Religion As A Cyber Society Essays - Monastery, Cyber,

Religion As A Cyber Society The exponential growth of the Cyber society and Cyber culture within the Internet has not gone unnoticed by the ?religious community.? As I write, church web sites are being published and electronic prayer groups zip by in modems and wire networks across the globe. Even isolated monasteries like the Monastery of the Christ in the Desert (see sidebar) are able to send their Benedictine messages from their cloister in New Mexico. New age religions also use the [virtual] soil of the Internet as the center of their ?virtual church? (see end of the Cyber society Observation for links on religious web pages). With these in mind, it is safe to write that Religion has seamlessly incorporated itself within the realm of Cyber society. The presence of Religion in Net Culture is not an unforeseen trend. Although Religion and Modernity does not have the best relationship, Religion has learned that they need to conform with the current trends of technology to survive. Religion sees Modernity (in hand with secularization) as a threat to spiritual well-being and existence of its churches. Today for example, membership in Christian denominations is decreasing and the number of priests is on the downward slope as well. The declining trends are placed on modern individual's tendency to think of religion as ?neither good nor bad but simply irrelevant.? (Encarta ?Religion?) Another reason lies in the prestige appropriated to science, the body of knowledge that made no reference to spiritual gods and the foundation of all the technologies that made human life easier. The religious organizations recognize the decline in membership and religious passivity of the general populace. Instead of going condemning the technology, they adapted to it and used it to perform their evangelical work. Evangelicalism originally means ?personal commitment to Christ and the authority of the Bible (Encarta ?Religion?).? Evangelicalism can also mean the spreading of God's word. History witnessed the churches' efforts to ?convert? people with the help of discovery and innovation. For example, the invention of the movable press type by Johann Guttenberg in Germany changed the painstaking effort of copying the bible by hand. Anyone can now access a bible anywhere they need it. With the invention of the television and radio came the TV and radio evangelists, spreading the ?word of their God? and converting the masses. Many churches actually own stations and record studios that would help establish the stability of their religion. The birth of the Internet, however is a w hole new platform altogether. As a cyber deacon in one the new-age religions puts it (with exaggerated confidence and modulated voice), ?The Internet has the potential of evolving into the greatest communication tool of all time (Busch 1).? The Internet is sometimes scorned as the menace and heralded as the savior of society. How has the Internet worked for Religion? The Internet, for one, has become the primary breeding ground for New-Age churches and religion, usually creating a ?virtual church? in the confines of their web pages. New Age Movement: ?A new form of spirituality that offers individuals the opportunity to reconnect with mystical dimensions of the self and thus the wider cosmos?relationships that are typically obscured by secular culture and often are not addressed in biblical traditions?. (Encarta ?Religion?) Some of these New Age Churches include Cosmosofy, Digitalism and The First Cyber Church of the Scientific God. Most, if not all of the cyber churches try to create a church that combines love for God as related to science. For example, Digitalism is a modernized religion based on the wonders of technology and Buddhism. The First Cyber Church advocates a love for God and mankind with good science as foundation. As a whole, these new religions try to meet anybody's spiritual needs. Traditional Churches and denominations have also taken advantage of the Internet. Many of these religions have established web pages, like the Vatican, Qabalah (for insight on Jewish Mysticism) and Anglicans Online to name a few. A list of traditional churches and their links are found at the end of this paper. The old religions like the New age religion uses the Internet to spread their message of faith with the aid of the technologies

