Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Religion - Essay Example This comprehensive definition is very good because it covers the complex social dimension that this word implies. In the movie Grand Canyon, for example, certain characters appear who intervene to avert disaster. It is possible to see those characters as angels, using a Judaeo Christian religious paradigm, or as reincarnated ancestors using an animist paradigm, as elements of pure chance using an atheistic paradigm, or just as tools to move the plot along using a film studies paradigm. Each alternative reveals a different aspect of these characters. The concept of a paradigm shift refers to what happens when people switch from one paradigm to another. An example of a major paradigm shift in history is, for example, when sailors first sailed round the world and discovered that the earth is not flat, and that you do not fall off the edge if you sail too far in one direction. In this case new evidence was found that contradicted the old world view that people held. Sometimes, however, t he evidence is not very clear, or people are very attached to their old paradigms, and in these situations multiple paradigms can coexist all at the same time.