The Lobbying In Tourism Tourism Essay

The Lobbying In Tourism Tourism Essay In all big business making projects there have always been rigging and bonds. It the past it used to be called bribery and now days, due to its improved form and sophisticate way it is done, it is said to be lobbying. Who are the lobbyists in tourism? How can they advantage from favouring certain group of people and certain destinations? Is it the matter of well done lobbying the promotion of a certain destination? Lobbying and marketing how are these actually connected? Is it up to the lobbyists that some good values have lost their importance? To what extent have the Internet and mass media influenced the style and awareness formation of the certain destination and is it also a kind of lobbying? To what extent is lobbying good for some people, destinations and projects and what is the role of the civil sector in such processes? These are just some of questions necessary to be resolved in order to get acquitted with the occurrence more and more present in modern travel industry. I t is all about huge amounts of money and because of this tourism will become (even more) interesting to the lobbyists. Very often people wonder how it could be that certain projects are completed on time and how only the certain group of people takes a part in these? Many of these people were not supposed to deal with such projects, many of these companies did not have the best offer; yet they managed to participate in the projects. How it is possible for an individual to make just a few steps and suddenly to become an important participant? Lobbying is one of the best possible answers. It is well featured in business where it is everything about the large sum of money as well as where the great national and social interest is concerned. Who the lobbyists are- in some cases it is known who they are, while in some others they are like some secret societies, pretty mysterious. It is the second half of the twentieth century when lobbying in tourism started to bloom. It was the moment when the mass tourism flourished along with the great number of receptive objects built and numerous tourism fairs held-a ll these were/are a fantastic medium for the lobbyists to expand their influence. Many high school and college principals as well as hotel/motel and tourist organisation managers are also involved in the process of lobbying- there are interests everywhere- not necessarily financial, why some things are done in such way and why certain people do these. The notion lobbying comes from the English word lobby which denotes the area that is just inside a large building, where people can meet and wait .In this space members of the British Parliament used to negotiate, make some arrangements and exchange the information. That is how the notion of lobbying was formed (to try to influence a politician or the government to do or not to do something). In both British and American system of government it is incorporated organization dealing with legislative processes in such way as to represent industrial .and other interests  [1]  . In case of tourism, the usual lobbyists are the governments of some countries as well as those who want something to be done as they like it and in order to gain some profit. Very often ordinary people are not acquainted with this, due to well skilled professionals. Supremacy and domination are important parts in all spheres of life and lobbying as such is fine means to achieve this. 1. LOBBYING IN SERBIA In Serbia, lobbying will no longer be operated in a secret way and away from the public eye; on the contrary, it will be an occupation in which franchised professionals will be involved. In July, 2009, there was the proposition of The Lobbying Law created, so that lobbying could become an occupation as any other. According to this law, there will be unique Professional Lobbyist Register Office to deal with the rules of lobbying and to control those who operate opposite the way it is predicted. In such Bill it is said that lobbying is the way for the interested party to achieve impact on some participants in both judicial power and legislation, so as such regulations co no harm on the interested parties or they can benefit from them. The impact has to be explained in full details and at the same time truthful, useful and meaningful and at the same time it should do no harm on other participants by the time it is put into practice. Lobbying involves all the activities done with purpose to influence decision making within public authorities. The purpose of such law is to make lobbying process public and transparent, to make it available to be easily controlled by the executive and legislative authorities and prevent lobbying to act in the way opposite the legal regulations. (The draft of the Lobbying Law outline). In this law it is also mentioned that a lobbyist is a natural person or an entity and lobbying is an activity with purpose to achieve some influence on the processes within the executive and legislative authorities. It would be necessary for all those who want to do this job to have a licence, the written document, obtained from the Lobbyist Board. Furthermore, this law states who can be a lobbyist and even something more important-who are those having no rights to do such activity, and they are: officials, members of State Budget Agency, members of the official managing and supervising boards i.e. all those whose activity may cause conflict of interests . Lobbyist activity is available to the public according to the law, although certain pieces of information are confidential as to protect clients and their privacy. Up to the moment when the law is passed, lobbying is an activity done by the influential people who are amateurs only according to their education and can not get the licence; they are businessmen having chief influence on decision making and profit sharing. 2. LOBBYING AND TOURISM In case of tourism, lobbying can be considered to be any communications made by employees in the tourism industry, firstly with the potential clients as the way he checks his lobbying skills namely, if he is a good lobbyist, he can turn a potential client into the client and succeed in taking his Leisure time and money and provide certain services for him. The contact and the invisible services presentation to the client is one kind of lobbying as well as that involves certain skills. Zoran Ivanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality in Opatija mentioned, at he Congress of the Hotel and Tourism Management, held in Opatija in 2008 that what matters is the essential skills and competences, rather than knowledge. This thought is actually a definition of well done lobbying. It is necessary to improve knowledge continuously and keep working on it. Those possessing a kind of passive knowledge can possibly be lost in a wide range of scientific knowledge. S kills and competencies are taught and and it is their ongoing practice and improvement that can lead to the results, no matter what activities we consider negotiations, lobbying, or when we simply want to leave a good impression. Competencies  [2]  and skills  [3]  and lobbying are essential for tourism. Tourism, defined as moving of people from their place of residence to another with a lot of money spent there, is actually an industry selling its services without to be checked previously. All these so called activities, being not previously checked must be sold and must be properly displayed in order to be purchased. It is claimed that one or even more tourist seasons largely depend on lobbyists it can be so due to the fact that the lobbyists are those who often create trends and images and they are exactly the ones who do the promotion trends actually depend on them, they are those who people believe in or vice versa. One of the most important skills of lobbyists and people working in tourism is the rhetoric. Is one of the seven antique, ancient skills and indicates the way communication is accomplished and the information transmitted. Unfortunately, students at the Faculties of Tourism in Serbia do not have a chance to acquaint with this, but it is essential for this profession. It is important for the lobbyists because they have to know how to state what they want to and how, by using the smallest possible numbers of words announce anything. It can be said that lobbying is an officially new skill in Serbia but it is sure that it used to exist in tourism and some other industries a long time ago and that lobbyist used to be well paid for the job done. So far lobbying in Serbia has been concerned to mean bribery and corruption, but in some other the EU countries management contracts and awards for the completed projects are not the news. It is exactly what Serbia attains to. To award someone means that you honour hisher work and merit for certain things. Lobbying can make some tourist destinations become staple, it can have to do with sustainable development, it can promote some an idea concerning tourism-all these depend on the one who orders lobbying services. When tourism is taken into consideration, each government should have lobbyists in some of the organizations such as: UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS, etc. It will be possible than to present natural beauties and projects related to their protection and those lobbyists should have task to convince the officials there that it is their project that it is most urgent and should be the first financed because it is unique, special and endangeredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦all these activities have to do with rhetoric, good presentation and good impression the officials get. 3. LOBBYING AS THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY SEGMENT The concept of creative industry features the description of conceptual and practical merging of creative arts (individual talent) along with cultural industries (mass) and altogether in the context of Informational and Communication Technology that is a part of new economic knowledge that newly created interactive users-consumers can partake. (Hartley, John ed. 2007:11) It can not be a priori claimed that lobbying is a creative industry segment, but the definition part stating that creative industries directly imply to creative arts merging -out of this it can be concluded that an individual talent can be related to lobbying. One of the greatest talents is rhetoric, previously mentioned but the talent also involves personal image, the communication manners, dress code, style and all the things that have to do with a certain task and is considered to be proper professional and ethic conduct of a lobbyist himself. One thing is certain when we talk about lobbyists and it is the way they look like and how he wants to achieve his goals. In tourism, it is of core importance the contacts with people not being so well positioned and whose satisfaction dictates the tourist destination and product rating on the market these people are outgoing and sales managers who according to their impressions transmit the messages to their employees and to the consumers as well. We can consider that lobbying as an activity can be done at a certain tourist destination and lobbyists would be the tourist guides and reception staff. It is the ability to animate the guests one of the most important in tourism and at the same time can be perceived as lobbying. Well performed and high quality tourist animation can produce satisfied consumers who will by word of mouth communication become the best sales managers for a given destination or a tourist product. In tourism, lobbying lasts much longer than a tourist arrangement itself-it starts from the moment when a potential customer steps into a travel agents, tries to decide on the destination product  [4]  , stays at the certain destination and finally shares his feedback, very important for the tourist agents itself. Even negative feedback is important, because a good manager is at the same time a good lobbyist and he will do anything to turn such negative experiences into something positive and will not let them have any publicity. Creativity that can be found in lobbying is widely defined and what matters is the level on which lobbying is done. When we talk about tourist agents and hotels lobbying can be done by animators and so it will not be necessary for them to have a classic lobbying licence for them it is necessary to possess talent and ability in order to make the tourists buy something, go on excursions organized by the certain local agent. On larger scales of states, huge markets and destinations it is not only necessary for a lobbyist to have a licence but to have knowledge concerning tourist legality as well.In this case it is essential for a lobyst to be good at rhetoric and to be well informed and to be in possession of exact items of information. At the same time there is no need for animation and if it happens to ocur it should be done in a descrete manner. 