Religion as a Conversation Starter
Religion as a Conversation Starter

Author: Ina Merdjanova

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2011-11-03

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1441157158

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Religion as a Conversation Starter is the first comprehensive analysis of the present state of interreligious dialogue for peacebuilding in Southeast Europe. It is based on empirically grounded and policy-oriented research, carried out throughout the Balkans. The study maps recent interreligious relations in this part of the world, throwing light on both the achievements and challenges of interreligious dialogue for peacebuilding in particular, and offering a set of up-to-date policy recommendations, whilst contributing to a greater understanding of the local particularities and how they relate to broader trends transnationally. Interreligious dialogue has been a central tool in the continuous international efforts to promote peaceful living together in multicultural and multireligious societies. This fascinating monograph explores the place of interreligious dialogue as a primary method in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and will be of interest to scholars of religious and peace studies, as well as those who advocate and carry out organized interventions in religion-related spheres.

100 Conversation Starters
100 Conversation Starters

Author: Rory Kaye

Publisher: Signalman Publishing

Published: 2012-01-30

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9781935991472

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Do you want to share the good news of Jesus, but not sure how to get started? Need some tips on how to break the ice and talk about your faith to family, friends and acquaintances? "100 Conversation Starters: Practical Help for Sharing Your Faith" is a wonderful "how to" that will provide you with ways to easily talk about your faith in everyday conversation that is not off-putting or threatening. Understanding and following these conversation starters is a stress-free way to help you reach a deeper level in conversing with others without the fear of offending them. You will learn to share your faith in a truly authentic way that those around you will come to appreciate. In a recent survey, a third of all believers asked had never once shared the gospel, or even their testimony, with a non-believer. Practical help is needed. That's why this book was written. Most of us have experienced the frustration of not knowing what to say or how to get started. But we can learn to start conversations by using associations from everyday life; to share our faith in a way that is easy for others to understand. Jesus himself did this. He invited fishermen to become fishers of men. To a woman drawing water from a well, He offered living water that would never run dry. With the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus knew just what to say and how to relate to every person He met. The same Spirit that enabled Jesus to hear and perceive what His Father wanted said and done is now inside of each of His disciples! God often will bring people into your life just so you can share your faith with them. "100 Conversation Starters" will help you do that.

Contradict
Contradict

Author: Andy Wrasman

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1490819290

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Tolerance and co-existence are both great! In fact, they are necessary. If we are to live together in peace without hating each other, or physically harming each other over differences in race, culture, sexual orientation, political views, and religious beliefs, we must have tolerance. However, we must also recognize that every belief can't be equally valid. If two beliefs directly contradict each other, both of them cannot be true, no matter how "tolerant" we become. This means it is false to say that every religion is true, or that every religion leads to God. When people make such claims they show that they have not taken the time to study the world's religions, because a brief reading of the sacred texts of only a handful of religions quickly reveals contradictions on the most fundamental levels. Religious Contradictions Reincarnation (Hinduism and Buddhism) contradicts the belief that this is your only life before eternity (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). Salvation from sin (Christianity) contradicts the belief that there is no sin to be saved from but simply pain that can be escaped through enlightenment (Buddhism). Jesus Christ is the incarnate, Son of God (Christianity), contradicts the teaching that he is just a prophet (Islam) or that he was a false prophet (Judaism). In light of these contradictions alone, all religions can't be true. They could all be false, but they can't all be true. Are any of them true? This is the most important question anyone can ask. Recognize religious contradictions. Embrace them. Test them. Seek the truth. www.contradictmovement.org

Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab
Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab

Author: Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2012-07-25

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 0739167383

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Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab: Fostering Resilience through Religion by Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa explores the direct role that religion plays in conflict and peace that has often been difficult to isolate. This study extends previous work on peace and conflict resolution by looking at a town which has witnessed many outbreaks of violence in the past but still holds peace as the norm. The former princely state of Malerkotla, Punjab is a place where riots did not occur during Partition. In this unique Muslim majority town, there are four distinct religious groups that live in close proximity to each other. Yet, the overall pattern of peaceful plurality in the town has resulted in the transcendence of violence even when the threat looms close by. The unique case of Malerkotla, Punjab provides an opportunity to look more closely and critically at Sikhs and their relationship with Muslims in India. As a case study, this work captures the overall pattern of Sikh-Muslim interaction in a town that can transcend conflict and make peace the norm. Randhawa uncovers how religious associations, expressions and activities have helped to build social capital and stabilize peace. This book also emphasizes interreligious understanding, cross-cultural awareness, and conflict transformation, and discusses how interfaith communities can work together to bridge understanding in order to prevent violence.

