Essay queastion Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Queastion - Essay Example Muhammad captured the Mecca city later in 630 after the Mecca’s population surrendered. Mecca community accepted Islamic religion and recognized Muhammad as the supreme leader. However, quite a number of tribes were against the Muhammad’s teachings and religion. Muhammad later died leaving no message about the leadership and future of Islamic religion. A new leader was immediately declared by the top advisers of Muhammad, and Abu Bakr was chosen as the leader, However, Unlike Muhammad whose leadership style was well known, Abu Bakr was referred as the successor of Muhammad. Abu Bakr took over most parts of Arabia in his two year leadership. Tribes that were against Islamic authority faced Abu Bakr army under the leadership of Khalid ibn alwalid. The takeover of Arabia by Muslim community led to the establishment Caliph, the central control that formed strong alliance between Arabs and the Muslim community. This was one of the merits of growth and power of Islamic religion because coalition between Muslim communities led to formation of strong army. Establishment of a strong army after formation of Caliph led to the capture of other territories such as Byzantine Empire. Other cities were also captured in Iraq after the battle between Muslim troops and the Persians. New leadership of Muslim community continued the spread of Islamic religion. After the death of Abu Bakr, Umar led on capturing other territories such as Iran and some parts of Asia, with thcConquest being also expanded to northern parts of Africa and to Europe. Muhammad being anti-Christ offered death threats to those who refused to convert to Islam. Additionally, his teachings motivated soldiers in war, and were told that those who died fighting for him would be speared during the Day of Judgment in heaven. Syrians and Egyptian Christians accepted Islamic religion easily because they could not bear hardships they were facing from Christianity religions such as

Violent Video Games Essay Example for Free

Violent Video Games Essay Video games are becoming one of the favorite’s children all over the world. Every child could like to behave or act like an artist or actor whose acts are violent. The behavioral patterns of children have changed to violence and wherever they do something or any activity, they do it with a lot of violence, imitating what they saw on the video games. The world is breeding a generation of children who are violent which therefore means that the world in a few tears will be full of a generation of violent people. The minds of these children have also been changed and affected as the continued feeding into their minds with violent video games has made them to be different human beings all together. The sales of video games have grown drastically to a level which is alarming. The impact of excessive watching of the video games is clearly seen as to the way children are behaving and how they have been addicted to watching them. The hypothesis for this discussion could be â€Å"that the continued watching of violent games by the children has caused psychological problems in children and this has resulted to changes in their behavioral patterns. † Allowing the children the watch violent video games is infact doing injustice to them because it is one way of destroying them morally, socially and psychologically. An immediate action has to be taken and that a remedy must be found to protect these children from getting too much exposed to watching violent video games. For the children to grow up and develop into responsible adults in future, parents have the responsibility to find out and know what their children are watching and then take the necessary action. No parent could wish his/her child to be become violent or in any way that is against the good morals. The thesis should be supported because it is meant to protect the children from engaging themselves in watching violent video games that ultimately will influence them to change their morals and imitate bad ones. A research conducted by Anderson, C. A. , Bushman, B. J. (2001) on the Effects of Violent Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior concluded that the more children ere exposed to watching violent video games, the more there are likely to be affected psychologically . This thesis will help the parents and the guardians to be alert to check on what their children are watching and if they notice a strange behavior by their children, then they should be in a position to find out why and take the necessary action. In their book Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, they argue that parents have a major responsibility of knowing what their children are doing and watching. Failure to do so will be followed by worst consequences that will be their own making. The hypothesis will also give a background for further research on violent video games and their impact on the psychological development of the children. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and Life by Anderson, C. A. , Dill, K. E. (2000) they argue and urge that more research should be conducted in future to find out the psychological impacts on the children and more related issues should be brought in as the parents are the contributing factors to this issue because they also watch the violent video games with their children. There are those whom may not agree with the hypothesis may be because they have not been able to gather enough evidence or may be they feel and think that children are too young to be psychologically affected by watching violent video games. Children mostly like watching violent videos which shows acts of violence that they later practice. Parents have not been keen to check on what content their children are watching, but they are the first ones to complain about the behavioral changes of their children which are deviant, rude and violent. Over the past few years, several studies (Creasey, G. L. , Myers, B. J. 1986) have been carried on the psychological effects of violent video games on children. The majority of this research looked at the associations between video game use and the aggressive behavior and also on the effects of video games on school performance. Even though the video games are designed for entertaining, challenging and educational, most of them include the violent content. Recent research on video games indicates that as many as 89% of the games contain violent content and therefore, among the games that are purchased and played by the children contains violence. Playing violent video games increases the aggressive behaviors of children, increases their aggressive cognitions, their aggressive emotions, their physiological arousal and decreases their prosocial behaviors. These effects have psychologically affected the children and completely changed their behavioral patterns. Parents do not often put limits on how much time the children are allowed to play video games and how often the same parents checked on the contents of the video games. Even a few of them check the video content and found it to be violent, on a few occasions could deny their children from watching them. (American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, 2000) Children have perfected the best ways to convince their parents to buy for them the video games they could like to watch. They even convince their parents that the video games they are about to watch are not violent, to which their parents just accepts without any further investigation. The parents have been victims of violence meted against them by their own children who have become violent through watching violent video games. Children spend most of their time, especially during holidays to watch video games at the expense of their educational studies. The contents of the video games being played could certainly affect the relationship between the amount of their play time and their school performance. Children who use computers to play violent or non-violent video games perform more poorly in school, whereas those who use computers in performing school work performed better. This is clear indicator that excessive or continued watching of violent video games intoxicates the mind and changes the reasoning and concentration of children on educational maters (Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. 1998). Teachers in various schools are raising concern on the changed behavior patterns of the children. They are saying that the children have become rude, brutal and bullies amongst the other children and to the teachers. The children feel superior and muscular enough to respond to any fights. The boys are the majority victims than the girls, though girls are also interested in watching violent video games but not as boys. Boys quite often harass girls using the techniques they have watched, liked and imitated. They feel that they are mature enough and can behave exactly like what they watched on the video games. This makes them to forget that they are still young children whose minds have been tainted with violent materials (Van Schie, E. G. M. , Wiegman, O. 1997). Conclusion Children should not be allowed to watch violent video games when they are still young. This greatly affects their psychological development, changing their behavioral patterns. It is painful for parents and guardians when the children they are supposed to take care of become rude, violent, deviant and act as if they are criminals by dressing, way of speaking. It is their responsibility to make sure that whatever material their children watch has the right material content and teaches good morals. If the children will experience psychological problems through watching violent video games, even their academic performance will go down. The acts of violence copied by the children will be of negative impact to them, hence we will in future have a society which will be violent. Something must be done through concerted efforts to rectify the situation before it is too late. As children begin to see the world in aggressive terms and therefore begin to act aggressively, their personality changes to become more aggressive and hostile. These changes will result in increased opportunities for aggressive behavior, because of both changes in the individual’s personality and the changes in the situations the individual (child) is likely to get involved in as others react to the individual. This is all brought about by watching violent video games. Recommendations Several recommendations can be of great help and these include; the parents should play the video games with the children. From this they will be able to know what their children are exposed to watch and how they will react to different features in the game, parents should know their children, in that if a child becomes aggressive after watching violent video games, they should stop buying such games regardless the child’s age, parents should talk with the children if they sense that their children are disturbed after watching a violent video game. This could be an opportunity for the parent and the children to discuss more deeply on the video games, the parents should set limits for watching the video games. Infact they should censor the video games before the children watch them and the video game makers should be informed that the games they are making and selling for children to watch are more violent and bringing more harm to the children and so should make games that are children friendly. The teachers at school should also assist the parents in counseling the children who they discover that they have been victims of watching violent video games. If this has affected their class work, they should inform their parents so that they can look for a way forward together to help these children to return to normality. References American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association (2000). Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children Anderson, C. A. , Dill, K. E. (2000). Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Anderson, C. A. , Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of Violent Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A meta-analytic Review of the Scientific Literature. Psychological Science. Creasey, G. L. , Myers, B. J. (1986). Video Games and Children: Effects on Leisure Activities, Schoolwork, and Peer Involvement. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 32 Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior Lynch, P. J. (1999). Hostility, Type A Behavior, and Stress Hormones at Rest and After Playing Violent Video Games in Teenagers. Psychosomatic Medicine Van Schie, E. G. M. , Wiegman, O. (1997). Children and VideoGames: Leisure Activities, Aggression, Social Integration, and School Performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Is multicultural-nationalism possible?