4. LOBBYING OR HOW TO PUT IT IN PRACTICE? It is not easy to be a lobbyist in societies which are xenophobic and used to have totalitarian regime. The idea of democracy is pretty new in the former Yugoslavia area of and it can not be understood that the representation of other peoples interests, negotiation and urging do not equal bribery and corruption. That is why it is important that professionals introduce and put lobbying into practice in order that audience gets impression that they are businessmen like any others. In Serbia, one of the obstacles is that there is no lobbying as a subject at the faculties. At VERN University in Croatia, students at the economic enterprise department have a chance to choose The Introduction to Lobbying as the optional subject. In further course description it is explained that in democratic systems it is not unusual activity for somebody to practice lobbying-on the contrary, it is legitimate means to achieve certain goals and represent the interests. Various legal acts regulate lobbying, and lobbyists have to be incorporated and have to respect the rules and some codes. Lobbyists are those representatives of big companies and business sector, national and local governments, as many other representatives of non-government sector and other interest groups. Due to the fact that lobbying is closely tied with political system, legislation, media and international level, it is the multidisciplinary approach that will be applied on problem solving in this course. The In troduction to Lobbying staff wants to stress the importance of this concept and its practicing in modern political, social and economic life. Even what is more important that we want the student to acquire skills and abilities which will enable him to develop business possibilities. It is this course that will help you to find some answers for the following questions: how to get to the right information and what to do in order to accomplish and protect ones goals? The students are expected to imagine life situations and by applying what they have learned try to find the best, or the least harmful possible solutions. (www.vern.hr/program//IvancicI-Vodic%20kroz%20kolegij.doc) Out of this description it can be concluded that lobbying is necessary and at the same time permeates all spheres of industry. As for someone to become a lobbyist in tourism industry, he/she has to master knowledge from tourism and be well versed in non-verbal communication. This non-verbal communication is necessary linked with animation and especially in case of tourism. Lobbying is also tightly linked with animation and non verbal communication especially in some tourism spheres. The development of business tourism is one of the important aspects not only in our country,but the worldwide, too. Business clients are educated pepole who travel round the world visiting different fairs, conferences, symposiums business meetings and many other business activities and protocols so it is of core imprtance what impression he/she will get of the host country. The business clients are said to represent the country to possible tourists in best way. According to the latest research conducted by SITE (Society of Incentive and Travel Executives), 76 % of American executive directors claim that business fairs and professional congresses are the main reasons for them to travel,and even 80% of the worlds top managers claim that these events are the most imporatant sources of the information they need and possibilities to make new business contracts. In what way it is important for tourism in a country is best shown on the example of the English town Birmingham, which would have still been an average, industrial town, if there had not been the congress tourism developed.It is the congress tourism that makes profit of approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤711 million to this town. Congress presentation has to include all the economic and non-economic services in order to satisfy the needs of the guests here.Such tourist presentation should include tourist attractions, natural beauties, climate,hospitality and cultural heritige. The fact that should be take into consideration is that congres tourist spend even three times greater sum of money than so called average tourists. (Year book of International Organization, 1980). In order to satisfy business clients needs the experiences of some more developed countries should be taken into consideration and some latest trends put into practice.These include some motivating or incentive trips which are specially created for the businessman when they are on business trips. These short, but intensive tours are organized for small number of people and according to their wishes and interests expressed in the questionnaire they had previously filled in and the tours are organized at the most popular locations and include extreme sports adventures and unique parties. It should so if it is well know fact that incentive business contracts worldwide are worth about billion $. Such animation of business people is very demanding and not easy at all, because through the short period of time one should make satisfy the needs of already tired guests and then to make them satisfied. It can be very demanding and useful at the same time for the tourist propaganda, and maybe one of the most useful way of animation because all these people are well educated and experienced, since they have visited so many countries, and at the moment when they rate the host country well, it means that they will share these positive experiences with people in their home countries and in such way they can become the best possible presenters of the county they stayed in. (Ivkov DÃ…Â ¾igurski AnÄ‘elija, 2008) Only these sorts of business trips and such