Sociology

This particular research thesis paper will make assessments about how women are de-valued in the Christianity- Islamic- and Judaism. Based on historical facts, women have been seen as second class citizens. This research paper will identify key discrepancies in the valuation and treatment of women compared to men. This valuation will be defined by 1. A womans rights. 2.Religious beliefs and roles assigned to women 3. Public and private roles, 4. Sexual exploitations. Furthermore, this paper will show how dehumanizing these positions have contributed and continues to promote a growing disparity toward women in religiously based countries. It is the hope of this writer that a womans worth is not predicated on her gender, but on her contributions that she has made and continues to make as an individual.

Introduction
Can you imagine being born into a culturally religious society that dictates your basic human rights Women born in Jordan, Pakistan, Algeria, Iran, India and other Western civilizations are subjected to and are govern by such discriminatory practices. Basic human rights that most of us take for granted such as the basic right to exercise our appearance in public places, to choose who we want to married, our sexual obligation, or choosing our own public and private roles. Unfortunately these basic human rights have been denied to women who live among or within countries that practice Christianity, Islamic and Judaism. Unfortunately these religious indoctrinations also allows for the amoral practice of Honor Killing. Honor killing has taken the lives of over 5,000 women annually (Jamison 2003, as cited in Burn 2005 30).

Honor killings is a rite of passage to male members of female relatives who have been raped, alleged to have committed adultery, have had premarital sex, been found in the company of an undesirable male, or flirting with a man a free pass to murder his female cousins, sisters, or aunts with little fear of being punished by the law. In doing so, a man is then able to save face, and restore honor back to his family. But where is the honor of killing a female family member on suspicions of such acts when their male counterparts are allow to have up to four wives And where is the honor for killing your sister, aunt, or cousin who has been raped. Shouldnt the male that raped her be held accountable In spite of, such atrocities toward their sisters, aunts, and nieces, these men are usually met with applauds from surrounding witnesses, or met with minimal incarceration, when and if caught. In fact, most walk away with a slap on the back. It is obvious then, when a male member commits such a heinous crime against women and humanity, society has to wonder what does this mean Is the life of one woman just as valuable and equally important to that of the life of one man It is surely within this parameter that we must investigate the dehumanizing of one gender against another.

This research thesis paper will make assessments about how women are de-valued in the Christianity- Islamic- and Judaism. Based on historical facts, women have been seen as second class citizens. This research paper will identify key discrepancies in the valuation and treatment of women compared to men. This valuation will be defined by 1. A womans rights. 2.Religious beliefs and roles assigned to women 3. Public and private roles, 4. Sexual exploitations. Furthermore, this paper will show how dehumanizing these positions have contributed and continues to promote a growing disparity toward women in religiously based countries.

Problem statement
Three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, have historically used sacred texts to impose the inferiority of the female sex. Through a patriarchal understanding of the Holy Scriptures, women have been devalued in different aspects of their life and have become second-class citizens in the modern world. As a result, women are severely limited by religious institutions in their social, economic, political, and religious functions and roles.

Literature Review
It is essential to understand that the Bible is a very important and significant piece of writing that most of society holds to be true, factual, and law. The Bible has its own power and merits, which enabled it to stand on its own for many centuries and it continues to do so up to now. The Bible makes no mistakes as to the status and roles women are supposed to play in the hierarchy of things. For instance, Christianity plays a big part in the value of woman.

Christianity
Christianity is defined as 1. The Christian religion. 2. Christians as a group Christendom. 3. The state or fact of being a Christian. 4. A particular form or sect of the Christian religion (Pickett 2002256). For instance, Christianity is a faith that most of us are familiar with. Christianity arose out of Judaism around the first century C. E. and The main text of Christianity is the Bible (Burn 2005 211). Christianity evolved nevertheless to numerous churches or denominations, although in general, they see themselves as followers of Jesus Christ and hold monotheistic religious beliefs. In the Bible, the book of Genesis has several significant passages that have bound our society into the misconception of a womans worth. These particular scriptures are implicated in the Bible. For example, it states And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man (Genesis 1981 222-23 7).

This part of the story is often used to legitimate a husbands power over his wife in the most persuasive of ways  it is presented as divinely ordained (Burn 2005 212 Clark 1994 256). Osiek and MacDonald (2006 9) also described the honorshame code for women to control their behavior.  It is often argued through the use of Biblical text, that because a woman came from the mans rib, she is his subordinate and must follow his rules (Burn 2005 195). She is therefore not allowed to have a voice or have an opinion. From this point on, women have been considered as second class citizen. As a second class citizen she is subservient unto him. He is given immediate authority over her which, is bound by the Christian faith as indicated in the bible. It is this presumptuous right that has allowed women to be treated in a dehumanizing manner.

What is the impact of this passage on the modern Christian world Two words come to mind- domestic violence. Haaken, Fussell, and Mankowski (2007) studied the numerous uses of domestic violence discourse in evangelical churches. They used participant observation of the Christians Addressing Family Abuse (CAFA) conference, in order to depict primary conflicts that stood out between feminist and evangelical Christian frameworks, and the function of counseling principles in understanding different perceptions of domestic violence. Carolyn Rexius and Jackie Hudson are expert informants in this study. Rexius saw domestic violence as both embedded in a system of domination within the church  that is, as a structural problem and approaching it as a misunderstanding of Christian doctrine (Haaken et al.2007 113). She blamed the clergy for frequently colluding in the suppression of women by using the Biblical verses that state that women should always bend to the will of their husbands (Haaken et al. 2007 113). Rexius argued that the Christian concept of humility is also being used to justify patriarchal control (Haaken et al. 2007 113). Hudson, on other hand, did not waver on the role of the church on supporting domestic violence through the churchs inconsistency about issues of gender (Haaken et al. 2007 113). These modern examples demonstrate that Biblical verses are being used to justify the physical and emotional subordination of women, especially during marriage. Marriage then becomes a podium for men, wherein women lose their public roles, and are even undermined in their private gender roles of being a wife, by being a powerless object of oppression and violence.

In addition, the passage Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee (Genesis 1981 316 7). This particular scripture indicates that God is displeased with Eve for eating from the tree of knowledge. God punishes her by causing her extreme pain during childbirth. More importantly, her husband shall rule over her which is ironic since he ate from the tree of knowledge. This is also seen as the fall of Adam, but Gods punishment to Adam was not as harsh and sexist. Especially in this particular passage, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything (Ephesians 1981522-24 1352).

The womens movement in America that grew powerful in the 1970s led some clergy to push back womens rights advocates. They claimed that the womens movement contributed to the family crisis (Tyler 2007 178).The evangelists of Protestant Christianity, such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Robinson and Jim Baker, used the television to deliver family-gender rhetoric (Tyler 2007 178). This rhetoric depicted the feminist as an evil, bitter, unnatural and self-pitying figure who was greedily grabbing for her rights without any concern for others (Klatch 1987 189 cited in Tyler 2007 178). All of a sudden, only the rest of the world had individual rights- except women. A new coalition of evangelicals and conservative group from the grassroots, known as the Religious Right, amassed popular support for the election of Ronald Regan in 1980 using a pro-family, anti-ERA, anti-abortion platform (Tyler 2007 178). Religious fundamentalism was accompanied by rallying groups from political, educational, and social organizations, all of whom were more or less veiled anti-feminism (Tyler 2007 178). They argued that feminism undermined the sanctity of the family so that feminists can pursue their own individual interest above all else, an ideology that resulted to a narcissistic crisis (Klatch 1987 127, cited in Tyler 2007 178). Because of slogans and images that showed feminism attacking the family, religious, social, and political vies arose to evoke the era of selfless women (Tyler 2007 178). This example shows how the church shapes politics, education, and society to become unsupportive of womens rights. It is not enough that they could use the Bible for undermining womens rights. They even used the media and their spiritual leadership to advocate for selfless women- because all human rights for individuality and freedom apply only to men, and women SHOULD always make the sacrifice for their families, husbands, brothers, uncles, and the every male human member on earth.
These particular passages and examples set the foundation that women are inferior to man. The mere fact that a woman was made from the rib of a man makes her less valuable than a man. More importantly, she was made from his rib to be his help meet, which validates her inequality and the disparities she will continue to face. The passages above set the precedent for religious sects to practice discernment toward women in our society. For centuries women, were not allowed to teach religion because of the stigma that might be associated with the hierarchy of Western cultural civilization religious propaganda.

It places a womans role beneath a man as his foot stool and rates her as a second class citizen not worthy of a commissioned role in church nor a seat in the pews. She is ostracized and not allowed a voice. This is predicated on the premise that the bible has help foster gender discrimination in the form of sexism, classicism, and objectification as specified by those particular scriptures however, the Roman Catholics gave much praise and worship of Mary, Jesus mother. She is considered, as the perfect virgin mother (Burn 2005211), which is contradictory toward how women are devalued, when characterizing a womans role in the hierarchy of Christianity. For instance, Catholic Churches prohibits abortions, contraception, and sterilization, limits divorces and remarriages, and denies the rights of gays and lesbians, although many Catholics do not agree (Kissling 1999).

This has been the indoctrination of Christianity faith a faith that has been discriminative toward women. Christianity is a faith that has dictated the valued of a woman. It tells a woman what she can and cant do to her body. The value of man is not in question, but is obvious that he is permitted to live as he pleases under the sanctity of having one set of rules for men and another set for women. Men are not dictated in this manner at all. They are allowed to live the life of promiscuity. In early Roman history, men and clergies were allowed to fornicate with concubines, have children out of wedlock, and send them to school without repercussions (Gonzalez 19857).

Here is another prime example of sexismobjectification. Sexism is defined as, Discrimination based on gender, esp. against women. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promotes stereotyping of social roles based on gender (Pickett 2002 1271). In the article Leave it to the women The exclusion of women from Anglican church government in Australia, Sherlock (2008) explored the debate on the participation of women in Australian Anglican churchs synods and vestries. In 1896, for instance, Tasmanias Anglican synod debated whether or not women could vote in church elections. Synods men asked about the meaning of the concept laymen in secular legislation that formed franchise (Sherlock 2008288). They asked  Were women laymen The diocesan Chancellor made the final decision that they were not, and Tasmanias Anglican women were not enfranchised for another decade (Sherlock 2008288). Since then, the Anglican dioceses debated on the view of accepting women as laymen who can participate in the councils of the church (Sherlock 2008288).  For a long time, many male church leaders believed that female laymen constituted a threat to masculinity of the church and will be obstacles to the churchs development (Sherlock 2008288).  The personal question is Why should men feel so threatened by the female gender Is there gender competition in the church for power Or are men of the church have been too mainstreamed into power that they have neglected to remember that women also wanted to be church leaders and officers and that these aspirations can also be legitimate and meaningful for the growth of the church Only in September 2007, 111 years later, did the Church allowed for women to be bishops, the highest office of the church (Sherlock 2008288).  This devaluation and domination does not stop in the Christianity faith but is extended in the Islamic and Judaism religious faith.

Islamic
Islam has also been criticized by feminist scholars for having sacred text and teachings that delegate private and repressive roles and functions of women (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008). The Islamic faith was founded in the eight century C. E. when Muhammad recorded the Koran (also spelled Quran). Koran is believed to be Gods words transmitted via the Angel, Gabriel (Burns 2005 205). The Koran dictates what a Muslim man or woman must do to be in alignment with the word of Hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad (Burns 2005206), which was also interpreted almost entirely by men who have used them to justify patriarchy (Hassan 2003). These particular practicesscriptures have proven to be discriminatory toward women, because of their religious law affiliation with Shariah or sharia is based on the Hadith.

A Hadith practice dehumanizes a woman, as it infers that since you are a woman, you are ignorant of the teachings and understanding of the law. So Muhammad will interpret these teachings scriptures for the Muslim women. In addition, because Muslim women body goes through so many stages (menstruation, child bearing, and nursing), women lack the strength to obtain decent work, and their minds are unstable (Qureshi 2003 101-103). Women are incapable of making wise decisions. Just as dehumanizing, are other restrictions that apply to Muslim women and they take the form of appearance, sexism, basic human rights, and public roles.

Restrictions such as Casting down ones looks refers to a women not being allowed to look any male in the eye as not to attract any attention from her male counterparts. Muslim women must have their entire body covered after reaching puberty. Muslim women are not be left alone with the opposite sex unless they are married, related by blood, or pass the child bearing age. Women are not allowed to wear perfume, leave the house to flaunt themselves and they are forbidden to not talk in a soft speech (Qureshi 2003108-115).

One of the most inhuman practices of Islamic societies is honor killing. Men are allowed to kill their wives, daughters, sisters, sisters-in-law, and other female relatives, if she does something that is believed to be a dishonor to the family, whether they are allegations or not, such as an unmarried woman having sex, marital infidelity, flirting, being raped, seeing for divorce, and dating without the approval of parents (Burn 2005 30). An example of how common and accepted honor killing can be is when Sarhan Abdullah of Jordan shot his sister four times- in the head (Burn 2005 30).  He did this because her brother-in-law raped her and so she brought shame to their family (Burn 2005 30). He only served six months in prison (Jamison 2003, as cited in Burn 2005 30).  The respect of womens rights is atrocious and appalling. Women are victims of crimes, but through honor killing, they are murdered and their murderers are justified by their society.

Muslim women have no real authority over their own person. They are not entitled to walk with their head held high and talk in their normal voices for fear of punishment. An abused woman is predisposed to same characteristics of a Muslim woman, when she walks behind her significant other with her head held down. There is a disposition that gives credence that she should be ashamed therefore she subordinates herself to her male counterparts. Are we that dense to think that a womans appearance, her attire, her voice, and the wearing of perfume are considered sadistic and evil Islamic teachings take away her rights and freedom, yet are contradictory by using the same restrictions as bargaining tool to further the status of Muslim families.

In Muslims countries, such as Pakistan, Algeria, Nigeria, Yemen, and Iran there was widespread of female genital mutilations (Burn 200553). As a cultural practice, It is also used as a form of deterring females from enticing sex from males, which I find to be quite sexism. It is appalling to see how women are dehumanized and forced to undergo this procedure, yet men are not forced to go through any circumcision. Ironically, the same value system is not set up to desensitize a man. Technically, men are favored and may have up to four wives.

Barlow and Akbarzadeh (2008) described how the Islamic Republic of Iran deals with the status of women. They argued that the states gender ideology is based on the culture of patriarchy, and fortified by a patriarchal interpretation of Islams holy sources (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008 23).  A fundamental building block of the Islamic Republics gender ideology is the belief that men and women are essentially different beings in nature (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008 23). This is based on the belief that men and women exist and interact with each other through the boundaries of natural gender roles and expectations (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008 23). In Iran, this means that women are subordinate to men, because the conservative elite see women as inferior to men in terms of intelligence and independence (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008 23). So while Constitution of the Islamic Republic provides equality to women, it is mere lip service Iranian women are discriminated against because of their gender they enjoy neither full de facto nor full de jure equality with men (Barlow  Akbarzadeh 2008 23).

Females are being betrothed in marriages has early as nine years old (which has changed to twelve). In addition, females are the property of their fathers, and once married, husbands. Women are considered a burden and any property would be bequeathed down to their husband (also known as a dowry). A dowry consists of money and goods paid by the brides family to the groom or his family (Burn 2005 21). Since the female is considered to be of so little value, the parents are willing to pay money and goods to marry her off. If the brides family cant afford to pay the dowry they can do an honor killing to save face. Additionally, young girls and women could be sold at the discretion of the family to enhance the status for the family or barter or to squash a feud with the opposing enemy (Burn 2005 23).

Most Muslim countries have a Son preference (Burn 200520) which is a terminology that refers to the preference of having a son over having a daughter. The birth of a son is more valuable than that of daughter. It has become more advantageous to have a son, because they can inherit a dowry (Burns 200521) they are more likely to receive better health care, education, can provide living, and they are considered as the pillar of their community. Another advantage for a male of the Islamic faith is that he is afforded the opportunity to marry up to four women (Queshi 2003 21).

Muslim women also have very few rights as married women. The ulama (Muslim quasi-judicial bodies) direct matters affecting the Muslim communities that include the issues of marriage, divorce, custody, and access of children, up to what foods are allowable and not allowable (Amien2006 732). Their decisions do not have any legal bearing, but they have moral weight that makes many members follow their decisions (Amien 2006 732). The  ulama  is under the leadership of the conservative male clergy that have a generally patriarchal understanding of Sharia, which discriminates against women (Amien 2006 732).  For example, women are frequently informed that their husbands have mandated talaq (divorce) against them, and members of the ulama will only verify the talaqs without ptoper consultation with the wives (Amien 2006 732). This means that only men decides over divorce issues and women have no say in it (Amien 2006 732).  On the other hand, a wife needs the ulamas authorization to acquire a faskh to liberate her from the marriage (Amien 2006 732).  Very few women apply for the faskh because it can be time consuming, difficult, expensive, and sometimes humiliating (Amien 2006 732). These laws, beliefs and practices of Islam also serve to devalue women in the eyes of people and the law.

Judaism
Judaism began in the ancient Middle East around 1800 BCE. It had a large impact on influencing views about women and men, in the same way that Christianity and Islam did (Clancy-Smith 2006 7, cited in Crocco et al. 2009 109). The story of Adam and Eve has also been employed by Judaism to rationalize womens subordination (Crocco et al. 2009 109). Many Christian and Jewish leaders had castigated Eve as not only as the one who caused Adams downfall but also as the first sinner (Clancy-Smith 2006 7, cited in Crocco et al. 2009 109). At the same time, Judaism, Islam, and Christian use sacred text to justify the undervaluation of women as subordinates of men (Amien 2006 732 Crocco et al. 2009 109 Sherlock 2008288). Krell (2000) noted how Jewish critics of feminism denounced the ideas of womens rights because they contributed to the erosion of Jewish continuity and stability (476). Judith Butler, however, argues that gender dialogue does not negate the Jewish culture, but instead, it provides opportunities to a reusage or redeployment that previously has not been authorized (Crocco et al. 2009 109).

Despite the advances of feminism in Judaism, Umansky (1999) described that many Jewish women and men still follow traditional Jewish practices and beliefs that devalue womens place and function in the private and public spheres of life. Though the Talmud espouses equality for all, the rabbis of the Talmud argued that the proper interpretation for this is that not men and women are the same, but rather they complement each other (Umansky 1999 180). Women are viewed as proper for the private functions of the home, and that they have the following responsibilities maintaining of kashrut (right diet), weekly preparation of ones home for Shabbat, cleaning and baking challah in a ritually prescribed ways, preparing food for religious festivals, and kindling the Sabbath lights (Umansky 1999 180). Judaism, nonetheless, also offer positive views on women. Swidler (1976) studied formative Judaism and findings showed that rabbis also greatly value women, which manifests in their beliefs of divorce and death. Rabbi Alexandri stated The world is darkened for him whose wife has died in his days (Swidler 1976 72). While on divorce, Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman said For him who divorces the first wife, the very altar sheds tears (Swidler 1976 72).

Though there are positive views on women, many religious sayings and rabbinic teachings exemplify misogynistic ideas about women. Some of these are the beliefs that women are nymphomaniacs and ultimately, the temptress. In the first century C.E., Rabbi Joshua said A woman would rather have a single measure (of food) with wantonness than nine measures with continence (Swidler 1976 79). Hatred is also mixed with these sexist sayings, wherein Rabbi Simon ben Jochai argued The most virtuous of women is a witch (Swidler 1976 79). He also taught people that women are light-headed and he said a teaching reiterated by the school of Elias (Swidler 1976 79). This demonstrates that he uses sacred scriptures to corroborate his sexist beliefs.

In addition, many of the rabbis place high importance on births of boys, compared to girls. One of the prominent beliefs of this period is  The world cannot exist without male and female children. It is well for those whose children are male, but ill for those who are female (Swidler 1976 79). Rabbi Simon ben Jochai affirmed this and said At the birth of a boy, all are joyful at the birth of a girl, all are sorrowful (Swidler 1976 79). Emphasis is also given on the happiness of being a man. One of the most famous prayers of the time says Praised be God that he has not created me a gentile Praised be God that he has not made me a woman Praise be God that he has not created me an ignoramus (Swidler 1976 79). It is absolutely demeaning to have women equated to the terms gentile and ignoramus and yet these were the prevailing Jewish prayers during the formative years of Judaism. Burn (2005 20) described the consequences of historical practice of son preference, which means that girls are already disadvantages since birth, thereby making them more prone to health problems and social inequalities. Discrimination in feeding and education has created a large health and education gap between girls and boys, as the United Nations (UN) already pointed out (Burn 2005 20).

The rabbis also noted the female vices, as one of the reasons why women are not supposed to be valued as equals of men The rabbis said Women are said to possess four traits they are greedy, eavesdroppers, slothful and envious (Swidler 1976 79). These rabbis taught that women possessed such negative attitudes, yet they are merely generalizations of women. Women are not all greedy, eavesdroppers, slothful and envious (Swidler 1976 79). How can they be greedy of anything if they are reduced to slaves and followers How can they not be eavesdroppers if men do not tell them anything How can they be slothful, when they work from morning until dawn, taking care of their children, fathers, brothers, uncles, and husbands And maybe they do tend to be envious, envious of the privileges of being a man in a patriarchal society.

Unfortunately, my research has proven above and beyond that there is a historical and persistent devaluation of women in Christianity, Judaism, and Islamic indoctrination. Though feminists have valiantly fought for equality in rights and participation in public sphere, there is still a gap between men and female roles and leadership (Umansky 1999 180). Married Jewish women also practice rites that ensure sexual purity (Umansky 1999 181). These laws greatly influenced women because they are seen as misvot or commandments from God, but because by following these rituals, they are believed to ensure the purity of their homes (Umansky 1999 181). However, even for private affairs, like Muslim women,  Jewish women cannot ask for a divorce. Only men can request for divorce in Judaism (Umansky 1999 180). This shows that women are only given obligations and tasks, but in terms in making important life decisions, they are still under the yoke of their men.

The public sphere is also not traditionally seen as a right place for women in Judaism (Umansky 1999 181). Only men can study religious texts and have the obligation to participate in regularly scheduled public worships (Umansky 1999 181). The ancient Tosephta says Everyone is reckoned among the seven persons  (who are called to read from the Torah), even a child and even a woman. But a woman is not to come forward to publicly read (from the Torah) (Swidler 1976 92). There were also direct laws that forbid women to study the Torah, but a number of statements made it clear that women cannot perform this religious practice. In the first century C.E., Rabbi Eliezer said If any man teach sic his daughter Torah, it is as though he taught her lechery (Swidler 1976 93).

Some Jewish practices can undermine womens status in church and society.  Jewish feminism and psychology professor Tova Hartman talked about her questions regarding Judaism and gender equality. One time, she approached the rabbi of a jam-packed Jerusalem shul and asked why women had to seat at the back of men and watch their backs, instead of having equal seating with men (2007 20). The rabbi answered that this was the only way to maintain the sanctity of the space (2007 20). Swidler (1976) also describes segregation practices in the temple and synagogue in the early temples, which provided the precedent being followed today. In Herods Temple, women could only enter the first court, called the court of heathens, which is fifteen steps below the mens court (Swidler 1976 88). Entrance to the court of heathens was also not opened to women, if they were within the seven days of the end of their menstruation, or eight days after the birth of a girl (Swidler 1976 88). Orthodox Judaism also prevents women in leading church services (Burn 2005 210). Even in the temples, women are considered as inferior to men, including female infants and children. These examples show that women are not seen as equally pious or clean as men and not fitting to be their equals.  Women in Judaism are also not provided the equal regard it gives to men.

Hypothesis
Based on this information, there is a lack of equality and balance regarding the value of a woman compared to that of a man. Women are born into an invisible life of slavery. Their basic rights denied are not to be questioned or go against. To question or go against could mean immediate death. Islamic faith has provided every opportunity to show contemptuous behavior toward women. It allows for substantial violence toward women, just for being born a female. If a family member, suspect fornication or adultery she can be killed yet a male is allowed to have four wives. In addition, she can only be a witness to things she is familiar with, such as domestic chores (Queshi 2003299). Any other testimony will have to be accompanied by men of good standing, or two women and one man. And the Christian faith has proven to be just as sexist and discriminatory toward women, which Judaism also propels in its laws, practices, and beliefs. All three religions have, for instance, historically undermined the ability of women to be reliable witnesses (Swidler 1976 115). The hypothesis is that majority of women want a change in their social, economic, political, and religious functions and roles and that they would want to advocate for a law that will encourage religions to provide discourse on gender equality under the framework of international human rights.

Methodology and data analysis
Qualitative research is a great start to collect data. In this process, participants are interviewed. It allows the participants to discuss their personal living experiences while living in religious sects. The interview will provide the researcher and participants an opportunity to talk face to face. There will be open ended questions to allow the participants to express what is on their mind, but it will also allow the researcher to interpret or infer facial express while they are conducting the interview. It allows researcher to clarify any answers that have been given, as well rewording a question that might have otherwise been misunderstood.

Other forms of qualitative research would be focus groups, field research, and surveys. In conducting this type of research, it is best to have a good sample to help validate your research. Additional research methods would include Quantitative research. Quantitative research is good for figuring out the statistics of how many participants believes they have been dehumanized and discriminated against in the form of sexismobjectification, classicism. It would determine if these discriminatory behaviors exist in religious sects, such as Christianity and Islamic. With any research methods used there is always the possibility of committing a type 1- type 2 error when conducing a qualitative research. It would require hypothesis, which already has been predetermined.

Policy Recommendation
The policy recommendation is to create policies that encourage religions to discuss gender issues along certain guidelines, under the framework of international human rights. Human rights for women in religiously based sect are very important issues that need to be addressed. It needs to be addressed and revisited on local, state, and global levels. As a society, we need to reach out to mainstream media, and newspaper. As a woman in todays society, I would encourage letters, marches, sit-ins, and petitions that would support equal rights to women and young adolescent girls everywhere, where there is injustice. Every woman should be an advocate for basic human rights. It is imperative that we get the word out by any means necessary.

Implementation Source
The first thing that comes to my mind is to go big however, I know that small can be just as effective. Initially I would start with flyers to get the word out. The flyers would describe our mission and the problem. Another way to focus more on the atrocities that have affected women is to encourage rallies at our local colleges and at the state legislative buildings. Different organizations will also be approached to help lobby for a bill that encourages diverse religions to discuss and implement womens rights.  It would be nice to make it a routine requirement at colleges as an internship to advocate for human rights for women. I think this would be a tremendous way to support our mothers, sisters, aunties, and grandmothers, who have to endure centuries of dehumanizing behaviors from their fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, and brothers- in-law. We want to send a message that said, Females are Equal to Males.

The ability to articulate practical programs that are affordable and specifically meaningful to the older communities is very critical in creating a holistic society that upholds high dignity, integrity and sanctity for all.  Analysts concur that indeed the elderly population form a clear reflection of the society in which we live. This essay provides an intrinsic analysis of Peel Alzheimers Society in Brampton to establish its use and implications to the society.

A brief synopsis of Peel Alzheimers Society in Brampton
Peel Alzheimers Society is a community resources located in Brampton to address the old people suffering from Alzheimers.  The resource was incorporated as a charitable society in 1983 and operates as a not for profit organization to create extensive awareness on Alzheimers as well as related dementias in its service throughout the peel region (Alzheimer Society Peel, 2010).  Notably, the problem of Alzheimers is terminal and occurs through a degenerative disorder that is mostly depicted from symptoms such as confusion, mood swings and long term loss of memory that leads to death  (Blennow and Zetterberg, 2006).  Whereas there is no currently established cure for the condition, special care such as the one offered by the Peel Alzheimers Society has been reported to create great improvement.  It is through this consideration that the resources mission statement indicates that the society seeks to alleviate the social and personal implications of Alzheimers as well as other related dementias while facilitating the search for its cause, methods of prevention and curative measures.

Agencies in the Peel Alzheimers Society in Brampton
Meals on wheel
As Blennow and Zetterberg, (2006) explain, elderly people with Alzheimers suffer from key degeneration of their cognitive capabilities that causes subsequent problems related to poor reasoning.  Meals on wheel therefore are considered to be highly beneficial to them in the following ways.
To begin with, they reduce their struggle for making their own food especially at their homes.   Alzheimer Society Peel (2010) indicates that the process of preparing a decent meal for the elderly suffering from Alzheimers can be tasking and therefore risky to them and other society members.  Therefore, the facility guarantees them high quality meals that are prepared and served in a serene environment and manner.  Notably, Alzheimers is a disease that has no curative measures up to date.  However, Szekely and Zandi (2007) suggest that with effective diet for the elderly people, it would be possible to reduce its occurrence and severity.  Peel Alzheimers Society therefore strongly embarks on this consideration by offering balanced meals to augment better brain functioning (Alzheimer Society Peel, 2010).

As the resources center indicates in its mission, it seeks to reduce the negative impacts to Alzheimers suffering people and the society.  Therefore, food prices are indeed much lower to ease their affordability.  In addition, their payments are simplified by crediting their bills monthly as opposed to cash-as-you-eat system.  This consideration further reduces possible confusion and creates a guaranteeing consideration for their food availability.  

Hair stylist
Psychologists argue that when people live in the society, emergent social cultural trends that all members are aligned to easily emerge.  Doing the Alzheimers suffering peoples hair is considered critical in that it facilitate their ability to conform to other peoples standards and therefore increase their acceptability in their social ties.  Blennow and Zetterberg (2006) argue that attending to an individuals hair occupies a special place especially to women as it is taken to reflect on their holistic personality.   This resource center therefore considers it being critical in maintaining greater confidence and self esteem in the society.  A family whose father or mother suffering from Alzheimers is expected to make appointments with supervisor Jamie to book them with the hair stylist, Pats Hair Design (905 789 1306) who comes once every month.   Notably, all the prices are inclusive of taxes while those with long hair are charged US  5.

Foot care
Clinicians indicate that feet form one of the most important elements in maintaining peoples health.  For people suffering from Alzheimers, Alzheimer Society Peel (2010) indicates that foot care is extremely important by reducing their susceptibility to key diseases that affect them.  With peoples feet being mostly exposed to dirt on the floor, germs in the ground and stresses especially from wearing shoes for long hours, their special treatment is indeed very essential.  Special foot care for Alzheimers people therefore helps in keeping their feet cleaner and therefore reducing possible infections to their weakening immune system.

Through foot care, it is possible to enhance better blood circulation in the legs and the whole body that further facilitates their ability to remain active.  In a complementary mode, effective circulation of blood facilitates greater intellectual function for the elderly.  To provide this service to elderly with Alzheimers, their family members ere required to book them with supervisor Jamie who arranges for an appointment with a foot care specialist Anna Maria Infante D. Ch.  Assoc. ChiropodistFoot specialist 905 857 3338.

Conclusion
It is from this consideration that this paper concludes by supporting the thesis statement, the ability to articulate practical programs that are affordable and specifically meaningful to the older communities is very critical in creating a holistic society that upholds high dignity, integrity and sanctity for all.  It came out from the analysis that Peel Alzheimers Society in Brampton creates a highly effective mechanism of addressing personal and social problems resulting from people suffering with Alzheimers.  Providing specific agencies has therefore created a new outlook for them and the society too.  Community resources should therefore be promoted to address similar problems and therefore reduce their negative implications.  

Guo Xi painted landscapes that dealt with the concepts of humanity in nature and the effects that mankind and nature had on one another. In his landscapes, Guo Xi often didnt include actual people, but instead lent human attributes to several natural elements within them. Xis landscapes frequently included three different types of trees that could be seen gnarled and low to the ground, like a person crouching, tall and erect like a person standing, and large and wide-branched, like a person reaching for the heavens. Xis landscapes were vast and gave the viewer a sense of greatness and enormity to nature in the way that he painted large mountains and waterfalls juxtaposing small narrow footpaths made by man.

I think it could definitely be argued that art created for a patron is worth less emotionally and intellectually, both to the artist and the viewer, than art created for no particular patron. The artist is being paid for his work, so the art is being partially inspired by financial gain instead of fueled by pure creativity and expression. The artist often had restrictions on what he could paint or requirements that needed to be included. This limited the scope of the artists self-expression and made the art less inspired. Art created for a patron has less emotional and expressive value because it was created for a specific person as a means of financial gain, and in exchange for payment the artist was forced to give up some creative license, lessening the artistic value of the work.

Watteaus Embarkation from Cythera embodies many elements of the Rococo art and decoration style. The cupids flying around the heads of the lovers and couples are frequent elements in Rococo art, which often centered on deities or gods and featured cupids and cherubs. The style of painting and Watteaus detail in the landscape setting and the manner of dress of the subjects is similar to the heavily detailed, ornate Rococo style. The intricate detailing and patterns of the Rococo movement can be seen in the patterns of the trees and the detailing of the dresses on the women. The setting of the painting represents the aristocracy and flamboyant upper class with which the lavish Rococo style was so popular.

It is only logical that music should be used to advance political agendas. Music and politics both evoke strong human emotions, so it makes sense that the two should be used together. Music has long been used as a form of self-expression and to convey ones feelings of love, passion, despair, sadness or joy. Incorporating political ideas and agendas into music is a way to express ones viewpoints in a way that is accessible to all listeners. It allows the songwriter to convey important messages in a way that is both easier to understand and more enjoyable to experience than a dry political lecture or article. Incorporating politics into music is to use the passion and strength of a political idea as the inspiration for music. Music can be used to express every emotion, making it the perfect template for political stances.

Rembrandt uses light and dark to emphasize the main focal point of the painting and draw the viewers eye towards the center of it. The students are all dressed in dark clothing and appear to be standing in a semi-gloom, while Dr. Tulp and the cadaver are highlighted with light from above. The cadaver stands out in stark white contrast to the dark clothing on the doctor and the students, and the dark incision on the arm illustrates the subject on which Dr. Tulp is lecturing. Eakins used a similar technique in both color and composition. He used vivid detail in depicting the cadaver and the instructor, and there seemed to be a light source above them highlighting the focal point of the paintings. Both artists painted the backgrounds in muted tones and details and accentuated the doctors and subjects with more light and contrasting colors. The cadavers always appear pale and draped in white to starkly contrast with the dark, somber dress of the students and doctor. Both employ the compositional technique of centering the focal points of their paintings and surrounding them with muted details, in this case the medical students sitting or standing around them.

Surrealists paint images that are metaphorical for elements in the mind. Surrealist art can at first glance seem abstract and confusing, but the surrealist artist is actually representing a view inside the mind. Metaphorical elements like shapes and colors are often used to represent emotions or experiences that cant be expressed in the conscious mind. Surrealism is subject to individual interpretation because every viewers subconscious expresses different messages and reactions to the surrealist imagery. Since surrealism was originally based on Freuds theories about the unconscious, colors and images are used to express unconscious feelings and thoughts. Surrealism defies the conventions of conventional art because it is an expression of emotions and thoughts, not a depiction of a tangible element like a landscape.

Art movements like cubism and pop art are all unconventional forms of art that are subject to self-interpretation. Because of this, I think theyre more likely to evoke stronger emotions from viewers. A viewer will both connect with the style and art right away and be able to interpret it with some personal intuitiveness into what it means to them, or they will not connect with it at all and not appreciate it as art. These forms of art require more interpretation from the viewer and therefore can be harder to appreciate and understand. Its easy to look at a piece of pop art and dismiss it because its just a depiction of an everyday object like a soup can, but it takes more effort to really examine it and try to determine what the artist was trying to convey and what it says. Dadaism, surrealism and the other forms of unconventional art studied are representations of unconscious and subliminal elements in the mind and in humanity, making them more expressive and open to interpretation.

A community based on social justice, respect for human sanctity and integrity acts as the key indicator for its social cultural and economic development.  My professional goal is founded on the basis to work and contribute towards child protection and advocating for intensification and respect fro their rights.  On the other hand, my education goals are focused towards achieving an in-depth knowledge on matters of social, economic, and political consideration that affect the society.  Consequently, this understanding will enable me to efficiently deal with present and emerging issues affecting the society at the personal and community level.

These goals are further in tandem with your mission statement which focuses on social change through analysis of political, social and economic factors in the area.  It is also notable that I am also interested in gaining advanced skills that could further assist me in impacting peoples lives positively during my career as an advanced approach in graduate work which greatly promotes collective and personal liberation.

To indicate, my interest in becoming a social worker began at thirteen years age when my family lived in Vietnam. During this period, it is worth noting that social situation in Vietnam was indeed wanting and therefore warranted special attention.  It is worth noting that by this time, the country was trying to rebuild itself after being war torn for a long period.  Following to the high intensity of the war aftermath, many children were being forced to beg on the streets to make their ends meet. Alternatively, the children were looking for work a consideration that made individuals to take advantage and used them as a cheap source of labor.  Due to pressure of economic hardship, most of the young girls were engaging in prostitution to substitute their family income.  These happenings left me wondering why there was no one fighting for the lives of these children.  I resolved to fight for the rights of children to ensure that they are not oppressed and they get a chance to enjoy their rights. Ultimately, in concluded that I should pursue a basic degree in social work.

My undergraduate degree program in social work has equipped me with the basic knowledge that I needed to become a professional social worker.  In addition, my experience in Vietnam has been a further influencing factor in my decision to become a social worker. Following this experience, I have a clear mental picture of how I want the lives of children to be.  It should be free of oppression, the basic needs of children should be met and they should be able to live with people who will give them the love and care they need for healthy growth.  As I get into social work as a professional, the above goals will be addressed with vitality.

Valuable experiences that have prepared me for entry into social work as a professional include interim counseling at Bill Wilson Center, Santa Clara. During this time I provided counseling services to adults and children either as individuals or as groups. The experience equipped me with knowledge on the various issues that affect people of different ages and gender.  Besides, I worked as a facilitator where I engaged, educated, encouraged and monitored clients to choose living healthier lives.  In addition to that, I also helped new students and volunteers to join social work programs after school.

Working as a councilor intern, I provided counseling services to the community. The range of services I offered included advising teenagers to avoid drug abuse, helping the teenagers already using drugs to stop, and helping others to resolve issues between youths and their families.  Besides, as an activity director and a desk clerk in Jeanne DArc Manor, San Jose, I planned, orchestrated, organized and oversaw the completion of the seniors activities and other leading residents activity programs.

From the programs offered by your institution, I expect to gain advanced skills that will enable me to serve the society better. This will include enhancing my skills of handling people from diverse backgrounds. I also aim at gaining knowledge that will enable me to identify and deal with my personal biases. Having dealt with my biases, it will be easier for me to help others in the community.  Notably, I would like to indicate that I aim at increasing training on how to follow the code of conduct for social workers while doing my work especially in situations where compromise is highly plausible. The professional education cannot be complete without me gaining comprehensive knowledge on how to carry out research on the various issues affecting the society. Under this consideration, I will follow my professional education to obtain a certificate that will act as a proof of my qualifications and which will give me credibility as a social worker.
 
My experience from living in a region that was in dire need of social work has influenced my perspective on social work as a profession. Social work according to me is working towards making the lives of the disadvantaged in the society much better. Its about interacting with the disadvantaged individuals and leaving an indelible positive mark in their lives. With the above experience as a social worker, I have come to realize that social work cannot be really restricted to a single group of individuals but it cuts through the society and further requires specialized training. For example in improving the lives of children from disadvantaged families, one has to involve their parents as well as the government.

My idea of social justice is a situation where fairness prevails in all societal aspects.  I view beyond the horizon a situation where all members of a community are accorded equal opportunities and rights.  Presently, majority of the people do not know their rights a consideration that creates disparities in various aspects of society.  Therefore, for social justice to be realized in a society, the members of the society need to be informed of their rights and the opportunities available for them.  Sociologists argue that social workers are critical by empowering the members of the community to fight for their rights and to take up available opportunities.  As a result, realization of social justice in a community is easily achieved.  However, I do acknowledge the fact that realization of social justice in a society is not easy and in most cases it remains a theoretical notion. To address this outlook, combined efforts of various individuals can help to change the lives of those disadvantaged in their lives and therefore facilitate new objectivity and new living.

In my life as a social worker, I have interacted with people of diverse backgrounds.  Particularly, I worked with adults, teenagers, middle schoolchildren as well as high school children who came from different backgrounds and therefore harbored variant life perspectives. Notably, though their approach to issues greatly differed, I was supposed to help them deal with tall of their problems as a counselor.  I must admit that this consideration of providing a solution to all proved very, however, I learnt how to do it.  Through this experience, I learnt how to put my personal biases aside when dealing with clients and fit in their situations but from a professional standpoint. While working as a counselor intern, I also learnt how to handle people of different ages. Owing to their different social needs mainly curved out of their age demands, the experience was equally hard and I had to appreciate and devise methods to address them.

Other professional goals that motivated me to seek for admission into your university program of social work included the need to change to change societies through professional application applications of learnt skills as a professional social worker.  I aspire to become a well known advocator for the rights of the less privileged in the society especially the children. Besides, I also want to ensure that the childrens basic needs are met by empowering their parents and guardians as well as liaising with the various stakeholders in ensuring that children enjoy their childhood.  Of critical importance, is to further contribute towards achievement of social justice and furthering application of social work ethical ideals.  I must indicate at this point that this noble task is indeed very hard however, I am determined to effectively pursue it.  

As a flash back, I must indicate with in-depth consideration that I saw as I grew up will forever remain a constant reminder of the societal demands and therefore a ringing better of my goals.  As a result, I have never lost focus on my goals a consideration that motivates me in my study as well as my work. My experiences as a social worker in various places made me realize that to be a successful social worker I need to be more equipped.  As indicated earlier, this created the unending thrust for me to apply for a Masters degree in social work from your university.  The degree will therefore be the center post in anchoring my capability to accomplish core obligations as a social worker.

I must indicate at this point that my interactions with various groups of people during my social work further exposed me to real life experience which further cemented the interest in social work.  Particularly, I have gathered special knowledge in relation to key problems that affect the society a consideration that has further my capacity to resolve such issues.

In conclusion, I need to state that my quest to further my education and indeed to become a professional social worker is based on the believe that the best approach to making the society a better place is through improving childrens lives since they are the future society.  Therefore, I will use my degree to create a better environment for all from the outlined experience and bringing a new viewpoint for social work in the community.  Besides, I will use my Masters Degree to in Social Work (MSW) to augment the existing social workers and ultimately become a better social worker.  It is from the above consideration that request for your consideration of my quest to further study social work in your institution as the key step towards addressing the social injustices in the country.

Relationship between Adolescent Motherhood and Crime A Social Dimension of Crime Approach
The United States experiences a higher teenage birth rate as compared to other developed nations (Farrington, 1996). Children that have been born and raised by these teenagers often undergo more difficult childhoods than those born to other mothers. In this regard, they are more likely to commit crimes. In this paper, I will use the social dimensions of crime approach to discuss the relationship between adolescent motherhood and crime.  I will also assess the conditions that may help explain this relationship.

The United States crime rate during the 1980s was high for property and violent crimes (Farrington, 1996). It also had a high prevalence of assault, burglary, robbery and larceny (ibid.). It is also interesting to note that the country has a high rate of teen births. There is a high likelihood of children born of teen mothers to be unwanted, grow in poor conditions, and live in unstable single parent family.  There is high possibility of these features to compel children born of teenage mothers to commit crimes once they attain the crime-prone age range of late teens to twenties.

The main focus of this paper is to assess the relationship of high rates of teen births and crime, the mechanism through which this can occur and the degree to which such an impact can account for the high rates of crime in the United States. For this explanation, I will use the social dimensions of crime approach. In this regard, I will use demographic, socio-economic and individual level victimization information from the available literature.

From the analysis of the available literature, I discover that the rate of crime increases with an increase in the proportion of young people born to teenage mothers. The type of crime that is mainly prevalent is assault. The assault mainly affected is carried out by unarmed lone assailants that are familiar to the victim. These crimes are mainly not reported. Even though male victims consider these crimes to be less serious than other kinds of assault, female victims conceive them differently. My conclusion is that there is high possibility of individuals born to teenage mothers to be involved in one-to-one conflict with members of their families, relatives and workmates. The available evidence indicates that there are lower chances of them being involved in conflicts in other situations.

The high rates of assault in the United States as compared to that of the rest of the world can be explained by the high rates of teen births. The proportion of individuals born to teenage mothers may have numerous interpretations. Young mother may be unable to provide good parenting owing to their immaturity. They are also more likely to lack stable partners than older mothers. The implication is that the child is not accorded adequate parental attention and there is high potential for future family instability which may result in the child being traumatized. Again, the fact that there is a high likelihood of children born to teen mothers being unwanted than those of older mothers may impact on parental quality and consequently crime. Teen mothers are likely to be disadvantaged financially and this may hinder ideal upbringing.

Children that are also born to teenage mothers are also less likely to acquire any serious education and make connections that may help them get good jobs. As such, they are more likely to be poor themselves. This may result in them turning to economically motivated crime. The effect of the proportion of young people born to teen mothers corresponds with various findings that suggest that teen birth rates impact on the rate of physical and sexual assault. Beyond this, it provides an insight into the findings that suggest that single parent families are the best predictor of crime.

Numerous literatures within the field of criminology and other social sciences suggest that there is a link between the way a child has been brought up and hisher later likelihood of committing crimes. People born to teenage mothers and those who experienced family disruptions have been found to be more likely to commit crimes. Young men born to teen mother record high percentage of incarceration compared to those born to older mothers. Again, later delinquency of children born to teenage mothers may be a consequence of being born to a mother with poor parenting skills and inadequate financial resources. In this regard, there is a strong link between teenage motherhood and crime.

