French Essays

Les droits de l’homme 

Tous les humains ont les droits. Les hommes, les femmes et les enfants ont les droits collectivement et individuellement par la vertu de leur naissance humaine. Il y a deux catégories de droits de l’homme. Ils sont les droits naturels et les droits civils. Comme les droits naturels le droits de vivre, d’exister, de soutenir la vie avec les nourritures, l’abri et les vêtements sont très importants. La liberté d’expression, de penser et le droit d’épouser et avoir une famille sont les autres droits naturels. Le droit de travailler, l’égalité de loi, la liberté d’associer  et rassembler tranquillement et le droit de participer pour les élections sont les droits civils importants.

L’ONU a adopté la déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme en 1948. Il y a beaucoup de gens qui lutter pour gagner leurs droits. Mais on doit souvenir qu’il y a une responsabilité derrière tous les droits. Ils sont comme les deux aspects de la même pièce. Par exemple on a le droit de parler. Mais on doit connaitre qu’on n’a pas le droit d’insulter les autres. On a le droit de vivre, mais on a aussi  la responsabilité de vivre sans violence. Il doit être un équilibre parfait entre les droits et les responsabilités.

Aujourd’hui on peut voir les gens se battre pour les droits sans maintenir leurs responsabilités. Alors ce déséquilibre apport la violence. Les gens puissants essayent de détruire les droits d’autres. Les femmes et les enfants dans la société sont persécutes souvent de discrimination et de la violence des droits de l’homme. On doit connaitre que tout le monde a le droit de vivre en protégeant leurs droits, mais ils doivent aussi penser à leurs responsabilités.                   

Les journaux

Dans le pays démocratique la liberté de presse joue un rôle dominant. D’abord on peut aviser les publicités, deuxièmement   beaucoup de rapports locaux et internationaux. On peut  diviser le journal en deux branches. Elles sont la rédaction et  le directorial. Maintenant la côte de directorial devient proéminente  et populaire.

On peut savoir beaucoup de choses de journaux, parce qu’ils ont les nouvelles de sports, internationaux et locaux, d’art et du temps. Il y a beaucoup de gendres de journaux pour tout le monde. Il y a les journaux pour les enfants, les jeunes et les femmes et il y a aussi les journaux anglais, tamouls et cingalais dans notre pays. Quelques journaux ont les histoires très intéressantes.  On peut s’amuser en les lisant.

Mais le bon journal doit présenter les nouvelles réelles aux gens. Une bonne nouvelles guide la lecture et une mauvaise nouvelle trompe la lecteur.

Bacon a dit la lecture fait un homme complet. Donc on peut le développer avec les journaux. La lecture est une nourriture pour nos pensées. Mais nous devons choisir les bons articles qui conviennent à nous. De cette façon on peut développer nos pensées avec les journaux.           

Mise-en-scene

“Mise-en-scene is a powerful method aimed at communicating of information ideas and feelings of a film.” Discuss this statement using three films selected from different genres as examples.

Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theater. It means, literally, "put in things together in the scene." For film, it has a broader meaning, and refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment, acting and performances, costumes, make up and even sound as it helps elaborate the composition. In brief mise-en- scene is the visual content of the film. And furthermore mise-en- scene can be different according to the film genre. It is because according to different genres the visual content of a film should be changed. If we take three films which belongs to totally different genres such as Provoked by Jag Mundhra, Troy by Wolfgang Petersen and Shrek 2 by Andrew Adamson ,Kelly Asbury and
Conrad Vernon. We can see a clear difference of use of mise-en-scene of these films. And also these directors try to communicate with the audience by giving different information, ideas and feelings.

If we take the film Provoked which was directed by Jag Mundhra, produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar and staring Aishwarya Rai, Gurpreet Dhami, Nandita Das, and this film is based on a traumatic story and it goes under the genre of drama. The story is based on Kiranjit Ahluwalia’s autobiography; Circle of Light, so Provoked is a true story of both Kiranjit’s legal struggle and her personal struggle who humiliated by her husband’s abuse and afraid for her life and the lives of her children, Kiranjit finally finds freedom behind bars. And she finds strength through her new friends—her fellow inmates. With the help of her cellmate, Ronnie (Miranda Richardson), and a non-profit organization that aids battered women, Kiranjit begins to fight for a ground-breaking appeal.