clients can imply to what extent animation is linked with lobbying. Well versed animator is a good lobbyist at the same time knowing how to impose his rhythm and where to take his business clients as they can have a good time. It is up to him and his ability to what extent the clients would be satisfied and be ready to follow him. At the same time, it is his responsibility what feedback the host country would have when the client gets back home. It is no wonder that good animation and lobbying as well can make up for the possible failures. When the business clients are mentioned it is very important that the host county knows what it wants and that it can be accomplished by animators lobbyists. The quality of the product is of core importance, then services and the ideas, but what are crucial are the lobbyists experience and his/her non verbal communication. INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION No matter what is going to happen in the future people would always like to travel as they did so from the beginning of the world. Some time in the past migrations used to move towards wealthier spots and because of the search for food. The times when tourism was available only for the aristocracy had passed a long time ago. The era of mass tourism is also vanishing. The highlights of the present moment are city break tours and tours having enriched thematic content along with various cultural itineraries. People used to travel where the masses went, but nowadays people travel where their friends recommend, they gather some information on different social forumsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Actually, the forums are the best places to lobby for something it is possible to have someone there in order to opt for a tourist destination. The Internet plays an important part in tourism and in its marketing as well and it can be said that the Internet is an integral part of lobbying, too. The Internet preserves the magic and mystique of the lobbying activity, since you do not know who the lobbyist is but no matter you get involved and up to the extent of his skills you believe him or not. That is how you become a potential customer of his invisible services. The lobbyist is a successful one if he manages to draw your attention and make you not leave the forum, if he provokes you to ask him farther questions which are a good signal for him that he made you think unconsciously about the tourist product. It i s a huge success for the lobbyist himself because the forum user will start to spread the story about the good forum and in this way to make a potential destination become a part of tourist propaganda-it is much easier to sell a product or a service when the name is familiar to the potential customers. It is necessary to answer the following questions: who who with with what why how who to what for who for the lobbying is done? After answering all these questions it would be much easier to train a lobbyist and then he/she would how exactly how to act in order to achieve some goals. Machiavelli once said that The goal justifies the means but ethic code should be obeyed as well. Lobbyists should obey their own ethic code and the one in tourism, so in case of tourism it can not be said that all the goals and aims in the process of lobbying for the certain destination or a tourist product. It is necessary to bear in mind, who is lobbying and whom he is representing and what will be long term results. Lobbying is a process where the results can not be shown immediately, its effect can become visible in a period of couple of years. Continuous evaluation is necessary both for the lobbyists and tourist destinations, as well. It is necessary to evaluate the results-they actually show what a lobbyist team has managed to do. Team work is the best possible one even in lobbying industry and it does not mean that that t wo or more people should act simultaneously, but it means that their actions should be coordinated and not to be futile. Lobbying is a sign of the extent to which a society is democratic and civil sector developed. The region of the Western Balkans is still immature in that sense and along with its evolution the lobbying activities will start to develop and the concept of lobbying will become familiar to them. The lobbyists task is a promotion and that is why it can not be a priori said that everything is about money it is very important segment in fact, but its effects can influence economic development of some countries, civil sectors and eventually the promotion of some products and services. Apart from all this, money is important because it can make the society consolidate and influence well balanced financial distribution within all social scales. It is tourism that can help the society and the country to develop and good lobbying can make huge amounts of money to reach the country and later be invested in sustainable development, the promotion of tourism as a very important tertiary sector, you ng peoples grantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Lobbying makes it possible: For the Institutions to be easily recognized on the international market and especially among the partners that have already been selected to be within significant institutions in the realm of tourism in Europe and worldwide, To follow the world   trends in tourism and make it possible for the activities to be promoted, The creation of the international partnership system of the professional associations, Necessary support in the process of association in the institutrional network organisation which have the similar goals and in that way to promote the product. Lobbying and tourism are closely connected. It is the fact. Maybe it is not said in public. Maybe people have not realized this too seriously so far, but in the years to come their relationship should been taken into more serious consideration. Lobbyists have to do their job, and along with the fact that tourism is becoming a leading industry in the world the lobbying will become more and more present. The students of tourism should bear in mind that they can the lobbying as their profession although some of them, being members of various student organizations, have already been acquainted with this, though on amateur level.