QACA and Qatar Charities Essays

QACA and Qatar Charities Essays QACA and Qatar Charities Essay QACA and Qatar Charities Essay 1.4 Challenges Faced by QACA between 2004 and 2009 Despite the many gains that QACA achieved between 2004 and 2009, it had to overcome many challenges. First, the authority employed a small staff (less than 60 employees). Due to the small size of its workforce, the authority outsourced auditing services to third party entities such as PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Outsourcing of services became a major bone of contention between the authority and Islamic charities in Qatar. Some of the charities claim that the contracted third party auditors were unreliable and not objective, and that they could disclose confidential information to unauthorized parties. The charitable groups also complained that the routine audits conducted by the contracted auditors at the behest of QACA lacked clear terms of reference because the charities were not getting reports after the audits. Concern were also raised that the audit cycle was taking too long, which was too costly to the charities. The charities alleged that the contracted third parties were deliber ately taking too long to complete the audit process so as to earn more money. These claims were refuted by QACA, but severely dented the organizations image in the country. Another issue of concern related to information exchange between QACA and the various charities and state agencies operating in Qatar. Immediately QACA was formed, it embarked on developing a system of communication network through which it could facilitate exchange of information with stakeholders. The authority could also use the communication system to electronically monitor each charitable groups financial processes. Such a communication system was never implemented because the charitable sector felt that the system could violate the privacy and confidentiality of charities. Some charities expressed fears that financial information passed to QACA through the system could end up in the hands of the competitors. Due to these reservations, the communication system, though well intended, was never implemented. This severed communication between QACA on one hand, and Islamic charities and other stakeholders on the other (Jonathan, 2003). Another challenge faced by QACA was the strong opposition from Qatar international charities which complained that the authority was biased because it played a dual role as a government regulator and as a charitable organization. In fact, part of QACAs mandate was to provide charitable aid and humanitarian assistance. Accordingly, the authority was always involved in several instances of aid delivery especially during catastrophic disasters and in crisis hit areas. For example, it provided aid to Indonesia after the deadly tsunami of 2004. The authority also provided aid to Pakistan and China following a series of catastrophes. Other charity groups felt that QACAs duality of roles created conflict of interest and exacerbated a state of competition between QACA (as a regulator) and the charities. This led to constrained relationships, making it difficult for QACA to execute its mandate effectively. 1.5 Dissolution of QACA Qaca was disbanded in 2009 following a decision by the government to restructure state institutions and ministries. In the restructuring process, a number of small government agencies were merged into ministries. Resultantly, the activities of QACA were taken over by the Ministry of Social Affairs. During the five year period when the Qatar Authority on Charitable Activities existed, it achieved many successes, setting precedence for future oversight and control of the charity sector. In its oversight roles, the authority found no evidence that Qatari charities or their foreign partners were involved in any illegal activities such a terror financing or money laundering. This gave the Qatari charity sector a clean bill of health, making Qatar one of the few countries in the Middle East with a well managed, transparent and efficient charity sector. Although QACA has long been disbanded, the government continues to regulate and monitor the charity sector with the aim of ensuring that ch aritable funds are used to make the greatest impact and that they are not diverted to criminal activities. As could be expected, the dissolution of QACA caused an immediate and long-lasting impact on the charity sector. Some charities felt that the dissolution was a sign of fragmentation in the government administration of public state agencies. Some feared that although the dissolution was not targeted exclusively at QACA, it could cause the charity sector to be regulated more stringently. Until the time of its dissolution, QACA had been considered the pioneer of a consultative framework for government coordination of the non-governmental sector. As such, some stakeholders felt the amalgamation of the activities of QACA with those of the ministry to be a wrong step taken by the government at a time when governments in other parts of the world were doing the opposite.

Liver Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Liver Disease - Essay Example It is strategically placed between the gut and the rest of the body and hence acts as a filter and does not allow bacteria to enter our blood stream (Reichen). The liver produces and secretes a fluid called bile that enters the intestine. This helps in digestion and absorption. Bile is clear yellow to golden-brown and contains water, electrolytes (salts), cholesterol, bile salts (detergents), phospholipids, and proteins (Everson & Weinberg). Liver can be affected by various types of diseases – some of which can be since birth or some may acquire it during the course of life. The most common liver diseases are jaundice and hepatitis A and C. When the bilrubin count in the body goes beyond the specified normal limit, a person is said to be affected with jaundice (Beckingham & Ryder). When a person has jaundice, bilrubin becomes visible within the sclera, skin, and mucous membranes. Jaundice can be of different types depending upon the intensity to which the liver is affected. Accordingly, it is categorized as prehepatic, hepatic, or posthepatic. In prehepatic jaundice, bilrubin is produced faster than the liver is capable of handling it. Unconjugated bilrubin is insoluble and cannot be excreted through the urine. This is normally found when patients are anemic. Posthepatic jaundice is also known as obstructive jaundice, in which the bilrubin is conjugated and soluble. This is excreted in the urine due to which the urine is dark in color. At the same time, the stool is pale in color because the bilrubin is unable to enter the gut region. In hepatic jaundice, both conjugated and unconjugated bilrubin concentration rises, due to which the urine and stool remain or normal color. Nevertheless, the color of stool and urine should not be the determinants of the hepatic condition of the liver, as these could be affected due to other reasons. When the alanine transaminase activity