Aviation, Aerospace or Airport Industry Essay Example for Free

Aviation, Aerospace or Airport Industry Essay In order to assess aviation, aerospace or airport industry practice to the field of Marketing I have chosen to focus on the aviation industry and the marketing practices they have adopted in order to deal compete effectively in the current recessional environment.   This document focuses on the 4 P’s of Marketing (Kotler, 2008) and discusses how airlines have altered their approach to Product, Price, Place and Promotion in order to continue to successfully compete and respond to the changing needs of their customer base.    One company in particular, Southwest Airlines, will be explored in more detail with the marketing practices forming the basis for further exploration of the key themes. The Aviation Industry The events of September the 11th coupled with a growing economic recession have created an extremely challenging environment for the airline industry.   Forecasts produced by the Civil Aviation Authority indicate that the situation may not improve for quite some time with passenger traffic not expected to fully recover in the next five years (Figure 1). Figure One:   Actual and Forecast Traffic (m) 2007-2012 Fiscal Year No. Passengers Domestic (US) No. Passengers International (US) No. Passengers Total (US) 2007 577.8 53.6 631.4 2008 (F) 590.4 54.2 644.7 2009 (F) 610.9 54.9 665.8 2010 (F) 639.8 56.4 696.3 2011 (F) 626.7 56.7 683.4 2012 (F) 576.8 50.8 627.6 In order to deal with this airlines are significantly altering their marketing practices and methods of distribution in order to operate more efficiently and competitively.   Major changes have been observed over the past couple of years with some of these constituting complete overhauls of the traditional operation of the industry.   Southwest Airlines is an airline which has strongly positioned itself on â€Å"being different† through all elements of its service and product. At its core is its mission, which specifies that the airline is dedicated to â€Å"the highest quality of customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit†.   At first glance the concept of â€Å"high quality† and â€Å"low cost† appear to contradict one another.   However, Southwest airlines maintain that this is not the case and they have not compromised on quality or safety.   Awards such as â€Å"Triple Crown† which is awarded for low customer complaints, flight timeliness and baggage turnaround times, indicates that this may indeed be true. In order to better understand the key industry trends and how airlines have attempted to use these to their advantage, it is worth considering the marketing mixes of aviation companies such as Southwest Airlines and assessing how these have been altered in order to attract and retain a diminishing customer base. Marketing Practices Product The product element of the marketing mix concerns offering the right product to the right target market.   The products on offer through the airline industry have changed significantly over the past twenty-five years. Flying, which at one point was exclusively for the wealthy, has become more accessible and today there are a large numbers of airlines that cater for even larger numbers of customers.   In order to compete in this environment airlines have invested significant amounts of money in distinguishing their products and services from their competitors. For Southwest Airlines, this has entailed differentiating their product through redesigning the service their provide to customers.   Although, on the surface, their â€Å"no frills† concept appears very simple, delivering it in a way that doesn’t negatively impact customer experience is somewhat of an art.   In order to successfully implement this business model Southwest airlines have invested significant amounts of money in understanding their customer needs and motivations and used this as the basis for their value proposition. Through researching their customer base they have been able to identify which services were not valued above price by the customer and have eradicated them, thus lowering their operating costs and passing these savings directly onto the customer.   In addition to that, the involvement and support of their staff is paramount.   This is achieved through the company culture, a family orientated set up which promotes teamwork and values employee’s opinions and suggestions for improvement.   Southwest Airlines have recognized that employee participation and support is critical to the achievement of their aspirations and have successfully build a team of 29,000 with the lowest turnover rate in the industry. Price Since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978, the airline industry has become highly price sensitive and many customers will generally purchase from the most competitively priced airline, viewing separate company’s offerings as perfect substitutes.   In order to maximize the profit from each flight, many airlines operate a variable pricing approach that is based on the needs of individual customers.   This approach attempts to identify and separate those customers who are concerned about price from those who are willing to pay more in order to attain a seat on the flight. As well as partitioning flights into first, business and economy classes, airlines attempt to maximize their revenue by offering a mixture of full price and discounted tickets within these segments.   