The story of the film builds around the Kiranjit’s character. She was a battered Punjabi homemaker and mother of two, living in Southall. The costumes and make up of her create as a real Panjabi woman and if talk more on the use of make up in the whole film it uses different ways of make ups according to the story of the film. For example when she was arrested after trying to murder we see most of her feelings through her dark make up, at her wedding we see a bright high make up and when she was living freely with her cell mates at the prison we see a light make up. 

 

If move to the acting and performances we can clearly see a very good acting of each character especially the main character. Aishwarya is one of the world famous actresses who can speak with her eyes and in this film also she does the same. The director makes us mostly see her feelings through extreme close ups of her eyes. For example soon after the incident of attempting murder, when the detective officer talks to her we see her inability of speaking and fear through an extreme close up of her eyes. And at the same time when she remembers her children also we see the pathetic situation through her eyes. 

 

And also through some close ups at some special moments such as when Kiran sees her children we see her emotions well. There the director step by step makes us see her emotions like how she was anxiously waiting till they come and her emotions after they come. 

Other characters especially the cell mates acts well because the audience is able to see the sadness and sufferings through each and every cell mate. When we see those faces we feel that all those cell mates have something to say.

The story runs with flashbacks and we get most of Kiran’s family life through the flashbacks and the director contrasts some shots for example Kiran’s husband’s funeral with her marriage.

Lighting also takes an important place. We see different ways of using lights through the whole film. Mostly the director keeps the darkness especially at the scenes of the prison. Sometimes he uses back light, key light and the fill light. Sometimes he uses only the key light.

 

If think about the use of sound through the whole film we can’t say that the director uses much more sounds in the film. But at certain times for example when Kiran’s husband threatens her we hear a fearful sound and at there wedding ceremony we hear a traditional Indian music and also when Kiran is alone at the cell we hear a female vocal sound mix with sadness.

The director used different camera angles to show the story more effectively. There we can see his use of high angles, low angles, tilt and pan shots and also zooming, tracking and the use of bird’s eye. At the same time we see his use of different shot sizes such as long shots, close ups etc. In the film most of scenes are taken at the high court. And there we see those scenes are taken by pan shots and it makes us see the facial expressions and the feelings of the people who are present at the court. Mostly we see his use of medium close ups, close ups, big close ups and extreme close ups of the main character.

 

And some moments the director uses the technique of bird’s eye for example at the cell, at the court and at the end of the show.

High angles and low angles are used at the court.

Though the director uses some different angles we cannot see most of angles in this type of genre, because these films build around in a one main character and the director gives the priority to the main character so mostly we see his use of different close ups of the protagonist which shows her feelings and attitudes. The story ends with a medium close up of the protagonist.

The film Troy is totally different from the film above. It is an historical film and goes under the category of epic. The film starts by saying “Greece, 3500 years ago.” So from there we get all the information according to that. The film Troy is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Wolfgang Petersen, Diana Rathbun, Colin Wilson and Plan B and starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O'Toole and Diane Kruger.

This film is concerning the Trojan War though sometimes it diverged from the myth. The story is an attempt to rebuild the past and gain some information on the past to the present generation. In brief the story flows like, Paris steals Helen away from Spartan prince Menelaus, who in turn successfully convinces his conquest-mad emperor brother Agamemnon to wage war against Troy with the help of his peerless soldier Achilles and, ultimately, a trusty wooden horse. The story deals with the themes of Love, Death, Honor, Sacrifice, and the Gods.

As the film is an epic it should bring us totally different images from the present. So the mise-en -scene of the film is mainly different from the costumes, backgrounds, make up and as this film has many fights the camera angles also different from the other films.

The costumes of the female characters are designed according to the time and male character especially the costumes of warriors and the costumes that they wear when they are free, are designed well. 

 

 

And also we see the use of different equipments which are used for war during that time, and for travel also they used horse, carts and boats. The use of make up also good, especially when the warriors after the war we see their tiredness, fear and power through the make up. And the wounds and blood shed we see through the make up.

Acting and performances of the film also good the director creates number of good fights through the whole film. We mainly see a good acting and fighting skills of the characters such as Hector and Achilles and we see good facial expressions when they fight.

The theme of love played by Achilles and Briseis, the director make us see their emotion and love through the eye contacts.

Use of light takes an important place in the film. All the night scenes cover the candle light and fire. The castles at Troy and Sparta lighted with the fire light. Some fights are doing at night so light and darkness mixed well. The lights used finely at the tents. For example most of the times when Achilles at his tent we see only the use of back light and some times back light only with a key ligh.

The passing of the time shows through fine images of rising sun and moon.

Sound plays an important part in the film. At the exciting moments especially at the fights we hear the use of music instruments but through the whole film we hear a mournful female vocal sound which makes us feel the meaninglessness of war and destruction. When the Greek army defeats we hear that mournful female solo and also at Hector’s death the wailing mournful female vocals again. And at the end of the film "Remember Me", a pop song sung by Josh Groban with Tanja Tzarovska, uses the love theme from the film as its base, and yet still comes across as slightly overdone and saccharine. Not only these but the sounds at the war front and marching to the war also more effective.

When talk on the camera angles comparing with the film above we can see the director mainly uses deep focus scenes which gives wider information. The film starts with a deep focus scene.

Most of the times when the fights starts we see the use of deep focus scenes which shows how the two battles come from two directions to the war front.

And also the kingdom of Troy and Sparta show with deep focus scenes.

Other than the deep focus scenes we see high and low angle, tilt and pan shots, bird’s eye and zooming shots, and different shot sizes like medium close ups, close ups, big close ups etc. for example when Hector comes to fight with Achilles we see a zooming shot.

 The film ends giving more information of the past and it makes the audience have a certain idea of the past.

Next film Shrek 2 directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, this is an animated film. Though this is an animated film this has some features of an adventure films as well as some comical aspect. In brief the plot of the film flows like this, Shrek, Fiona and Donkey set off to attend the ball.During the meal, Fiona's father Harold gets involved in an argument with Shrek, which ends with Shrek telling Fiona that they are leaving Far Far Away. Shrek agrees to the expedition in an attempt to bond with Fiona's parents.Shrek, Puss and Donkey use the card to travel to her Potion Factory. Back in the woods, Shrek and Donkey drink the potion, , Shrek and Donkey faint. Shrek is a handsome human while Donkey is a noble white stallion. On returning to Far Far Away, Fairy Godmother tricks Shrek into thinking that Fiona loves Charming, while Fiona is led to believe that Charming is actually Shrek himself, in human form. Shrek and Donkey charge into the ballroom and the fairy tale creatures begin to fight Fairy Godmother. Fiona realizes it's not Shrek she's dancing with. Shrek and Fiona are about to kiss, but Fiona tells Shrek she wants to live happily ever after, with the ogre she married. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey return to their true forms.

The film has some fairytale features, fairytales were invented during a time when people believed in things such as witches, ogres, giants and trolls, because some scenes are like imagined scenes and not matching with the real life. For example when Shrek, donkey and Fiona travels to the kingdom of Far far away they used an onion-shaped carriage which is quite similar to the carriage of Cinderella.

 

And also the animal characters and we see some characters like puss in boots and Pinokio that we have seen in some other fairytales. When we see the Beginning of the film, it opens with a book containing a fairy story, making us think that is what we are about to experience. The camera angle and the music in the action and almost the background is old identical to Sleeping fashioned, classical and beauty. We assume the film will be the same. Furthermore it starts with saying that “once upon a time” and these things make us feel it is a typical fairytale. But suddenly we see the book at the first scene is torn up by a dirty great big GREEN hand. So the viewer starts to think this might NOT be such a traditional story. Then the music changes abruptly to modern music an ugly green ogre appears from an outhouse. So the hero of the film is not a handsome smart prince but an ugly ogre. The director makes us see the facial expressions and feelings of the ogre in different close ups.

Furthermore through acting we see Shrek’s character as a pretty civilized, doing daily cleansing rituals, so this makes him appear like a human being. Through different shots and different camera angles we see the main character Shrek as a brave, kind and at the same time as a funny character.

From the beginning of the film we see the theme of love through a big close up of a ring and through a nice medium close up of the couple.

When both Shrek couple and the king and queen were at the dinning table we see a track shot of Shrek. 

And also we see the use of deep focus scenes. For example when the Shrek couple goes to the kingdom and all those scenes’ backgrounds covered with a nice environment and also through their journey we see the climatic changes.

Using lights also does not have a difference with other films because here also the director uses sometimes only key light and sometimes only the key light and the back light.

We don’t see a clear difference of Fiona’s costumes when she plays as an ogre and as princes. It may be to make us do not feel any difference between the ogre and the royals.

Music also plays according to the scenes and most of the time it gives a joyful music with songs.

The film ends with giving a moral to the audience.

 
 

 

There is no hope of doing perfect research (Griffith, 1998, p97)

There is no hope of doing perfect research (Griffith, 1998, p97). Do
you agree?

Doing a research simply means searching for knowledge, or a way of discovering or developing something or a method that will lead and join people with the advanced world. Research has a very open extent that it includes different areas such as science, life styles, arts, politics, history etc. Different people in different parts of the world can claim completely opposite results on the topic because of the varying examined data or contradictory environment they have. As we are constantly learning more and more one can disagree with the above topic. There are so many things that we couldn’t even begin to imagine and we don’t even aware on that. However through researches we learn and get benefited. But the thing is in this changing world any research won’t be perfect. It will always be better than the previous one.

One can argue about it in different ways. For example on one hand the inventions at the past were perfect in terms that we actually used them and benefited from them for so many decades on the other hand those inventions are not perfect because it didn’t actually fulfill all the necessities of humans. Therefore the perfection of invention or research is not the matter, but the endless necessities that human beings have. These endless necessities make the humans do more researches and as a result of that humans always try to find new inventions. As we live in a world where globalization highly exists, people in one part of the world easily have inter- connections with people in another part of the world. So they often exchange ideas and everyday they learn something new that can enhance their knowledge. Then researches only become a continuous process which involves strenuous human power and money.

Innovation is a multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace. [Baregheh, 2009, pg 48]     

 It is true the fact that people need to invent different things to fulfill their needs and wants. They always need to boost up their knowledge most of the time for the mean of satisfaction. Subsequently they search and search till they find the best thing but end up with finding a better thing because humans won’t content with what they have and they always believe the fact that there is something ahead better than the things they have. In addition to that the process of inventing something they pay attention for the quality, durability, simplicity and value. This enhances with the competitiveness. Therefore after inventing something they intend to find another alternative that can be more qualitative, more durable and simpler. That is the true nature of invention and that is how an invention or a research becomes a multi-stage process. Moreover that is why humans give birth to various products with considerable changes than the first product. It is clearly evident with the inventions such as abacus, calculator, computer [desktop], laptops, palmtops etc.

Although research results may appear promising, nevertheless, their reliability or validity has always been threatened with the presence of errors and biases in the study. [Mehra, 2002, pg125] The word perfect means ideal or complete without any fault or weakness in other words it can mean that 100% correct. But for a research or an invention it is difficult to apply the word perfect as it won’t be 100% correct. Therefore it is correct to agree with the statement of having 'no hope in doing perfect research'. But reach to perfection becomes the aim of doing a research. By nature human beings are imperfect. They always struggle to survive. They don’t think deep before doing anything. So naturally or may be due to unavoidable circumstances they made mistakes. So imperfect human beings never end up a task with a perfect result, but they can end up their tasks by achieving a successful better result.

The fact that the perfection of research is impossible can be seen in some researches that I have been practically involved while I was doing my degree (Bachelor of Arts). One was the research that I have done on the topic of ‘English pronunciation skills among Sri Lankan school children’. It was a broad topic to gather factors. First of all I selected fifteen schools in Sri Lanka and that included six schools in rural areas, five in town areas, two international schools in town areas and two from suburb areas. But I was not sure whether my hypothesis was correct. The process of researching rotates around something called as Trial and Error. Results may vary according to the different strategies that different researches use and there researchers play a main role. Next at the end of my research I came to a conclusion. But it depends on the strategies I used because another one can follow a totally different hypothesis than mine. Then the result too would be differing. And at the same time no one aware about the best hypothesis, because it depends on the knowledge that different people have.  Therefore the process we called research we need to face mistakes, faults and misinterpretations as well as misunderstanding. In consequence to that we have to agree with the fact that a perfect research is impossible.

Another example can be given through a research that I have done on the topic of ‘Globalization Media and Cultural Identity; with reference to Sri Lankan experience. There I had to continue my research on what is globalization, how it relates with media and how can it affects to the cultural identity of our country. For that I had to gather factors in different spheres like various life styles of the people, politics in the country, modern technologies that are using in the country and also about famous media in the country, because it is through media we get familiar with the concept of globalization. Then I interviewed number of people who belong to different age groups, different social background and different nationalities. And I classified what they said according to their age. Under that I categorized them into three groups like youths age between, 15-30, middle age, 30-50 and age more than 50. But at the end of my research I couldn’t reach to a perfect conclusion as my topic was an updating one. Globalization changes our lives every day. And also the people too, as they often change their ideas. People who represent the younger generation now represent the older generation in future. Though we come to a conclusion regarding the topic it won’t applicable to future and it won’t be a perfect ideal research.  

In this regard, it can be seen that there is no hope in doing a perfect research. There are always certain motives and agendas behind all types of research. [Vangelisti, 1999] There can have both advantageous and disadvantageous. Some do it for money, some for humanitarian reasons. Some even do it for the destruction of humanity. There is always room for improvement, and research is an ongoing process. It is limited by time, resources and tools available for research. Sometimes cultural restrictions, social acceptance or certain biases affect the firmness of research.

                 References

Baregheh et al. Community-Based Research: A Documentary History. Macmillan and co; limited (2009).

Mehra, B. Bias in qualitative research: Voices from an online classroom. The Cyprus review, Cyprus.(2002).

Vangelisti A,. Teaching Communication: Theory, Research, and Methods. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.

Sri Lankan Foreign Policy.

Sri Lankan Foreign Policy.

   From my point of view the foreign policy of a country could changed, if not radically or materially, at least in nuance. At different times Sri Lankan’s foreign policy has shown changes in nuance. As a country whose geographical location has a high strategic importance, Sri Lanka has had to be doubly cautious about her foreign policy stand to prevent the attraction on undue force/power from countries’ whose political economic and military might are fine excess of Sri Lanka’s.

When Sri Lanka was a British colony its foreign policy was determined by them. After independence the main intention of our leaders’ was to protect the newly won freedom and sovereignty of the country. I think that soon after the independence Sri Lanka had a pro-western nuance to her foreign policy with many connections with Britain. D.S. Senanayaka the first prime minister of Sri Lanka [then Ceylon] had security agreements with Britain. [a NATO country] to protect Sri Lankan’s freedom. He also kept Sri Lanka a dominion within the Commonwealth instead of making it a republic like India and Pakistan did. During the period 1948-56 Sri Lanka had leaders like D.S. Senanayaka, Dudley Senanayaka and Sir John Kotalawala and all their foreign policies had a pro-western nuance. The beginnings of change however were beginning to appear they did in the Bandung conference – this in spite of the Sir John Kotalawala – Chou En Lai clashed. S.W.R.D.Bandaranayaka who became prime minister in 1956 fell back strongly on the Bandung principles of peaceful coexistence. He also reclaimed the British bases at Katunayaka and Trincomalee and set Sri Lanka on its path towards Non Aligned Movement. He became totally committed to Non Aligned during the period of the premiership of Mrs. Bandaranayaka when Sri Lanka became one of the founder members of the Non Aligned Movement. Sri Lanka has since then followed the path of Non Aligned in spite of the occasional glitch like our voting with Britain on the Malvinas/ Falkland island issue and our abstention on the West Iranian issue.

Short Story - UNREQUITED LOVE

UNREQUITED LOVE

           
 The clock had stopped. I couldn’t wake up at the time that I had hoped to wake up. I felt that day would be an important day in my life; that there would be a change in my life. New hopes began to bloom in my heart as I prepared to go. I promised my friend Mahesh who was a psychiatrist at the Colombo General hospital that I would meet him. I went quickly to the bus halt. The bus was a little late that day. When it arrived I got in and sat down. My mind was filled with what had happened and what I was going to do that day. As my mind went over the past I felt I had been; too precipitate.

