Final paper clarity - Read First Just for clarification, this paper is completely about the modern challenges faced by the three religions we discussed in class, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  You need to pick one of the three religions as your focus.  You are to write a short section on the similarities of the three religions, but only to highlight how these similarities contribute to the challenges.  The majority of the paper is to highlight specific challenges in the selected focus religion, and how they are responding.  In order for it to be a challenge, there needs to be two sides of the issue and so you need to state both sides. You should have studied about issues and problems in your class in critical thinking (if you have not had the class yet, then the outline will help you).  You are to use that knowledge to find two or three issues within one of these religions. To make it even clearer, your outline could look like this: Introduction Similarities that contribute to the challenges The Challenges and Responses of (the chosen religion). I. Challenges within Christianity (or Judaism or Islam) a. Issue 1 (for example, homosexuality, abortion, scientific theories that go against the Bible, church attendance, modern translations of the Bible). 1.  Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the church because... 2.  Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church because... b. Issue 2 1.  Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the church because... 2.  Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church because... c. Issue 3 1.  Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the church because... 2.  Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church because... II. How Christianity is responding to the Challenges a. Issue 1 b. Issue 2 c. Issue 3 III. How Christianity is responding to the issue of the role of women in the church a. The conservative response b. The liberal response Conclusion Examples of challenges for Judaism would include marrying outside of the faith, the view of the Mitzvot/traditions, Zionism, homosexuality. Examples of challenges for Islam would include violence/terrorism/Jihad, Sharia law, treatment of women (which would be separate from the role of women in the religion). Again, you must have a complete introduction that includes both a hook and a thesis.  You also must have a complete conclusion that restates the main points and draws conclusions from the objectives.  With a longer paper like this the introduction and conclusion should be a little longer as well, so that you draw all of the objectives into them and give clear organization to the paper both at its beginning and end. The sooner you ask questions, the better chance I have of answering them!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Final paper clarity - Read Second Class, In a paper like you are writing for the ...

1. Final paper clarity - Read First
Just for clarification, this paper is completely about the modern
challenges faced by the three religions we discussed in
class, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. You need to pick one of
the three religions as your focus. You are to write
a short section on the similarities of the three religions, but only
to highlight how these similarities contribute to the challenges.
The majority of the paper is to highlight specific challenges in
the selected focus religion, and how they are responding. In
order for it to be a challenge, there needs to be two sides of the
issue and so you need to state both sides.
You should have studied about issues and problems in your
class in critical thinking (if you have not had the class yet, then
the outline will help you). You are to use that knowledge to
find two or three issues within one of these religions.
To make it even clearer, your outline could look like this:
Introduction
Similarities that contribute to the challenges
The Challenges and Responses of (the chosen religion).
I. Challenges within Christianity (or Judaism or Islam)
a. Issue 1 (for example, homosexuality, abortion, scientific
theories that go against the Bible, church attendance, modern
translations of the Bible).
1. Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the
church because...
2. Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church
because...
b. Issue 2

2. 1. Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the
church because...
2. Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church
because...
c. Issue 3
1. Some believe that the stated issue is unacceptable in the
church because...
2. Some believe that the stated issue is acceptable in the church
because...
II. How Christianity is responding to the Challenges
a. Issue 1
b. Issue 2
c. Issue 3
III. How Christianity is responding to the issue of the role of
women in the church
a. The conservative response
b. The liberal response
Conclusion
Examples of challenges for Judaism would include marrying
outside of the faith, the view of the Mitzvot/traditions, Zionism,
homosexuality.
Examples of challenges for Islam would include
violence/terrorism/Jihad, Sharia law, treatment of women
(which would be separate from the role of women in the
religion).
Again, you must have a complete introduction that includes both
a hook and a thesis. You also must have a complete conclusion
that restates the main points and draws conclusions from the
objectives. With a longer paper like this the introduction and
conclusion should be a little longer as well, so that you draw all
of the objectives into them and give clear organization to the
paper both at its beginning and end.

