Simone Weil regards Christianity as a religion for slaves. What does Essay

Simone Weil regards Christianity as a religion for slaves. What does she mean by this, and is it a justified claim - Essay Example universe good outweighs evil†¦ Thus the object of this certitude is an eternal and universal dispensation constituting the foundation of an invariable order in the world. Diving Providence is never represented in any other form, unless I am mistaken, either in the sacred texts of the Chinese, the Indians, and the Greeks, or in the Gospels. She believed that such pseudo-universal religious idea was significantly transformed by the Romans in their unique and odd acceptance of Christianity, with historic outcomes: â€Å"†¦ when the Christian religion was officially adopted by the Roman Empire, the impersonal aspect of God and of Divine Providence was thrust into the background. God was turned into a counterpart of the Emperor.† Weil believed that the ideas of nationalism of the Jews and the Romans were the same—both were cruel, profane, and agnostic, both supported the exploitation and persecution of the inferior by the superior. Associated with this sameness of outlooks was a shared subject matter in the spirituality or worship of the two groups. Both the Romans and the Jews, regardless of their dissimilarities in other aspects, had a similar idea of slavery, essential to the cosmological beliefs of both people. The Jews believe that: In the texts dating from before the exile, Jehovah’s juridical relationship to the Hebrews is that of master to his slaves. They had been Pharaoh’s slaves: Jehovah, having taken them out of Pharaoh’s hands, has succeeded to Pharaoh’s rights†¦ He orders them indifferently to do good or evil, but far more often evil, and in either case they have to obey. It matters little that they should be made to obey from the basest motives, provided that orders are duly executed. With regard to the Romans, â€Å"Such a conception as this was exactly on a par with the feelings and intelligence of the Romans. With them slavery had undermined and degraded all human relations.† Therefore, Weil claimed, in addition to the

China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

China - Essay Example Democracy was never followed in Peoples Republic of China (PRC), be it the Chinese media or press, all were owned by the Chinese government. And the most annoying dilemma to which U.S was confronted since the beginning of Chinese independence was the failure of U.S government to introduce political reforms in China. Since the beginning, U.S was interested in bringing democracy to China, to which he allegedly failed. On the other hand Chinese media has always vehemently condemned the United States as a real enemy over a series of crises and why it shouldn't blame the U.S as the press and media are the well known governmental bodies of PRC: the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade; the row over human rights, trade, and Taiwan; the alleged Chinese espionage on U. S. nuclear intelligence, and a U. S. spy plane crashing into a Chinese fighter plane. These all examples escort us to the fact that nationalist feelings is China's genuine hunger for international status, for which today PRC has changed its dimensions with the media hailing the upcoming 2008 Olympics and WTO membership as milestones of national importance. (Chuan Lee, 2003, p. 2) According to Xiaogang, "there is something unique about the press in China's transition to the market, namely the duality of its formal and informal roles. On the formal side, all media are required to toe the official propaganda line. Press controls in China are not based upon codified censorship but are issue-specific. In order to ensure that the media interpret the news in a way favorable to the regime, the state decides what the press can and cannot report, who deals with particular issues and how these news items are to be presented. On the informal side, journalists have been attempting to break free from state control as their media seek liberties in the marketplace. Though all Chinese media have bureaucratic affiliations, their operations have been increasingly commercialized, and they can express opinions, which are quite different from those prescribed by their bureaucratic affiliations". (Xiaogang, 1999) Background of Chinese Politics The American image of China despite of dating back to the colonial period and the early trade with the Chinese has never been considered friendly, but the degree and the level to which orientalist views about China were normalized, domesticated, and popularized in the World War II era which is unmatched by any other period in American history. Unique to the American orientalist discourse of this period was the way it tended to measure and define America according to carefully calibrated terms of modernity. Modernity at this juncture in history, more than at any other time, was most closely associated with material luxuries and conveniences afforded by the advancement of technology as well as the adoption of beliefs that promoted the progress of civilization. This has been the reason why the Chinese culture and civilization apart from the governmental level has been under deep influence of U.S. To believe in progress was to believe in the promise of science and the values embedded in American notions of democracy. In short, being American for Chinese was synonymous with being modern. (Heyung, 2000, p. 32) Chinese Americans Expectations Chinese Americans in the 1930s challenge the perspective that assumes cultural subjects that typically aspire to blend in