Using detailed information related to market trends, forecasts and seasonal variations the major airlines implement inventory management approaches that help to define the demand and subsequent price for each seat on the flight. More than 90 percent of the tickets sold by U.S. airlines are now discounted (Costello 2001) and in the last twenty years flight prices have dropped by approximately 75% (Miller, 2007). According to a renowned marketing strategist, David Aaker (2001), one of the ways in which companies can successfully compete in a price sensitive marketplace is to offer higher value to their customers.   This view is supported by many theorists, many of whom believe that the industry is currently â€Å"giving away† flights (Marketing Week, 2003, p.35).   This view however, is challenged by the success of low cost airlines such as Southwest (US), JetBlue and Ryanair (UK) who have redefined their value propositions by stripping down their services in order to offer rock bottom prices. In order to competitively price their offering Southwest Airlines focused on streamlining their operations.   The idea behind this was simple, by lowering their costs, Southwest could offer reduced prices to their customer base.   This was achieved by removing services that were not valued in the eyes of the customer, such as physical ticketing, amenity kits, onboard snacks and seat reservations.   The customers get what they pay for and pay for what they want. Place Airlines predominantly operate through two distribution systems; the ticket and the flight. The Ticket Historically ticket sales were conducted through travel agents and brokers who liaised with the customer on an airline’s behalf.   However, in recent years the growth in popularity of the internet as a medium through which flights can be booked has led to increased levels of direct relationships between the airline and the customer base during the ticketing stage.   Through interfacing directly with the customer many airlines have reduced their distribution costs by as much as 10% (Miller 2004) and have subsequently been better placed to compete on a price basis in the marketplace. The Flight Marketing practices relating to the flight itself have also seen changes in recent years.  Ã‚   Historically, the flight represented a direct relationship between the customer and the airline but the increasing trend towards inter-airline alliances such as Star (United Airlines, Virgin, BMI, Thai etc.) Oneworld (American Airlines, British Airways, Quantas etc.) and SkyTeam (Delta Air Lines, Air France, and AeroMexico) has transformed the distribution channel from direct to indirect with airlines placing trust in their competitors to service the customers appropriately. Although this may be perceived as a risky approach, the benefits gained from such agreements are of significance.   Through forming partnerships airlines can gain additional routes, marketing power and global presence.   Southwest Airlines have gone one step further in the design of their place strategy.  Ã‚   Through focussing of the short-haul domestic market in the US they have ensured that the average duration of their flights is less than one hour.   This increases their probability of meeting desired time schedules and subsequently directly improves customer satisfaction. Promotion One of the most popular marketing tools within the airline industry is the frequent flyer program.   Airlines reward loyal customers by giving them extras such as upgrades, additional luggage allowance, priority booking and access to business lounges.   Such programs are clearly very popular with approximately 25% of Americas belonging to at least one loyalty program. (Costello, 2001, p.B9). The customer experience itself represents another key area in which aviation companies strive to successfully promote their offerings.   Areas of the operation such as baggage turnaround, timeliness of flights and numbers of customer complaints are measured through Key Performance Indicators and communicated openly to customers and employees. The understanding here is that high service quality will lead to happier customers, higher sales and higher profits. (Czaplewski, Ferguson, Milliman, 2001, p.14-17). Southwest Airline’s latest promotional program is Ding, a real time notification system that informs their customers of the latest offers and developments.   The messages communicated to customers are carefully targeted and segmented and utilize SMS and email systems to deliver the communication directly to the right customer. Conclusion In order to be successful in the current market, airlines need to develop a deep understanding of their customer base.   Through understanding their customer’s motivations, hot buttons and unmet needs (Aaker, 2001) they can develop marketing practices which allow them to compete in this demanding environment. The market is seeing significant changes as companies develop different approaches to increasing their sales or lowering their costs and a carefully designed and implemented marketing mix is critical to success in this environment. References Czaplewski, A.; Ferguson, J.; Milliman, J. Southwest Airlines: How Internal Marketing Pilots. Success, Marketing Management,   2001, p. 14-17 Costello, J. (2001, November 6). Gounded: Airlines Attempt to Win Back Former Frequent Flyers International Civil Aviation Authority, Airline Traffic Forecasts and Financial Trends — 2006 to 2008, I, January 2007. Miller, W. (2004, August 16). Airlines take to the internet. Industry Week, 248(15),   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   130-133. Retrieved March 23, 2008 from ProQuest database. Newsweek. (2003, September 18). Good times in the skies. p. 58. AAker, D, 6th Ed, 2001, Strategic Market Management Kotler et al, 13th Ed, 2008, Marketing Management www.Southwest airlines.com

