some social programs from
government control to religious organizations. However, despite an
increasingly vocal, ideologically charged national debate--a debate
centered on such questions as: What are these organizations doing?
How well are they doing it? Should they be supported with tax
dollars?--solid answers have been few.
"In Saving America?" Robert Wuthnow provides a wealth of
up-to-date information whose absence, until now, has hindered the
pursuit of answers. Assembling and analyzing new evidence from
research he and others have conducted, he reveals what social
support faith-based agencies are capable of providing. Among the
many questions he addresses: Are congregations effective vehicles
for providing broad-based social programs, or are they best at
supporting their own members? How many local congregations have
formal programs to assist needy families? How much money do such
programs represent? How many specialized faith-based service
agencies are there, and which are most effective? Are religious
organizations promoting trust, love, and compassion?
The answers that emerge demonstrate that American religion is
helping needy families and that it is, more broadly, fostering
civil society. Yet religion alone cannot save America from the
broad problems it faces in providing social services to those who
need them most.
Elegantly written, "Saving America?" represents an authoritative
and evenhanded benchmark of information for the current--and the
coming--debate.
In 16th and 17th century Ireland religion and nationality fused
together in a people’s struggle to survive. In that
struggle the country’s links with Europe provided a life
line. Members of religious orders, with their international
roots, played an important role. Among them were the Irish Jesuits,
who adapted to a variety of situations – from quiet work in Irish
towns to serving as an emissary for Hugh O’Neill in the south of
Ireland and in the courts of Rome and Spain, and then founding
seminary colleges in Spain and Portugal from which young Irishmen
returned to keep faith and hope alive. In the seventeenth century
persecution was more haphazard. There were opportunities for
preaching and teaching and, at time, especially during the
Confederation of Kilkenny in the 1640s, for the open celebration of
one’s religion. This freedom gave way to the savage persecution
under Cromwell, which resulted in the killing of some Jesuits and
others being forced to find shelter in caves, sepulchres, and bogs,
the Jesuit superior dying alone in a shepherd’s hut on an island
off Galway. There followed a time of more relaxed laws during which
Irish Jesuits publicly ran schools in New Ross and, for Oliver
Plunkett, in Drogheda, but persecution soon resumed and Oliver
Plunkett was arrested and martyred. At the end of the century, as
the forces of King James II were finally defeated, some Jesuits
lived and worked through the sieges of Limerick and then nerved
themselves to face the Penal Laws in the new century.
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