Is multicultural-nationalism possible? Introduction: Nations- states used to be the premier and most important form of human gathering, where this implies that this entity does have the necessary requirements of existence as a state such as (people, territory, sovereignty, etc) along with having just one nation within its territorial borders. This was later changed due to the influx of immigration all over the world where immigrants move between countries either because of wars or seeking employment and better economic conditions or any other necessitating reason. This phenomenon led to the situation we are facing recently that almost all states now are culturally or religiously or ethnically diverse. Popper states this in such a criticizing way, Principle of the national state is not only inapplicable†¦it is a myth†¦and utopian dream†¦. So, having multinational states became a fact that we have to deal with. The coinciding between the states borders and the inclusion of a nation is no longer the only form of countries. There are even cases when there are stateless nations. This made Connor observes that now we can almost find only seven nation-states remaining, he named them: the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Japan, Luxembourg, Iceland and Norway. To be able to deal with such multinational states, we need to understand what both (multiculturalism and nationalism) mean. This will help us answer the main question of the paper; whether multicultural nationalism is applicable or not? Nationalism and multiculturalism: Nationalism is deeply related to nations, being the social phenomenon that refers to the unique relation between individuals and their homeland. Citizens identify with their nation through the commonalities they share (history, values, myths, identity, language, customs †¦etc). A central aspect of nationalism is that the individuals identity is being formulated through their membership to their society. Nationalism has different forms where Sweeney identifies four types: The Civic Nationalism which is a desirable form of nationalism since it focuses on the civic values that unites the citizens, it stresses on both the territorial and cultural bonds and thus manages to recognize the various ethnic communities. The Ethnic Nationalism whose focal point is the common descent. The State Nationalism which calls for the superiority and the dominance of the ethnicity of the majority and finally Multicultural Nationalism which is a new phenomenon arising form the era of globalization we are living in and the high degree of interdependence that we witness all over the globe. Usually, both (civic and state nationalisms) are referred to as top-down nationalism being directed by the state institutions, unlike the (ethnic nationalism) which depends upon the public, arising from the bottom to up. From Sweeneys famous typology, we can see how both the ethnic and state nationalisms are traditional forms of nationalism , unlike the other two types which are more modern and also similar in some aspects. Brown defines multicultural nationalism as, a vision of community which respects and promotes the cultural economy and status equality of its component ethnic group. This means it goes beyond the mere civic tolerance towards the different communities within the society, rather it respects them and is interested in such diversity. That is why I consider it wider than the civic nationalism since it encompasses it all; recognition of diversity, tolerance, respect and interest in promoting such diversity through different governmental and societal mechanisms. Generally, Nationalism is perceived as a positive movement which is needed to strengthen the loyalty of nationals towards their country, uniting them to fulfil the national interests. But with the rise of multinational states, whether due to the existence of minorities, immigrants or indigenous groups, this claim is being questioned. Nationalism is no longer merely perceived as a positive force, rather now it is a double sided force. Through observing history we notice how sometimes violent banal nationalist movements lead to bloody wars and confrontations between different national groups especially when each of them is promoting their nationalism or if there is a minority which is calling for self independence. This can be seen clearly in what used to happen between the Scottish and the British in the United Kingdom. Thus, a rationalization of nationalist sentiments is what is needed nowadays to strike a balance between the new phenomenon of multinational states. On the other side, Multiculturalism is not only a phenomenon; it is considered as both a descriptive demographic term to describe the existence of culturally different groups within a certain society; It refers to this feature of having multiple cultural and/or ethnic and/or religious backgrounds between the citizens, and it is also seen as a political concept to refer to the public policies adopted by a specific government to deal with the cultural diversity within its society where it calls for mutual respect and tolerance and acceptance for the diversity. As a public policy, multiculturalism first emerged in Canada to solve the problem between the French and the English divisions. Parekh succinctly describes what multiculturalism means in this quote; â€Å"Multiculturalism doesnt simply mean numerical plurality of different cultures, but rather a community which is creating, guaranteeing, encouraging spaces within which different communities are able to grow at their pace. At the same time it means creating a public space in which these communities are able to interact, enrich the existing culture and create a new consensual culture in which they recognize reflections of their own identity† Like nationalism, multiculturalism also has different types. Grillo distinguishes between two kinds: the weak multiculturalism and strong multiculturalism where the former exists when multiculturalism only prevails in the private sphere while in the public sphere all citizens are required to fully assimilate and get absorbed within the majoritarian culture and values forgetting about their own culture ,while the latter exits when cultural diversity is recognized both in the public and private spheres, allowing the immigrants and minorities to preserve their national identity while integrating with the whole society. Multiculturalism is considered an inescapable situation we have to deal with, bearing in mind that huge efforts should be exerted by the state and the wider society to ensure that the diversity within any one society leads to unity and exchange of benefits between cultures, rather than disintegration and ghettoization. From this, we can see how both nationalism and multiculturalism are desirable phenomena on condition that their limitations are avoided, promoting only their positive side. Is Multicultural Nationalism possible? An important question rises about whether nationalism can be multicultural or not? Can they both coexist together? Kernerman highlights that the main objective of multicultural nationalism is striking a balance between both the diversity and the unity of the state, so that state is able to preserve its national sentiments and identity while at the same time promoting diversity and multiculturalism. He believes that the main question to answer is; how are the various manifestations of diversity to be recognized and understood in relation to one another and to the political community? It is important to notice that we will focus in here on the multicultural state nationalism which tackles the way of dealing with the immigrants, accommodating them within the society while preserving the states original national identity. But, it is important to mention that on the other hand there is the multicultural sub- state nationalism which is concerned with the sub state nationalisms within countries. But, it is not the focus of this paper. To understand how multicultural state nationalism exists, it is important to examine the states response and its policies regarding immigrants and the relation between those immigrants and the society as a whole to discover the possibility of having strong common feelings uniting all the citizens no matter where they originally come from. Can a multicultural society achieve both integration of immigrants while achieving national unity and cohesion? The paradox of multicultural societies: Nationalism vs. Multiculturalism? A debatable issue always takes place in multicultural societies and that is how to achieve the states national unity? Some suggest equal treatment for all citizens regardless of their origin; religion or ethnicity and that citizenship should be difference blind, while others believe this is illogical, calling for the recognition of differences and even going further calling for the adoption of policies that reflect these differences. This second approach believes that this will be more integrative to immigrants fostering their sense of loyalty and belonging to the society. Due to this endless debate, we find that immigrants and minorities issues are gaining attention in states policies and debates, issues such as (minorities rights, immigrants representation, collective rights, states loyalty†¦etc). This increases the role of the state especially that such issues can not be left to the different communities within the society to resolve especially when each one of them will be aiming at deepening their national identity more than the others identities. This will lead to disunity and absence of common loyalty. That is why the state should be the main actor in the creation of a common identity that bonds all the citizens including the immigrants. This identity should be as inclusive as possible focusing more on civic symbols and signifiers rather than cultural and ethnic ones. Different states differ in the way they fulfil this role depending upon their histories, their legal frameworks, their national interests†¦etc. But, all states should ai m at ensuring that its national identity is preserved and not threatened by immigrants, rather is being inclusive for them. Parekh highlights an important equation that is needed to achieve this: â€Å"If immigrants are to make an emotional commitment to society, the latters view of its national identity needs to be inclusive and hospitable enough for them to identify with it. Its self understanding should take full account of their presence; its view of its history should include the story of their arrival, settlement and contributions; its official symbols should symbolize them as well, and not be allowed to become the monopoly of a section of it; its national events should recognize their presence and contributions and not become occasions to display the solidarity of the rest of society against them†. One of the best ways to achieve such equation is through the creation of a sense of common belonging between citizens. Such a process is double sided; it requires the efforts of both the immigrants from one side and the state along with the wider society form another side. Both should aim at fulfilling its duties so that its rights can be met by the other side. This is even formulated as one of the EU common basic principles of immigrants integration policy as follows: Integration is a dynamic, two-way process of mutual accommodation by all immigrants and residents of the Member States On the immigrants side, They do have the right to ask for certain claims from the government and even modifications within the polices of the governmental institutions so as to help them better integrate in the society but it is necessary for them to fulfill their obligations as citizens, being the only way they can secure that their rights will be met by the state. Since immigrants settled willingly in the host society, they are expected to be loyal and to abide by the laws and rules of this society, especially that it is the rights of the nationals to act upon the preservation of their own society where they lived their whole lives, offering sacrifices for maintaining its well being. Consequently, immigrants must prove they are loyal to the society, showing all signs of good faith. This comes in different forms; (respecting the constitution and laws, being productive workers to add economic value, interacting socially and politically with the wider society†¦etc). This will make the immigrants an inseparable necessary component within the host society being active loyal citizens. But still this does not require them breaking ties with their original homelands, but they just are expected to be committed to the well being of the host society. In return to this, the immigrants can claim some cultural rights from the host society, such as: Asking to be excluded from some laws that may be hindering some of their religious practices. The state needs to take such claims into consideration because it will show how the state respects the immigrants cultures even if their practices are differently perceived from the majority but still as long as they are not harmful for the wider society, they should be allowed to practice them. Calling for assistance to pursue some activities which help them get integrated within the society. Such as helping them acquire the cultural competence needed to adapt with the society (offering language classes, teaching them the societal life style, having publications about the societys traditions, customs and history†¦). Also, sometimes this assistance is needed to overcome disadvantages that prevent the immigrants from practicing some of their rights or daily life practices, either because they are discriminated against and in this case the state is required to fight this racism or because these practices or activities were designed in a way that only fits the majority without considering others. Immigrants can ask to be properly represented in the states institutions and governmental bodies so as to have voices that call for their rights and needs and to allocate them their shares of the public resources. Such a mechanism also helps greatly in fighting discrimination. Thos representatives can ask for some symbolic representation to the minorities such as national holiday or official name for the minority†¦etc. The state and the wider society on the other hand should be meeting the other side of the equation by helping the immigrants to integrate, taking all the measures that can help in this. From observation, we can notice that the states integration policies differed over time due to some changes that took place such as: The influx in immigration especially that the old assumption that their number will decreases or that they will dissolve in the society did not happen, on the contrary they are increasing steadily compared to the western societies birth rates, especially that these societies are facing an ageing problem. The increase in the immigrants consciousness about their rights due to the increase in the human rights organizations along with the democratic movements that make equality and justice basic priorities that can not be negotiated. Thus, this encourages minorities to have representatives calling for their needs and rights. Such changes increased the necessity to respect the minorities and immigrants rights and it added a burden over the states to meet their role in integrating the immigrants within their societies. Consequently, from the states side, there must be a commitment to help the immigrants integrate getting over any disadvantages they have (lack of knowledge about host society, being stereotyped†¦). The state needs to work on different levels to fulfill this role: The state needs to address the exclusion problems that face the immigrants who get discriminated against in many spheres of life especially economically and socially .The state must set penalties on discriminatory acts against immigrants being illegal, this will increase the immigrants loyalty to the state, being just to them, looking after their rights. But, if the state did not respond to discrimination taking place, the immigrants will feel inferior and more alienated which make them easily attracted by terrorist organizations. The state needs to adopt policies that help the immigrants get over any disadvantages they face due to their transitional positions as we stated earlier (language classes, citizenship classes, equal employment opportunities†¦etc).Such policies may be accused of being discriminatory, but actually they are not since the immigrants are usually the least advantaged category in any society. The state also shall make changes to the educational system so as to be more multicultural. This will help in creating attachments and a sense of belonging between the students and the citizens afterwards by fostering values such as tolerance, mutual respect and understanding, respect for diversityetc. These values are necessary in such multinational societies as it ensures that each community preserves its national culture and identity but still all communities will be sharing one common civic identity that tighten the relations between them for the good of the society. This shall be leading to active citizens who are both responsible and productive. Such multicultural education will be teaching the students about the relationship with The other. this learning process will enhance their critical thinking about themselves and the immigrants. They may include histories about how these minorities contributed to the host society or mentioning their major historical events and national h olidays. All this shall be implemented in a multicultural educational atmosphere where the administrators and teachers are all committed to promoting diversity and protecting the cultures of the students while fostering a common sense of identity. Also, the civil society does play a role in bringing together different communities together in shared activities and interests to increase their sense of having a civic common identity which transcends the ethnic and national differences, while everyone is still retaining its own national identity and culture. How to make these efforts work together while avoiding the critics stated against them? These are the efforts and roles that need to be pursued by the state, the immigrants and the civil society. Cooperating together to ensure the preservation of a common sense of identity along with the preservation of each ones national culture and identity, helps greatly in the success of the integration of the immigrants within the host society easily and quickly. It makes them integrated without being alienated or discriminated against. We find at the end by looking at different multicultural societies how all the communities are cooperating together having many shred interests and feeling a common sense of loyalty to the society, while at the same time they all feel both equal and different. This is the equation that need to be maintained; to assure that the national identity of the state (of the host society) is preserved while being inclusive to other different national communities through an over arching civic identity. These efforts sometimes are criticized by being discriminatory to nationals in favor of immigrants as stated earlier- but it is not, it just an engine for affirmative actions since the disadvantages faced by immigrants are much more than other citizens face. Also, some analysts think that such efforts are repressive imposing obligatory civic integration from above on the whole society. To avoid this we must ensure that the process of integration is smoothly undertaken , ensuring the help of all sectors of the society (civil society, citizens, local association, the government, the immigrants†¦etc) to assure the shared willingness of all to be one common whole, facing any disadvantages that may arise to achieve the common good for the whole state and the wider host society without threatening anyones culture or national identity, rather being more inclusive and more understandable to all differences while maintaining one common civic ground. An important mechanism that can be a safe guard that integration is not imposed rather is a natural flow of interaction between the different communities is through encouraging dialogues between these communities with their different cultural backgrounds both through their representatives and between normal citizens as well. This dialogue it will help them understands one another culture and creating more common grounds between them. On the other hand, it will be asserting every ones loyalty to his/her own national identity through critical analysis and constructive self criticisms. Such actions shall be ensuring on the long run that both the differences are understandably respected and that the states national identity is protected and even enriched through dialogue. Others believe that on the contrary, the states now are less willing to accept/ integrate immigrants rather they count on their immigration policies as a mechanism to lessen immigrants entrance. But this is exaggerating, where although it is true that some countries have every strict immigration policies but still others are moderate. Countries in general tend to refine the immigrants accepted to entry to ensure the success of its integration policies according to its societal framework. Such immigration policies try to make sure that immigrants will be an added value to the society not an economic burden and that they are willing to commit to be good citizens to ensure a peaceful multicultural society that both preserves it identity while respecting its diversity. But still an important basic rule should be taken into consideration, immigration policies ought to be seeking the national interests of the state as a priority and in applying such a vision, it can not be accused of intol erance or discrimination against prospective citizens as long as it is logical in its requirements and limits. By avoiding these limitations and consolidating all parties efforts, multiculturalism and state nationalism will be coexisting peacefully. Conclusion: As Brown believes that when a country adopts the ideology of a multicultural nationalism it means; the nation is viewed as a community bound by a commitment to the values of ethnic diversity and inter-ethnic equity An authentic multicultural state nationalism can flourish when both diversity and state national identity are being promoted and respected. Multicultural governance can achieve that with its focus on having a strong active citizenship along with a respected multicultural societal framework. Such multicultural authority not only protects diversity found within the society, rather it also works on flourishing it. In this way the citizens -including immigrants- can belong to the nation state as a whole while at the same time keeping their attachment to their cultural or ethnic community. Multicultural governance, with the different state policies that aim at integrating the immigrants and with the efforts of both the private and civil associations along with the commitment of the immigrants to be loyal integrated citizens, creates a society where cultural freedoms are protected and national state identity is also asserted. The state needs to put in mind while doing her national policie s that immigrants are citizens in training who need all the help and support to lead a good life in the host society where they can be active loyal citizens. It should be noticed by now how multiculturalism neither negates nor avoids nationalism rather it just implies a society with various internal micro nationalisms. That is why they can work together as long as the efforts undertaken are genuine seeking the creation of spaces where various cultures are respected without weakening the states national identity. Since multiculturalism goes beyond tolerance towards recognition of others, it entails the reassertion of all identities and cultures involved in such an interaction.

