The document analyzes the debate on whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy, referencing two articles with opposing views by Rachel and Pamela Winfield. Rachel argues for Buddhism's religious nature, citing its practices and adherence to deities, while Winfield emphasizes its philosophical appeal, particularly within American culture. The conclusion reflects on the complexities of categorizing Buddhism, acknowledging its elements of both religion and philosophy.

1. Barada 2
Mohamad Barada
Professor Andrew Durdin
Religions of the World Hum 201-02
March 23rd, 2018
References:
1. Rachel. Rachel’s Musings: Buddhism is a Religion. Retrieved
from https://www.rabe.org/thoughts-on-buddhism/buddhism-is-
a-religion/
2. Winfield, Pamela. The Conversation: Why so many
Americans think Buddhism is just a philosophy. Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-americans-think-
buddhism-is-just-a-philosophy-89488
Critical Analysis of the religious nature of Buddhism
The religious community often debates on whether
Buddhism is categorized as a religion or as philosophical
teaching. The answer to the question varies depending on an
individual’s point of view. There are three main types of
Buddhism practices across the world with each of them having
smaller branches with slights variances in their teachings and
beliefs. The different styles of Buddhist mainly encompass
Theravada Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Mahayana
Buddhism. The various forms often have deities that are
worshipped while others do not. Some often have scriptures
while others do not usually believe in any physical form of the
Buddhist teachings. The first article is authored by Rachel, a
blogger, presenting the argument that Buddhism is a religion
(Rachel, 1). On the other hand, the second article authored by
Pamela Winfield recognizes Buddhism as a philosophy.
Analyzing and comparing the two pieces having divergent views
on the religious nature of Buddhism is crucial for understanding
whether it is a religion or philosophy.

2. Summary of the articles
Rachel in her article considers Buddhism as a religion. The
author acknowledges the fact that Mahayana Buddhism which is
often found in greater part of Asia that includes Japan, Korea,
and China often teaches on attaining enlightenment (Rachel, 1).
The Mahayana often accept that every individual wishes to
ensure the effective attainment of enlightenment and thus end
the cycle of rebirth which others recognize as “Karma.” The
article proceeds to state that Buddha is the greatest of the
deities but is not worshipped. Instead, Buddha often inspires all
those who practice doing as he once did. The author states that
Buddhism often requires that the individuals that choose the
wrong path attempt to re-accomplish these tasks in their next
life alongside other punishments imposed on them by karma.
The characteristics of this type of Buddhism thus often play a
significant role in showing the religious nature of Buddhism.
The author concludes by stating that Buddhism often contains
all the different elements of a religion. Moreover, the article
associates Buddhism with fallacies that characterize other
religions and just as dangerous as other religions as well. A
quote proves the claim on the dangerous nature of Buddhism
that the author uses to summarize the teachings of Buddhism.
On the other hand, Winfield tends to focus on enlightening the
readers on some of the aspects of Buddhism that ensures its
appeal to the Americans as more of a philosophy than a religion
(Winfield, 1). The author commences by discussing the early
influences of the American Buddhism. Winfield provides a brief
history of the introduction of Buddhism into American culture.
She recognizes the presentation of the traditions of Buddhism to
the audience as rather a non-atheistic and intellectual tradition
characterized by the lack of competing gods, meaningless
spirituals, and irrational beliefs. The author proceeds to discuss
continuity and change of some of the practices that characterize
Buddhism. However, there is the necessity for noting that the
author recognizes the fact that Buddhism is characterized by
several deities, rituals, and doctrines besides sacred texts,