3. The sooner you ask questions, the better chance I have of
answering them!!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Final paper clarity - Read Second
Class, In a paper like you are writing for the final, you not only
need to present both sides, but do so without a bias. I have
many students who write their papers from the standpoint of a
Christian and they state, "We believe..." in a way that includes
the reader in their beliefs when the reader might have beliefs
that are opposite of the writer. The same can be done from the
opposite side of the argument. Your papers must present two
sides of an issue from a neutral position. You can use words
like, "traditionalists believe" or "Christians believe" or
"Muslims believe" or "progressives believe" but it should never
be "we believe" or "they believe". I think I have done a good
job of modeling this for you throughout the class as I have
given very few of my opinions, but stated things as, "traditional
Christians believe" or "process theology teaches" or "Kaplan
taught in Reconstructionist Judaism" for example.
There is some room in your conclusions for giving your views
on the effectiveness of each side on how they present their
arguments, but you must then state it as your opinion without
assuming that the reader shares your opinion.
Lastly, remember that this is a paper presented to the University
of Phoenix for a humanities class, not to a Christian University
for a Bible class. You are supposed to quote the Bible to
present one side of the issues if you choose Christianity as your

4. focus religion, but you are not to assume that the Bible is the
correct authority. You state that Christians assume that the
Bible is the correct authority and that therefore, they think the
proper response to society is...
Recently, I have had students put "Christianity's response to
modern culture" (or something like that) into Google, which
took them to a blog where a Christian is telling what Christians
should do in response to society. They then present it as "what
WE should do" because that is how the blog presented it. But
you cannot assume that WE are all conservative Christians, even
though the blogger has every right to do so. You must know
your audience when writing a paper and your audience is the
University of Phoenix, not a church Sunday School class. There
is so much information online that it is important that you
choose good information, not just what is the quickest and
easiest to find. If you need help evaluating sources, please
refer to the library page
http://phoenix.libguides.com/evaluating_sources
Ask questions early!!! People who ask better questions write
better papers!!!
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Final paper clarity - Read Third
As students ask questions about the paper, I try to pass on my
answers to all. So here is more clarity, and I hope it helps. If
you have already submitted your paper and need to change some
things because of these notes of clarification, you may resubmit
changes.
An issue is a problem that has differences of opinion on how the

5. solution should be found. For instance, generally, a plumbing
leak is a problem, not an issue. The solution is easily agreed
upon; "Quick! Call the plumber!" There may be some instances
where you or someone else thinks they can fix it without help,
but still, just two options and generally you can come to an
agreement.
An issue is where multiple options exist and people can be on
polar extremes and are generally emotionally attached to their
"side". There are generally also sub issues that get pulled in.
You may know all of this, but I am just making sure.
The best example for women's roles in the church (for example)
is that, since traditionalist Christians believe that the Bible is
the authority from God, and there are verses that say that
women should be silent in the church and should not lead men
(because Eve was deceived), then they believe that woman
should not have the role of Pastor or teacher of men. On the
other side, there are progressives who believe that since women
have gained leadership in many other areas, and that many have
trained and are wonderful teachers, then they should be able to
have these roles in the church, so the Bible needs to be
reinterpreted.
Similar issues can be seen in Islam and Orthodox Judaism
regarding women's roles. You can interact with my paper that I
posted in the learning activities about Muslim women and with
other issues that are being discussed this week in preparation
for the final paper.
The key to the paper is understanding that the common theme
between the three religions is that they have one authoritative
God who makes the rules, and they have an authoritative text
that is not supposed to change. This is the first part of the
paper, and getting that idea sets the tone for the rest of the
paper. The Qur'an talks about Jihad, the Mitzvot says no
intermarriage, the Bible calls homosexuality a sin. All of these

6. create issues as these ancient texts meet the new moral
standards of our 21 Century culture. Stating both sides shows
why it is an issue, and then you can discuss how the religion of
your choice is responding.