Since its beginning, Christianity has been criticized by people in all professions and by people of all other religions. The reason for the criticism varies: many Christians have followed the Bible in criticising homosexuality, abortion and many other hot button issues. Also, Christianity may be rejected because of lack of interest, due to abuse of Christianity, or some just prefer to not convert into it.
Beginning with the Enlightenment, in the 18th century, people began to apply methods of text criticism they had also applied to other documents, and philosophical writings. This form of criticism uses reason, rather than revelations to study texts. There are four primary types of Biblical criticism: form, traditional, higher and lower criticism.
Conservative Christians, as well as much of Orthodox Judaism and Karaite Judaism, support the idea that the Bible is historically accurate. Moderate and liberal Christians generally think the Bible texts are historical, and reliable. They do however think that certain passages should not be read literally, but metaphorically.
Kōka
During the Koka era, Hiroshige began making prints of women in the context of famous places.
Hoxne treasure
The Hoxne treasure is the largest find of late Roman silver and gold in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth century found anywhere in the Roman Empire.
The treasure was found by metal detector in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, on 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and about 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery.
The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (today £).
The hoard was buried as an oak box or small chest filled with items in precious metal, with some in smaller wooden boxes and others in bags or wrapped in fabric. Remnants of the chest, and of fittings such as hinges and locks, were recovered in the dig. The coins date the hoard to after AD 407, about the end of Britain as a Roman province.
The owners and reasons for burial of the hoard are unknown, but it was carefully packed and the contents seem what a very rich family might have owned. The lack of large silver serving vessels and of some of the most common types of jewellery, suggest that the hoard is only part of the wealth of its owner.
The Hoxne treasure contains several rare and important objects, including a gold body-chain and silver-gilt pepper-pots. The hoard was excavated by archaeologists with the items largely undisturbed and intact. The find has helped to improve the relationship between people using metal detectors and archaeologists. It has influenced a change in English law on finds of treasure.
Tōhoku region
The is one of Japan's traditional regions. The Japanese conventions of geography and history divide the nation into eight regions, including the Tōhoku region. These have been used since 1905 as basic units for description and comparison and as cultural markers.
The regions of Japan are a fusion of historical divisions and modern administrative needs. The significance of the region in Japan is geographical, cultural and administrative.
In the late 7th century, the "Tōsandō" region were identified as one of the eight largest administrative areas of the Imperial system ("ritsuryo seido").
"Gokishichidō" is an ancient system of names for parts of the country, including "Tōsandō". "Tōhoku" covers the northern area of the island of Honshū in roughly the same area as the traditional "Tōsandō".
In the Meiji period, the modern regional system was made by Imperial decree. Japan was divided into regions ("chihō "), including the Tōhoku region. A regional council ("chihō gyōsei kyōgisai") was headed by the governor of the most powerful prefecture in the regional grouping. The council also included regional chiefs of central government ministries.
Over time, Tōhoku has developed its own regional dialects, customs and unique traditional culture. Tōhoku is famous for farming. Now a lot of kinds of vegetable are grown.
The Tōhoku University was built in 1907.
In 2011, Tōhoku was struck with a very strong earthquake and tsunami. It caused a lot of damage. Now, people in Japan do their best for the complete revival of Tōhoku.
The region occupies the northeastern part of Honshu, which is the largest Japanese island.
The region has six prefectures. From north to south, they are:
Sri Lanka Railways S11
Sri Lanka Railways Class S11 is a diesel multiple-unit (DMU) train, built for Sri Lanka Railways by RITES Ltd, an Indian state infrastructure corporation. The DMUs are currently being imported in phases, with the last batch arriving in Sri Lanka in March 2012. They were built to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains. Twenty S11 DMUs were ordered to strengthen long distance travel on the Coastal railway line from Colombo to Matara.
Communes of the Guadeloupe department
The following is a list of the 32 communes of the Guadeloupe overseas department of France.
Former communes detached from Guadeloupe on February 22, 2007:
List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people: A
This is a partial list of famous people who are confirmed to be gay, lesbian or bisexual. Famous people who are rumored to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, are not listed. The definition of sexual orientation varies and has changed over time; for example the word "gay" was not used to describe a person's sexual orientation until the mid 20th century. However, there has been a number of different words or slangs that have been used to describe sexual orientations since the mid-19th century. Several studies have found that much of the research about sexual orientation has failed to define the term at all, which made it difficult to find results of different studies. However, most definitions include a psychological component (such as a person's erotic desire) and/or a behavioral component (which is about a person's sexual partner/s). Some people prefer to simply follow their self-definition or identity .
The high numbers of people from the West on this list may be due to societies attitudes toward homosexuality. The Pew Research Center's 2003 Global Attitudes Survey found that "[p]eople in Africa and the Middle East strongly object to societal acceptance of homosexuality. But there is far greater tolerance for homosexuality in major Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Opinion in Europe is split between West and East. Majorities in every Western European nation surveyed say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while most Russians, Poles and Ukrainians disagree. Americans are divided; a narrow majority (51 percent) believe homosexuality should be accepted, while 42 percent disagree."
Germany at the Olympics
German athletes have been a part of most of the Olympic Games since the first modern Games in 1896.
The International Olympic Committee's official abbreviation for Germany is GER.
Germany has hosted three Olympic Games. They hosted both the Winter and Summer Games in 1936. They also hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics. Germany was also to be the host of the 1916 Summer Olympics and the 1940 Winter Olympics. Neither of these were held because of World War I and World War II. After these wars, Germans were not allowed to be a part of the Olympics in 1920, 1924 and 1948. From after World War II until 1990, the country was divided and took part in the Olympics separately. Each of the two German states boycotted the Summer Games. West Germany was one of 65 countries that did not go to Moscow in 1980. This boycott was because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984 East Germany joined the Soviet boycott of the Summer Games in Los Angeles.