3. sectarian developments, ethics, and ordained priests that often
characterize the different religions. The author recognizes the
fact that Buddhism in America mainly gained a significant
amount of following due to the mystical appeal of Buddhist
meditation. Majority of the Americans that have adopted
Buddhism have contributed significantly to the erosion of the
ideal values associated with Buddhism. Winfield states that the
modern construction of the seemingly nonreligious Buddhism
has contributed significantly to the emergence of the modern
day spiritual but not religious phenomenon besides the
considerably secularized and commodified mindfulness
movement that characterizes the American Buddhism. The
author thus recognizes the fact that the secularized nature of the
American Buddhism has resulted in its appearance as more of a
philosophy than a religion.
Analysis and Comparison
The different texts presented by the authors tend to offer
opposing views concerning the religious or philosophical nature
of Buddhism. Both scholars ensure the effective reference to the
varied materials with the aim of validating their claims. For
instance, Rachel refers to several study materials that are
reliable to validate her claim on the religious nature of
Buddhism. Rachel ensures effective referencing of the
historically critical occurrences that shaped Buddhism
significantly in the 19th century in different nations. On the
other hand, Winfield exhibits the preference for relying on
scholarly materials in validating her claims. She refers to some
of the considerably popular authors and poets that served as the
early converts to Buddhism in America. Winfield recognizes the
fact that the different poets and authors played a crucial role in
founding the popular strain of mystical philosophy called
Theosophy. The fact that both texts tend to rely on considerably
reliable study materials in proving their claims is crucial in
validating the arguments on the religious and philosophical
nature of Buddhism.
The nature of the organization of the works of both authors

4. depict some similarities. Both authors ensure effective
introduction of their texts through having strong thesis
statements. For instance, Rachel introduces her article by asking
a question on the significance of recognizing Buddhism to
which she responds by acknowledging that the credibility of
Buddhism strongly depends on its categorization as a religion
(Rachel, 1). The author proceeds to discuss the different crucial
points in the text’s body in paragraphs that are organized
logically. On the other hand, Winfield introduces her discussion
effectively and gives a short but detailed thesis statement,
“Welcome to Buddhism, American-style” (Winfield, 1).
Winfield has further ensured effective organization of her
literary work by separating the considerably similar information
by subtitles. The different subtitles tend to play a significant
role in presenting the information that relates to it. The
different subtitles used in the text are crucial for facilitating
retrieval of information by the readers for reference purposes.
The conclusions of both articles feature the views of the authors
concerning the nature of Buddhism.
Both texts depict the fact that the findings of both authors are
rather based on facts and not geared towards defending any
particular viewpoint without considering both aspects of
Buddhism. Despite the fact that both arguments exhibit high
levels of validity and acceptability, the logical thinking evident
in Rachel’s work tends to depict its genuineness. Moreover, the
argument presented by Winfield tends to pay more attention to
the American Buddhism, and hence the findings do not apply to
the entire Buddhist population (Winfield, 1). There is the
necessity for noting that introduction of Buddhism in America
was by converts who contributed significantly to ignoring some
of the critical values and beliefs that served as the foundation of
Buddhism in Asia where it originated from.
A closer look at both articles shows the validity of their thesis
statements. It is clear that Buddhism has drawn a significant
amount of attention resulting in debates concerning its religious
nature. The question of whether Buddhism is a religion or

5. philosophy has drawn a significant amount of attention from the
scholars and other interested parties. However, there is the
necessity for acknowledging the fact that consideration of some
of the practices and beliefs that served as its core values is
crucial. The opinion on whether Buddhism is either a religion or
philosophy is strongly dependent on the scope of study that one
conducts for proving the claim.
In conclusion, from both articles, it is evident that there is the
lack of clearly defined way of determining the validity of any
religion. However, Buddhism depicts the presence of the crucial
elements that make up the different popular religions. Buddhism
has both the texts and scriptures dating back further than those
of Jesus and Mohammed (Prothero, 211). Moreover, the
different texts that guide the Buddhists provide the necessary
instruction concerning the effective ways of living and engaging
in life practices which is also available in other religions as
well. However, the major difference encompasses the fact that
Buddhism does not often recognize the presence of the Supreme
Being responsible for the creation of the world. As a religion
Buddhism often play a crucial role in allowing its followers to
ensure the effective attainment of something greater than
themselves through the crucial life lessons and structured
practices. Buddhism is thus religion and needs to be treated as
such.
Works Cited
Prothero, Stephen R. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions
That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter. New
York, N.Y.: HarperOne, 2010.
Rachel. Rachel’s Musings: Buddhism is a Religion. Retrieved
from https://www.rabe.org/thoughts-on-buddhism/buddhism-is-
a-religion/ On [24 March 2018]
Winfield, Pamela. The Conversation: Why so many Americans
think Buddhism is just a philosophy. Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-americans-think-