According to the historical convention, Europe and Asia are considered two different continents even though there is no natural barrier separating these two continents. This lack of a natural boundary between Europe and Asia often leads to confusion as to which countries are parts of Asia and which are European. The generally accepted boundary of Europe runs down the Ural Mountains, follows the Ural river into the Caspian Sea and then eastwards along Caucasus Mountains, across the Black Sea and through the Turkish Strait (Roskin, 2009). Unfortunately, this geographical boundary is more of an arbitrary line and runs across several countries so that countries such as Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan lie partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Historically, this ambiguity was not of much concern, but with the formation of European Union (EU), the debate over which countries are European has taken on a new turn. If the traditionally accepted boundary of Europe is used than Cyprus should not be part of the EU. On the other hand, there are those who feel that Christianity unites Europe and so Europe should extend as far as Christianity does. This would bring Russia within the European folds, even though the nation has no desire to join the EU. Besides using religion as criteria would exclude millions of non-Christians who call Europe their home. When deciding the membership for EU, one must remember that the EU was formed primarily for economic reasons. Hence, the criteria for a country to become a member of the EU should not be geographical, cultural or religious but an economic one because it is the advanced economies of the EU which make it possible for them to have such close and meaningful association.

Traditionally, there are seven continents in the world. Five of these continents are surrounded by water bodies on all sides and hence there is no confusion about their boundaries. However, Europe and Asia do not have any such natural or artificial water body separating them. Indeed, many people have referred to Europe as a peninsula of Asia (Bassin, 1991). The only reason Europe and Asia are classified as two separate continents is because of tradition which was started by ancient Greek geographers who had very limited knowledge of the real world geography. But as the real geography of the region became better known, many geographers began questioning the division of Eurasia into two continents. To uphold the ancient tradition, Urals were designated as the boundary between Europe and Asia. However, this boundary was completely arbitrary and different geographers had completely different takes on where Europe ended and Asia began. The ancient Greeks saw the European boundary at the river Tanais and this continued to remain the accepted boundary among the scholars until as late as the seventeenth century. But the Tanais river was nothing more than a stream and it did not serve as a good reliable way to divide a land mass into two continent. Certain political considerations meant that by eighteenth century, the need to clearly define the boundary between Asia and Europe had become imperative. This led several scholars to try and come up with a boundary which was more reliable than a small river. The Ural Mountains became the obvious choice for defining this boundary because they represented a substantial landmark. However, their remained significant differences in how the boundary was drawn south of the mountains with different scholars drawing entirely different boundaries. And it took some time before even the Ural Mountains were widely accepted as the natural boundary. To complicate the matters further, in the nineteenth century, many Russians refused to identify Russia as either a European or Asian country, instead representing it as an independent geographical world (Bassin, 1991). Given this geographical, historical and political ambiguity in clearly defining the European borders, it is obvious that geography cannot be successfully used to define what constitutes Europe. Hence, in the absence of a clearly defined boundary, geography cannot be used as reliable measure for deciding the European boundary.

To counter this geographical ambiguity, many scholars have insisted upon a religious and cultural definition of Europe. The argument for such a division of Europe is that the continent is united by a common Christian culture. This argument is also used to deny European membership to the predominantly Islamic Turkey. The problem with this religious argument for definition of Europe is that it does not take into account the millions of non-Christians who have been leaving within the accepted European boundaries for generations. While it may be argued that these non-Christians are a minority this may change in future. In an increasingly globalized world order people from all kinds of religious and cultural backgrounds travel to wherever they can find good employment opportunities and a generation later the adoptive country becomes their home. If religion is used to define European boundaries, the next step would be to expel all non-Christians from Europe. This is neither practical nor desirable. In an increasingly secular world, there is no place for a theocratic political order. If EU is allowed to have an exclusively Christian identity, its long term fallout could be very dangerous. This tendency to think of Europe in terms of reaction against something else (Moisio, 2002) is a negative concept which would turn Europe in to an exclusive society formed on the basis of such a reaction against non-Christians. Nothing should ever be founded on such negativity, least of all a grand idea like EU which is based on the concept of inclusiveness. Hence, religion as the basis for EU membership is definitely not acceptable.

The problem with defining culture as the common denominator of Europe is that after the collapse of the Cold War, many of the formally communist countries have now joined the EU. The culture of a country like Czech Republic can never be similar to that of say France or England. Indeed, there are vast differences even between the cultures of France and England and Germany. On the other hand USA is culturally much closer to Europe than some of the East European members of EU. Each one of the member countries of the EU is a separate nation state which has its own unique identity, language, history and culture. Historically, these countries have, at various times, been both enemies and allies. Any talk of cultural similarities between these countries is nothing more than wishful thinking. Also with the increase in the number of asylum seekers and the in-flow of migrant labors from former colonies of France, UK and Netherlands, Europe has become culturally and ethnically much more homogenous than at any point in the history. The cultural definition of Europe gets even more complex when we include the various colonies of the European countries. When France signed the Treaty of Rome, Algeria was still an integral part of France and Spain continues to have possessions in North Africa, Guyana (South America), Martinique and Guadeloupe (Caribbean). The inhabitants of all these places are considered citizens of Europe and payments are made in Euro (Hansen, 2004). Neither are these places geographically in Europe, nor do they have cultures similar to what may be called European culture. Hence cultural similarity can never be the common link between the EU countries and cannot be used as a criterion for new members.

Before the end of the cold war, the iron curtain provided the de-facto boundary of Europe. However, this resulted in artificially shifting the European boundary westwards since many countries which were under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union had a cultural heritage more similar to Western Europe (Moisio, 2002). Nations such as Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, which were geographically in central Europe were under Russian influence and hence not eligible for EU membership. With the end of Cold War, these countries were reclaimed by Europe, making political ideology a criterion for their Europeanness. While this may be an acceptable way to decide EU membership, this cannot be the sole criterion. Such a uni-dimensional definition of Europe is definitely not conducive for the future of Europe.

The reason why it is difficult to define the boundaries of Europe is because since the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the EU has been continuously expanding (Moisio, 2002). The European Union which started with six countries in 1951 today has twenty seven member countries and negotiations are underway to include more countries in the EU. EU cannot continue to expand indefinitely and at some point the Eastern border of Europe will have to be decided. The problem is that there is simply no feature which is exclusively European which can be used to decide the Europeanness of a nation, be it religion, culture, history or political ideology. Europe is more of a concept than a geopolitical entity.

In view of all the ambiguity, the question of Europe cannot be satisfactorily answered by any single concept or a set of rules. Hence, instead of trying to define what constitutes Europe, a more fruitful endeavor would be to come up with clear cut requirements for EU membership. Several attempts have been made to lay down criteria for entry in the EU. The most significant attempt in this regard was made in the 1993 Copenhagen European Council. The council laid down exact criteria which must be fulfilled by a country in order to gain entry into the EU. These criteria included democracy, rule of law, human rights and a functioning market economy (Moisio, 2002). This political-economic framework provides the most practical standards for deciding EU membership. And yet it raises problem because it allows any nation which considers itself European to apply for membership but the decision to accept them into EU rests with the current EU members. This can result in hostility and frustration among the states which consider themselves European but are excluded. And this hostility beats the very purpose of EU, which was formed to ensure greater economic cooperation and to avoid European wars. Hence there is this urgent need to come up with objective criteria which can help applicant countries to judge for themselves if they are eligible for EU membership.

As discussed above, although there are a number ways in which Europeans can define and distinguish themselves, each one of these criteria of Europeanness is subjective and open to negotiation. And in the modern world, religion must never be used as criteria for anything since it only serves to further the tensions rather than unite. One such objective criterion is economy. Economy can be successfully used to unite Europe because from the very beginning, the dominant assumption behind the formation of the alliances between European powers was that the self-interest of enterprise can be harnessed in the public interest through a liberalization of trade and capital and labor markets (Hudson, 2000). This economic basis of cooperation was further strengthened after 1980s with projects such as Single European Market, Economic and monetary Union and the creation of a single currency in 1999. So, since economy has been the basis for the formation of the EU, all future memberships should also be considered purely on economic basis.

Some people may argue that with open borders within the EU, allowing people from a completely different culture to freely enter Europe would destroy the European culture. This is a typical xenophobic argument which is neither practical nor suitable in the current globalized world. First, culture is not something static but is constantly changing. Outside influences only serve to enrich the culture of any given place rather than destroy it. Hence Europeans must welcome people from what they perceive as a different culture and seek to share and exchange their cultural heritage rather than shun them as outcasts. In fact, no country or region can think of itself as an island and completely avoid outside influences. And if a region were to succeed in such an endeavor, it would stagnate their culture. Culture is meant to constantly evolve and hence any restrictions based on culture should be avoided at all times. A second reason to avoid such cultural identity is because when multiculturalism is seen as a threat, people try to preserve their ethnic and national identity by closing out outside cultures and avoiding cultural hybridity (Hudson, 2000). This results in bitterness which can lead to a rise in fundamentalism with a strong demand for reverting back to national identities. And this cannot be conducive for the future of the EU.