            Mahesh and I were very close friends. He had a friend called Kasun. One day I invited Mahesh to our dance concert. He came with his friend. He introduced his friend to me. My first impression of his friend was a bad one. I didn’t know why. Perhaps I felt that way because of the manner in which he looked at me. While the concert was on I felt that he was paying more attention to me than to the other dancers. After the concert I had no time to talk with my friends and I went quickly to my vehicle. I saw Mahesh’s friend running after me, but I didn’t pay any attention. Two days later I got a call from Mahesh.

“Hello Rangana, are you busy now?”

“No why?”

“I have something special to talk over with you. Do you remember my friend Kasun?”

“Ah the one who came to my concert?”

“Yes he told me that he wanted to speak with you. I feel that he has an interest in you, because after the concert he talks only about you.”

“What a fool! Mahesh don’t be angry with me. I don’t like your friend. When he looked at me on that day I felt that he had not seen a girl before.”

“I gave him your phone number.”

“Oh! What have you done?”

            After that day I got a phone call everyday from Kasun. I got upset and confused. Sometimes I didn’t answer him. Mahesh also phoned me and tried to convince me that Kasun was a good man and tried to persuade me, not to rebuff him. But the unending telephone calls only increased my dislike of Kasun. I even began to move away from Mahesh because of this persistence. I didn’t get any phone call from them for three months. Then I began to feel sorry for Kasun.

“Why did he persue me in this way?”

I looked into myself. I began to blame myself. I had been too harsh. I had a hard heart. I was an artist and normally an artist has a sensitive heart. My feelings began to change. I decided to talk with Kasun. But I couldn’t do it directly. So I phoned Mahesh and told him that I wanted to meet him.   

*                                          *                                          *

The bus stopped at the Colombo hpspital. I went to Mahesh’s room. He was reading a diary and didn’t pay any attention to me.

“Mahesh I want to talk with you.”

“Yes of cause.” He replied in a formal voice.

“I have been thinking things over. I think that I have been too harsh on Kasun. He has not phoned me for a longtime. I like to talk with him. I don’t know why I brushed him off like I did.”

            Mahesh gave me the diary which he was reading and said that I could get to know more about Kasun from it. I began to read. This is what he had written in it.

            “I went to watch a concert with my friend Mahesh. He had got an invitation from one of his friends for that concert. He introduced me for his friend who was a dancer.        “What a pretty girl.” She was really beautiful. She attracted me at once. I wanted to speak more with her. So, at the end of the concert I ran to meet her. She ran away to her vehicle. I saw that one of her anklets had fallen on the road. I picked it up and followed her. But the car drove off and she did not even look at me. I asked more about her from Mahesh. He gave me her phone number. I tried to phone her, she did not respond. I do not know why. I phoned her continously. She still didn’t respond. But I loved her. I began to keep her anklet always with me and it was like a chalice to me. When I was going to work I kept it in my pocket and thought that she was with me. When I was eating in a restaurent I kept it on the table and thought that she was eating with me. Even when I was going to sleep I kept it next to my pillow. I was madly in love with her.

            “Love will withstand cruelty and persist even in death, but it will within under indifference. Pitty will not replace it.”

            This is what he had written in his diary. Tears came into my eyes.

“Mahesh, please tell me where is your friend? I want to talk with him and tell him that he has won my love.”

“If you like to see him I can take you. He is in here.”

“Is he working here?”

“Let’s go.”

I went with him. He took me into an isolated room led to an iron cell. Then he pointed to the cell and told me that there was the man who was madly in love with me. I looked at it. I saw him with a black beard which fully covered his face. I went near him and saw that he was keeping my anklet in his hand. He looked at me. Mahesh began to talk. He told me that I was too late. He has lost his proper senses as a result of meaningless love. So, they were going to trasfer him to the asylum.  

Religion in the Modern World

Religion in the modern world has two conflicting aspects, one the growth of science and technology which appears to marginalize religion, and the other, the spread of religion both in its original and fundamental aspects. Religion may be considered basically a belief in the existence of a Creator by whom everything that exists, seen and unseen, was created, and who is in final control of his creation. There are however various other forms of religious beliefs that exist in the world-polytheism, spirit worship and ancestor worship, to name a few. Religion in its various forms exists all over the world and has played, and continues to play a part in human life. In all cultures human beings accept and believe in a spiritual dimension to life, which is as real as the material dimension of science, and has an existence beyond it.