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today Essays

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today There are many things about the Victorian Age that are different from our way of life today. Evidence of this can be found in such elements of the 1800's as courting manners, child- rearing, transportation, housing and careers. The novel and film Great Expectations give many examples of the contrast of the present and the past. Victorians were a very class-conscious society. These days, just about anyone can manage to have fairly nice clothes, a decent car, a place to live, and reasonable job security. Not so in Victorian times. Great Expectations clearly illustrates the rich and poor extremes of the society. As a boy, Pip was seen as obviously poor by Estella, due to his calling knaves jacks, and having coarse hands and thick boots. She was disgusted even to be around him simply due to this fact. Pip simply couldn't afford many nice clothes because he was a blacksmith's son. The other end of the dress spectrum is shown by Pip's trip to the tailor later in the book. His money has all of a sudden made him an important man and he can have only the finest clothes. He spends much of the book walking around London decked out in suits and a top hat like he's better than everyone. While dress prejudices still exist in today's times, they are not as drastic as they seemed to be in the Victorian period. If you're looking to go to a bar and pick up a one-night stand, the 1800's are not the spot for you. Many marriages w...

Haiti: Development

Why is Haiti underdeveloped? (15) Haiti is a Caribbean country located on the island of Hispaniola. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with its GDP at just $1, 200. The country has suffered through political violence throughout its history and was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7. 0 in 2010. These two major events during Haiti’s history left the country in ruins and since Haiti has not seemed to recover. Throughout the course of this essay I will go into further detail as to why Haiti is extremely underdeveloped.Haiti has a very low life expectancy at 62 years in comparison to the UK which is 80 years. This shows that between these two countries there are major differences between factors that influence life expectancy. In comparison to the UK, in Haiti poorer medical care is received by the population and this also shows how bad the standard of living is in Haiti. In Haiti, the total fertility rate is 3. 07 babied per woman whereas in the UK its 1. 91. This shows that in Haiti the emancipation of women is lower which means the country cannot develop.Another major social fact is that 52. 9% of Haiti’s population is literate. Half the population are unable to read or write and this means that they cannot get good jobs or look after their families better and move them out of poverty because they lack a huge skill. These social factors stop Haiti from developing. Haiti has suffered mass political instability over the years. The brutal dictatorships of the physician Francois and his son left tens of thousands of people killed during their 29-year rule.Since then the US intervened and forced Haiti to return to a constitutional government in 1994. However there were allegations of electoral irregularities, ongoing extra-judicial killings, torture and brutality. A bloody rebellion plus pressure from US and France forced the President Mr. Aristicide out of the country. In the present day Haiti is still plagued by violent conf rontations between rival gangs and political groups. The UN has described the human rights situation as â€Å"catastrophic†.This political instability over the years is a massive obstacle to Haiti developing. However the biggest factor as to why Haiti is so underdeveloped is the environmental factors. Haiti lies in a region prone to earthquakes and because of its tropical climate it suffers many tropical storms. This leaves areas with severe deforestation and vulnerable to flooding. Haiti is not equipped to deal with these natural disasters. In January 2010 Haiti was struck by an earthquake, 7. 0 on the Richter scale, this was the country’s worst earthquake in over 200 years.Tens of thousands of people were killed and this led to mass international aid being received by Haiti. A year later and Haiti is still struggling to recover from this earthquake. This shows exactly how underdeveloped Haiti is because they are constantly being hit with natural disasters but they ar e ill-equipped at dealing with them. This is a huge obstacle to development because it means that money cannot be spent on things that make a country more developed such as education or business. Also, following the earthquake, the economy is still recovering.The damage to Port-au-Prince caused the country’s GDP to decrease by an estimated 8%. Haiti was ranked 145 of 182 countries in the 2010 United Nations human development index with 57. 3% of the population being deprived of at least 3 of the HDI poverty measures. Most Haitians live on less than $2 a day. This fact is crucial as to why Haiti is underdeveloped. This shows that as Haitians don’t have that much money they cannot afford for their children to go to school so more and more children are being born into poverty.Therefore these children can never leave poverty so the country cannot develop as the majority of the population is in poverty. In conclusion, Haiti is underdeveloped because of many social, politica l, economic and environmental reasons. However I think the most important factor as to why Haiti is so underdeveloped in the environmental factors. Haiti must spend money on taking care of natural disasters instead of factors that help a country to develop. So in my opinion the fact that Haiti receives a lot of natural disasters is stopping them from developing.

Ikea Strategic in Action Essay

Part strategic position and strategic choice which mention above are underlining company environment, capability, and its strategy. Strategy in action will consider on how strategy act in organisation (Johnson et al., 2011a).This part of report will evaluate them considering their suitability. Evaluation IKEA strategies regards Suitability Suitability refers to the strategy is used to evaluate whether the strategies address the key ‘opportunities’ and ‘constraints’ underlined by the organisation’s strategic position (Johnson et al., 2008). This criterion can be examined by checking the strategic options against the environment, capabilities and the stakeholder expectations. Therefore, the analysing of PESTEL, Five Forces and strategic capabilities of IKEA in section above will be helpful for evaluating and understanding suitability. It appears that suitability is used to evaluate whether overall rationale of strategy is suitable in terms of environment and capabilities and stakeholder expectations or not. Therefore, this part of report not only evaluates IKEA strategies and capabilities regard in suitability but its successes and difficulties will be analysed. Firstly, from PESTEL analysis, IKEA takes advantage from ‘hybrid’ and ‘cost leadership’ strategy to response to its environment. IKEA’s products are cheap and differentiate; these are good opportunities to survive in economic recession. Additionally, IKEA’s core customers (middle class with moderate disposable income) are affordable to buy products even if in economic recession. Moreover, IKEA capabilities are strong global brand and low cost products with flat packaging which is its core resource and competence. Combining its capabilities and its strategies will benefit IKEA to achieve in environment changed and competitive circumstance. However, the difficulty is about import issue. All IKEA normally sources products from the same places in order to keep it standard. However, in some countries the import taxes are very high. For example in China, the import taxes on products from Poland to China are up to 22% (Burt el al., 2011). However, to stand its low price strategy and survive in China market, IKEA overcome this difficulty by sourcing goods from local country to reduce cost of taxation (Burt el al., 2011). In overall, it can be seen that in these circumstances and environmental change, the strategies IKEA has been used is a good opportunities to overcome those threats and suitable in its environment. Secondly, from Five Forces analysis, IKEA strategies and its capabilities can go along with external environment very well. It is normal that buyers are looking for cheap products but high quality. IKEA strategies are support customer needs. Furthermore, IKEA unique resources such as strong brand combining with its ‘hybrid’ strategy will maintain existing customers and gain more new buyers. In a term of power of supplier, IKEA’s strategies are suitable to supplier expectations. To generate low cost products, IKEA has to reduce cost of sale per unit by purchasing a large volume of material s from supplier. As well as suppliers, they also want to sell their products as much as possible. Moreover, considering in threat of new entry, IKEA strategies and capabilities are difficult for new entrants to compete. These are the reasons why IKEA takes opportunity from its strategies and capabilities among these threats. In addition, in the rivalry situation, it can be assumed that whether other companies offer low cost products but its quality, design, and brand image may not be the same as IKEA. IKEA considers in quality as well as the price. However, in high competitive markets, IKEA may face difficulties. For example in China which local products are normally cheap, IKEA low price strategy may not attract to this market. Giving a suggestion, in order to offer only low cost products, IKEA should build brand image as a high quality brand and offer Swedish-designed product which differentiate in Chinese customer perception. In overall, it appears that IKEA capabilities and its strategies are suitable to compete in the rivalry situation. IKEA generates its strengths and overcome the weaknesses in a suitable way. Thirdly, evaluation of suitability of IKEA strategies and capabilities according to Ansoff analysis of 4 possible development directions will be examined. The suitability will be evaluated whether these options will match to future scenario. The future scenario which matches in a term of economical environment is predicted that the world economy will maintain very weak in 2013 and slightly decrease between 2014 and 2016 (The Guardian, 2012). Apart from evaluation the suitability of IKEA strategies and capability, the suitability will be used to assessment whether IKEA strategic options meet the stakeholder expectations (Johnson et al., 2008). Table 5 Evaluation of suitability – Direction of growth In overall, IKEA strategies and capabilities are suitable in the environment and meet the expectation of stakeholders. Market penetration may be the most appropriate direction that IKEA should carry on at the present time to the future scenario predicted. There is no major investment needed. The IKEA current strategies and its capabilities is now effective under this circumstance. However, there is a difficulty in IKEA’s strategies. IKEA is a global company which generates same strategies almost every market called one-size-fit-all approach (Stern, 2012). Although, one-size-fit-all approach will benefit IKEA to control it global strategies easily, the difficulty will occur. The problem is every market is all difference. The one-size-fits-all approach on all IKEA staff and customers is good to share the same value but for all market is not suitable. The different markets have different circumstance. For example, according to Anders Dahlvig cited in Stern (2012), the differences between countries were great in China and Sweden. China is different territory. Chinese labour policies are poor for IKEA co-worker vision. Chinese workforce depends on the authority of the boss which is difficult to adapt to the more free and easy way of the new employer (Stern, 2012). Moreover, in the future, if IKEA wants to expand their market and make the differentiation, the policy and restriction in some countries may be serious such as in Islamic countries, and the differentiation needs lots of investment and knowledge. IKEA should consider how to stay the low price while a lot of investment is needed.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Biography

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Biography Dwight D. Eisenhowers Childhood and Education: Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. However, he moved as an infant to Abilene, Kansas. He grew up in a very poor family and worked throughout his youth to earn money. He attended local public schools and graduated from high school in 1909. He joined the military in order to gain a free college education. He went to the West Point from 1911-1915. He was commissioned a second lieutenant but continued his education in the military eventually attending the Army War College. Family Ties: Eisenhowers father was David Jacob Eisenhower, a mechanic and manager. His mother was Ida Elizabeth Stover who happened to be a deeply religious pacifist. He had five brothers. He married Marie Mamie Geneva Doud on July 1, 1916. She moved many times with her husband throughout his military career. Together they had one son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower.   Dwight D. Eisenhowers Military Service: Upon graduation, Eisenhower was assigned to be a second lieutenant in the infantry. During World War I, he was a training instructor and commander of a training center. He attended the Army War College and then joined General MacArthurs staff. In 1935 he went to the Philippines. He served in various executive positions before the start of World War II. After the war, he resigned and became the president of Columbia University. He was appointed by Harry S  Truman to be the Supreme Commander of NATO. World War II: At the start of World War II, Eisenhower was chief of staff to Commander General Walter Krueger. He was then promoted to brigadier general in 1941. In March 1942 he became a major general. In June, he was appointed commander of all U.S. forces in Europe. He was the commander of allied forces during the invasion of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He was then named Supreme Allied Commander in charge of the D-Day invasion. In December 1944 he was made a five-star general. Becoming the President: Eisenhower was chosen to run on the Republican ticket with Richard Nixon as his Vice President against Adlai Stevenson. Both candidates campaigned vigorously. The campaign dealt with Communism and governmental waste. However, more people voted for Ike leading to his victory with 55% of the popular vote and 442 electoral votes. He ran again in 1956 against Stevenson. One of the main issues was Eisenhowers health due to a recent heart attack. In the end he won with 57% of the vote. Events and Accomplishments of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Presidency: Eisenhower traveled to Korea before he took office to help conclude the peace talks. By July 1953, an Armistice was signed that separated Korea into two with a demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel. The Cold War was raging while Eisenhower was in office. He began building up nuclear weapons to protect America and to warn the Soviet Union that the U.S. would retaliate if fired upon. When Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and then began relations with the Soviet Union, Eisenhower placed an embargo on the country. He was concerned about the Soviet involvement in Vietnam. He came up with the Domino Theory where he said that if the Soviet Union could topple one regime (like Vietnam), it would find it easier and easier to topple further regimes. Therefore, he was the first to send advisors to the region. He also created the Eisenhower Doctrine where he asserted that America had the right to aid any country threatened by Communist aggression. In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy who had been trying to reveal Communists in government fell from power when the Army-McCarthy hearings were televised.  Joseph N. Welch who represented the Army was able to show how out of control McCarthy had become.   In 1954, the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 that schools should be desegregated. In 1957, Eisenhower had to send federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to safeguard black students enrolling for the first time in a previously all-white school. In 1960, a Civil Rights Act was passed to include sanctions against any local officials who blocked blacks from voting. The U-2 Spy Plane Incident occurred in 1960. On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was brought down near Svedlovsk, Soviet Union. This event had a lasting negative impact on U.S. - U.S.S.R. relations. The details surrounding this event are to this day still shrouded in mystery. Eisenhower, however, defended the need for reconnaissance flights as necessary for national security. Post-Presidential Period: Eisenhower retired after his second term on January 20, 1961. He moved to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and wrote his autobiography and memoirs. He died on March 28, 1969 of congestive heart failure. Historical Significance: Eisenhower was president during the 50s, a time of relative peace (despite the  Korean Conflict) and prosperity. Eisenhowers willingness to sent federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas to ensure that local schools were desegregated was an important  step in the  Civil Rights movement.

Go Ask Alice - Anti Drug Campaign essays

Go Ask Alice - Anti Drug Campaign essays Do you know someone who does drugs? Do you know why they do it? Well if you ask a teen why they do drugs you will often here the answer because it feels good. But is that the real reason why they do drugs? I researched and found out that in fact it does feel good because most drugs acts directly on the limbic system in the brain which is sort of the pleasure center. Teens now light up weed in parties like if it was a cigarette. They might not be a smoker but they do it to look cool. People do drugs to change the way they feel or change there situation. If their depressed they want to become happy, if their nervous they want to become relax, etc. Most of the time people take drugs so that they can be the person who they want to be. The problem is that it isnt real, you dont change the situation youve only distorted it for a little while. Teenagers do drugs for a lot of reasons, but there are 7 main reasons why. One reason is because they want to fit in; no one wants to be the one left out. Secondly, because they want to escape or relax. Thirdly, because theyre bored. Lots of people turn to drugs for a little excitement because they say theres nothing else to do but watch the same Simpsons show for the tenth time or hang out in Burger King. Fourthly, because the media says its cool. Fifthly, because they think it makes them seem grown-up. Sixthly, because they want to rebel. And the last one, because they want to experiment. Its human nature to want to experiment, but its not wise to experiment the bad things. Do you think the media has an affect on youth and drugs? I believe it does, even though there are anti-drugs ads during almost every commercial while your watching music videos, the entertainment world still manages to make drugs look very attractive. An example of this is how they encourage everyone to be really skinny even when they say ano...

Essay style answers regarding Euroland Case Study in terms of

Style answers regarding Euroland Case Study in terms of marketing - Essay Example Internal inefficiencies such as supplying products from plants located in different cities than from ones in same cities (because of low capacity), reduced throughput speed and increased accidents, spillage, inventory spoilage, shrinkage and breakage and production tie ups cause frequent disruptions in delivering products to the buyers that later weaken the sales. The major external factor that has resulted in stagnation of Euroland Foods’s core business is low population growth in northern Europe. In fact, there has bee no genuine increase in the demand of products offered by Euroland because of negligible increase in market size. The sales had been static since 1998, which is attributed to market saturation in some areas besides northern Europe. Secondly, the competitors have introduced new products in the market, hence attracting more customers and taking away the share from Euroland Foods. Euroland Foods’s, at present, apparently has adopted a Market Penetration growth strategy since it believes in selling its existing products Ice-cream, Yogurt, bottled water and fresh juices to existing market segments. It can be concluded that this strategy has not resulted in any real growth in terms of monetary and volumetric sales as it remained stagnant over years, which has adversely affected its brand equity and market valuation. If Euroland Foods were to take Darrochs advice, it would prioritize a proposal about â€Å"replacement and expansion of truck fleet† which is aimed at substituting new trucks and delivery vehicles with new ones as well as adding new fuel-efficient excessive capacity trucks to reduce its maintenance costs and improving the ability to transport more products at a time. Also, it could accept proposals related to expanding Nuremberg plant capacity by 20%, to increase automation of the production lines at six of the companys

Use of Video in Secondary Science Education Research Paper

Use of Video in Secondary Science Education - Research Paper Example Use of Video in Secondary Science Education Use of video projects in a classroom environment is one of the most effective ways to ensure that students get the required content. This is because it involves a hands-on approach where the students use theory that they have learnt to create their own videos, however the tools that the students use will determine how effective they will be in creating their own videos. The most efficient tools that students can use in video creation In choosing the most effective video creation tools that students can use, the following factors were put into consideration. One is the user friendliness of the tool where issues like easiness on the eye and navigation and the intuitiveness of the UI (Ivers & Barron, 2010). Second factor that was put in to consideration was the features that the tool contained such as assessment capability or feedback functions, another factor that was put into consideration is the limitations that come with the tools such as whether it is a WYSIWYG tool or it needs a p rogramming nous. imovie is a video editing software that is sold by Apple inc company for Mac and iOS which include iphone, ipad, ipad mini and ipod touch that was originally launched in the market in the year 1999 (Laybourne, 2009). Since 2005, imovie was designed to process high definition video from HDV camcorders and other versions of camcorders such as AVCHD camcorders and H.264 compressed video from MPEG4, to support this, the tool has undergone metamorphosis to ensure smooth integration especially with apple products. imovie HD 5 included support for HDV, which includes the 720p and 1080i, in addition, it also supported the integration with ilife suite and toolbox buttons that allow importation of images from iphoto and music from itunes. The HD 6 version, which was released in 2006 included support for iphotos, itunes, iDVD , garageband and iweb, this version was aimed at making the imovie more user-friendly as it included themes that allowed the user to drag and drop movies and photos in bac kdrops. The imovie 08 was an improvement of the previous versions of imovie as it contained better HD output and more formats in which files could be converted to. This edition however received criticism since it completely abandoned the earlier versions of imovie and features such as slow motion, fast motion, black and white options had been removed, in addition, imovie 08 could not support more than one project at a time. The imovie 09 was basically a response to the criticism the ’08 version as it restored features that the previous versions had, in addition, it also simplified some more advanced tasks such as picture to picture and chroma keying. The imovie 11 had the capability of making movie trailers, gave the user more power over the audio option, allowed immediate rerun, flash, and hold effects, new theme, face detection and the potential to watch videos on apple products. with the unveiling of the iphone, which was designed to support iOS, the apple company designed an imovie app that would be compatible with the iOS since the other products of the company were also designed to support the iOS (Maci?as, Granollers & Latorre, 2009). Animoto Animoto is an online video editing software that is easy to use among the students, a key feature of the

Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Smoking - Essay Example Bernard (2011) claims that the smoke has very high toxicity levels so harmful to the human life given the amount of chemicals contained in the cigarette. He goes ahead to quite cite the actual fact that toxicologists and health care professionals have gone a long way in finding several harmful chemicals in the cigarette. Cigarettes are the most popular, most addictive and the deadliest form of tobacco ever to be used (World Health Organization). These contrasting ideas between smoking enthusiasts (revelers) and the equally enthusiastic dissidents create an interesting discovery of facts about smoking. If there is proof that smoking kills, with health professional’s strong campaigning against the ‘vice’, then why is the number of smokers increasing day after day? The US National Cancer Institute brings out the observation that some of the facts leading to someone talking up smoking may just be a social issue as opposed to personal or medical issue. Actually, smokin g has never been proved to cure any health problem apart from allegations by some health researchers that Cannabis has some medical content. The review of this work therefore seeks to point out the effects of smoking to the body of the smoker and those who are physically close to him/her. This will also seek to establish whether smoking in public should be Okayed as a legal aspect of life or be deemed illegal by the law. A report on smoking was released on September 17th 2009 by Dr. Jen Doe and Dr. Chris DeSanto had very comprehensive information about effects of smoking. These two medical professionals are members of the Georgetown Hospitals Community Pediatrics Program and have served as campaigners for Tobacco Free Kids in America. Their work was seconded strongly by the American Medical Student Association having produced accurate reports on kids and smoking (Doe and DeSanto). This article about children and smoking reflects on effects of smoking by elucidating critical aspects. The authors

The VW Resende Modular Consortium Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The VW Resende Modular Consortium - Essay Example The idea of a modular consortium consists of separating the product into sub-assemblies (modules) which are delegated to and entirely provided by a specific module supplier. Therefore, the module supplier is responsible for assembling its module directly on the automaker’s assembly line (Pires 1998, 225). By establishing strong partnership with 7 key suppliers and outsourcing 100% of its manufacturing, VW was striving to: optimize the operating costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently.Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the production of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information.... g costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently. Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the p roduction of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information, received from the interview with Jose Ignacio Lopez, the VW Resende Modular Consortium could enable the company to gain significant competitive advantage among the rivals. These included: modern and productive manufacturing process, relatively low cost, quality of the trucks, simultaneous engineering process with the suppliers, speed in the development and launching of new products, common corporate goals and objectives (trend to work more toward mutual success) (Correa and Park, n.d., pp.1, 7, 10). With Focus strategy approach the company can seek either lower costs or differentiation (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Therefore, by going deeper to the Porter’s focus strategy, it is possible to assume that the VW’s Resende

Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Smoking - Essay Example Bernard (2011) claims that the smoke has very high toxicity levels so harmful to the human life given the amount of chemicals contained in the cigarette. He goes ahead to quite cite the actual fact that toxicologists and health care professionals have gone a long way in finding several harmful chemicals in the cigarette. Cigarettes are the most popular, most addictive and the deadliest form of tobacco ever to be used (World Health Organization). These contrasting ideas between smoking enthusiasts (revelers) and the equally enthusiastic dissidents create an interesting discovery of facts about smoking. If there is proof that smoking kills, with health professional’s strong campaigning against the ‘vice’, then why is the number of smokers increasing day after day? The US National Cancer Institute brings out the observation that some of the facts leading to someone talking up smoking may just be a social issue as opposed to personal or medical issue. Actually, smokin g has never been proved to cure any health problem apart from allegations by some health researchers that Cannabis has some medical content. The review of this work therefore seeks to point out the effects of smoking to the body of the smoker and those who are physically close to him/her. This will also seek to establish whether smoking in public should be Okayed as a legal aspect of life or be deemed illegal by the law. A report on smoking was released on September 17th 2009 by Dr. Jen Doe and Dr. Chris DeSanto had very comprehensive information about effects of smoking. These two medical professionals are members of the Georgetown Hospitals Community Pediatrics Program and have served as campaigners for Tobacco Free Kids in America. Their work was seconded strongly by the American Medical Student Association having produced accurate reports on kids and smoking (Doe and DeSanto). This article about children and smoking reflects on effects of smoking by elucidating critical aspects. The authors

Marketing mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing mix - Essay Example In order to do this, he makes use of a number of tools, which is known as the marketing mix. Marketing mix generally consists of the choices an organisation has to make to introduce a product or service or to increase the saleability of the product. According to renowned marketing guru Philip Kotler, "The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market" (Kotler P.2003, Marketing Management, pg 15). In 1960, E.J. McCarthy put together the 4Ps of marketing, which is now widely considered to be the best way to make the marketing mix work most effectively. Small business owners can use this marketing mix model of the 4Ps - Product, Price, Place, Promotion effectively when deciding to introduce a new product or when they want to evaluate their existing strategy. Any business that wants to sell its products must first choose the market it wants to sell its product to. Once that is determined it is easy to identify the customers and their needs. A product should also be one that has to be replaced periodically. Customers who buy the products should come back to buy again once they use the product. This will automatically increase the volume of sales. When choosing a product based on popularity it is very important to time the product. A product has to be picked before it becomes popular and it should be at the beginning of the product life cycle that means building product awareness, low pricing, selective distribution and innovative promotion. Quality is another important aspect to be considered before choosing a product. The range of products offered must be narrow. The product should be simple to start with. More products can be added as the business grows. The design and appearance of the product are also very important for a product to succeed. A product must be functional and satisfy the needs and requirements of the customer. For example, Haagen-Dazs ice cream used a high