What is religion

What is religion? There are many definitions for the term â€Å"religion† in common usage. On this web site, we define it very broadly, in order to include the greatest number of belief systems: â€Å"Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life. † Thus we include here all of the great monotheistic religions, Eastern religions; Neopagan religions; a wide range of other faith groups, spiritual paths, and ethical systems; and beliefs about the existence of God(s) and Goddess(es). We recognize that most people define â€Å"religion† in a much more exclusive manner. Christianity: There are many definitions for this term as well. Again, we use an inclusive definition: â€Å"An individual or group is Christian if they sincerely, thoughtfully and devoutly believe that they are Christian. † This generates a lot of angry Emails from some visitors to this site who are insistent on excluding the Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholic Church, the Mormons and some other denominations as sub-Christian, quasi-Christian non-Christian, or anti-Christian. We treat Christianity in greater detail than other religions, simply because about 75% of North Americans identify themselves with that religion. Christians outnumber the next largest organized religions, Judaism and Islam, by about 40 to 1 in the U. S. and Canada. We are not in any way implying that Christianity is superior or inferior to other religions. It is simply much more popular. Destructive, doomsday cults: These are fortunately few in number, and are listed elsewhere. Information for these essays was extracted from reliable sources, and believed to be accurate and reasonably unbiased. Where possible, they have been reviewed by a group (typically 3 or more) of persons who follow the belief before the material is placed online. â€Å"World† Religions: There are many, long established, major world religions, each with over three million followers. We have shown the five largest North American religions in bold: Baha'i Faith Buddhism Christianity; Christian groups, denominations and families (Amish to The Way) Confucianism Hinduism Islam Jainism Judaism Shinto Sikhism Taoism Vodun (Voodoo) 1 Neopagan Religious Faiths Neopagan faiths are modern-day reconstructions of ancient Pagan religions from various countries and eras. They experience a high but diminishing level of discrimination and persecution in North America. They were once rarely practiced in public for reasons of safety. This is rapidly changing for the better. Asatru (Norse Paganism) * Druidism Goddess Worship Wicca Witchcraft Notes: Many followers of Asatru regard themselves as â€Å"Heathens† rather than â€Å"Neopagans. † Many followers of these religions refer to themselves as â€Å"Pagans. † We use the term â€Å"Neopagan† because it is less ambiguous. Pagan† has a variety of unrelated meanings. Other organized Religions These are smaller religions, with a well defined belief in deity, humanity and the rest of the universe. Of the many hundreds of faith groups in the world, we have chosen these because of their historical significance, or because of the massive amount of misinformation that has be en spread about them in North America: Caodaism Damanhur Community Druze Eckankar Elian Gonzalez religious movement Gnosticism Gypsies Hare Krishna – ISKCON Ifa, the religion of the Yoruba people of West Africa Lukumi Macumba Mowahhidoon Native American Spirituality Rom, Roma, Romani, Rroma, (a. k. a. Gypsies) Santeria Elian Gonzalez religious movement Satanism; The Church of Satan Scientology Unitarian-Universalism The Creativity Movement (formerly called World Church of the Creator) The Yazidi branch of Yazd? ism Zoroastrianism what is RELIGION? The English word â€Å"religion† is derived from the Middle English â€Å"religioun† which came from the Old French â€Å"religion. † It may have been originally derived from the Latin word â€Å"religo† which means â€Å"good faith,† â€Å"ritual,† and other similar meanings. Or it may have come from the Latin â€Å"relig? e† which means â€Å"to tie fast. † Defining the word â€Å"religion† is fraught with difficulty. Many attempts have been made. Most seem to focus on too narrowly only a few aspects of religion; they tend to exclude those religions that do not fit well. It is apparent that religion can be seen as a theological, philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological phenomenon of human kind. To limit religion to only one of these categories is to miss its multifaceted nature and lose out on the complete definition. † All of the definitions that we have encountered contain at least one deficiency some exclude beliefs and practices that many people passionately defend as religious. For example, their definition might include belief in a God or Goddess or combination of Gods and Goddesses who are responsible for the creation of the universe and for its continuing operation. This excludes such non-theistic religions as Buddhism and many forms of religious Satanism which have no such belief. Some definitions equate â€Å"religion† with â€Å"Christianity,† and thus define two out of every three humans in the world as non-religious. Some definitions are so broadly written that they include beliefs and areas of study that most people do not regard as religious. Some define â€Å"religion† in terms of â€Å"the sacred† and/or â€Å"the spiritual,† and thus require the creation of two more definitions. Sometimes, definitions of â€Å"religion† contain more than one deficiency. However, this definition contains an element of controversy, because it implies that religions, and thus perhaps deity/deities, are created by humanity and not the reverse. A less contentious meaning might be the sum total of answers to the problem of our relationship with the universe, we call religion. â€Å"Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview. † A worldview is a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe. Thus we would consider Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Na tive American Spirituality, Wicca, and other Neopagan traditions to be religions. We also include Agnosticism, Atheism, Humanism, Ethical Culture etc. as religions, because they also contain a â€Å"belief about deity. Their belief is that they do not know whether a deity exists, or they have no knowledge of God, or they sincerely believe that God does not exist. Some people do not consider their personal spiritual path to be a religion. Many conservative Christians refer to Christianity not as a religion but as an intensely personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many Native Americans believe that their spiritual beliefs and practices are not a religion in the normal sense of the term. They form a integral and seamless part of their very being, totally integrated into their life experience. Agnostics and Atheists often do not regard their beliefs to be a religion. To most, Atheism and Agnosticism simply represent a single belief about the existence or non-existence of a supreme being. They do not necessarily include ethical matters. The New Age is sometimes referred to as a religion. However, it is in reality a collection of diverse beliefs and practices from which a practitioner may select those that appeal to her/him. The individual often grafts these beliefs and practices onto an established religion. â€Å"True religion is not about possessing the truth. No religion does that. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers. † â€Å"†¦ just because you don't bow on your knees and worship an idol or an invisible being, does not mean you are not a Satan worshiper. The worship of any other god (s) is the same thing. There are no other gods. They are demons and Satan is in control of them. â€Å"Yes, Christianity is the one true religion. That may sound awfully dogmatic and narrow-minded, but the simple truth is that Christianity is the only true religion. Jesus said that He alone was the way to the Father (John 14:6), that He alone revealed the Father (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22). Christians do not go around saying Christianity is the only way because they are arrogant, narrow-minded, stupid, and judgmental. They do so because they believe what Jesus said. How many religions are there in the world from which to locate the â€Å"true† one? According to David Barrett and team, there are 19 major world religious groupings in the world which are subdivided into a total of about 10,000 distinct religions. Of the latter, there were 270 religions and para-religions which had over a half million adherents in the year 2000 CE. Within Christianity, they have identified 34,000 separate groups (denominations, sects, individual unaffiliated churches, para-church groups, etc) in the world. â€Å"Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations. † 1 Even considering a single religion, Christianity, within a single country, there are often thousands of individual â€Å"Christian confessions and denominations. 4,684 groups in the U. S. ,364 in South Africa. 2,079 in Nigeria. 1,581 in Brazil. 1,327 in South-central Asia. Among other English-speaking countries, there are: 828 groups in the UK. 469 in Canada. 267 in Australia 175 in New Zealand. 