‘Culture, Tradition and Religion’ Archives
Christian Science
Christian Science Christian Science was founded in the USA in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910). About one-third of its 3,000 worldwide congregations are based outside the United States. It is popularly best known for its commitment to faith healing and its avoidance of conventional medicine, though this emphasis on healing has diminished [...]
Freemasons
Freemasons The Masonic Order—or Freemasonry—claims origins in Biblical times and an ancestry linking it with ‘operative’ masonry, the medieval guilds of masons who built the cathedrals. ‘Speculative’ Masonry apparently emerged in seventeenth-cen-tury England, as the crafts guilds disappeared. A decisive step in the development of [...]
Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology Scientology is a religio-scientific movement developed in the USA in the 1950s by the science fiction author L.Ron Hubbard (1911–86). Its members, who include John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Priscilla Presley, believe that only through understanding themselves as spiritual beings can they come to understand the ‘supreme [...]
Class in America
Class in America Paul Fussell, in his wry analysis of class markers and behaviors, cites a woman who, asked by interviewers if she thought there were social classes in America, answered “It’s the dirtiest thing I’ve ever heard of.” Divisions by class, sometimes expressed in terms of race or ethnicity, pose fundamental problems for a [...]
British Council
British Council Founded in 1934 and granted a charter in 1940, the British Council is an independent, non-political organization that receives government funding and generates fee income. Its mission is to promote worldwide knowledge of the English language and all aspects of British culture and the British ‘way of life’. This it does by [...]
Adulthood in American Society
Adulthood in American Society Adulthood is marked in American society as in most cultures worldwide, by both rituals and responsibilities. Differences in individual and collective experience and values, however, make these passages of teenage years foci of anxiety as well as badges of maturity. Judaism and many Christian traditions celebrate [...]
Communes
Communes America has incorporated a long history of people choosing to embrace alternative communal societies, from the initial vision of Pilgrims through later groups, including the Shakers, the Oneida communities, Mormons and socialists. This heritage was revitalized in the 1960s by youths using communal settings as support to escape [...]
Midwest
Midwest The Midwest is the most ambiguous and least welldefined of major American regions. In contrast to the South the West, or New England the Midwest has neither a sharp, clear historical identity nor a strong presence in contemporary popular culture. There are no music or movie genres called “midwesterns” and no traditions of Midwest [...]
Giro Culture
Giro Culture With the increase of joblessness in the early 1980s, the giro, an abbreviation for the girocheque method of welfare payment, became an icon of solidarity. Giro recipients maximized available resources. Leisure centres, cinemas and clubs offered discounts. The black and grey markets flourished, in both goods and jobs. With the [...]
Euthanasia
Euthanasia Formerly called ‘mercy killing’, euthanasia means to facilitate someone else’s death intentionally but also compassionately. It differs from assisted suicide in that euthanasia involves the other person performing some direct act to kill an individual. Euthanasia is illegal in Britain, but overseas, steps have been taken [...]