The VW Resende Modular Consortium Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The VW Resende Modular Consortium - Essay Example The idea of a modular consortium consists of separating the product into sub-assemblies (modules) which are delegated to and entirely provided by a specific module supplier. Therefore, the module supplier is responsible for assembling its module directly on the automaker’s assembly line (Pires 1998, 225). By establishing strong partnership with 7 key suppliers and outsourcing 100% of its manufacturing, VW was striving to: optimize the operating costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently.Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the production of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information.... g costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently. Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the p roduction of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information, received from the interview with Jose Ignacio Lopez, the VW Resende Modular Consortium could enable the company to gain significant competitive advantage among the rivals. These included: modern and productive manufacturing process, relatively low cost, quality of the trucks, simultaneous engineering process with the suppliers, speed in the development and launching of new products, common corporate goals and objectives (trend to work more toward mutual success) (Correa and Park, n.d., pp.1, 7, 10). With Focus strategy approach the company can seek either lower costs or differentiation (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Therefore, by going deeper to the Porter’s focus strategy, it is possible to assume that the VW’s Resende

Marketing mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing mix - Essay Example In order to do this, he makes use of a number of tools, which is known as the marketing mix. Marketing mix generally consists of the choices an organisation has to make to introduce a product or service or to increase the saleability of the product. According to renowned marketing guru Philip Kotler, "The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market" (Kotler P.2003, Marketing Management, pg 15). In 1960, E.J. McCarthy put together the 4Ps of marketing, which is now widely considered to be the best way to make the marketing mix work most effectively. Small business owners can use this marketing mix model of the 4Ps - Product, Price, Place, Promotion effectively when deciding to introduce a new product or when they want to evaluate their existing strategy. Any business that wants to sell its products must first choose the market it wants to sell its product to. Once that is determined it is easy to identify the customers and their needs. A product should also be one that has to be replaced periodically. Customers who buy the products should come back to buy again once they use the product. This will automatically increase the volume of sales. When choosing a product based on popularity it is very important to time the product. A product has to be picked before it becomes popular and it should be at the beginning of the product life cycle that means building product awareness, low pricing, selective distribution and innovative promotion. Quality is another important aspect to be considered before choosing a product. The range of products offered must be narrow. The product should be simple to start with. More products can be added as the business grows. The design and appearance of the product are also very important for a product to succeed. A product must be functional and satisfy the needs and requirements of the customer. For example, Haagen-Dazs ice cream used a high

Tylenol Recall Essay Example for Free

Tylenol Recall Essay The worldwide recall of the Tylenol product in light of discovering some samples having poison in them is most certainly correct under the Utilitarian principle, which focuses on what will be the greater good for the greater number.   Obviously, when human lives are at stake the greater good is almost always guaranteed to be whatever will prevent the loss of life. Granted, stockholders, stakeholders, patients, etc. were negatively effected for a short duration, and there were presumably several more stockholders and so on effected by the recall than there were potential deaths, but a company such as Johnson and Johnson has been able to maintain its positive image and consumer loyalty due to behaviors which are viewed as being morally responsible, so the short-term effects were likely minimal and exactly that: short-term.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An opposing argument might be that the risks of any human life actually being lost was minimal, and that a random product sampling would have been enough to determine if indeed any other product had been contaminated, and therefore the product should NOT have been recalled, simply because the potential risk of loss of human life and the lawsuits sure to follow was less than the risk of dollars lost by the company, by the shareholders, by employees, suppliers, distributors, etc.   Some might argue this loss is far greater than any of the potential risks associated with the poisoned pills. However, once again to cite the Utilitarian principle, whatever is morally â€Å"right† is that which creates the most happiness, or overall â€Å"good,† for the larger number of people.   Again, human death is something that is generally received as far more severe than the temporary loss of money (which can be recovered).   15 human deaths in comparison to a loss of 15 million, even billion, dollars is far more significant in the minds of most people in our society. Especially for a consumer product (and not for any greater purpose, such as the freedom of our country which leads to casualties of war), there is no level of acceptable loss of human life in the interest of saving a large corporation some money.   The perseverance of human life produces greater happiness with the public, which also reinstalls faith in a morally responsible company such as Johnson and Johnson, which allows them to fairly easily recover any net losses, which puts all the stockholders and others effected by it right back on a level playing field.   And no lives were lost.   By Utilitarian principles, everyone in this situation wins.