Gods of Management :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Gods of Management The author, in the Gods of Management, attempts to classify four distinct management cultures that exist within all organizations. The author further uses the ancient Greek gods to symbolize these management cultures or philosophies. There are four types of management cultures or philosophies present within all organizations. The four cultures are the club (Zeus), role (Apollo), task (Athena), and existential (Dionysus) cultures. The first culture the author discusses is the club or Zeus culture. The author uses a spider web to represent the club culture. â€Å"[T]he lines radiating out from the center† represent â€Å"divisions of work based on functions or products† (Handy p. 14). The most important lines however â€Å"are the encircling [lines], the ones that surround the spider in the middle, for these are the lines of power and influence, losing importance as they go farther from the center. The relationship with the spider matters more in this culture than does any formal title or position description† (Handy p.14). The author also maintains that this type of culture is excellent for â€Å"speed of decisions† (Handy p. 15). However, the author also informs the reader that because of it’s speed, quality is dependent upon Zeus and his inner circle. This results in an emphasis being placed upon the selection and succession of Zeus. The club culture achieves its speed through empathy. This in turn leads to very little documentation within the organization and face to face meetings between Zeus and his subordinates or contacts. Furthermore, this culture is dependent upon networks of â€Å"friendships, old boys, and comrades† (Hardy p.16). Because of the high level of trust, the author asserts that this type of organization is cheap to operate. The only costs incurred in this type of organization are those of phone and travel expenses. In essence, these types of organizations value the individual, give him or her free rein, and reward their efforts. The second type of culture that the author discusses is the role or Apollo culture. This type of culture bases its approach on the definition of the role or the job to be done. The symbol the author uses to represent this type of culture is a Greek temple. The pillars of the temple represent the functions and divisions in an organization. â€Å"The pillars are joined managerially only at the top, the pediment, where the heads of the functions and divisions join together to form the board,

Cowboys and Cattlemen Essay

The United States as a nation is ever changing. The U. S. population is growing every year, and the different types of ethnicities continue to flood into the country searching for the â€Å"American Dream. † However, how many people actually see this dream become a reality? The answer to that is incredibly disheartening and was even harder to obtain in the earlier years of America’s history. Unless you were a white male in the late 1800s to 1900s, the American Dream was exactly that: a dream. This failed ideal can be explored through the inequality expressed in that of race, gender, and class throughout American history, specifically during the time of cowboys and cattlemen. Additionally, such injustices can be portrayed in today’s fast food industry with the struggles of the employer to employee. Comparing and contrasting cowboys with cattlemen and managers with employees will demonstrate how such issues come into affect. In order to express the inequality faced within the workforce between cowboys and cattlemen, the background of their field of work, who did the work, and their differences need to be taken into account. When the Conquistadors came to the Americas in the 16th century they brought their cattle and cattle-raising techniques with them. Huge land grants by the Spanish government that was part of the hacienda system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas (Wikipedia)[1]. Numerous traditions developed that often related to the original location in Spain. For example, the Vaquero tradition of Northern Mexico was more organic, developed to adapt to the characteristics of the region from Spanish sources by cultural interaction between the Spanish elites and the native and mestizo peoples (Wikipedia). As settlers from the United States moved west, they brought cattle breeds from the east coast and Europe and adapted their management to the drier lands of the west by borrowing key elements of the Spanish vaquero culture (Wikipedia). From 1865-1900, raising cattle was the most prominent job position in the western United States. The Homestead Act of 1862 attracted more settlers to come west and set up farms. This is because the Homestead Act gave someone the ability to own farmland for no cost at all; however, the only requirement needed was proof that the land had improved during the time of ownership. Therefore, it was very easy to obtain land, but improving it was the biggest challenge. Ranching is a difficult task of raising grazing livestock such as cattle for meat. The owners of these lands known as cattlemen had to invest time in farming and raising crops such as hay and grains for feeding their animals to produce a profit. The cattle would go from the ranch to the trail, to the slaughterhouse, and eventually be distributed throughout America. But who are the people behind the scenes that raise and break the cattle or horses, and who does all the work on the ranch? Cowboys. Cowboys were the workers on the ranch who helped maintain it. Cowboys strived toward becoming ‘men’ and they viewed the title of being a ‘man’ based upon the masculinity shown. Cowboys demonstrated their masculinity in terms of their skills on the job, their control over their working conditions, and their ability to make independent decisions. Even in their time of leisure, they still would do things to prove their masculinity such as gamble, drink, fight, and indulge in sexual pleasures with prostitutes. In the book, Cowboys and Cattlemen by Jacqueline Moore, she explains how Anglo cowboys recognized skill regardless of color, which provided exceptional men other than whites a chance to gain respect (Moore)[2]. However, a majority of the hard work was left to the Mexican or black cowboys. That’s why many black cowboys were so skilled in the more difficult areas of work such as breaking bulls because they were forced to do it the majority of the time. Today, many industries like the fast food industry employ people considered as the lower class. It is not common to walk into a McDonalds and see Donald Trump working the cash register. Cowboys are seen as these lower class people and it so happens people of color both in this time and today are still struggling to climb out of the lower class and into higher economic standing. Moore goes on to argue that cattlemen trusted the loyalty of their black cowboys and would often have them carry out sensitive missions, such as guarding large sums of money while on the trail (Moore). However, cowboys of color, despite their ability to gain respect with their amazing skill level, were still not able to become cattlemen themselves. Many cowboys for that matter didn’t have much room to improve, which is why the relationships the cowboys had with one another were so strong. Many of the cowboys weren’t ashamed to show affection towards each other because these relationships were the most important in their lives. The death of a friend was always the worst tragedy. Furthermore, many of these friendships seemed to be more than superficial. People questioned them because the cowboys bunked together which created chances for sexual relationships. To continue with their intimate relationship woes, these men had a tough time attracting the more respectable women, who usually fell for cattlemen because they were more financially stable (Moore). This lead to the cowboys’ encounters with prostitutes. Not many cowboys, for that matter, were married, and if they did get married it usually meant their career was over. To make matters worse, towns began to find ways to drive away cowboys by prohibiting guns and fining, arresting, and punishing them on the job which forced them to comply with the regulation of their public leisure. Discredited at work and in leisure, cowboys seemed more and more marginalized, out of step with the rest of American society† (Moore). Though cowboys of color were respected for their skill and, to an extent, racially tolerant, racism was still prevalent within society and in their work. Racism was not only existent during the era of Martin Luther King Jr. and the historic Civil Rights Movement, which was steered toward breaking color barriers in the â€Å"Solid South,† but it was seen as early as the times of â€Å"the trail† and cattle ranching. It affected the lives of the workers. People of color and women both were victims of discrimination. Women especially had no say in the way of life of the ranch because their opinion was not taken into account. The job of a women consisted of only three things. One: raise the children, two: do all the housework such as cooking cleaning and laundry amongst other daily household chores, and three: handle financial situations such as doing the bills and buying groceries. There were cowgirls; however, their stories aren’t heard because there were very few and women’s cattle raising positions at the time were irrelevant. Prostitutes were even more greatly degraded because of their less than condonable lifestyle. On the ranch, cowboys of color had no chance of becoming cattlemen. White Anglo cowboys had a slim chance but colored cowboys had even fewer. This is because these nonwhite races were seen as not sufficiently â€Å"evolved† to achieve true manhood. Segregation between white cowboys and nonwhite cowboys was also consistent on many ranches during this period. For example, Anglo cowboys ate with the owner while Mexicans would camp out with the herds. Such segregation and discrimination didn’t allow women or nonwhites to move up in the social class. Cowboys in general, if born into a cowboy family, were destined to be that and that only. Freedom for cowboys is a myth. Ultimately, cowboys were simply employees and lost what independence they had in their field of work. Cattlemen on the other hand had easy living. Cattlemen usually obtained their position because their fathers before them were. In a way, it’s like they were taking on the family business. Inheritance was a huge starting point for many of the men. However, to fully become a cattleman, emphasis on being â€Å"men† to prove themselves was stressed. This was done with a proper education, the contribution they made towards society, and getting married. Marriages usually lead to gifts or property, which was also another marker of manhood. The jobs cattlemen did were similar to that of businessmen- they did whatever they could to make a profit. Most of the successful cattlemen experimented with different types of breeding techniques and invested heavily in land. They even had other business interests outside of the cattle industry (Moore)[3]. Cattlemen looked to socialize with people in the towns around them rather than just the men on the ranch. As towns grew, so did the development of associations and entertainments that the men had known before coming to town, and socializing with men of equal status was more common (Moore). Nonwhite ranchers were nonexistent and those who were in lower classes would never be seen socializing with cattlemen unless it was on the ranch. Furthermore, the way ranchers carried themselves in public, and the economic