Exercise 26. Summarize the difference in principles of Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church

Exercise 27. Complete the sentences by putting the verbs in brackets into the correct form. Some sentences require a negative or a preposition.

1. He’s quite devout, but what I really admire about him is the fact that he refuses …………… (moralise) about the way other people choose to lead their lives.

2. I went to confession and confessed …………… (steal) money from my brother. It was a real weight off my shoulders.

3. I think most religions warn their followers …………… (get) drunk, don’t they?

4. The Holy Book urges you …………… (think) for yourself.

5. My RE teacher at school once accused me …………… (lie) about my true religious feelings! He couldn’t accept I was an atheist!

6. I still don’t get why you insist …………… (have) your daughter baptised is you are not really all that religious.

7. I used to really object …………… (have) my religion printed on my ID card.

8. I didn’t grow the beard for religious reasons or anything like that. It was really just because my wife nagged me …………… (try) it.

9. The priest managed to persuade he …………… (have) an abortion.

10. I believe that God has commanded us all …………… (love) even our enemies.

Exercise 28. Choose the right answer:

1. There are some interesting old …………… on the tombstones in St. Mary’s churchyard.

a. epigrams b. epilogues c. epitaphs d. epitomes

2. They say that this house is ……………, but I have lived here for a few years and I have never seen a ghost.

a. cursed b. dangerous c. enchanted d. haunted

3. I’m afraid I m rather …………… about the existence of ghosts.

a. adaptable b. incapable c. partial d. skeptical

4. They are so concerned with …………… day-to-day problems that they never stop to think about God.

a. agnostic b. devilish c. mundane d. skeptical

5. At the memorial service, the priest paid …………… to the actor’s outstanding contribution to the Polish theatre.

a. acknowledgement b. homage c. recognition d. tribute

6. On religious feast days a(n) …………… of the local saint is carried in procession through the streets of the town.

a. copy b. design c. effigy d. reproduction

7. In the Middle Ages many people made a pilgrimage to …………… at the shrine of their favourite saint.

a. devote b. revere c. sanctify d. worship

8. Priests like to remind us that life is …………… .

a. passing b. short-term c. temporary d. transient

9. After the church service, several people …………… outside to chat.

a. lagged b. lapsed c. lingered d. loitered

10. The temple was …………… furnished with golden and jeweled statues.

a. decorously b. economically c. lavishly d. wealthily

Exercise 29. Give a short talk on Islam as one of the major world religions. What do you know about Sharia Law?

Study the following text and compare principles of Sharia with Christian values.

Sharia: a Practical Guide

by Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood

What are the basic principles of Sharia?

These are to see the will of God done on earth as it is in Heaven. How can we possibly know this will? By study of the revealed scriptures and by choosing talented, intelligent and far-sighted merciful people of excellent character as our judges. The whole principle of God's will is to bring about compassion, kindness, generosity, justice, fair play, tolerance, and care in general, as opposed to tyranny, cruelty, selfishness, exploitation etc. All the rules of Sharia are towards those ends.

The usual criticisms of Sharia - that it is so cruel as regards execution, flogging and cutting off hands, totally ignore all the extenuating circumstances that would lead to these penalties not being applied - they are known as hadd penalties (pl. hudud), the hadd being the extreme limit of the penalty. Thus, if a person was sentenced to having a hand cut off, he or she should not be sent to prison and/or be fined as well. People who regard these practices as cruel will never be persuaded otherwise, so Muslims usually leave that aside. Their point is that the cutting of the hand for theft is a very powerful deterrent - Muslims care less for the callous and continual thief than they do for the poor souls who are mugged and robbed and hurt by the thieves. The Middle East is certainly not full of one-handed people - as any traveller would tell you. In Sharia law, if a thief could prove that he/she only stole because of need, then the Muslim society would be held at fault and made to supply that need, and there would be no hand-cutting. Most thieves would think twice before risking a hand on mugging an old lady for her handbag!

Murder

Sharia law for murder allows the death penalty, but after judicial judgement has been made, appeals are allowed to the family of the murdered victims, and they are begged to be merciful. In Islam, it is always regarded as the height of mercy to forgive a murderer.

The form of execution is not specified in Islam - i.e. it is not usually a stoning. Beheading used to be regarded as the quickest and most merciful way; these days other methods may find approval. There are apparently far less executions in most Muslim countries than in the USA, for example.

Zinah (sexual offences)

There is some confusion over the meaning of the word zinah - this means a sexual offence, ANY sexual offence, and includes not only adultery but also sex before marriage and rape.

Dress

Sharia does not require women to wear a burqa. There are all sorts of items of dress which are worn by Muslim women, and these vary all over the world. The rule of dress for women is modesty, the word hijab implies 'covered'. Some Muslim women feel that they should cover everything from neck to ankle, and neck to wrist. Others also include a head veil, and finally some choose to cover even their faces, although there is no Islamic text requiring this extreme.

Forced and arranged marriages

In Sharia Law any marriage that is forced or false in any way is null and void.

Forced marriage is totally forbidden in Islam. False marriage is too - for example, some of teenage girls are sent back to Pakistan for a holiday when they are about 15, and sign things they do not understand, and then find out later that they have been 'married' even if it has not been consummated.

Forced marriage is not at all the same thing as arranged marriage. Muslims from many countries have a system of arranged marriages, in which the spouses may not have seen each other before marriage, but it always has to be with their free consent. The Prophet himself advised prospective spouses to at least 'look' at each other, until they could see what it was that made them wish to marry that person as opposed to any other. Women forced into marriage, or seeking divorce for general reasons, have the same sort of grounds in Sharia as in the west - cruelty, mental cruelty, adultery, abandonment, etc.

Polygamy

Men and women can have as many spouses as they can fit into a lifetime; but this is not generally approved. Women are requested to have only one husband at a time, and men are limited to four at one time, whereas previously there had been no limit, and a wealthy and generous man was expected to cater for as many women as he could afford. Allah sent the proviso that no Muslim was ever to deliberately cause hurt or harm to another Muslim, so a man might not take extra womenfolk into his home if it would cause upset and distress. Also, if a man could not provide equal treatment of his wives - equal food, clothing, money, living quarters, time spent with - he was refused permission for polygamy.