Theories of African Christian Ethics

Theories of African Christian Ethics INTRODUCTION Before I begin, let me first suggest to you the overall task of Christian Ethics. If I speak about ethics, I speak about Who we are, how we are to perceive our world and how we are to live in this world. This is the main crux of Christian Ethics. In this assignment I would like to demonstrate a working knowledge of African, Western and African Christian Ethics. I will also look at the differences between selected ethical theories. ASSIGNMENT 1 Explain Western Ethics and evaluate the effect it has on our understanding of ethics. Underscore both the positives and negatives it has brought about in ethical thinking. According to Barnhill (2009) the Western tradition has four major approaches to ethics: The first two listed (Utilitarian Ethics and Deontological Ethics) are modern developments and they dominate modern philosophy. He says that Virtue ethics is as old as Plato and is making a bit of a come-back. Natural law ethics is relatively popular among environmental ethicists. After reading his Environmental studies, I have come to realise the following: This study speaks about goodness and badness. We can identify happiness with the good and sees virtue as a major part of happiness. We can explain that happiness and virtue should be detached. If we look at virtue it relates to good will, a good will is good in every circumstance and is absolute or unconditional good. It grows when you act for the sake of duty. A human action is morally good and is done for the sake of duty. Western Ethics shows us that an action can be motivated by duty and has moral worth. Not because of the results it achieved, but for satisfying a formal principle. The principle of performing ones duty, whatever it may be. People have impulses and desires and that is why the moral law appears to us as a law that we must obey. This impulses and desires is our only source for moral judgement. This is our free will. Our free will can create a moral law and we will obey it. The human mind is able to know what is good and evil. To have value judgement is born from ins ide of us. This is called your conscience. Most people recognize that man is free to make his or her moral decisions. On the other hand, all the things that we do wrong come from our human desires. Men and women should follow the will of God. Use the will of God to make certain decisions in life. There is a universal moral law, the knowledge to free ourselves from human desires. We are free to make good and sound moral judgements. In the approach of care and the community, too much Western Ethics has given individuals the right to think about themselves. We must build love and compassionate relationships among people. The full theory of ethics would have to accommodate all four aspects of Western ethics. One way to sometimes approach Western ethics and the influence it has on ethics is based on four aspects like rights, goods, virtues and our relationship with each other. We must look at the following questions like: Do our actions violate another persons rights? We must try to achieve good in life. Look at our integrity. Care for each other. Ethics and even Western Ethics can never be static and with Western Ethics there are certain frameworks and principles. We dont know whether Western Ethic has a future, but it really and most definitely do have a past. We can see that the patterns of the Western moral personality will continue to surface and really have to be dealt with, either through painful reflection or painful restructuring (Kunhiyop, 2004:29). Define in your own words Contemporary African Ethics. Highlight its important characteristics. Kigongo (nd) says that Contemporary African Ethics is a combination of African ethical tradition and European ethical tradition. What better way to describe Contemporary African Ethics than the word Ubuntu. Ubuntu means that people are people because of other people. In Africa nobody can survive alone, we need each other to survive. I think that we are all searching and suggesting new directions which to follow in pursuit of African values. We can say that the foundation of African ethics is definitely a humanistic worldview. Everything about the community is seen to exist not just in the here and now, but also in the past, through those who have already gone and also in the future, those who have yet to come. It is the past that influence the present and the present the future. Why, we ask, has this worldview, with the emphasis on respect for all mankind, support and responsibility not travel through the whole world yet? You remember in the second paragraph I spoke about Ubuntu. Well, I can say that this worldview is expressed by the very society that lives according to it. If the community follows Contemporary African Ethics, they are living testimonies to their worldview. This worldview is worth reviving and respect for another, especially a stranger, is well known to communities in the south of the Sahara. With them a visitor was to be welcomed and feted, not suspected and resisted like in some of our communities (Kunhiyop, 2004:23-27). Africa is currently looking at a new future when it comes to African Ethics. Africa believes that its own worldview has so much potential and contemporary messages to give. Africa does not have all the above on record, but the culture itself speaks of enrichment and value. Definitely African values can be included in everything in life, for example in institutions of higher learning. The world needs more Contemporary African Ethics (Kunhiyop, 2004:13). Identify the key aspects of African Christian Ethics. I hear what Okolo (nd) says: First, the African may well count himself fortunate to be blessed with such a basically sound and enduring religious and moral tradition. But this does not at all mean that the Christian religion based on Christs love ethic constitutes a mere superficial dimension in his moral life. The Christian religion means for the African fundamental changes in many of his cultural values and options such that a real conversion is required for him to be a Christian in the authentic meaning of the term and in its ethical implication. I think that the African society is in a moral crisis. The African are having an identity crisis and have shifted away from their value system. Their moral values they gave away for other value systems. In a sense the first aspects is the fact that they have betrayed the African value system by analyzing it with the socio-economic and political implications that are taken from all the different value systems. The second aspect for me is the fact that Africans are now abandoning their value system by trying to embrace other systems, namely liberalism and utilitarianism. The consequence of this above mentioned shift is that the African will no longer be known by what he is, but by what he has acquired by different means. The African have lost the sense of Who am I and this created the moral crisis in South Africa. If we look at virtue ethics, I think it could help us to redeem the African value system as well as every individual in South Africa. Virtue ethics is intended to provide a s ociety in which people can live a meaningful life. There is a general agreement amongst the African people that the African cannot be defined except in the closeness of the community. We can see the closeness of relationship between the individual and the social nature of the African. The African system is not concerned with material issues; it is concerned primarily with human beings in their relationship with one another. It is like that, the community means that the community alone can constitute the context, their social and cultural space. Africans needs to find freedom and responsibility in themselves and also in other people in South Africa. CONCLUSION Whether African Christian Ethics will start a different socio-economic and political arrangement remains a question that needs to be explored in-depth. Bibliography Barnhill D L 2007. Four Traditional Western Approaches to Ethics. Online article: http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/barnhill/ES_375/ethics.html, 07/01/2009. Kunhiyop S W 2004. African Christian Ethics. United States of America: Hippo Books. Kigongo J K n.d. The Relevance of African Ethics To Contemporary African Society. Online article: http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/II-8/chapter_ii.htm, 13/01/2009. Okolo C B n.d. The African Experience of Christian Values: Dimensions of The Problematic. Online article: http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/II-3/chapter_xi.htm, 13/01/2009. INTRODUCTION The Bible is an expression of Gods will to us and possesses the right supremely to define what we are to believe and how we are to conduct ourselves. In the book African Christian Ethics Samuel W. Kunhiyop gives us guidelines in biblical Christianity for Africa. Although Samuel Kunhiyops book does not deal exclusively with the role of the Bible, I will review his book to get to the core. We know that everything stays the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. To review a great Theologian like Samuel W. Kunhiyop, I dont think it is for me to comment on the way he wrote his book. ASSIGNMENT 2 Write a critical book review of the course textbook: Samuel Kunhiyop (2004), African Christian Ethics. In the introduction Samuel describes the need for writing this book: Christian ethics is often regarded the same as Western ethics, but they are really not the same. The two have become confused because Western missionaries did not bring a true and honest gospel but one that is different from the true gospel. Students who should be studying African Christian ethics are too often busy with the wrong ethical theories coming from the West. What should be taught in African theological colleges is an ethics that is African, biblical and Christian. That is what this book seeks to give to its reader (Kunhiyop, 2004:8-10). We can find a lot of information on African Christian Ethics through the internet and there is a lot of information for Western churches to use. Hippo books are so popular that they are used by many publishers and are well known throughout the world. Some of the publishers like Zondervan and African publishing houses also make use of Hippo books. Hippo books create an environment for the learner or student to get acquainted with all sections of Theology. Hippo books have got information and theories of many of scholars who share their knowledge and experience with us. Hippo books have got a vision to help with the growth in all African churches so they can see their culture from an evangelical perspective. Hippo books also published African Christian Ethics which I am about to review (Davy, 2010). Samuel Waje Kunhiyop was previously the Professor of Theology and Ethics at ECWA Theological Seminary. He holds a Bachelor of Theology, Masters of Theology and PhD at Trinity International University, Illinois. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop was ordained by the Evangelical Church of West Africa as a minister. Currently he is one of the heads of the Postgraduate School at the South African Theological Seminary (Kunhiyop, 2004:4-5). The need for an interpretation of Christianity and all its aspects from an African point of view was necessary. One such aspect is the question of Christian ethics and how it is affected by Africa and its enormous cultural variety. Samuel identified the need to explore and explain the many questions that arose around the issue of African Christian ethics. According to Kunhiyop he started in his life seeking to find all information and truths about African Christianity. He studies for 8 years in Nigeria for his undergraduate theological training and another 7 years in the United States for his graduate theological training. In 1993 he went back to Nigeria and has been teaching now there for 11 years. Samuel is a great teacher of the Bible, Theology, Ethics and Philosophy. In 1994 he was teaching to a group of students and after finishing with them he asked the students What did you learn from this course? One of the students stood up and answered with the words nothing. Samuel was stu nned and because of that answer, he started to investigate and wanted to seek for the right answers. He realised that the information he gave through to the students did not pertain to them and their culture. He knew that he needed to do more for the students for them to succeed in life (Kunhiyop, 2004:8-9). If I can mention that it was very difficult to find the book in the library and Protea Bookshop gave an indication that it would take 10 weeks if I order the book. The book had to come from Kenya. When we look at the life of Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, we can see a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Although he did most of his studies overseas, he was born and raised in Africa. He wanted to help and assist African Christians struggling with their own situations and problems. He recognized that Africans, and even more so, African Christians, needed guidance in relation to the interpretation of their everyday personal problems within an ethical frame of reference (Kunhiyop, 2004:9). At first I didnt know what to make of the book African Christian Ethics. The book seemed extremely difficult to read, interpret and understand. Why might that be, I asked myself. Then I came to a conclusion. It was because I knew nothing about the Africans and their unique, intricate and diverse cultures. The only knowledge I have is about my own culture and roots. In Ethical Foundation: Section one Samuel Waje Kunhiyop explains what African morality and the African culture consists of (Kunhiyop, 2004:11). It is wonderful to read about my fellow African inhabitants within their interesting context. The songs they love to sing and the stories they love to tell. Then suddenly, the way of the African opens up to you and you begin to understand everything. The style in which the book has been written became much easier to read and interpret. As soon as I caught the drift of things, I enjoyed reading the book immensely. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop has done a lot of research to get to the truth. He also incorporated Biblical content to support his findings and to better explain the interpretation of these findings from a Christian point of view. At work my responsibilities include informing the soldiers about HIV and AIDS. With the knowledge that I gained from Samuels book I can now understand the African soldier better. It also helped me in building better relationships with the soldiers, as I better comprehend their training of thought and understanding of Christianity. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, through this book, opened up the eyes of many people, scholars and foreigners, although I think there is many more to explore and more information to gain. In South Africa a lot of African people are still confused and do not have identity. I can see that when I work with the youth in South Africa. The youth are lacking the strong morals and values they need to become better human beings in their communities and societies. The content of this book is magnificent and I would definitely encourage other individuals to read it and apply it to future situations with the African cultures. Let us explore the content of the book in detail to grasp the crux of what Samuel Waje Kunhiyop want to explain to us. I believe Kunhiyops work is excellent and I want to give him all the credit for this book. The book is divided into two sections, section one: Ethical Foundations, Chapter one, two and three deals with the theory of ethics, while section two: Contemporary Ethical Issues, Chapter four to thirteen discusses practical issues. Issues that is so relevant that we can apply it in our daily lives. The issues are grouped in the following order, as given in the Table of content: Political Issues, Religious Issues, Medical Issues, Welfare Issues, Financial Issues, Witchcraft Issues, AIDS Issues, Marriage Issues, Sexual Issues and Reproductive Technologies. Each chapter begins with a general introduction followed by the chapters dealing with the specific issues in that area. Samuel does not go into a detailed debate regarding War, rather, he looks at the wars and conflicts in Africa and then examines the Bible to find an answer (Kunhiyop, 2004:2). Starting with Contemporary African ethics, we can see that the African society does believe in God as the highest order and as the sole creator of earth and mankind. Secondly they stand under the authority of spirits and ancestors who are the leaders and instructors of good and evil. The distinct differences between morality and ethics are not acknowledged as they experience it as one with their religion. These assumptions are only written on paper as there is no documentary proof of the history or origin thereof. The growing up and teaching or learning through the elderly and community by word of mouth is their reference in life. Most important is the tribe, community and family rules for belonging and not to be a single individual with his or her own set of rules and regulations. Believing in the spirits and the ancestors justifies certain actions as long as you dont get caught and therefore has a deterrent effect on your family or community. They also believe that you must keep th e spirits happy in order to be blessed and not to be cursed in life. Mostly the interaction between family (grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews) and the community (neighbors, friends, etc.) is a vital link to the forming of the African cultural inheritance (Kunhiyop, 2004:11-28). Secondly, while Western ethics were founded and applied by numerous leaders of the Enlightenment eras, it had different positive as well as negative impacts on society. One example that has a negative impact on the biblical views of the religious community is the privacy factor where a woman has the sole right to apply abortion if she wishes to. Furthermore I do believe that technology is good for anybody except where it is applied have a negative result to humanity (Kunhiyop, 2004:29-46). The reading and understanding of African Christian Ethics was very difficult. Samuel makes mention of many authors and in text citing. The English language he used in Chapter three to point out his facts is confusing as to get the history facts straight. What I do understand from this Chapter is that Samuel writes that Christian theology is the backbone of African Christian ethics and that it will be useless if the Scriptures are not part of the guidance to the rules of African Christian ethics. The Black African Christian has a rule of ethics whereby their ancestors are always consulted and is a part and parcel of their decision making. Therefore in their ethics within certain issues they leave out God in certain other issues they consult Him. He explains that African ethics is deeply rooted in the soul and that it becomes personal, influencing the mind, heart, body and spirit of a person. If a family member has got an issue, that issue will affect the immediate family, as well as t heir distant relatives. It will influence those who are living and those who are dead, but still interested in the affairs of the living. To understand the community is to understand African ethics. This is a critical tool and must be used when studying African ethics. These ethics are developed in interaction with the past, the present and the future, nothing or nobody can be excluded. God, the spirits of the departed, the ancestors and good and evil will always have an enormous influence on the morality of the people. Why, because they are African and full of culture. Although the Bible does not support the doctrines of demons, evil spirits and witchcraft, many Christians are unaware of what the Bible teaches on the subject. Christians believe the Bible also serves as an authoritative moral influence, thus in Africa there is no such thing as an ethical system that has no practical and religious implications. There will always be principles or rules that guide behaviour. These prin ciples or rules are intertwined with practices of ethics and work nicely together (Kunhiyop, 2004:47-70). Samuel takes into account all the factors that are historically tied to the given topic and describes each problem in detail. In each problem he looks for a Biblical perspective on the issue, usually asking what the Old Testament says and what the New Testament says. This he does by also including the churchs response and the separate African churchs response before drawing an overall final conclusion. This method which he is using is effective because it keeps the Western reader aware of the differences between the West and Africa approach to ethical problems. The Western and traditional African understanding of ethics has affected the ethical thinking of Christians. We need to change our perspective of the church because the church is constantly growing and becoming stronger in other parts of the world. To conclude his thoughts Kunhiyop offers an outline for decision making. He based this outline on five important principles: God is the ultimate model of morality. The Scriptures pr ovide the only authority in matters of morality. Every aspect of life is subject to the laws of the Scriptures. The scriptures must be properly interpreted and the community of faith can provide support, responsibility and accountability. The world provides the boundaries in which we live out this morality and ethics (Kunhiyop, 2004). I really dont see any difference between Western Christian Ethics and African Christian Ethics. Kunhiyops point is actually what is underlying these ethics. Understanding the different world views on Christian ethics paves the way for Western churches to be influenced by and to have a greater influence on the African churches and their day to day functions. It is important for Christianity to overcome the barriers of culture and language. We are after all loved by Christ regardless of ethnicity and the limitations of the human race. I regard it important to note that even though the ethical values between the Western civilization and the African cultures are similar, the traditions within the set framework of each group changes the interpretation and thus also the outcome of the ethical concepts. It is in this idea that the key to unlocking Samuels thinking process lies. He understands, having been exposed to both African and Western culture, that these differences, however subtle so me may be, have an immense impact on the eventual interpretation of a persons set of ethical values. Christian ethics cannot be separated from its religious foundation. The important thing is that God requires something of man and that He stands ready to reward the obedience and punish violation. God has something to do with the very meaning of obligation. This book explains these issues well. The Western world is now faced with a choice: are we going to utilize the tools that will enable us to bridge the gap between two very different civilizations or are we going to sit back and do nothing? With the right understanding of Africans and how they interpret ethical values we can incorporate a set of Christian ethical values that will, without a doubt, benefit both parties (Kunhiyop, 2004). CONCLUSION The churches need to understand and interpret African Christian Ethics for them to survive in their communities. Let us think about this and understand where Kunhiyop comes from. Bibliography Davy T J 2010. HippoBooks African Evangelical Imprint. Online article: http://bibleandmission.