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Possible Topics for the Research Paper and Presentations

   to a page on how to get started selecting a topic and group.

New religious movements and cults: UFO cults, Children of God, Unification Church ("Moonies"), Society of Saint Pius X (traditionalist Catholics like Mel Gibson), Falun Gong in China,  forms of New Age today, with magic (Kabalah strings?) etc. The Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda . . . .

Older religious movement: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Amish, Christian Science, Santería, Voudon (Voodoo), etc.

Aspects of traditional religions: the caste system in India, relations between Shia and Sunni Muslims, inner and outer jihad in Islam, forms of Buddhism; Native American traditions..

Religious views on moral issues: the just war theory, the death penalty, therapeutic and reproductive cloning, stem cell research, homosexual behavior, separating conjoined ("Siamese") twins, etc.

Religious hate groups: Ku Klux Klan, Christian Identity, Aryan Nations, 11th Hour Remnant Messenger, Aryan Brotherhood, Neo-Nazis.

Atheism and skepticism: American Humanist Society; Skeptics Society; the secularization thesis; the decline of religion in Europe, survey of reductionist theories of religion.

Specific current issues: creationism and evolution in the schools; Catholic liberation theology in Latin America, theories on religion as a source of tension or violence (Bosnia, Palestine/Israel),  Apocalypticism ("Left Behind" or Ahmadinejad in Iran), The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.  Muslim vs Christian/animists in Sudan, experiments to test efficacy of prayer, etc.

Other?

This page last modified August 13, 2006