6. buddhism-is-just-a-philosophy-89488 On [24 March 2018]
The key to this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding
of the topics, not to re-word the text or reference material.
· The assignment must be a minimum of 2 pages double spaced,
plus a title page and a reference page for a total of 4 pages.
· Make sure you are using at least two (2) academic references.
· This submission should be created following APA 6th edition
guidelines.
Scenario:
Research and discuss the principle of exploits based on buffer-
overflow attacks.
How can buffer-overflow attacks be avoided?
Rubric for Grading:
1. Discuss Principle of Exploits Based on Buffer-overflow
Attacks 40%
2. Writing Conventions (Grammar and Mechanics)10%
3. How to Avoided Buffer-overflow Attacks 40%
4. Source (APA Format) 10%
Book Review: Prothero god is one
Imagine you have been tasked to write a book review of Stephen
Prothero’s God is Not One for a popular online publication
whose audience perhaps knows very little about the world

7. religious traditions. Your review should include what Prothero’s
book is about, why he thought it was important to write such a
book, what argument he makes, how he makes it, and whether or
not he makes it effectively. Most importantly though your
review should raise two substantive criticisms of his book based
on the knowledge you have acquired throughout this semester.
(Please note that simply mentioning omissions in his book, for
example that you wish he had discussed a particular religion,
which he left out, is not itself substantive. You must also
include an explanation of why his adding a discussing of that
religion might have contributed to his overall aims in the book.)
At this point in the semester we have read most of Prothero's
book. We will read his brief coda on Atheism for the last week
of class, and if you want to complete this assignment I suggest
you read is conclusion chapter as well.
The details:
· This assignment should be about 3 pages long (and absolutely
no longer than 3 pages).
CRITCAL ANALYISIS #3
This is a critical analysis on two articles on a given religion
Jonestown, Mormonism, Scientology, Atheism (or other NRMS)
(WRITERS CHOICE)
Analysis #3 (due Friday, April 20th): Jonestown, Mormonism,
Scientology, Atheism (or other NRMS).
INSTRUCTIONS:
· Papers are to be 3-5 double-spaced typed pages with 1-inch
margins and 12 point Times New Roman font; no cover pages.
· Each analysis paper counts for 25% of your final grade.
· At the top of each paper please include your name and where I
can access the two sources you will be using. (NB—if I can’t

8. access them, this will count against your grade)
· I suggest that your two articles be on the same event/issue but
come from different perspectives/ideologies. This will help you
see how the authors present material differently and hopefully
give you a clearer idea of why this is important.
· You may use any two sources you like—e.g. editorials, news
articles, blogs, video clips, etc.—with the only limitation that
you deal with the religions we have dealt with in class (and that
are part of the assignment). You have the whole Internet at your
disposal.
· As we have discussed, and as I have demonstrated, in class,
for each source, I want you ask questions such as (but not
limited to): What type of source and writing (editorial, news
piece, blog post)? What choices have been made in terms of
images, word choice, title, quotes (who gets long quotes and
who gets short or negative quotes, who only gets paraphrased)?
How is it organized? (E.g. is contrary evidence to the main
point buried towards the end?) What overall images and
impressions does it construct for the reader about a given
religion? Is there an argument implicit (or explicit)? Who do
you imagine is the intended audience?
AS YOU (PREPARE TO) WRITE:
· Aim for clarity and concision. 3-5 pages is not much space,
and please don’t waste it by giving me a detailed summary of
your articles. I only want you to summarize enough to help me
follow your analysis.
· Please provide a clear thesis (or main point) and then structure
the remainder of your paper around it, giving evidence for that
thesis. Feel free to use footnotes, and whatever style guide you
like—just be consistent.
· In order to complete this assignment successfully, there is no
one way to structure your analysis paper. However, for each
paper make sure you analyze each source individually before
comparing them.
· Please take a few moments to PROOFREAD your paper before
submitting it. While I am not strict on grammar and syntax,

