Research Paper Topic With Poll

[CARRINGTON]

This is odd I know. I am not asking anyone to come up with a research topic for me, but this semester in school I am in my second to final class for my religious studies major (so it is going to be a religious topic) and we have to right a 20 page research paper over the course of the semester. We have three weeks to come up with a topic which is becoming really difficult for me as there are so many topics that I want to write about so I narrowed it down to three and was just wondering what you would personally find more interesting if you were the reader.

[CARRINGTON]

bump....

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Not a clue lol sorry hopefully someone will be able 2 help tho

[Removed #5]

Interesting .....

 

1)  Proof that god exists - I'd like to see that!  Proving, factually, something that is a matter of faith could be a fun topic.

2)  Hijab - sounds too cut and dried, could be an interesting research paper.

3) Catholic church and Tutsis - ( or the Catholic Church and Africa in general! ) I like this one, presented right it could be an interesting mix of faith, personal interest and politics.  The only problem I see with it is that it could get out of hand easily - limiting the scope would be my biggest problem.

[Sarah]

voted x

[stormchaser09]

not sure either but good luck with your studies

[jmscott]

I personally don't have any interest in papers attempting to prove or disprove theological myths and dieties, but the middle one sounds like the most analytic subject.

[Andy]

Voted.

Would like to suggest another.

Why do Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland who essentially follow and worship the same god continue to fight. (focussing on the religious reasons and disreagrding the geopolitical issues)

[CARRINGTON]

Interesting .....

1) Proof that god exists - I'd like to see that! Proving, factually, something that is a matter of faith could be a fun topic.

2) Hijab - sounds too cut and dried, could be an interesting research paper.

3) Catholic church and Tutsis - ( or the Catholic Church and Africa in general! ) I like this one, presented right it could be an interesting mix of faith, personal interest and politics. The only problem I see with it is that it could get out of hand easily - limiting the scope would be my biggest problem.

Al I also am not a huge fan of the hijab one as I did a small paper on it a few semesters ago and it was very dry although interesting. As for the science one I met a guy who is a scientist is astrology and geology and has written one book that I know of explaining how things he has found and learned coincide with the BIble havent actually read his book to know but he is with a whole team of scientists in different fields proving that God exists through science. The last topic is full of politics. The way I would go with that is using a few books I have on the subject that states the church divided the Hutus and Tutsis in favor of the Hutus and it goes into detail on how they set up for a genocide to occur without resisting. I will then use first hand accounts for those still living who were hurt by their church and how they are now Muslim or some other denomination besides catholic. In a 1991 census 70% were catholic and in following consensus after the genocide it has stayed around 35%.

[CARRINGTON]

Voted.

Would like to suggest another.

Why do Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland who essentially follow and worship the same god continue to fight. (focussing on the religious reasons and disreagrding the geopolitical issues)

That sounds interesting Andy I will have to do more research on that

[CARRINGTON]

I personally don't have any interest in papers attempting to prove or disprove theological myths and dieties, but the middle one sounds like the most analytic subject.

Religious studies isn't for everyone. I am not even sure how I became a major myself

[goingsolo]

3 interesting topics and very wide ranging. I like that each can be looked at objectively. Hope the paper goes well.

[jmscott]

I just think it can be too easily tipped in favor of one religion or another.

One topic that interests me is the belief that religious teachings should come before basic survival. This comes from a discussion in one of my anthropology classes where a girl was very insistent that we should send missionaries to spread the word of god, rather than assist local tribes and families to create stations with clean drinking water and vaccinations. 

[Andy]

I just think it can be too easily tipped in favor of one religion or another.

One topic that interests me is the belief that religious teachings should come before basic survival. This comes from a discussion in one of my anthropology classes where a girl was very insistent that we should send missionaries to spread the word of god, rather than assist local tribes and families to create stations with clean drinking water and vaccinations. 

Sort of . . . .

Give the man a god and he can follow the fisherman

Give the man a net and he can feed his family fish (assuming he lives near a river and not in the middle of the kalahari)

[Removed #5]

I just think it can be too easily tipped in favor of one religion or another.