So in conclusion, countries which are approximately within the traditionally accepted geographical European boundary and practice some form of market economy should be eligible for EU membership. Since capitalism is a proven model which has helped many countries rise above mediocrity and develop into advanced economies, adopting a market economy as the common uniting feature of EU should find no opposition. Hence an advanced economy, based on capitalism should be the number one deciding factor for EU membership. Other issues such as democracy and a commitment to human rights, though important, should not be the limiting factors. The EU was formed with the aim of economic cooperation and economic cooperation can be successfully carried out only between countries which share their economic ideologies. Having a common economic ideology is imperative for membership to EU. All other so-called integral aspects of Europeanness such as Christianity, culture, history and political ideologies do not really form European identity, much less criteria for membership to EU. These matters should be left to individual nations to decide internally among themselves, while the EU should concentrate on economic homogeneity to decide on membership.

Sustainable development puts together issue for the holding capacity of the natural systems with the social confrontation facing humanity. In the early 1970s sustainability was introduced to give a description of an economy in equilibrium with the primary environmental support systems. Ecologists have shown to The Limits to Growth and brought forward the alternative of a stable state economy do that they could be able to address the environmental issues. The area of sustainable development can be theoretically broken into three component parts economic sustainability, sociopolitical sustainability and environmental sustainability.

Sustainable Development
Is it compatible with the human welfare Can human beings, all come together and conserve water, reduce the rate of destruction of rainforests, desert fossil fuels completely and only use recyclable resources and suitable farming methods that maintain the soil fertility

The predicament of solving is connected to sustainable development. The common future of human beings is to developments that satisfy are the requirements of the present devoid of compromising of the capability of the future generation to satisfy their own requirements. Basing on the question, there are essentially two answers, that is no and yes. Dinah M. Payne, a professor of management and Cecily A. Raiborn, a professor of accounting responded in a positive way. Their answer that sustainable development and environmental responsibility are indispensable parts of the current business principles and that it is only through them can both humans and businesses succeed. They put four questions the future at present is economically viable, be ascertained, social equity, environmentally appropriate and socially just. The four questions gave diverse answers. Sustainable development can also be viewed as an ethical matter. It gave out a fascinating answer sustainable development could be able to male the utmost good.

Sustainable development is a model of resource exploit that is out to meet the needs of human while conserving the environment so that these requirements can be met not just in the current time but also for upcoming generations. The name was used by the Brundtland Commission it coined what has turn out to be the most frequently quoted description of sustainable development as an advance that met the requirements of the current time devoid of compromising the capability of upcoming generations to meet their own requirements.

All of these stuffs have to go with sustainability. A lot of people think that the Earths wealth of resources is not equally distributed among the human being race. There are those persons who think that sustainability will work only if the population reduces or resource demand declines. Others think that sustainable development will have certain human freedoms jeopardized and bad effects on the economy will be manifested. Freedoms like for instance having many children and using the environment anyhow majority of people can concur that sustainable development being well-matched with human welfare might indeed be a confrontation.

Jeremy Rifkin, the president of Foundation on Economic Trends, makes use of the Europeans as a case in point of a country that is resolving to sustainable development as a lifestyle. Rifkin views the stuff that Europeans have a high regard for about Europe is the quality living standards. He cites that Americans people dedicate less than twelve percent of their Gross Domestic Product to communal benefits while Europeans dedicate over three times as much.

Americans people have come to be recognized as risk takers. According to Rifkin, this comes from the fact that their first family risked their lives by starting their own lives from scratch in a new land. From that time, Americans people have been optimists and risk takers. Rifkin views this optimism as coming from their faith in technology and science. On the other hand, Europeans are extra careful when it comes to science and technology. The fact of this issue is that Europe has a long history than the America people and as they produced many inventions, they have come to be more careful of the dark side of technology and science.

Rifkin explains that European people have used the Precautionary Principle at length when it comes to determine which new products and technologies should not or should be marketed. The major goods that had been opposed at length were the GE food and GMOs products. A huge number of environmentalists, consumer organizations and farmers fought against the preface of GE foods and governments were worried. It led to a defacto moratorium on the plant and sale of GE foods. In due course, the European Union dealt with the matter of processing and giving out of GE foods very carefully and amicably. European firms had to confirm that their chemical products were not dangerous. If they could not, they cannot be kept in the market. That is diverse in America where the customer or the government has to confirm that they are dangerous. American people do not abide by the regulations that the Europeans pursue because it will be expensive.

As a final point, Europeans have a sense of value for nature more than American people do. The European people spend a lot of time visiting the countryside during their holiday season than Americans do. The American people are more likely to spend their time in hotels and malls of the city.

An environmental journalist called Ronald Bailey cites that sustainable development can lead to a more serious downfall of the worlds poverty areas and the environment and a crash of the economy. Bailey explains that the people in the countries that are developing do not spend more time thinking about environmental matters. In its place, they think about achieving the good things that those people in rich states have.

Bailey illustrates out an amplified technological advances and scientific knowledge that have resulted to less disease, longer life spans, more and cheaper food and many more. He continues by explain that this results to the improvement of the environment. What he thinks is that as the society become richer, their water and air will be cleaner thus they will put aside more land for nature resources.

The framework which people interact and act are Institutions they are the customs, rules, laws and norms that bind people together and act as boundaries to their behavior. Institutions decrease the number of decisions taken they take away the responsibility to calculate the result of each of peoples actions on the rest of humanity and restore it with a responsibility to tolerate with the simple rules. In a system which rules come out impulsively and rule selection happens evolutionarily, good rules tend to push out bad rules. Over time, that is to say rules that lead to positive outcomes will be favored to rules that lead in worse consequences.

Institutions support the innovation and adaptation by giving people an incentive to develop because the innovators can result to the rewards of that creation they are well-matched with the nature human. Institutions are likely to lead in conservation of natural resources and proper levels of environmental protection. When the private property rights are jointed with the rule of law, which makes people able to transfer and enforce what they own, private property supports people to care for their property.

While environmental protection might be used as an alleged reason for trade sanctions but the European Union might introduce sanctions for the purpose of protecting its industries from low cost competition. For instance, it may introduce the precautionary principle and appeal to the Biosafety Protocol to justify limitations on imports of agricultural products from developing states where biotechnology has been introduced to improve the yields. It may thereby extra than clean out the gains made probably by decreased tariffs on such goods harming in particular poor nations, which would face the choice of high level of exports to the EU or higher a yields. Either way, farmers in the EU get the protected markets they seek and farmers in poor nations would lose.

The decisions to restrict human activities should be taken at the local level probable but have to be bound by the other principles that stop abuses of the local power. The intrinsic worth of the global environmental agreements should be inquired with a view to moving back from any agreement not proven to have crystal clear net benefits for human being.

Such effects are troubling but if people in decades to come are to live in a world that is economically prosperous, characterized by growing peace freedom, secure environmentally and human welfare, then the present generations must also come to grips with the fundamental trends that threaten to make these harms far worse. One of the most primary trends is that the population of the world has doubled since 1952 and is predicted to roughly double again by mid of the next one hundred years. Likewise as people have struggled to get better their living standards, the economic activity of the world has grown at about four percent per year since 1952 if this rate goes on in the in ten years ahead, then the world economy will be five times larger in the year 2050 than it is presently.

Such increase in economic activity and population has the potential to amplify dramatically the put pressure on the natural systems and natural resources from farmland to fisheries to the global atmosphere that is already suffering severe levels of deprivation.

In an effort of making the concept of sustainable development be more exact, some authors have given a thin explanation focused on the physical viewpoint of sustainable development. They emphasis using recyclable natural resources in a approach that does not degrade or eliminate them or otherwise reduce their  recyclable  value for the coming generations while effectively maintaining stable or non reducing stocks of natural resources such as groundwater, biomass and soil. A number of economic explanations of sustainable development have focused also on the most favorable resource management by focusing on utilizing the net benefits of economic growth, subject to maintaining the quality and services of natural resources of the earth.

Conclusion
So is sustainable development well-matched with human welfare Rifkin Jeremy explains that it is true by revealing out that Europeans value a higher lifestyle. The world goes through wide diversity of serious threats of the environment marine resources vital to amplified food production, degradation of water and soil, stratospheric ozone depletion and global climate change, loss of biodiversity and extensive spread of health threatening pollution. All at once, it goes through enormous human harms in the form of human misery in spite of the growing affluence for the economic growth pattern that is worsening rather than curing the disparity.

Reducing the legal age of drinking to 18 years is not a noble idea taking into consideration the negative effects associated with alcohol. This is a prime age in which young people join college and shape their careers. Surveys have shown that alcohol related consequences include car accidents, homicides, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, and multiple injuries like fatal falls, drowning, and burns. According to Monitoring the Future (MTF), which researches on U.S. youth, 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders and 29 percent of 12th graders engages in heavy episodic (binge) drinking. Binge drinking involves consuming alcohol until the blood alcohol concentration reaches 0.08grams percent or beyond. It also reports that whenever the youth take alcohol, they over indulge and mostly drink around five drinks in a span of two hours.
               
Research has shown that intensive drinking or alcoholism is a condition which mostly manifests itself during early adulthood. More research reports that the youth who consume alcohol are more likely to engage in other activities that can be harmful to them and their colleagues. Alcoholism is also associated with abuse of other drugs like cocaine and heroin, engaging in sex with multiple partners and failure in exams. Lowering the age of drinking is not advisable since studies have shown that brain development continues up to the twenties. Scientist argues that this long period of development could be a reason why teenagers engage in risky activities.
               
Despite the fact that health problems resulting from alcohol mostly affects adults, research has shown that the young are also at risk of getting similar complications. In conclusion, reducing the legal age of drinking will not only harm the youth and the society at large, but will also expose the teen to adverse complications which tend to occur later in life.

Part A
Informed consent
This is a legal requirement at which an individual accepts to undergo a medical process after a clear understanding of any implications and repercussions of hisher actions. In the case of Dr. Bob and sally, the doctor is obligated to seek consent from her parents because they are readily available.

Suppose sallys parents were not available, Dr. Bob is required to carry on with the operation given sallys condition is a life threatening one

Paulas case
The law in the United States provides that only in marriage should a man and a woman become one single person under the equal protection clause. In this case, Paula is not married but only involved sexually with her boyfriend. This does not guarantee equal sharing of information. Dr. Bob is required by law and his professional code of ethics to keep Paulas information secret and adhere to the conditions which Paula requests him to follow.

If Paula tells Dr. Bob that by not doing this will endanger her, the answer will still not be different. Dr .Bob will still be required to maintain Paulas medical information a secret.

HIPAA rule on confidentiality of HIV information
Paulas attorney only required medical records about Paulas car accident but Dr. Bob violated the HIPAA authorization for release of medical information and confidential HIV related information (DOH 2557) rule by disclosing her whole health information. The rule indicates that medical practitioners can only release HIV information after receiving a signed HIV release form from the patient..

Part B.
The contributory and comparative negligence provides that the negligence of the defendant is proven to a state of no doubt. This means the plaintiff has proved the negligence. The two differs in the concept that comparative negligence tries to compensate the damages to the plaintiff partially while contributory negligence totally rejects any compensation to any damages born.

You follow the HIPAA rules and regulations on grounds that they form the federal regulations and are stricter than state laws. Upon contradiction of the two, the HIPAA rules trumps the state laws. If the state laws were stricter then you are required to follow them.

Res Ipsa Loquitor is a Latin phrase meaning The thing stands for it-self in English. The phrase has a great influence in the common law of torts in inferencing negligence under the two provisions that
The accident is of the type that is caused by negligence and
The level of control the defendant had over the cause of damageaccident.

Under the federal law, subject matter jurisdiction is defined as the exercise of power by courts to hear only cases of certain types as stated on by Article III, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and codified in 28 U.S.C  1331-1332 of the federal courts act.

Only when personal health information is used and disclosed should a notice of disclosure be granted. If any disclosure is discovered in the course of treatment, the medical practitioners should provide the information to the patient immediately and mitigation to the problems cause should be commenced as soon as possible.

Part C
Joe researcher is supposed to his request to the institutional review board if he does not have authorization from all the patients.

Dr. Jones may release the information- this lies under the conditions the HIPAA grants permission to personal health information on matters not relating to health.
May be heard in chambers I though motion so requested.
Acknowledge her presence and give no details on status
Demand the doctors sing an agreement of indemnifying her against any damages if the information was revealed
Entry not made at the time of event
Is required to query the national practitioner databank
Should report this to the national medical practitioner databank
Dr. Bob is at fault unless he had proper surge protection devices in place
The risk manager but not Dr. Bob will be liable- This is because Dr. Bob is to ensure entry of information on the database and is the work of the risk manager to provide security measures to provide security to all the information in the institution not Dr. Bobs alone.

The busy day boils down to a time to relax and have a drink or two. It is on a Tuesday and everyone has been busy at the work place. In the evening after work, you can witness by the looks on their faces, how tired people are as they move with a lot of tire to the silent pubs, pubs with tranquility. Men walking into pubs and holding their lovers is what you can see in most cities when the evening catches. Perhaps, you may be in a position to see a group of homosexuals enjoying their time at bars specially made for them. Some cities have these types of bars where only homosexuals are allowed to visits. Well, on this day I was in a pub next to the homosexual bar trying to make some few observations on how people of different classes behave. I never went to the pub to specifically study the homosexuals but rather came as a coincident. My agenda in the pub was to study how people generally had a perception of alcoholism. Although alcoholism is a problem, very few drunkards accept this statement and are often found to drink more and more even when their bank accounts and credit cards are slimming. They will never agree that alcoholism is real even when they are going down with serious illnesses related to over consumption of alcohol.

Into the homosexual bar, walked two homosexuals. They were holding each other the similar way couples do. They seemed to have deep love as they were very free walking together and smiling to each other radiantly. As they came out from their Peugeot car, I noticed them as homosexuals. The man who was the woman was wearing bright colored suit with flower decorations at the breast pocket. This woman tended to seek protection and care from her man. This is a true indication of a homosexual relationship that existed among the couple. Homosexuals are common individuals in our every day lives (Griffin, 2002). People who are erotically attracted to individuals of same sex can be referred to as homosexuals. From the definition point, it is a general idea that even women getting attracted to other women are known as homosexuals. In our societies, these people are called lesbians and have been known and accepted in most communities.

A keen observation at the homosexuals shows that they are in love, the normal love experienced by the intimate relationship of a man and a woman. However, the concept of homosexuality has remained one of the most controversial one in the United States. The homosexuals are normal people but attempts to stop discrimination against them have hit a hard rock. This controversy has been caused by conservatives who retain that homosexuality is a chosen life and the scientists who have a contradicting evidence about the issue. At the same time, the Christians argue that the practice of homosexuality is not pleasing before God and often quote Biblical evidence to support their claims. From a biological point of view, the opponents of homosexuality claim that man is supposed to reproduce and maintain the species survival and thus the practice of homosexuality lacks the natural and evolutionary sense. Evolutionary scientists argue that homosexuality is a degeneracy concept and this idea is shared similarly among students learning criminology.

The scientific explanation of homosexuality has that the practice is an inborn sexual orientation and not as maintained by conservatives that it is a chosen style of life. The inborn sexual orientation among the homosexuals is similar to the heterosexuals and hence the homosexuals see nothing wrong in the practice. This then implies that homosexuality is a permanent phenomenon in the brain and cannot be avoided but instead the society should embrace it as to be adding value and variety in life (Livia, Hall, 2005). It comes clear to me that in deed homosexuality is a natural sexual orientation following the situation I saw the couple was in. they felt so natural and never showed to have any embarrassment or a sense of wrongdoing. Their love came out naturally and they had feelings to one another, only that both of them were men. The worrying issue is that which emanates from several believers in criminology that homosexuality is genetic throwback which makes people to behave like animals. The approach that sexuality is a free choice perhaps makes matters worse when trying to accept these types of individuals in our society. It is a general perception that homosexuality is given an evil outlook and since most people, the conservatives, believe that homosexuality is a free choice and the individuals concerned should be free to choose not to practice the same. This really means that a little exercise of the homosexuals willpower can greatly change their lifestyle of being homosexuals to heterosexuals. This argument is derived from the misleading scientific facts that homosexuality can be cured by behavioral therapy. To the best of my knowledge, homosexuality is not like any disorder like pain which can be treated by gulp some couple of analgesics. This same therapy, the behavioral therapy, has even been proved to be harmful to the homosexuals well-being. It has often turned out that the homosexuals who rush to see psychiatrists finally develop a condition called homophobia which becomes internalized in them.

An interesting explanation was brought into the limelight and ended up annoying a lot of homosexuals. This new explanation strives to explain the biological cause of homosexuality. This explanation points a finger at the hormonal imbalance at the point of gestation. This etiology seems to suggest that homosexuality is actually a deformity in the balance of hormones in the body of the homosexuals. The findings claim that in the fetal stage of development, the genes coding for some hormones have aberrations and therefore the gene products are not realized in the homosexuals (Gary, William, 1997). However, this claim seemed to support that homosexuality is not a matter of free choice but a permanent aspect in a human being which is beyond his control. At this stage I should say that there is no point of discriminating against homosexual individuals who are among us in our society. We should be ready to receive them as normal people in our social places like bars. It should not be that there is a separate place for them to have fun, far from the other members who are heterosexuals. The argument of prenatal factors leading to the aspect of homosexuality is supported by a number of scientists. Most of them argue that our sexual orientations, homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality are determined during the prenatal stages and also to a small extent, the postnatal stages. It is critical in the formation of a fully normal human being that sexual hormones be in place at the right time and any imbalance in this always leads to some complications. Scientists have uncovered that the human brain starts developing first as the female brain and further editing in the female brain forms a male brain. This argument welcomes the idea that the left hemisphere of the homosexuals lacks full differentiation and there is a lot of resembling in the female and male homosexual humans. The blamed hormone is testosterone which delays the differentiation and this imbalance can be caused by medicinal, nutritional and endocrine changes. Another factor during pregnancy can be maternal stress which may cause the delayed or no differentiation. The maternal release or secretion of testosterone into the bloodstream can be reduced during stress and cause a major hormonal imbalance leading to the condition of homosexuality. Studies in rats have shown that when stress in induced during prenatal stages, the adult males so produced have been seen to be demasculinized and feminized sexual orientation (Griffin, 2002). In normal development, there should be a peak in fetal male plasma testosterone which usually happens between the 17th and 18th day after conception. In stress cases, there is a sharp decline in the levels of testosterone.

The men who were walking into the homosexual pub do not have to be treated with discrimination. Although we may say they have chosen the life of homosexuality, to some extent we can say that it is natural and they have little control over the whole situation. What is important is to accept them in the society and ensure that they feel accommodated.