9. typos and poor grammatical constructions can significantly
detract from the clarity of your argument. And if I can't figure
out what you are trying to say, I can't give you credit for it.
LATE PAPERS: For each day a paper is late, it will be
penalized half a letter grade.
GRADING RUBRIC: An “A” paper will include some version
of the following points.
Analyzing the sources
· Emphasizes close reading of various representations in sources
· Highlights constructed categories in each source
· Specifies who makes the representations
· Notes interests of those making these representations
Comparing the sources
· Good selection of articles
· Analysis provides comparison/contrast
· Comparison balanced
The written paper
· Well-organized
· Clear information
· Effective use of space
Cell Division
Literature Assignment
Biology 140
Winter 2018

10. 50 points
Due date: Friday, April 20, 2018 by midnight (11:59 p.m.)
Once the Canvas assignments are open, you may submit the
assignment any time before the due date.
Overview
Choose a topic that is in some way related to cell division. You
will find a primary
research article and a relevant review article and write a brief
summary of the
primary review article, using background information from the
review article.
Details about the assignment and how to find a primary research
article are
described in this handout.
Objectives
• Students will become familiar with the scientific literature
including the
identification of primary research articles and the use of
common search

11. tools.
• Students will develop their scientific writing skills.
• Students will gain an in-depth understanding of an aspect of
cell division or a
closely related topic.
Article summaries are to be written independently.
Text should not be similar to that of another student or the
source material. It is highly
recommended that you choose a primary research article that is
different from that chosen
by anyone you know. Plagiarism or shared work is a violation
of the academic integrity
policy and penalties apply (see the course syllabus).
Assignment Submission
Your papers may be turned in by uploading them to the course
Canvas site. It is the
students’ responsibility to make sure that the files will be in a
form that can be easily read

12. and that they are not corrupted. Making pdf files before
uploading is highly
recommended (files that are corrupted or cannot be read for any
reason will receive zero
points for the assignment).There will be three assignments
listed under the ‘Assignments’
heading in Canvas, one for your written materials, one for your
primary research article,
and another for your review article (include your name in the
file, scan or print as a
pdf file, and upload).
OR
Alternatively, hard copies of your summary and your primary
research article may be
submitted by bringing them to the Natural Sciences office (114
SFC) and asking someone
to put them in my mailbox. Be sure that your name is on your
summary, your
primary research article, and your review article.

13. Assignment Requirements
1. Choose any topic related to cell division. Some examples:
• regulation of cell division-cyclins
• chromosome structure
• the role of the cytoskeleton in cell division
• cytokinesis
• distribution of the cytoplasm and organelles during cell
division
• genes required for cell division
• membranes and cell division
• polyploidy
• aneuploidy
• cancer and cell division
• apoptosis and cell division
These are just a few of many possible topics.
2. Choose a primary research article that is relevant to your
topic and to the course

14. material (must be work at the cellular and molecular level).
Choose an article from a
peer-reviewed journal that has been published within the last 5
years (information about
finding articles can be found below). Clinical research papers
and case reports are NOT
acceptable.
3. Find a review article relevant to your primary research
article. There may be reviews
listed in the references to the primary research article or try a
PubMed search (click on
‘Review’ on the left side of the screen after typing your topic in
the search box).
4. Write a short summary of the primary research article. The
summary should be very
brief (1-3 pages, double-spaced).
• Put your name on your paper and in the name of the file.
• Do not use direct quotes.