Religion and science were originally not considered conflicting. Religion in the modern world however, has undergone a change in attitude towards it. In the 13^th century religion was regarded as a science. Thomas Aquainas argued that this was so. He posited that while some sciences dealt with what can be known by the light of natural reason, there was another science which dealt with things so far as they are known by the light of divine revelation.

“We must bear in mind that there are two kinds of sciences. There are some which proceed from principles known by the natural light of the intellect, such as arithmetic and geometry and the like. There are also some which proceed from principles known by the light of a higher science: thus the science of optics proceeds from principles established by geometry, and music from principles established by arithmetic. So it is that sacred doctrine is a science because it proceeds from principles known by the light of a higher science, namely, the science of God and the blessed. Hence, just as music accepts on authority the principles taught by the arithmetician, so sacred doctrine accepts the principles related by God.”[Anton 07]

            However with the growth of materialism as evidenced in the development of industry, commerce and technology, religion was pushed into the background and the type of science that proceeded “from principles known by the natural light of the intellect” [Anton 07] emerged as predominant. This was the time of the Industrial Revolution, which was one of the most important changes in the history of humanity, altering patterns of life and thought. It meant a shift from an agrarian, handicraft and labor- intensive economy to one dominated by the machine, the factory system, division of labor, a freer flow of capital and the growth of cities.

            The Industrial Revolution brought changes in the social structure. In Britain the new system of industrial production brought about by the steam engine replaced the old crafts and the craftsmen, and industrial production made people shift from the countryside to new industrial towns with consequent overcrowding squalor and degradation both in standards of living and standards of morals. At the same time industry, trade and commerce began to develop on a marked scale. The new emerging industrial society broke up the existing harmonious structure of country life into hostile groups of haves and have nots. Wordsworth wrote in 1817, “I see clearly that the principal ties which kept the different classes of the society in a vital and harmonious dependence upon each other have, within these thirty years, either being greatly impaired or wholly dissolved. Everything has been put up to market and sold for the highest price it could buy.” [Ford, volume 5, p.15] 

Together with the old social order, religion too became subordinated to the new forces of trade, commerce and industry, and it gradually began to lose ground. Not only Wordsworth, Mathew Arnold in “Dover Beach” spoke of “the sea of faith

                                     Retreating, to the breath

Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear

                                    And naked shingles of the world”

In the late 19^th century thinkers like Karl Marx, Darwin, Carlyle and Frazer further questioned religious beliefs Karl Marx rejected religion, Darwin’s theory of evolution was taken as opposing the biblical theory of creation and Frazer saw Christianity as a religion whose beliefs were no different from other religions which has existed before.               “Taken altogether, the coincidences of Christian with the heathen festivals are too close and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the compromise which the church in the hour of its triumph was compelled to make with its vanquished yet still dangerous rivals” [Frazer, (369)]

Carlyle said in “Signs of Times” (1829), “Were we required to characterize this age of ours by any single epithet, we should be tempted to call it, not an Heriocal, Devotional, Philosophical, or Moral Age, but above all others, the Mechanical Age… Not the external and physical alone is now managed by machinery, but the spiritual also” [Ford, volume 6, p.19]

            In the 20^th century Science has led to an explosion of technology covering every aspect of human life such as material comfort, medicine, travel, exploration of space and lifestyles. The impact of this explosion of technology on material comfort and lifestyles made a change in human lives. New material comforts provide numerous facilities for humans. Proliferation of all sorts of consumer goods including electrical and electronic goods allows people to have a comfortable life. There are numerous goods and appliances which can help humans in their day- to-day lives. These things make people enjoy their lives in material comfort. For example a man can watch everything that happens around the world with television or download it on the internet and these things also provide entertainment.

