.... as Wicca, Witchcraft, or simply The Craft; resembles these “Witches� as much as a straw broom resembles the Dirt Devil Upright. The Craft is a religion based on the worship of a supreme divine creator, the practice of magic, and a reverence for the earth and all her inhabitants. Deity Concepts and Worship Practices "All religions are structures built on reverence of Deity. Wicca is no exception. The Wicca acknowledge a supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate, from which the entire universe sprang,� (Cunningham, 9). This is a Witch's concept of the Divine. However, it is a distant, powerful image that is not easily understood. .....

.... the Jewish state. (Citizens of the state of Israel are called Israelis; not all of them are Jews.) In the Bible, Hebrew is used by foreign peoples as a name for the Israelites; today it is applied only to the hebrew language. The origin of the Jews is recounted in the Hebrew Bible. Despite legendary and miraculous elements in its early narratives, most scholars believe that the biblical account is based on historic realities. According to the Book of Genesis, God ordered the patriarch Abraham to leave his home in Mesopotamia and travel to a new land, which he promised to Abraham's descendants as a perpetual inheritance. Although the historicity .....

.... an early age and participated in the worldly life of the court. Buddha found his carefree, self-indulgent existence dull, and after a while he left home and began wandering in search of enlightenment. One day in 533 b.c. , according to tradition, he encountered an aged man, a sick man, and a corpse, and he suddenly and deeply realized that suffering is the common lot of humankind. He then came upon a mendicant monk, calm and serene, whereupon he determined to adopt his way of life and forsake family, wealth, and power in the quest for truth. This decision, known in Buddhism as the Great Renunciation, is celebrated by Buddhists as a turning point i .....

.... these widespread rituals are the ritual of the "sacred pipe," and sweat lodge ceremonials. The sacred pipe ritual is loaded with symbolic meaning, and offers a generous insight into Native American belief systems. This essay will first look at the dynamics of the sacred pipe ritual and offer some explanation into its religious significance, then draw some parallels to the more common sweat lodge ceremony. If a recurring spiritual theme appears in separate rituals, it can be considered evidence of a consistent, structured belief system. The use of smoking pipes in Native American cultures is a popular and very ancient practice. Direct predecess .....

.... major classes are further subdivided into hundreds of other subclasses and since great emphasis is placed on social classes in the Hindu culture it affects the job you hold and the person you marry. The many people among these various castes are still encouraged to live a very religious life marked by certain religious/social stages in life. The Hindu beliefs in stages of life are more religious then the western philosophies of life stages. Hindu’s believe that the earliest stage of life begins around eight years old and last till around twenty, in this time period the person is “laying the religious foundation for life� (Malloy 72). Just .....

.... 19 BC Herod's Temple begun. 16 BC Herod visits Agrppa. 4 BC Herod dies; Archelaus succeeds. 37 AD - 41 AD Caliguta Roman Emperor. 41 AD - 54 AD Claudius Roman Emperor. 54 AD - 68 AD Nero Roman Emperor. The first persecutor of Christians. 66 AD Jews in Palestine tried to revolt. Were crushed by Titus. 69 AD - 79 AD Vespasia Roman Emperor. He continued the persecution. 70 AD Jewish temple destroyed. Small part of the wall left standing. 79 AD Titus Rom .....

.... known that most people in the older times did not question their beliefs out of respect for God and their religion. The major issues of the Conciliar time period were that the people tried to figure out how God could be God the father and Jesus Christ the Son all at the same time. They couldn’t figure out how there could only be one God. Questions of Jesus really being human arose also. The people wondered if His flesh was really flesh, and if His soul was really a human soul. Another question that came to being was that if God was truly human how could He be considered truly divine and still be one person. The people of the Church where respon .....

.... their sins, and he therefore had the power to redeem them from captivity if they repented. A truly monotheistic religion developed the God of Israel now being seen as the God ruling universal history and the destiny of all nations. I'm not going to delve any further into the history of Judaism. At this point in time I will simply state that there are many differences in between Christianity and Judaism The Jews believe in "anointed prophets," or someone who speaks for God. The majority of Jews rejected Jesus Christ because Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews believe that Jesus was just a prophet and he is not God. The Jews understand God .....

.... the possibilities of trickery or insanity before believing it can talk. But if I found many fish that talked, trustworthy people confirmed it, scientists published carefully researched papers about them, and newspaper headlines read "INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY: TALKING FISH!" then it would be more than reasonable to believe they existed. No one really disputes such common sense, until it is applied to religion. I've never seen or talked to a god, or seen a god do anything unmistakably godlike. People insist they know one exists, but most of them really say they only feel it, and don't offer any other proof. Indeed, it is odd that those few who honestly .....

.... of the bible some say philosophical, inspire mystery, wonder and the relation to how true they are. I have a monotheistic way of thinking, though the bible is said to be the writings of the way of life of Moses and the Hebrews, I am puzzled by how certain writings pertain to society, culture and the life of man and women today. As I try to decipher this passage in my own words of Isaiah. One is speaking of the oppression committed by man upon man. It is Jesus asking why man whom were created as brother and sister making unjustly laws...deprive the poor of their rights...withhold the justice from the oppressed of my people. I strongly belie .....