Compare and contrast the moral teachings of various religions (ancient, indigenous, and/or modern), particularly with regard to their history, cross-cultural connections, similarities and differences.

Research Paper

One 1500 Word Research Paper (20%): Please read The MLA Handbook and Dr. Norris Tips for Excellent Papers on Blackboard for everything you need to write a solid research paper. You must provide a minimum of five references (books, journal articles, interviews, etc.) of which only one may come from the Internet (except for full e-books and e- articles). The Internet source must be a scholarly, professional expert source. You may not use the Hopfe and Woodward textbook or other course textbooks as one of your references. You may not use encyclopedias or dictionaries as one of your references. You may not use original sources, such as the Bible, the Torah or the Quran as one of your references. Choose one of the four topics below:

•   Matriarchy Versus Patriarchy—The Treatment of Women within Religion throughout History: Do not focus on just one religion or just one individual within a religion. Instead, compare ancient versus modern religions, or compare across modern religions, but show the similarities and differences in the treatment of women (beliefs, practices, symbols, rituals, patterns and themes).
•   Indigenous Versus Colonial—The Differences between the God of the Native Americans and the God of the White European Settlers: Do not just provide a listing of similarities and differences, but compare and contrast by exploring underlying themes, beliefs, rituals, symbols and practices.
•   Moral Versus Immoral—The Moral Teachings of Religion: Compare and contrast the moral teachings of various religions (ancient, indigenous, and/or modern), particularly with regard to their history, cross-cultural connections, similarities and differences. Make sure that you include a scholarly discussion of what are morals vs ethics.
•   The Historical and Modern Reasons for Hostility between the Religions of the People of the Book: Explore why the Abramic Religions have been at war in one way or another throughout their history. Is this hostility primarily based upon religion or does it have socio-economic and socio-political roots as well?