Essay on Western Civilization - 1179 Words

Western Civilization In this essay I will be discussing four of the major themes in this course in terms of progress, they will be religion, humanism, individualism and secularism. I will discuss these concepts within the countries of England, France, and Russia, and show my point of view on each. Religion was very dominant throughout the early history in England, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries. This started to change during the late 17th century, when people started focusing more on human reason rather than religion. One of the reasons that people started losing their faith in the church is because of how the bishops were picked, and how the church itself was generally deteriorating; they werent changing at all†¦show more content†¦When Napoleon III was looking to maintain Catholic support in France, decided to intervene in Italian affairs in the Crimean War and in Mexico. After Napoleons collapse, the Third Republic was hostile to the influential role of the Catholic Church pla yed in French politics and introduced sharply anti-clerical legislation. In Russia religions influence was much different. There wasnt much influence at all in the period of 1815 to 1919. Czar Alexander proposed the Holy Alliance under which monarchs would pledge themselves to rule according to Christian teachings; here alot of them didnt have any sincerity, especially Alexander. Religion also intensified things as in France, Russia decided to intervene when the Greeks revolted against the Turks, claiming the need to protect fellow Christians from the Muslims. Russia has been Communist for a very long time already, and as such they are atheistic and they also persecuted organized religion as a rival for the peoples loyalty. But since the collapse of Communist for reasons other than religion, it has allowed churches to practice freely, like the Russian Orthodox, have shown a surprising amount of popular support. I believe that it was good for the religion to change because that way p eople dont rely wholly upon religion for everything and tend to think more for themselves. Not only that there were more choices of religion, which may have been a bad thingShow MoreRelatedWestern Civilization1515 Words   |  7 PagesCivilization: The West and the Rest Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book â€Å"Civilization: The West and the Rest,† is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six â€Å"killer applications† the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work. When explainingRead MoreThe Lost Truth : The Western Civilization2828 Words   |  12 PagesThe Lost Truth: The Western Civilization was built by the Catholic Church It is not unusual for an average American to possess a negative view on the Catholic Church. Indeed, historians find it difficult to convince most people that the Catholic Church did not give rise to the cultural and intellectual retrogression experienced during the Middle Ages. Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. wrote a book called â€Å"How the Catholic Church built Western Civilization† to demonstrate that the Church’s contributionsRead MoreThe Influences On Western Civilization1559 Words   |  7 PagesThe Influences on Western Civilization by the Hebrew-Christian and Greco-Roman Traditions Western Civilization, as it is known today, is a coalescence of various cultures, ideologies, and practices that have been preserved over centuries of human life. 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