Megan Alexander

Final Essay

World Religions

Resisting Change
The secularization thesis refers to the belief that as societies progress,
religion loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance. (Norris,
2013) Many social theorists during the end of the 19 century and beginning
of the 20th century believed that the inclination would be toward the decline
in religions. Yet, even as modern sciences have made developments
advancing us further than anyone could imagine, humans nevertheless
continue to have spiritual needs that they are only able to fulfil with religion.
Many religions have had to evolve with time and some have fought to remain
true to their fundamental values and beliefs. For this paper I have chosen to
look at the religions of Kabbalah and the Amish, and their current beliefs on
divorce, their views on science and whether those views have changed.
Kabbalah believes that one should try to avoid being egotistical. They
believe that one of the reasons so many marriages fail is that most of the
love that is involved in marriages is hormonal love and is used to meet needs
that people have, whether sexual or feelings for fulfillment, rather than
spiritual love. If couples read the Zohar there are many tips to help them to
overcome their egos and work together with their partner to find a spiritual
connection. They have a famous verse that they refer to, Man, woman, and
the Divine Presence between them, and they believe that by finding this
combination, a man and woman can have a lasting marriage. This means
that followers should work their marriage out by working on themselves.
Since traditionally true Kabbalists were Torah observant Jews, their views on

Megan Alexander

Final Essay

World Religions

marriage have definitely softened from the rigid belief of marriage as a holy
contract overseen by God, to that of today where it is discouraged but
allowed.
Responses to Modernity
The Amish have worked hard to keep their beliefs in place. The Amish
do not accept divorce except for in cases of adultery and it is a reason to be
excommunicated. Anabaptist and Mennonites have never permitted divorce,
and though divorce rates among Mennonites (the only rates I could find
studies on) have increased, the numbers were below one percent to begin
with and only slightly over one percent during a later study. The study also
noted that the divorce rates were higher among those who were inactive
members of the religion which would go along with the practice of
excommunication being a consequence of divorce.
The Amish and Kabbalah have very different views on science. The
Amish like to use some of the latest farming innovations but they do not
want to use science much beyond that. They believe that they should keep
the secular world out of their communities as much as possible. Kabbalah on
the other hand does not have much of a problem with science. From what we
learned in class, Kabbalah is about questioning and probing, which is what
some would say is the scientific method is about. There is a science of
Kabbalah also that introduces the study of actual science into Kabbalah. So,

Megan Alexander

Final Essay

World Religions

these two religions have both taken two very different approaches toward
science.

References
Divorce and Remarriage. (2013, June 16). Retrieved from Global Annabapist
Mennonite Encyclopedia Online:
http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/D59ME.html
Norris, P. (2013, June 18). Secularization. Retrieved from Wikipedia.org:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization