WRITING

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 398.

Discuss the following paragraphs with your partner(s) and express your opinion.

· One of the most important values associated with the Protestant heritage of America is the value of self-improvement. Protestant Christianity often emphasizes the natural wickedness of human nature. But Protestantism rejected the idea that acts of wickedness can be forgiven by a priest acting in God's name. Individuals are therefore left alone before God to improve themselves or suffer eternal punishment by God. In this way, Protestantism encourages a strong desire for self-improvement.

· In a Protestant culture people believe that ‘God helps those who help themselves'. The need for self-improvement reaches far beyond self-improvement in the purely moral or religious sense. In the United States this belief can be seen in countless books which explain how people can be happier and more successful in life by improving everything from their vocabulary to their tennis game, or even their whole personality.

Write a brief description for a religion in the USA or the UK . Mention the following:

· what believers are called;

· what they believe;

· the name of a holy place;

· special customs and traditions.