.... empiricist school of thought developed quite separate and distinct ideas concerning the nature of the substratum of sensible objects. John Locke and David Hume upheld the belief that sensible things were composed of material substance, the basic framework for the materialist position. The main figure who believed that material substance did not exist is George Berkeley. In truth, it is the immaterialist position that seems the most logical when placed under close scrutiny. The initial groundwork for Berkeley's position is the truism that the materialist is a skeptic. In the writing of his three dialogues, Berkeley develops two chara .....

.... and Buddhism, and then provide a comparison of the two. The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before the universe was formed and which continues to guide the world and everything in it. Tao is sometimes identified as the Mother, or the source of all things. That source is not a god or a supreme being, as Taoism is not monotheistic. The focus is not to worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao (Hartz, 8). Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complications exist only because people choose to complicate their own lives. Des .....

.... "It is the word of God for those only who "listen" to it." The Gospels are really testimonials of faith, not of biographies. They are divided into two parts -- sayings and narratives. The narratives include miracle stories and biographical legends, while the sayings are more on the complex side. The sayings contain apophthegmata, proverbs, parables, and more. They invite the reader to believe in and obey Christ as the Lord. The meaning of the gospel changes from the coming of the kingdom to the meaning of the coming of Jesus Himself, and of His life, death, and resurrection. "The good news of the kingdom includes a call to repentanc .....

.... to those that followed the Lord’s Ten Commandments to the fullest extent. In doing so, they received numerous blessings. Matthew records nine beatitudes and among those, Luke recorded the first, second, fourth, and ninth. He also recorded four separate woes (curses or warnings of): “But alas for you who are rich; you have had your time of happiness. Alas for you who are well fed now; you will go hungry. Alas for you who laugh now; you will mourn and weep. Alas for you when all speak well of you; that is how their fathers treated the false prophets� (Lk. 6:24-36 Ox.). Following Luke’s account of the sermon, the law of love .....

.... social, economic, literacy, and artistic aspects. The Hindu people rely on the ancient texts, called Vedas, for religious support. Three important Hindu gods are Isuara, Siva, and Vishnu. A component of Hinduism is Saivism, the worship of the god, Siva. Another important component of Hinduism is Vaishism, the worship of Vishou. Vanishism worships Vishnu in one or all of his ten Vishou incarnations. Vanishism includes many different sects. Two important sects are the Srivaisnavas, and the Devaitis of South India. Vanishism focuses on a personal relationship with a loving, caring, and gracious god. Saivism incorporates yogic and other my .....

.... had to appear before Herod and Pilot.) In Medieval Europe, a similar situation obtained. Priests ran courts where a common man could obtain a fair hearing of his grievance according to the Canon Law. The churches were "places of refuge" where a fugitive could be safe until a proper Canon Law Court could hear his case. Priests were a class apart. They did not marry; they took vows of chastity and obedience to the bishop and Pope. Many even took vows of poverty. Most important, priests were not allowed to accept positions of temporal leadership. No matter how "high born", priests were not authorized to serve as a king, duke or baron. They .....

.... their own god to worship. In fact it is all my wife can speak of, this Christianity. The faith the people of Rome are demonstrating for this man Jesus and his teachings is very uncanny, and it is only hurting my creed. The nerve these Christians have, putting their most holy of days on the same day as ours (197). This must be some sort of conspiracy in trying to finish off a dying religion. If that is not enough, they even tore down my place of worship and built a church of their own in place of it (197). Now I must travel two hours by horse just to fulfill my spiritual needs. My wife, she cannot understand anything. We argue co .....

.... Due to many incidents and conflicts of territorial ambitions, along with the want to “save� other less civilized cultures it is shown that Islam, Christianity, and of Hinduism have spread through conquest. Islam has, throughout the centuries, been somewhat a victim of circumstance - indeed it has been perceived by many as oppressive and cruel. This belief originated over a thousand years ago, when Islamic peoples first threatened the western world. As they slowly undermined Byzantine authority, Christians became terrified of their presence, resulting in widespread animosity and aversion. Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, was a great wa .....

.... its views on moral issues such as war, abortion, and euthanasia. It is my feeling that many Catholics are searching for sects that will allow them to retain their faith in Christ without a central body (i.e., the Vatican) speaking on behalf of them on issues that they are capable of rationalizing for themselves. Among Catholics and Protestants, there is a trend toward less rigid attendance of religious services. If we examine the figures from Stark and Glock's 1968 survey, 54% of Americans surveyed at the time attended church more often than once a month. This figure shrank to 40.7% in the 1994 survey. Though the Catholic church insists .....

.... responsibility to save both Buddhism and Japan, where the doctrine was supposed to be revived spread abroad. Thus he sounded a nationalistic note that was new to Buddhism. More recently in 1930 Tsunesaburo Makiguchi founded the modern sect of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. Nichiren sects include the politically powerful Soka Gakkai Lay religious organization, but they have a much smaller following than that of the true land sects, which across with Nichiren as pat of the popular Faith movement of the Kamakura era. The people of this religion believe that chanting of Mantra, a Japanese phrase of devotion from the law of Karma or the law of the .....