Experience of a Muslim Going Into a Church - Essay Example

Dayo Abbas Ali Dayo Number 12 November Experience of a Muslim going into a church Different religions have differentspecific places where they worship their Gods. For Muslims, it is Mosque, for Hindus it is Mandir and for Christians, it is Church. People, belonging to these religions, worship there according to their religious obligations. Their rituals are also different from one another. In this chapter, I will narrate my experience of going into a church and observing activities of the Christians. I happened to pass by a church last year while I was traveling to India’s far flung areas. It was a cool day. Suddenly I heard a bell which initially struck fear into me and afterwards feelings of wonder engulfed me. The bell resembled that of school bell which furthered my fear because it caused me recall my memory of past times when I used to fear of going to my school. But soon I discovered that it was a church bell which solaced my frightened soul. Excited much by my feelings, I decided to observe church activities so, I moved into. This church building was in the shape of cross and had a tower or dome. But these days, church buildings have different architectural designs. Prior to this moment,I had never been to any church so, it was going to be a great experience for me for the rest of my life to come. CHURCH ACTIVITIES Upon my entering church’s main hall, I saw many men and women prostrating in silence. Once again my subconscious raised voice that it must be library, but soon I shook this idea. It was surely a church and bells were rung to start its religious activities and this Dayo 2 silence was in the honor of Jesus Christ. After a period of silence, a period of singing hymns and reading scriptures started. Christian hymns are generally referred as praise and worship to the monotheistic God. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly. Christian hymns are normally described with particular or seasonal themes and these are sung on holy days such as Christmas, Easter and the Feast of All Saints, or during the seasons especially marked for Advent and Lent. And all others are used to assimilate respect to the Holy Bible or to glorify Christian rituals such as the Eucharist or baptism. Some hymns sing praise or address individual saints, particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary; such hymns have gained ground particularly in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and to some extent "High Church" Anglicanism (Arthur 202). Once again I was astonished when traditional vocal music was sung by a choir or what is called a congregation accompanied by an organ. This, again, strike a thought in my mind that it was some musical training club, but the way they sung did not meet the requirements of a particular singing club though instruments such as such as piano, classical instruments, or modern band instruments were included as part of the service. It seemed to me a bt humorous because prior silence was emphasized, but now a boisterous sound of musical instruments had over whelmed the scenario. This feeling was further excited by a large size screen on which words of the hymns and scriptures were written. It again gave me a thought as if I was sitting in a cinema. Confusion was much and I was unable to understand what was going on as religious rituals were fused into modern day multi-media art. For long I kept on watching all this with feeling of confusion and amazement. My thought of coming into a media place was again strengthened by another practice of these people. It was collection of money from the followers. During the service church Dayo 3 management started taking up collection from the people. I became certain that it was some stage drama or which people are paying money as an encouraging element. I also took out some money to hand over to the staff, but soon I was pushed back as some of them did not pay this amount. I quickly put back money into my pocket to save it. In fact, it was also one of their religious rituals which were, as I came to know afterwards, mandatory in some churches and in some churches optional. Management of such churches avoids this money and keeps the payment solely on the wish of the worshippers. To keep this practice intact, anonymity has been strengthened by different means. I kept on sitting with a feeling of amazement and confusion. Suddenly, it struck into my mind that it cannot be a school because it was Sunday. But for what young boys were present there; this thought again surprised me. This was surely not a school. I came to know afterwards that it was special congregation particularly called on Sundays. With much fear and excitement, I dared to ask a worshipper sitting beside me. He, in the first place, was astonished to see me sitting in the church and frowned, but after some time, he informed me that it was a church which is particularly meant for the worship of Jesus Christ. Before I could ask him further details of all rituals, the priest asked every body to leave the hall in a particular way typical of church norms. Everybody left, but two. Surely one was me and another person who looked young. When everybody had left, he stood up and went in a chamber like room and started narrating his all sins. He confessed his past sins with complete honesty. I was amazed to see whom he was talking to, but suddenly I heard the voice of priest. He consoled him and asked him not to repeat all these sins again in the life. Mild punishment was awarded to him by the priest. At this occasion, I became convinced that the person had told a lie with me. It was surely a drama where people were performing different roles after changing scenes; sometimes of Dayo 4 a school, sometimes of a musical theater, some times of a cinema and some times of a court. Perplexed by the whole situation, I stood up and mustered my courage to ask all this from the priest. Initially, he was also surprised, but with mild tone, he informed me about the rituals of the church. Ringing bell was a way to start the religious ceremony, singing hymns was religious song, collection of money was a ritual called Corinthian and confession chamber was, in deed, confession box which is particularly for this activity. Thus I had a very exciting and enthralling experience of going into church and observing their religious activities. Dayo 6 Works cited Arthur. George, Life of Lord Kitchener: Volume 1. Print Dayo 2 and concluding paragraph on connection between economics and globalization coupled with argumentative statements. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AND LOCAL ISSUES Globalized world has a logical association with local issues because, local issues profoundly influence global environment. In this highly globalized world local problems become international and international concerns have implications on local level so, there is strong relationship between global environment and local issues. These issues include many things such as: concerns relating to environmentalists, third world countries, and critics of capitalism, business organizations and trade unions of rich countries. Further, health issues, labor rights, cultural issues and issues of national integrity also have nexus with international environment. International arena is more concerned with dealing with these problems as they pose threat to unification of the world driven by communication, transportation and information technology. International scenario is concerned with issues of environmentalists because global world does not seem to have same environmental conditions across the globe. Further, global warming which has serious implications for some countries, but has a sunny side for others, has seriously affected globalization process. In this connection, world environmentalists cannot come to a conclusion in forming similar codes of conduct in this globalized environment. On the other hand, efforts are being made in this perspective. Moreover, development in the third world countries is not consistent with the developed countries. There is strong disparity at local development and at international one. For globalization this development needs to be in the same phase with the same pace. Dayo 3 Besides, the world has critics of capitalism as well along with those who appreciate it. Capitalism as mode of economic development is liked in capitalist countries, but abhorred in communist countries. Thus, it implies that the world does not seem to have consensus on single mode of economic modality. As (Marquardt 173) puts it, capitalism and communism both are highly discussed issues at international arena for seeking a single global economic order. Business organizations and trade unions of rich countries are also no exception to this disparity, but their cooperation in different domains has drawn the countries together by adopting an attitude of being conscious on local issues. Labor rights and human rights at local level have nexus with international environment. In some countries, especially in South Asian countries, labor rights and human rights vary from those in the Western World. Since both blocs have different cultural heritage and social normative order, their compromise on these issues to make them world established rights seem difficult but not impossible because efforts are being madder to practice similar human rights and labor laws across the world. Moreover, cultural issues and concerns of national integrity at local level have a correlation with international arena. If national integrity of country is at stake, international players come forth to tackle the issue by making it international concern. Cultural unification is also under process because of the social and cultural changes occurrence due to rapid progress in the fields of communication and transportation. Finally, it can be asserted that local issues have linkage with international environment because globalization describes the growing economic, political, cultural and technological linkages that connect individuals, communities, business and governments all over the world. IMPLICATIONS OF POVERTY ON GLOBAL AS WELL AS LOCAL LEVEL Dayo 4 One eighth of the world’s people does not have enough to eat implies that poverty has taken roots of the world population. Poverty has become a global issue as well as a local issue increasingly. This issue promptly needs attention so that countries escape from its colossal losses in the long run. To internationalization, poverty means a serious threat to development and prosperity with its ultimate impact on globalization. If one eighth of the world’s people do not have enough to eat implies that such huge chunk of population is burden over international economy. To shake off this burden, international blocs need to evolve code of conducts so that this number of people be turned into useful members of international community. it is generally believe that poverty generates social evils which include even criminal activates. As a result internationalization faces dire consequences ultimately because this destitute lot becomes ready to go for criminal activities at international level. Thus poverty has become global concern and business organizations and trade unions have apprehensions in this regard. According to (Chossudovsky 97), champions of globalizations assert that the whole world should experience same social and economic status and international organizations and trade unions of rich countries should play their part in alleviating poverty for good to make this world a globalized village. Poverty at local level is also of much concern because it leads to numerous other evils which are, in no way, favour of development and economic growth. At local level, poverty breeds social evils such as criminal attitude, juvenile delinquency and illiteracy which have, in turn, dire results for the country. Illiteracy itself is a chief factor contributing in the regression of economy of a given country. Moreover, criminal attitude Dayo 5 results in nothing but lawlessness and this law and order situation destabilizes political setup which is horrible for national integrity. Juvenile delinquency deprives society of a productive young generation. Youth become addicted to even drugs in the long run. Society of such a country looses social control and become prone to cultural invasion through different social and cultural changes. Thus affected country is deprived of her cultural heritage which she could have inherited years ago. According to (Kaplinsky 124), poverty at local level affects all areas of life and plunges country into mainstream of underdeveloped or third world countries. CONCLUSION In concluding remarks, simple assertion can be made that improvement in the means of communication and transportation and technological advancement have made the world a global village. Besides all other perspectives, economic one has experienced a rapid improvement in internationalization process. It is mainly due to the fact that all countries, after the World War-2, had started depending upon each other in economic domain. Economic sphere made its way towards globalization so quick also because the world desired economic growth which was dependant upon import and export of raw material and finished good respectively. There are numerous problems which this process is still confronted, but international players who visualize this world a global village endeavor in this direction. Dayo 6 Works cited Steger, Manfred. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. Print Marquardt, Michael, J. Global Advantage: How World-Class Organizations Improve Performance Through Globalization. Print Chossudovsky, Michel. The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order. Print Kaplinsky, Raphael. Poverty And Inequality: Between A Rock And A Hard Place. Print Works cited Read More