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/hippobooks-african-evangelical-imprint/, 15/01/2009. Kunhiyop S W 2004. African Christian Ethics. United States of America: Hippo Books. INTRODUCTION Must Christians become involved in politics? In Romans 13:1-7 God is proclaiming that the government belongs to Him. God also tells us that we must follow the government of the day. Let us now try and establish a link between the church and the state. ASSIGNMENT 3 Evaluate the practical value and effectiveness of the four factors of change in the church and state relations. Political Factor Bishop Desmond Tutu exclaimed, Now I am going back to the church to do the real business of the church and leave politics to those well qualified to do it (Kumalo, 2009). When Nelson Mandela became the new president of South Africa that was then that there was an active democratic development in South Africa. Bishop Buthelezi also made the same statement on his farewell function. If we look at the church leaders we can see that most of these prominent leaders came from the political milieu and then go over to the church. On the other hand the other side of the coin is also true, church leaders sometimes also join departments and commissions. We dont know if what the two theologians above said, made the church to withdraw from politics, but they do make us to think about the church and their leaders in South Africa. The Sociological Factor It is true that Muslim politicians go to the Muslim community for their votes. In the Christian community the Christian politicians will go to the Christian community for their votes. The recent call by General Muhammadu Buhari from Nigeria that Muslims should vote only for Muslim candidates in the forthcoming elections in 2003 has generated a lot of controversy. It is important to understand why this is the case. The morality issue of Buhari could be defended from the point of view of his fundamental right. In other words, he has the freedom and fundamental right to take any position on any issue. The changing relationship between religious groups and the state opens up new challenges and new possibilities. More and more people of different religious groups are getting intertwined and use each other to accomplish goals (Kofarmata, 2009). The Economic Factor God has not called Christians just to work in the church, but however he has called us to get involved with all the economical issues in the world. In any case, God is in us and not just in the church. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has bestowed upon us and the calling from God, means getting involved in identifying the causes of poverty. We can address these problems and help the needy with the support of God. This means that it is not only the responsibility of the government, but a responsibility of the church. Christianity also means getting involved in politics so that the people can have a better life. Christians must try to create and provide on the job training for other people also encouraging them to find jobs. The African church specifically must get involved in politics and government. The church needs to educate their people so that everybody can make positive contributions to our country and government (Kunhiyop, 2004:74). The Religious Factor According to McCain (2008) the last two decades of the twentieth century have been known by for great explosion of Christian activity and Christian growth. Kunhiyop (2004:74) said: During the 1970s it was not uncommon to hear Christians, especially Christian youth, praying for the nation, which was believed to be under the forces of darkness. All night prayer meetings, fasting and prayers for the nation were common in the church and parachurch organisations such as the one mentioned above. I want to say that the above is true, but the opposite is also true and if we as Christians dont wake up, we are going to miss the opportunity to have an influence in politics. People all over the world still think that religion in politics is a negative and harmful issue that needs to be avoided. We really need to change the way people are thinking and acting in our country. We need to have transformation in our religion, having some objective value that can guide us. If we look at our political leaders when they speak, we must be able to say they are right or wrong, not from a political perspective, but from a religious perspective. The scriptures that we use must be not white or black, but the scriptures of the Holy Word of God. It is the absence of religion in politics that creates this huge gap in our society. We really have to be critical in this analysis. What are we going to do as a nation? Can a nation return to God? I think the question is, can we as a nation rise above our racial and discrimination issues and form one church? If black and white churches unite and stand together, the prayer and fasting for our nation will come back. The youth in this country will stand together and fight for religion and not for politics (MCain, 2008). Distinguish between the concepts state, government, politics and church. State A State is a self-governing political driven place. A state has territory which has internationally recognised boundaries and sometimes there can be quarrels over boundaries. A state has got the following in it: People that are staying and living there permanently. A strong or weak economic structure. A government that must supply things like police services and public services. A state can enter into relations with other states. A state is a nation? Where there is a state there is a nation? Governments can change but a state can stay static and not change for a very long time. Most of the States have sovereignty over their countries so that other states cant interfere. In Somalia this very same thing happened due to civil war. Somalia was part of the internal strife and because it had little authority outside Afghanistan, Somalia collapsed (Global Policy, nd). Government A government can be seen as a body within the community or an organisation that makes and enforce the laws, rules and regulations. A government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and human dignity. They are there to establish a society based on democratic values and social justice. The government must lay the foundation for a democratic and open society which is based on the will of people and where every citizen is equally protected by law. They definitely have to improve the quality of life of all the people supporting the government of that day. It is necessary to construct a culture of peace and replacing a culture of violence and disregard for human life. For me, this is what a government must consist of (Kunhiyop, 2004:77). Politics Politics is a need for the general public to have a representative in places other than the ordinary home or workplace. Candidates make themselves available to be elected through votes so that they can represent the people in different public and government organisations (Wikipedia, 2010). Church A church is a Christian religious organisation made up of a congregation, its members and clergy. The religious body is organised with constitutions and laws so that the church can function well. Churches often belong to a broader tradition within the Christian religion, like the Dutch Reformed church, sharing in a sense a history, culture and doctrinal rules with other church (Davies, 2009). Renwick and Harman (1958) said the following with regards to the church: Here we see the fulfillment of our Lords words that, although His kingdom was like a grain of mustard seed, it would yet become a great tree sheltering the birds of the air (Luke 13:19). The small and apparently weak church became a mighty organisation known throughout the earth. Its history shows its moral grandeur; it shows, too, certain defects arising from human weakness and the love of worldly pomp and power contrary to the spirit of the Master. We Theories of African Christian Ethics Theories of African Christian Ethics INTRODUCTION Before I begin, let me first suggest to you the overall task of Christian Ethics. If I speak about ethics, I speak about Who we are, how we are to perceive our world and how we are to live in this world. This is the main crux of Christian Ethics. In this assignment I would like to demonstrate a working knowledge of African, Western and African Christian Ethics. I will also look at the differences between selected ethical theories. ASSIGNMENT 1 Explain Western Ethics and evaluate the effect it has on our understanding of ethics. Underscore both the positives and negatives it has brought about in ethical thinking. According to Barnhill (2009) the Western tradition has four major approaches to ethics: The first two listed (Utilitarian Ethics and Deontological Ethics) are modern developments and they dominate modern philosophy. He says that Virtue ethics is as old as Plato and is making a bit of a come-back. Natural law ethics is relatively popular among environmental ethicists. After reading his Environmental studies, I have come to realise the following: This study speaks about goodness and badness. We can identify happiness with the good and sees virtue as a major part of happiness. We can explain that happiness and virtue should be detached. If we look at virtue it relates to good will, a good will is good in every circumstance and is absolute or unconditional good. It grows when you act for the sake of duty. A human action is morally good and is done for the sake of duty. Western Ethics shows us that an action can be motivated by duty and has moral worth. Not because of the results it achieved, but for satisfying a formal principle. The principle of performing ones duty, whatever it may be. People have impulses and desires and that is why the moral law appears to us as a law that we must obey. This impulses and desires is our only source for moral judgement. This is our free will. Our free will can create a moral law and we will obey it. The human mind is able to know what is good and evil. To have value judgement is born from ins ide of us. This is called your conscience. Most people recognize that man is free to make his or her moral decisions. On the other hand, all the things that we do wrong come from our human desires. Men and women should follow the will of God. Use the will of God to make certain decisions in life. There is a universal moral law, the knowledge to free ourselves from human desires. We are free to make good and sound moral judgements. In the approach of care and the community, too much Western Ethics has given individuals the right to think about themselves. We must build love and compassionate relationships among people. The full theory of ethics would have to accommodate all four aspects of Western ethics. One way to sometimes approach Western ethics and the influence it has on ethics is based on four aspects like rights, goods, virtues and our relationship with each other. We must look at the following questions like: Do our actions violate another persons rights? We must try to achieve good in life. Look at our integrity. Care for each other. Ethics and even Western Ethics can never be static and with Western Ethics there are certain frameworks and principles. We dont know whether Western Ethic has a future, but it really and most definitely do have a past. We can see that the patterns of the Western moral personality will continue to surface and really have to be dealt with, either through painful reflection or painful restructuring (Kunhiyop, 2004:29). Define in your own words Contemporary African Ethics. Highlight its important characteristics. Kigongo (nd) says that Contemporary African Ethics is a combination of African ethical tradition and European ethical tradition. What better way to describe Contemporary African Ethics than the word Ubuntu. Ubuntu means that people are people because of other people. In Africa nobody can survive alone, we need each other to survive. I think that we are all searching and suggesting new directions which to follow in pursuit of African values. We can say that the foundation of African ethics is definitely a humanistic worldview. Everything about the community is seen to exist not just in the here and now, but also in the past, through those who have already gone and also in the future, those who have yet to come. It is the past that influence the present and the present the future. Why, we ask, has this worldview, with the emphasis on respect for all mankind, support and responsibility not travel through the whole world yet? You remember in the second paragraph I spoke about Ubuntu. Well, I can say that this worldview is expressed by the very society that lives according to it. If the community follows Contemporary African Ethics, they are living testimonies to their worldview. This worldview is worth reviving and respect for another, especially a stranger, is well known to communities in the south of the Sahara. With them a visitor was to be welcomed and feted, not suspected and resisted like in some of our communities (Kunhiyop, 2004:23-27). Africa is currently looking at a new future when it comes to African Ethics. Africa believes that its own worldview has so much potential and contemporary messages to give. Africa does not have all the above on record, but the culture itself speaks of enrichment and value. Definitely African values can be included in everything in life, for example in institutions of higher learning. The world needs more Contemporary African Ethics (Kunhiyop, 2004:13). Identify the key aspects of African Christian Ethics. I hear what Okolo (nd) says: First, the African may well count himself fortunate to be blessed with such a basically sound and enduring religious and moral tradition. But this does not at all mean that the Christian religion based on Christs love ethic constitutes a mere superficial dimension in his moral life. The Christian religion means for the African fundamental changes in many of his cultural values and options such that a real conversion is required for him to be a Christian in the authentic meaning of the term and in its ethical implication. I think that the African society is in a moral crisis. The African are having an identity crisis and have shifted away from their value system. Their moral values they gave away for other value systems. In a sense the first aspects is the fact that they have betrayed the African value system by analyzing it with the socio-economic and political implications that are taken from all the different value systems. The second aspect for me is the fact that Africans are now abandoning their value system by trying to embrace other systems, namely liberalism and utilitarianism. The consequence of this above mentioned shift is that the African will no longer be known by what he is, but by what he has acquired by different means. The African have lost the sense of Who am I and this created the moral crisis in South Africa. If we look at virtue ethics, I think it could help us to redeem the African value system as well as every individual in South Africa. Virtue ethics is intended to provide a s ociety in which people can live a meaningful life. There is a general agreement amongst the African people that the African cannot be defined except in the closeness of the community. We can see the closeness of relationship between the individual and the social nature of the African. The African system is not concerned with material issues; it is concerned primarily with human beings in their relationship with one another. It is like that, the community means that the community alone can constitute the context, their social and cultural space. Africans needs to find freedom and responsibility in themselves and also in other people in South Africa. CONCLUSION Whether African Christian Ethics will start a different socio-economic and political arrangement remains a question that needs to be explored in-depth. Bibliography Barnhill D L 2007. Four Traditional Western Approaches to Ethics. Online article: http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/barnhill/ES_375/ethics.html, 07/01/2009. Kunhiyop S W 2004. African Christian Ethics. United States of America: Hippo Books. Kigongo J K n.d. The Relevance of African Ethics To Contemporary African Society. Online article: http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/II-8/chapter_ii.htm, 13/01/2009. Okolo C B n.d. The African Experience of Christian Values: Dimensions of The Problematic. Online article: http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/II-3/chapter_xi.htm, 13/01/2009. INTRODUCTION The Bible is an expression of Gods will to us and possesses the right supremely to define what we are to believe and how we are to conduct ourselves. In the book African Christian Ethics Samuel W. Kunhiyop gives us guidelines in biblical Christianity for Africa. Although Samuel Kunhiyops book does not deal exclusively with the role of the Bible, I will review his book to get to the core. We know that everything stays the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. To review a great Theologian like Samuel W. Kunhiyop, I dont think it is for me to comment on the way he wrote his book. ASSIGNMENT 2 Write a critical book review of the course textbook: Samuel Kunhiyop (2004), African Christian Ethics. In the introduction Samuel describes the need for writing this book: Christian ethics is often regarded the same as Western ethics, but they are really not the same. The two have become confused because Western missionaries did not bring a true and honest gospel but one that is different from the true gospel. Students who should be studying African Christian ethics are too often busy with the wrong ethical theories coming from the West. What should be taught in African theological colleges is an ethics that is African, biblical and Christian. That is what this book seeks to give to its reader (Kunhiyop, 2004:8-10). We can find a lot of information on African Christian Ethics through the internet and there is a lot of information for Western churches to use. Hippo books are so popular that they are used by many publishers and are well known throughout the world. Some of the publishers like Zondervan and African publishing houses also make use of Hippo books. Hippo books create an environment for the learner or student to get acquainted with all sections of Theology. Hippo books have got information and theories of many of scholars who share their knowledge and experience with us. Hippo books have got a vision to help with the growth in all African churches so they can see their culture from an evangelical perspective. Hippo books also published African Christian Ethics which I am about to review (Davy, 2010). Samuel Waje Kunhiyop was previously the Professor of Theology and Ethics at ECWA Theological Seminary. He holds a Bachelor of Theology, Masters of Theology and PhD at Trinity International University, Illinois. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop was ordained by the Evangelical Church of West Africa as a minister. Currently he is one of the heads of the Postgraduate School at the South African Theological Seminary (Kunhiyop, 2004:4-5). The need for an interpretation of Christianity and all its aspects from an African point of view was necessary. One such aspect is the question of Christian ethics and how it is affected by Africa and its enormous cultural variety. Samuel identified the need to explore and explain the many questions that arose around the issue of African Christian ethics. According to Kunhiyop he started in his life seeking to find all information and truths about African Christianity. He studies for 8 years in Nigeria for his undergraduate theological training and another 7 years in the United States for his graduate theological training. In 1993 he went back to Nigeria and has been teaching now there for 11 years. Samuel is a great teacher of the Bible, Theology, Ethics and Philosophy. In 1994 he was teaching to a group of students and after finishing with them he asked the students What did you learn from this course? One of the students stood up and answered with the words nothing. Samuel was stu nned and because of that answer, he started to investigate and wanted to seek for the right answers. He realised that the information he gave through to the students did not pertain to them and their culture. He knew that he needed to do more for the students for them to succeed in life (Kunhiyop, 2004:8-9). If I can mention that it was very difficult to find the book in the library and Protea Bookshop gave an indication that it would take 10 weeks if I order the book. The book had to come from Kenya. When we look at the life of Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, we can see a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Although he did most of his studies overseas, he was born and raised in Africa. He wanted to help and assist African Christians struggling with their own situations and problems. He recognized that Africans, and even more so, African Christians, needed guidance in relation to the interpretation of their everyday personal problems within an ethical frame of reference (Kunhiyop, 2004:9). At first I didnt know what to make of the book African Christian Ethics. The book seemed extremely difficult to read, interpret and understand. Why might that be, I asked myself. Then I came to a conclusion. It was because I knew nothing about the Africans and their unique, intricate and diverse cultures. The only knowledge I have is about my own culture and roots. In Ethical Foundation: Section one Samuel Waje Kunhiyop explains what African morality and the African culture consists of (Kunhiyop, 2004:11). It is wonderful to read about my fellow African inhabitants within their interesting context. The songs they love to sing and the stories they love to tell. Then suddenly, the way of the African opens up to you and you begin to understand everything. The style in which the book has been written became much easier to read and interpret. As soon as I caught the drift of things, I enjoyed reading the book immensely. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop has done a lot of research to get to the truth. He also incorporated Biblical content to support his findings and to better explain the interpretation of these findings from a Christian point of view. At work my responsibilities include informing the soldiers about HIV and AIDS. With the knowledge that I gained from Samuels book I can now understand the African soldier better. It also helped me in building better relationships with the soldiers, as I better comprehend their training of thought and understanding of Christianity. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, through this book, opened up the eyes of many people, scholars and foreigners, although I think there is many more to explore and more information to gain. In South Africa a lot of African people are still confused and do not have identity. I can see that when I work with the youth in South Africa. The youth are lacking the strong morals and values they need to become better human beings in their communities and societies. The content of this book is magnificent and I would definitely encourage other individuals to read it and apply it to future situations with the African cultures. Let us explore the content of the book in detail to grasp the crux of what Samuel Waje Kunhiyop want to explain to us. I believe Kunhiyops work is excellent and I want to give him all the credit for this book. The book is divided into two sections, section one: Ethical Foundations, Chapter one, two and three deals with the theory of ethics, while section two: Contemporary Ethical Issues, Chapter four to thirteen discusses practical issues. Issues that is so relevant that we can apply it in our daily lives. The issues are grouped in the following order, as given in the Table of content: Political Issues, Religious Issues, Medical Issues, Welfare Issues, Financial Issues, Witchcraft Issues, AIDS Issues, Marriage Issues, Sexual Issues and Reproductive Technologies. Each chapter begins with a general introduction followed by the chapters dealing with the specific issues in that area. Samuel does not go into a detailed debate regarding War, rather, he looks at the wars and conflicts in Africa and then examines the Bible to find an answer (Kunhiyop, 2004:2). Starting with Contemporary African ethics, we can see that the African society does believe in God as the highest order and as the sole creator of earth and mankind. Secondly they stand under the authority of spirits and ancestors who are the leaders and instructors of good and evil. The distinct differences between morality and ethics are not acknowledged as they experience it as one with their religion. These assumptions are only written on paper as there is no documentary proof of the history or origin thereof. The growing up and teaching or learning through the elderly and community by word of mouth is their reference in life. Most important is the tribe, community and family rules for belonging and not to be a single individual with his or her own set of rules and regulations. Believing in the spirits and the ancestors justifies certain actions as long as you dont get caught and therefore has a deterrent effect on your family or community. They also believe that you must keep th e spirits happy in order to be blessed and not to be cursed in life. Mostly the interaction between family (grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews) and the community (neighbors, friends, etc.) is a vital link to the forming of the African cultural inheritance (Kunhiyop, 2004:11-28). Secondly, while Western ethics were founded and applied by numerous leaders of the Enlightenment eras, it had different positive as well as negative impacts on society. One example that has a negative impact on the biblical views of the religious community is the privacy factor where a woman has the sole right to apply abortion if she wishes to. Furthermore I do believe that technology is good for anybody except where it is applied have a negative result to humanity (Kunhiyop, 2004:29-46). The reading and understanding of African Christian Ethics was very difficult. Samuel makes mention of many authors and in text citing. The English language he used in Chapter three to point out his facts is confusing as to get the history facts straight. What I do understand from this Chapter is that Samuel writes that Christian theology is the backbone of African Christian ethics and that it will be useless if the Scriptures are not part of the guidance to the rules of African Christian ethics. The Black African Christian has a rule of ethics whereby their ancestors are always consulted and is a part and parcel of their decision making. Therefore in their ethics within certain issues they leave out God in certain other issues they consult Him. He explains that African ethics is deeply rooted in the soul and that it becomes personal, influencing the mind, heart, body and spirit of a person. If a family member has got an issue, that issue will affect the immediate family, as well as t heir distant relatives. It will influence those who are living and those who are dead, but still interested in the affairs of the living. To understand the community is to understand African ethics. This is a critical tool and must be used when studying African ethics. These ethics are developed in interaction with the past, the present and the future, nothing or nobody can be excluded. God, the spirits of the departed, the ancestors and good and evil will always have an enormous influence on the morality of the people. Why, because they are African and full of culture. Although the Bible does not support the doctrines of demons, evil spirits and witchcraft, many Christians are unaware of what the Bible teaches on the subject. Christians believe the Bible also serves as an authoritative moral influence, thus in Africa there is no such thing as an ethical system that has no practical and religious implications. There will always be principles or rules that guide behaviour. These prin ciples or rules are intertwined with practices of ethics and work nicely together (Kunhiyop, 2004:47-70). Samuel takes into account all the factors that are historically tied to the given topic and describes each problem in detail. In each problem he looks for a Biblical perspective on the issue, usually asking what the Old Testament says and what the New Testament says. This he does by also including the churchs response and the separate African churchs response before drawing an overall final conclusion. This method which he is using is effective because it keeps the Western reader aware of the differences between the West and Africa approach to ethical problems. The Western and traditional African understanding of ethics has affected the ethical thinking of Christians. We need to change our perspective of the church because the church is constantly growing and becoming stronger in other parts of the world. To conclude his thoughts Kunhiyop offers an outline for decision making. He based this outline on five important principles: God is the ultimate model of morality. The Scriptures pr ovide the only authority in matters of morality. Every aspect of life is subject to the laws of the Scriptures. The scriptures must be properly interpreted and the community of faith can provide support, responsibility and accountability. The world provides the boundaries in which we live out this morality and ethics (Kunhiyop, 2004). I really dont see any difference between Western Christian Ethics and African Christian Ethics. Kunhiyops point is actually what is underlying these ethics. Understanding the different world views on Christian ethics paves the way for Western churches to be influenced by and to have a greater influence on the African churches and their day to day functions. It is important for Christianity to overcome the barriers of culture and language. We are after all loved by Christ regardless of ethnicity and the limitations of the human race. I regard it important to note that even though the ethical values between the Western civilization and the African cultures are similar, the traditions within the set framework of each group changes the interpretation and thus also the outcome of the ethical concepts. It is in this idea that the key to unlocking Samuels thinking process lies. He understands, having been exposed to both African and Western culture, that these differences, however subtle so me may be, have an immense impact on the eventual interpretation of a persons set of ethical values. Christian ethics cannot be separated from its religious foundation. The important thing is that God requires something of man and that He stands ready to reward the obedience and punish violation. God has something to do with the very meaning of obligation. This book explains these issues well. The Western world is now faced with a choice: are we going to utilize the tools that will enable us to bridge the gap between two very different civilizations or are we going to sit back and do nothing? With the right understanding of Africans and how they interpret ethical values we can incorporate a set of Christian ethical values that will, without a doubt, benefit both parties (Kunhiyop, 2004). CONCLUSION The churches need to understand and interpret African Christian Ethics for them to survive in their communities. Let us think about this and understand where Kunhiyop comes from. Bibliography Davy T J 2010. HippoBooks African Evangelical Imprint. Online article: http://bibleandmission.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/hippobooks-african-evangelical-imprint/, 15/01/2009. Kunhiyop S W 2004. African Christian Ethics. United States of America: Hippo Books. INTRODUCTION Must Christians become involved in politics? In Romans 13:1-7 God is proclaiming that the government belongs to Him. God also tells us that we must follow the government of the day. Let us now try and establish a link between the church and the state. ASSIGNMENT 3 Evaluate the practical value and effectiveness of the four factors of change in the church and state relations. Political Factor Bishop Desmond Tutu exclaimed, Now I am going back to the church to do the real business of the church and leave politics to those well qualified to do it (Kumalo, 2009). When Nelson Mandela became the new president of South Africa that was then that there was an active democratic development in South Africa. Bishop Buthelezi also made the same statement on his farewell function. If we look at the church leaders we can see that most of these prominent leaders came from the political milieu and then go over to the church. On the other hand the other side of the coin is also true, church leaders sometimes also join departments and commissions. We dont know if what the two theologians above said, made the church to withdraw from politics, but they do make us to think about the church and their leaders in South Africa. The Sociological Factor It is true that Muslim politicians go to the Muslim community for their votes. In the Christian community the Christian politicians will go to the Christian community for their votes. The recent call by General Muhammadu Buhari from Nigeria that Muslims should vote only for Muslim candidates in the forthcoming elections in 2003 has generated a lot of controversy. It is important to understand why this is the case. The morality issue of Buhari could be defended from the point of view of his fundamental right. In other words, he has the freedom and fundamental right to take any position on any issue. The changing relationship between religious groups and the state opens up new challenges and new possibilities. More and more people of different religious groups are getting intertwined and use each other to accomplish goals (Kofarmata, 2009). The Economic Factor God has not called Christians just to work in the church, but however he has called us to get involved with all the economical issues in the world. In any case, God is in us and not just in the church. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has bestowed upon us and the calling from God, means getting involved in identifying the causes of poverty. We can address these problems and help the needy with the support of God. This means that it is not only the responsibility of the government, but a responsibility of the church. Christianity also means getting involved in politics so that the people can have a better life. Christians must try to create and provide on the job training for other people also encouraging them to find jobs. The African church specifically must get involved in politics and government. The church needs to educate their people so that everybody can make positive contributions to our country and government (Kunhiyop, 2004:74). The Religious Factor According to McCain (2008) the last two decades of the twentieth century have been known by for great explosion of Christian activity and Christian growth. Kunhiyop (2004:74) said: During the 1970s it was not uncommon to hear Christians, especially Christian youth, praying for the nation, which was believed to be under the forces of darkness. All night prayer meetings, fasting and prayers for the nation were common in the church and parachurch organisations such as the one mentioned above. I want to say that the above is true, but the opposite is also true and if we as Christians dont wake up, we are going to miss the opportunity to have an influence in politics. People all over the world still think that religion in politics is a negative and harmful issue that needs to be avoided. We really need to change the way people are thinking and acting in our country. We need to have transformation in our religion, having some objective value that can guide us. If we look at our political leaders when they speak, we must be able to say they are right or wrong, not from a political perspective, but from a religious perspective. The scriptures that we use must be not white or black, but the scriptures of the Holy Word of God. It is the absence of religion in politics that creates this huge gap in our society. We really have to be critical in this analysis. What are we going to do as a nation? Can a nation return to God? I think the question is, can we as a nation rise above our racial and discrimination issues and form one church? If black and white churches unite and stand together, the prayer and fasting for our nation will come back. The youth in this country will stand together and fight for religion and not for politics (MCain, 2008). Distinguish between the concepts state, government, politics and church. State A State is a self-governing political driven place. A state has territory which has internationally recognised boundaries and sometimes there can be quarrels over boundaries. A state has got the following in it: People that are staying and living there permanently. A strong or weak economic structure. A government that must supply things like police services and public services. A state can enter into relations with other states. A state is a nation? Where there is a state there is a nation? Governments can change but a state can stay static and not change for a very long time. Most of the States have sovereignty over their countries so that other states cant interfere. In Somalia this very same thing happened due to civil war. Somalia was part of the internal strife and because it had little authority outside Afghanistan, Somalia collapsed (Global Policy, nd). Government A government can be seen as a body within the community or an organisation that makes and enforce the laws, rules and regulations. A government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and human dignity. They are there to establish a society based on democratic values and social justice. The government must lay the foundation for a democratic and open society which is based on the will of people and where every citizen is equally protected by law. They definitely have to improve the quality of life of all the people supporting the government of that day. It is necessary to construct a culture of peace and replacing a culture of violence and disregard for human life. For me, this is what a government must consist of (Kunhiyop, 2004:77). Politics Politics is a need for the general public to have a representative in places other than the ordinary home or workplace. Candidates make themselves available to be elected through votes so that they can represent the people in different public and government organisations (Wikipedia, 2010). Church A church is a Christian religious organisation made up of a congregation, its members and clergy. The religious body is organised with constitutions and laws so that the church can function well. Churches often belong to a broader tradition within the Christian religion, like the Dutch Reformed church, sharing in a sense a history, culture and doctrinal rules with other church (Davies, 2009). Renwick and Harman (1958) said the following with regards to the church: Here we see the fulfillment of our Lords words that, although His kingdom was like a grain of mustard seed, it would yet become a great tree sheltering the birds of the air (Luke 13:19). The small and apparently weak church became a mighty organisation known throughout the earth. Its history shows its moral grandeur; it shows, too, certain defects arising from human weakness and the love of worldly pomp and power contrary to the spirit of the Master. We