Narratives of War
Narratives of War

Author: Nanci Adler

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-05-30

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0429015534

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Narratives of War considers the way war and battle are remembered and narrated across space and time in Europe in the twentieth century. The book reflects on how narratives are generated and deployed, and on their function as coping mechanisms, means of survival, commemorative gestures, historical records and evidence. The contributions address such issues as the tension and discrepancy between memory and the official chronicling of war, the relationship between various individuals’ versions of war narratives and the ways in which events are brought together to serve varied functions for the narrators and their audiences. Drawing upon the two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War and the ex-Yugoslav wars, and considering narrative genres that include film, schoolbooks, novels, oral history, archives, official documents, personal testimony and memoirs, readers are introduced to a range of narrative forms and examples that highlight the complexity of narrative in relation to war. Approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, and taken together, analysis of these narratives contributes to our understanding of the causes, experience, dynamics and consequences of war, making it the ideal book for those interested in twentieth-century war history and the history of memory and narrative.

World Religions in a Nutshell
World Religions in a Nutshell

Author: Ray Comfort

Publisher: Bridge Logos Foundation

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780882706696

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You are on CNN, live. The host leans across to you and asks, What s the major difference between Christianity and the other major religions? They are basically all the same, aren t they? Millions are awaiting your reply. Do you know how you would answer? Most of us are not as prepared as we should be for this all-important task. Discover what almost all religions have in common: By trying to earn their way to Heaven, their followers are robed in works-righteousness. Learn how to gently remove that robe, so those seeking eternal salvation can be clothed in the righteousness that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. Each religion is discussed according to: It s basic beliefs Testimonies of its followers who turned to Christ Sample witnessing conversation.

Relax, It's Just God
Relax, It's Just God

Author: Wendy Thomas Russell

Publisher: SCB Distributors

Published: 2017-01-16

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1941932010

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Gold-medal winner of a Next Generation Book Award, silver-medal winner of the Independent Publishers Book Award. As featured on the PBS NewsHour “A gem of a book.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW) A step-by-step guide to raising confident, open-minded kids in an age of religious intolerance. Relax, It's Just God offers parents fresh, practical and honest ways to address issues of God and faith with children while promoting curiosity and kindness, and successfully fending off indoctrination. A rapidly growing demographic cohort in America, secular parents are at the forefront of a major and unprecedented cultural shift. Unable to fall back on what they were taught as children, many of these parents are struggling, or simply failing, to address issues of God, religion and faith with their children in ways that promote honesty, curiosity, kindness and independence. The author sifts through hard data, including the results of a survey of 1,000 nonreligious parents, and delivers gentle but straightforward advice to both non-believers and open-minded believers. With a thoughtful voice infused with humor, Russell seamlessly merges scientific thought, scholarly research and everyday experience with respect for a full range of ways to view the world. "Relax, It's Just God" goes beyond the numbers to assist parents (and grandparents) who may be struggling to find the right time place, tone and language with which to talk about God, spirituality and organized religion. It encourages parents to promote religious literacy and understanding and to support kids as they explore religion on their own -- ensuring that each child makes up his or her own mind about what to believe (or not believe) and extends love and respect to those who may not agree with them. Subjects covered include: • Talking openly about our beliefs without indoctrinating kids • Making religious literacy fun and engaging • Talking about death without the comforts of heaven • Navigating religious differences with extended family members • What to do when kids get threatened with hell

Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age
Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age

Author: Elisabeth Arweck

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 135193757X

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In recent years, there has been growing awareness across a range of academic disciplines of the value of exploring issues of religion and the sacred in relation to cultures of everyday life. Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age offers inter-disciplinary perspectives drawing from theology, religious studies, media studies, cultural studies, film studies, sociology and anthropology. Combining theoretical frameworks for the analysis of religion, media and popular culture, with focused international case studies of particular texts, practices, communities and audiences, the authors examine topics such as media rituals, marketing strategies, empirical investigations of audience testimony, and the influence of religion on music, reality television and the internet. Both academically rigorous and of interest to a wider readership, this book offers a wide range of fascinating explorations at the cutting edge of many contemporary debates in sociology, religion and media, including chapters on the way evangelical groups in America have made use of The Da Vinci Code and on the influences of religion on British club culture and electronic dance music.

101 Conversation Starters for Couples
101 Conversation Starters for Couples

Author: Gary Chapman

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2012-03-21

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 0802483569

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Your spouse is a unique person, filled with amazing insights, thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Communication is key to really knowing and fully loving that person. Bestselling author and marriage counselor Gary Chapman has developed this handy tabletop resource to get you and your spouse talking. With 101 probing questions, couples will find their relationship enhanced, their intimacy deepened, and their romance ignited. 101 Conversation Starters for Couples is the perfect companion to the bestselling book, The 5 Love Languages®. It also makes an excellent Valentines Day, wedding, and anniversary gift. It helps you and your spouse get the conversation flowing.

How Did God Do It? A Symphony of Science and Scripture
How Did God Do It? A Symphony of Science and Scripture

Author: Walt Huber

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2013-12

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1460211278

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Have you ever wondered... How Did God Do It? How did God perform the many miracles and supernatural events described in the Holy Bible - without violating the laws of physics and chemistry that He Himself put into place? And without conflicting with the basic tenets of Judaism and Christianity? This book proposes a theory that marries faith and rationality in a symphony of science and scripture....