2 Differences in the beliefs and practices of various faith groups: Probably the one area where religions differ the most is over the nature of deity. Various groups teach Agnosticism, Animism, Atheism, Strong Atheism, Deism, Duotheism, Henotheism, Monism, Monotheism, Panentheism, Pantheism, Polytheism, the Trinity, and probably some others that we have missed. Perhaps the next greatest range of beliefs are about the fate of people after death: whether there is simple annihilation, some form of energy-less existence as taught by the ancient Hebrews, Purgatory as taught by the Roman Catholic Church, Heaven or Paradise as taught by many religions, Hell which is also taught by many faiths, Limbo, reincarnation, transmigration of the soul, nirvana, an alternative world much like Earth, and probably some other places or states that we have missed. There is also a great range of beliefs and practices among different religions over other theological beliefs, ritual, organization, family structure, personal sexual behavior, and other topics. For example, differences exist on matters such as: abortion access, adult celibacy, animal sacrifices. ppearance factors (shaving, jewelry), birth control usage, calendar, clergy celibacy, clergy gender, clergy organization, meeting day, documentation, family power sharing, family types, gender of deities, homosexual rights, meeting place, nature of deities, nature of humanity, new year date, number of deities, origin of the universe, prayer, pre-marital sex, role of women, sacred texts, suicide, surgical modifications to the body, special clothing, symbols, etc. More details To our knowledge, no two religions teach the same message or expect the same practices from their followers. One would be hard pressed to find two faith groups within the same religion which have identical teachings and practices. If a â€Å"true religion† exists, then it would probably have to be one or a few faith groups within one of the 10,000 religions. All of the other religions and faith groups would be in error. What do faith groups teach about their own status? Most religious groups teach that their own beliefs and practices are the only true set, and that all other faith groups contain some degree of error. For example, the largest single faith group in the U. S. in Canada, and in the world is the Roman Catholic Church. According to the Times News Service, a year 2000 statement by the Church titled â€Å"Dominus Iesus† implies that â€Å"Churches such as the Church of England, where the apostolic succession of bishops from the time of St. Peter is disputed by Rome, and churches without bishops, are not considered ‘proper' churches. † Only the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches are â€Å"churches in the proper sense. † They suffer from â€Å"defects. † Dominus Iesus further states that religions other than Christianity are considered to be â€Å"gravely deficient. Their rituals can constitute â€Å"an obstacle to salvation† for their followers. 3,4 Other faith groups are either more inclusive or more exclusive than the Roman Catholic Church regarding the â€Å"truth† status of other faith groups. Which, then, is the true religion? Because religions are so different, only one could be the â€Å"true religion. † Perhaps none are. Within the â€Å"true religion† there may be more than one faith group that are sufficiently accurate in their beliefs and practices that all could qualify as â€Å"true. † The problem is how to find out which religion and which faith groups have this status. Some methods of determining the â€Å"true† religion are conduct an opinion poll. Unfortunately, beliefs differ around the world: In Saudi Arabia, the government claims that 100% of the population is Muslim. So there is probably a very high probability that a given citizen picked at random would firmly believe Islam is the true religion and that theirs is the true faith group. India is about 80% Hindu. There is a very high probability that any given citizen believes that their tradition with Hinduism is the true religion. The U. S. is about 75% Christian. The population in the American â€Å"Bible belt† is significantly higher than that. There is a very high probability that any given citizen in South Carolina, for example, believes that their denomination within Christianity is the true religion. It is obvious that one's personal beliefs about the true religion is largely a function of the country in which one happens to have been born, the area of that country, and the beliefs of one's parent(s): Pray to God 5 and ask to be enlightened. The founder of the Mormon movement, Joseph Smith, did precisely this. Mormons believe that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him side by side, and told him that none of the then existing Christian denominations were the true religion. He was instructed to create a new denomination to restore Christianity to its first century CE purity before it fell into heresy. This method appears to be unreliable. When people pray to God for enlightenment, most seem to conclude that their own religion and faith group is the true one. If people could access the will of God on this matter, then a vast majority of the world's population — the folks who pray — would realize that their faith group was not the true one. They would gradually migrate to the true religion. There would eventually be only one religion and one tradition within that religion left standing. Otherwise, people would be rejecting the will of God. All the other 11,000 religions and their tens of thousands of denominations or traditions would be phased out. The OCRT, the group that sponsors this web site, conducted a pilot study to determine whether a person can assess the will of God