First Formal Writing Assignment
Religion in the New Millenium

I would like you to compose a persuasive essay (think of it as a long newspaper editorial) of from five to seven pages Taking into account the following resources:
    • The Secular Humanist Declaration
  • The Grand Inquisitor (pages 1-80)
    • Gould's Full House
    • Your own experience and thoughts
  • other materials of the course which you might consider, if you wish, are
  •         The Dhammapada and Buddhism
            The Readings from Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy
            The Gospel of Mark
            "Jesus of Montreal" (movie)
            The "Franciscan Tradition" statement on the Foundations web page.

Some questions which you might want to consider in adopting your position:
  1. Is religion a holdover from the past which should be abandoned?
    • Is religion the hope of the new millennium which should be promoted? Should religious experience take new forms or should the forms of religion be governed by tradition?
    • Take a position either favoring or opposing religion or, possibly, both favoring and opposing it. Your position might or might not be your own. You could take a"devil's advocate" position and try to argue the side with which you disagree. I would like your essay to be a piece of "persuasive" writing. That is to say, you should try to persuade the reader to adopt the position which is outlined in the paper. Some further questions which might be of interest in your essay:
  • Is belief in God consistent with the discoveries of modern science? Is Gould right when he argues that human reality is the result of the probabilities of evolution?
  • Is religious belief largely a relic of the past?
  • Is religious belief possible in light of the terrible suffering and evil of the 20th century, e.g., the Jewish Holocaust, the atomic bomb, starvation and famine, the suffering of children in America and elsewhere? If it is, on what basis does it stand?
  • Can one be both a believer and an unbeliever at the same time? If so, what would this mean?
  • Are we witnessing the "death of religion" or its "renaissance"?

Timelines for the Assignment

Thursday, March 16: First draft of paper due

Tuesday, March 21: Peer group meetings.

Tuesday, March 28: Final drafts due.
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