            Another achievement of this explosion of technology is the development of medicine which made revolutionary advances. By the end of 20^th century medical advance helped to increase the average person’s life expectancy by almost thirty years. As people lived longer, new medical challenges emerged. Heart disease, cancer, strokes and other conditions often associated with aging replaced infectious diseases as the leading causes of death. Physicians began to pay greater attention to preventing diseases and keeping patients healthy into an advanced age. Physicians were successful in conquering infectious through improved sanitation and use of antibiotics and vaccines. Furthermore doctors found new methods of curing people such as surgery, radiology, scans, psychoanalysis and electroconvulsive therapy. So technology gave modern man a longer life to enjoy the material comforts it provided. [Encarta 2004]  

            Another achievement of technology is the development of travel. The development of travel provided transportation services like airlines, bus companies, railroads, taxis which transport people swiftly from place to place. Furthermore the development of travel has led to space exploration which helps to discover the nature of the universe beyond earth. Science and technology has brought the universe closer to human life. All those modern achievements of technology make for a comfortable life style. The material comfort and the extension of human life which enables longer enjoyment of these comforts has made people feel that religion is redundant and that it is a historical phenomenon that has been replaced by science and technology. Secularism has been gaining ground.

            Western writers questioning the validity of religion dealt with Christianity because that was the religion in the west. However their concern was not with Christianity perse, but with belief that went beyond the material world of science and technology. The technological explosion affected western as well as Asian and African societies, and led to the marginalization of their religions too by the material wealth and lifestyles that technology provided.

            Paradoxically, the very technological advancement that has tended to marginalize religion has led to its expansion. The facilities of travel and communication through television, radio and internet, to give a few examples, and particularly the development of mass communication techniques which are a product of modern technology, has led to the spread of religion in its original and also its fundamentalist forms. Christianity which was historically brought to certain countries through conquest and colonization is, today, spreading further afield with the help of these modern technological developments. On the other hand religions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam which had hither to been confined to a few countries in Asia and Africa, are now spreading westwards.

            Further, technological developments have led to the affirmation of religious beliefs and thus of religion itself. It is interesting that even Darwin’s account of evolution which was believed to have destroyed the biblical story of creation says “If it be asked why apes had not had their intellects developed to the same degree as that of man, general causes only can be assigned in answer, and it is unreasonable to expect anything more definite, considering our ignorance with respect to the successive stages of development through which each creature has passed.” [Darwin. p.465]

There are also aspects of human life innate qualities of human beings which Darwin is unable to show as being a result of evolution. He says “with respect to the origin of the parental and filial affections, which apparently lie at the base of the social instincts, we know not the steps by which they have been gained; but we may infer that it has been to a large extent through natural selection.” [Darwin.478] Darwin can only infer that these qualities were gained through natural selection. Theology however is certain that they were features derived at creation being a terrestrial manifestation of the divine relationship between God and man. Darwin also said, “The moral sense perhaps affords the best and highest distinction between man and the lower animals. The moral sense in man is the fundamental factor which separates him from the animals. It is also the factor which links him to the divine. Once more there is an area which refuses to be explained by evolution but can be explained only by a divine act of creation.” [Gen.1, 26-31]         

            Beyond that pointer, there are other scientific facts. The fingerprint, the voice scan and the retina scan, show the uniqueness of the individual in the creation of each human being.

            Frazer in Golden Bough says “if then we consider, on one hand, the essential similarity of man’s chief wants everywhere and at all times, and on the other hand, the wide difference between the means he has adopted to satisfy them in different ages, we shall perhaps be disposed to conclude that the movement of the higher thought, so far as we can trace it, has on the whole been from magic through religion to science.” [Frazer.711].Unfortunately science and technology have not been able either to marginalize or to disprove religion. On the contrary it has helped to spread religions and has in its findings supported basic religious beliefs. As Aquinas said, religion proceeds from “the light of divine revelation” [Anton 30] which he saw as a higher science.       

Works Cited

       Anton C.P(ed) Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Acquinas, Random House, New York. (1945)

       Darwin. The Descent of Man, Modern Library, p.465.

       Ford, Boris. “From Blake to Byron”. The Pelican Guide to English Literature, volume 5, Penguin Books, 1957.p.15

       Ford, Boris. “From Dickens to Hardy”. The Pelican Guide to English Literature, volume 6, Penguin Books, 1958.p.19.

       The Bible societies. Good News Bible, Caledonian International Book Manufacturing Ltd, Glasgow, Britain.

      Frazer, J.G. The Golden Bough, Macmillan and co; limited, 1950, (369)

       “Medicine” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe. 2004 ed.