15. Things to include in your summary:
a) a general discussion of background information
b) What question(s) are the authors trying to answer with this
set of experiments?
c) a brief description of the types of techniques used in this
paper (i.e. genetic
crosses, mutations, cell sorting, mass spectrometry,
chromatography, gel
electrophoresis, in vitro translation, fluorescence microscopy,
DNA sequencing,
etc.)
d) What do the authors conclude?
4. There will be 3 assignments posted on Canvas. Upload your
summary, your primary
research article, and your review article to Canvas. Make sure
that all three files are all
in pdf format. Articles must be the full article (links and
abstracts are not
acceptable).

16. Information about Finding and Citing Scientific Articles
The Scientific Literature
The scientific literature is written by scientists for other
scientists. Primary
research articles are written to describe a set of original
experiments and the conclusions
drawn from these experiments. They provide new information
to the scientific
community and the original data is presented in these papers.
The papers are reviewed by
other scientists in the field (peer review) prior to publication
and, based on this input, an
editor makes a decision as to whether the work merits
publication. The format of primary
review articles varies somewhat between journals, but they are
usually divided into
sections such as introduction, materials and methods, results,
and discussion.
Review articles provide a summary and analysis of a topic.
Many primary

17. research articles will be cited and the information provided by
each study will be
summarized and analyzed by the author. Review articles
generally have fewer authors
(one or two) than you will find on primary research articles;
however there are many
exceptions to this and the number of authors can’t be the sole
criterion for distinguishing
between the two types of publications.
Information about the scientific literature
Some resources that explain the differences between primary
research articles and review
articles in the scientific literature:
http://undergraduatesciencelibrarian.org/a-very-brief-
introduction-to-the-scientific-
literature/types-of-scientific-literature/
http://libguides.willamette.edu/review-research-articles

18. Citing the scientific literature
References must be listed at the end of your assignment in the
CSE (formerly CBE)
format. Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference; although you
may use it as an
introduction to the topic if you follow up by checking the facts
in the listed sources (cite
the original works instead of the Wikipedia article).
The CSE (formerly CBE) format is used for referring to sources
within the text and for
listing them at the end in a section entitled “Literature Cited” or
“References”.
Example of CSE format:
Dhaunsi GS. Molecular mechanisms of organelle biogenesis
and related metabolic
diseases. Med Princ Pract. 2005;14 Suppl 1:49-57.
See these sites for information about the CSE format:
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocCBE.html
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocCSE_NameYear.html#refl

19. ist
http://psu.libguides.com/CSE
http://psu.libguides.com/CSE/Carticles
Finding Resources
NCBI
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) provides a set of databases
containing the scientific
literature, DNA sequences, amino acid sequences, and many
other types of information.
All of these databases are linked (for example, you can go
directly from the gene to its
sequence and then to the scientific paper in which the sequence
was originally published)
and can be easily accessed using Entrez
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/gquery).
PubMed is an NCBI database and is used to search the scientific
literature. Many
articles will be available for free from any computer.
Additional articles may be

20. available online if you are on campus since the university
library may have a subscription
to the journal in which the article is published. Use the pull
down menu in Entrez or on
the NCBI site to select the PubMed option. Use PubMed to find
your primary and review
articles. Review articles can be selected using the filters
sidebar (limits).
Brief instructions for using PubMed:
Go to:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
• Enter the term you wish to search in the box.
• If you are looking for a review article, select “Review” on the
sidebar (left
side of screen).
• Perform your search.
• Click on the title of a paper to see the abstract.
• Many of the papers will be available to the public or through

21. the university
library by clicking on an icon (the location varies, so try
something that looks
reasonable-often found in the upper right).
• Click on PDF to get the file in the published format.