through prayer. We used a controversial topic: whether God favors same-sex marriage for homosexuals and some bisexuals. The answer that we found was that people appear to be unable to assess the will of God through prayer. Communication from God: God could initiate a direct communication to humanity. In order to be convincing, it would have to be totally unambiguous, clear and convincing. One example might be for God to rearrange a few thousand stars to spell out in the evening sky the name of the true religion. Unfortunately, at least within the Judeo-Christian traditions, God seems to be progressively withdrawing from humanity. He walked in person with Adam and Eve. Later, he only appeared in rare occasions as at Mount Sinai. Still later, he communicated with humans only through prophets. Most Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God and walked among humans in first century CE Palestine. However, he was seen by only a miniscule percentage of the human race. Now, access to God is through prayer. Unless God were to take the initiative, it appears that there is no way for humans to determine which religion is â€Å"true. â€Å"

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God. † subsequently, end off with how my saint taught e to always a positive outlook for the world, and also to put our trust In God. Saint Teresa of Avail had once stated â€Å"l never liked gloomy saints, always try to be cheerful everyday. † This taught me that having a negative split may lead you to have a not so good day, whereas if we are more cheerful we then always think positive and we eliminate the people/things that make us unhappy. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. † This beatitude embodies my saint because Saint Teresa at one point in her life wanted to come a martyr, meaning she refused to fear death when it came to her faith. â€Å"Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God† I believe my saint was pure in heart because it was also noticed from another's perspective that she was friendly and saw the good in others.Lastly, my saint left us with a quote saying, always find t hat those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to ear the greatest trials† this quote means that on earth there will come a time where we will be given consequences for our belief, but this shows that God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. We who abide in Christ will be saved all we need to do here on earth is put our trust in God and never give up our faith.So all in all, Saint Teresa of Avail was a very strong woman, strong mentally and spiritually and now it is our duty as believers to live a strong Christian mental and spiritual life as well. In conclusion, Saint Teresa of Avail left us with another quote saying, â€Å"it is love alone that gives worth to all things. † Therefore we need to love to give our life on earth some worth, which I believe is to live the life we love and love the life we live, all In a Christian positive, spiritual manner.

Marketing Plan For Product And The Managers - 1211 Words

Second, marketing helps the business find out customer needs, use different selling plan to improve the sale of the goods or services and then satisfy the needs. Marketing design the plan for the product and the managers can follow the four condition, product, price, place and promotion, means the 4Ps of marketing, to decide the final plan. Understanding the customer needs are important in marketing. Because different type of customers have different needs. Then, customer always be the main focus into the marketing plan (Chapman 2011, p. 125). However, before the managers decide the marketing plan, they need to understand the six main type of market. Because choosing the correct market is important for a product. And it affects the following part of the marketing plan, such as decision of selling place or the plan of promotion. Then, the six types of market are resource market, industrial market, intermediate market, consumer market, mass market, and niche market. Those types of mark et are totally different and the managers need to choose it carefully when they decide the marketing plan (Chapman 2011, p. 138-139). In addition, there are four main elements influence the customer’s buying behaviour. On psychological, the influence only affect individual, then the buying motives, personality and personal education also affect the buying behaviour. Next, on sociocultural, the culture of the country, customer’s social class or family culture might affect the active of buying.Show MoreRelatedGlobal Marketing Of Cholesterol Lowering Drugs As Therapy776 Words   |  4 Pagesglobal marketing is consistently increasing, the marketing manager must be knowledgeable in the category of global marketing. Global marketing encompasses how marketing to one area of the world differs from the other parts of the world creating markets to the toughest to reach customers. 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