What are the customs concerning death and their impressions and attitudes toward traditional practices?

B. Dying
and Death in MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS Research Paper and Presentation (40 pts):

Due: SUNDAY OF WEEK 6 BY 11:59 PM Meets SLOs #1-4
This
project is a two-part project, each part counts for 20% of your grade. The
purpose of the final project is to deepen the student’s understanding of ministry
and care in times of grief and loss on a broader scale, outside of one’s own
tradition or religion.

Part
1
consists of writing a research paper on selected world religion and should be
5-7 pages in length. You may only use
sources acquired from the UMO Moye Library Data bases (See Moodle). Source
citations required by your department are acceptable (i.e. MLA, APA, etc.) If
you are a religion major, use Chicago/Turabian style, (see examples at the end
of this course syllabus).

Part
2
consists of creating a presentation on the dying and death rituals (practices)
and beliefs carried out by those within the chosen world religion (See project
description below). The presentation should be a minimum of 10 minutes in
length. Your video presentation should
be uploaded into Moodle in the space provided.

Part 1-
MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS Research Paper
Select
one of the five major religions. Research within the chosen religion should consider
the following questions:

What
are the customs concerning death and their impressions and attitudes toward
traditional practices? Are there new practices? What are traditional practices
based on (holy writings, social customs etc.) Do the people of this religion view
death in positive ways, as a release, for example, or in negative ways, as in punishment?

What
are their burial rituals and requirements? Who can touch the body after death?
How is the body treated after death (washed, buried, cremated, etc.)? What are
the funeral customs? What happens to a person as they are dying? Are their
special chants, songs, prayers (if special prayers are offered to whom are they
offered?), rituals, and if so who carries these things out, and why are these
things carried out?

Begin
your paper by describing the founder of the religion, where geographically
speaking is the religion mainly practiced, approximately how many practices this
religion worldwide, major sacred text if any, and major philosophies (beliefs).

Next,
describe death customs you learned about that are specific to the religious
group. Compare your research, looking for similarities and differences in death
practices of the selected world religion and American practices (you may
compare with your own religion or denomination).

Are these similarities and differences explained by location, religious background,
political systems, and economic systems? Are there any deep-seated similarities
in the death practices of all people? Compare your findings.

Format
and style:
The
research paper should have one-inch margins and utilize a sans serif font, (i.e
Times New Roman or similar), with 12pt sizing, double-space the body of the
paper. Indent for new paragraphs and single-space, block indent quotes longer then 4 lines. Place your name, date etc. in top left corner single-spaced as in
Example A. Times New Roman 12 point font is to be used. Indent for new
paragraphs and double space accept for quotes longer than 4 lines then indent
and single-space the quote.

Bibliography
should be at end of your paper. The title page and bibliography do not count for the total
pages of the assignment. Source citations required by your department are
acceptable (i.e. MLA, APA, etc.) If you are a religion major, use
Chicago/Turabian style, (see examples at the end of this course syllabus).

World Religion Groups:
Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Daoism (Christianity is also a major
world religion, however, if you are a Christian or have been raised in a
Christian environment please do not research Christianity. One of the purposes
of this class is to help you become more aware of the different cultures and
religions and their dying and death practices).

Part 2-Major
World Religion Research Presentation
Part 2 consists of
an oral presentation. The purpose of this project is to assist you in engaging
in oral communication in a professional manner (The presentation should be a
summary of your research paper.) You will be required to create a presentation of
at minimum, 10 minutes in length.

You will need to
create this in a video form. Video yourself presenting to the class as if you
were standing in front of them. Upload the video to Moodle or perhaps to
YouTube and upload the link in Moodle (instructions can be found on Moodle).

For best quality
recording, ensure you are in adequate lighting and that the volume is at a
comfortable level. Use good posture and hand gestures, as well as, be aware of your
expressions, body language and pronunciation. Feel free to be creative in your
presentation.

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