John Ainikkal
English 4
Kevin O’ Brien
03/05/2013
Living in a world with multiple established religions, the codes these establishments provide to live by dictates the right and wrong in our consciousness. Some politics go along with what the religious establishments have to say while on the other hand some establishments contradict the ongoing politics. One great example for the politics and religion represented as one is where I live, Saudi Arabia. All citizens of Saudi have to be muslims and must follow the rules and regulations that Islam poses on them. The same country is a good example of a religion contradicting the politics of the land. With many immigrants working in Saudi Arabia, not all of them are muslims. Due to the country’s strict adherence to Islamic religion, practitioners of all other religions are persecuted.
Cat’s Cradle narrates a story where the religion and politics don’t fit together. Bokononism is a religion that emerges in San Lorenzo but the politics of the region does not agree with this arising religion. The dictators of San Lorenzo prosecutes all the followers of Bokononism because of this disagreement. But in his book, Vonnegut made the religion prosper through the fact that the prosecutions in a way that Bokononism had strong followers.
I believe that religion and science are both needed in life to succeed. Religion sets standards of division between right and wrong while science helps overcome the daily physical troubles of life. Without these consciousness introduced by religion, there would be total chaos in the world. On the other hand, a life without science would be a lot harder to survive. Politics is tool that brings it all together like a pretty ribbon that ties everything together regulating the balance between science and religion.
English 4
Kevin O’ Brien
03/05/2013
The Standards of the Subconscious
Killing a human being is considered wrong unless such extreme measures are necessary to better the world. This was not entirely true a few centuries ago when the death penalty was given at a much higher rate, sometimes even for petty crimes. This change is a result of the combined evolution of religion and science, which in turn affects politics. Cat’s Cradle emphasizes this point through a fictional story that Kurt Vonnegut writes. The followers of Bokononism are subjected to a moral code that similar to other real life religions provide a code to follow.Living in a world with multiple established religions, the codes these establishments provide to live by dictates the right and wrong in our consciousness. Some politics go along with what the religious establishments have to say while on the other hand some establishments contradict the ongoing politics. One great example for the politics and religion represented as one is where I live, Saudi Arabia. All citizens of Saudi have to be muslims and must follow the rules and regulations that Islam poses on them. The same country is a good example of a religion contradicting the politics of the land. With many immigrants working in Saudi Arabia, not all of them are muslims. Due to the country’s strict adherence to Islamic religion, practitioners of all other religions are persecuted.
Cat’s Cradle narrates a story where the religion and politics don’t fit together. Bokononism is a religion that emerges in San Lorenzo but the politics of the region does not agree with this arising religion. The dictators of San Lorenzo prosecutes all the followers of Bokononism because of this disagreement. But in his book, Vonnegut made the religion prosper through the fact that the prosecutions in a way that Bokononism had strong followers.
I believe that religion and science are both needed in life to succeed. Religion sets standards of division between right and wrong while science helps overcome the daily physical troubles of life. Without these consciousness introduced by religion, there would be total chaos in the world. On the other hand, a life without science would be a lot harder to survive. Politics is tool that brings it all together like a pretty ribbon that ties everything together regulating the balance between science and religion.
It was cool how you tied in the religious expectations back in Saudi Arabia! Your idea that religion and science can coexist and are necessities in life is an interesting twist and I really liked it. Also, nice simile at the end referring to politics as a pretty ribbon.
ReplyDelete