One topic that interests me is the belief that religious teachings should come before basic survival. This comes from a discussion in one of my anthropology classes where a girl was very insistent that we should send missionaries to spread the word of god, rather than assist local tribes and families to create stations with clean drinking water and vaccinations. 

 

I thought we were very carefully avoiding a few issues with her poll.

I'd think that no matter which she chooses there's going to be an inherent bias toward her religious belief.  I can't picture a truly non-biased paper regarding the hijab, for example.  (( any more than I can picture a truly non-biased article about the ultra Orthodox Jewish women who shave their heads and wear a wig ... << ?????????? >> ))

I was trying to be nice when I said that "Proving, factually, something that is a matter of faith could be a fun topic."  One must begin with the premise that there is a god to scientifically prove there is one ... "I believe in the bible, the bible is gods word and is therefore accurate in all details, so my belief in the bible must be correct."  While not the best example of circular logic I think you get the idea. 

 

On the other topic, I'm one of those people who believe that the church (whichever one you choose) has a better chance of making converts if they show what they believe by example rather than being catechists. It's a lot easier to make converts among the living (showing them how to farm / fish / etc) than it is to convert the dead....

[sarahjng]

Each choice sounds interesting, as well as Andy's idea.  Can I run another one up the flag pole ?  

What about the murder of hundreds of thousands of ordinary women ( and men ) who were deemed witches and heretics by the church, both Catholic and protestant, from the inquisition to the witchfinder General to Salem,  spanning the globe and hundreds of years. 

It might sound like an old story but even now so called men of the cloth still venalise pagans. ( my nans an elder of her church, I still haven't told her )

[CARRINGTON]

Each choice sounds interesting, as well as Andy's idea. Can I run another one up the flag pole ?

What about the murder of hundreds of thousands of ordinary women ( and men ) who were deemed witches and heretics by the church, both Catholic and protestant, from the inquisition to the witchfinder General to Salem, spanning the globe and hundreds of years.

It might sound like an old story but even now so called men of the cloth still venalise pagans. ( my nans an elder of her church, I still haven't told her )

Even though I am not Wiccan or anything like that I find witch craft extremely interesting especially African witchcraft which if I went to grad school for religious studies I would want to research that

[Stranger]

I have never really been interested in religion, in fact I have never really understood it. But in all intense purposes, I have done my own research when it comes to things like, (yes this may come across racists, but its not) where in religion does it say we have to do x y z to prove we are faithful, why do some people believe and some people don't, where do these "stories" originate from, and I have actually looked into why women have to wear Burqa/Niqab.

 

I think you need to chose the one you think you will be able to write 20 pages about, do a little reading up on each subject, and see which one you find more interesting.

[hisui]

if you research quantum physics & especially metaphysics, regarding religion, a lot of their theories are starting to be proved by science...& the idea that many people nowadays are turning to science over religion compared to the past makes us understand, that indeed everything is connected.

good luck 

[mydiamond]

I voted for the hijab topic because it sounds like the easiest for you to do but in all honesty I'm more interested in the first one. Don't want to confuse you now but when I do a research paper at 9th grade I chose the topic "how Shinto religion affect the culture and lifestyle of Japanese people in modern era". It's really interesting for me because Shinto is a unique religion that not too many people know about.

[Biggles]

Interesting article in the Daily Mail today:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2390774/Those-higher-intelligence-likely-believe-God-claims-new-review-63-scientific-studies-stretching-decades.html

[CARRINGTON]

I voted for the hijab topic because it sounds like the easiest for you to do but in all honesty I'm more interested in the first one. Don't want to confuse you now but when I do a research paper at 9th grade I chose the topic "how Shinto religion affect the culture and lifestyle of Japanese people in modern era". It's really interesting for me because Shinto is a unique religion that not too many people know about.

I may have to use that in my other religious studies class. I am taking three religious studies classes this semester and one is Religions of China and Japan, the other which I asked for help voting on is advanced methods and theories, and the last is harry potter magic and religion