stability they possessed allowed them to attract the more respectable women who were better suited to be housewives. Similarly, in order to understand the workforce of the fast food industry, background information about the industry needs to be taken into account. The fast food industry goes hand in hand with the cattle industry. In Central America, nearly 40% of the land was cultivated to become pasture for cattle that would supply cheap beef to North America’s fast food industry (Myers)[4]. Furthermore, the cattle raised in Central America are raised on grass, making the beef lean and only suitable for the fast food trade (Myers). Fast food has become in high demand because of its low prices and its convenience of location. It’s hard to miss these restaurants because driving around in a city you are guaranteed to see some of these consumer-crazed fast food chains on just about every corner. They can even be found in local retail stores, airports, and gas stations. Fast food is quicker than preparing home-cooked meals and according to the article, â€Å"Convenience, Accessibility, and the Demand for Fast Food,† fast food accounts for 35% of the total away-from-home food expenditures (Binkley, et al)[5]. Moreover, according to the same article, fast food chains have an increase in consumption when located in areas inhabited by African-Americans and Hispanics (Binkley, et al). Targeting low-income races with cheaply priced food allows this industry to continue to grow because those of low-income won’t be consistently eating at a sit down restaurant ordering a meal for twenty dollars when they can order one at McDonalds for as low as four dollars. Price, accessibility, and convenience are major factors to the success of this industry. Similarly to the point previously made about the low socioeconomic standing of cowboys, a majority of the employees of the fast food industry are working class people. The working class is becoming only certain ethnic groups- Hispanics, African Americans, and both legal and illegal immigrants. Once immigrants enter the U. S. they are placed in the lower class regardless if they have been in the middle class in their country of origin. These people of color are hard-working employees and have families. However, they still earn only minimum wage after years of experience. Typically, these ast-food jobs are oriented to be temporary positions for teenagers who are looking to make some extra cash before going to college. But it has become a social norm that it’s the job position of those who are living off a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, struggling to make ends meet. Jennifer Talwar’s book, Fast Food Fast Track: Immigrants, Big Business, and the American Dream, states, â€Å"the fast food restaurant offered me a way to understand how different ethnic groups relate to each other in their attempt to survive but also improve their circumstances at the bottom of the American urban economy† (Talwar). 6] Like the cowboys, workers in fast food become separated from the owners and higher-class society so they turn to the relationships of one another. However, unlike the cowboys who were unable to become cattlemen, employees of color in the fast food industry can become even owners of a McDonald’s or Burger King for example. According to Talwar, Phil Hagans an African American man started out as a burger flipper and later became an owner of four McDonald’s restaurants in Houston, as he was able to climb the hierarchies (Talwar). [7] Just because there is marginal room for improvement of a worker’s position in this area of work doesn’t mean there is an absence of inequality. The fast food industry is a business built on the ideal of low prices resulting it in having to keep labor and other operating costs to a minimum. According to the book, Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry, Royle and Towers explain that low wages, minimal benefits, tight staffing, and efforts to intensify labor are predictable due to competition environment (Royle and Towers). 8] This allows employers to have control and does not allow workers to have a say in changing working conditions. Such factors are not subject to change and the issue of unionizing poses no threat to the fast food business. This is because â€Å"major fast-food companies†¦are employed by franchisees, many of whom own only a few restaurants or just one,† like Phil Hagans (Royle and Towers). This fragments the workers not only physically but also to the extent that they are under different management. Unionization is also unable to arise due to the role technology plays in standardizing the work of fast-food crews. These new machines basically tell the employee when to proceed on to the next step of the routine of preparing a burger or fries, resulting in a minimization for the need of skilled workers. Furthermore, having an education is not needed to work for fast food places such as McDonalds because these jobs don’t require higher-level skills. However, â€Å"while fast-food work is generally treated unskilled, it is not easy to perform well† and it â€Å"can be hard and exhausting work, especially during busy periods† (Royle and Towers). 9] Mangers have complete control over their workers, starting with the scheduling of the workers’ hours. It is also a way to keep employment costs down and can be used as a disciplinary system. For example, managers can call in employees on their days off and have them work late hours. Cattlemen of the ranch had different tactics for maintaining control but the outcome was the same. Unionization is further challenged in the fast food industry because many unskilled workers are young teens that only see this type of work as a temporary position. According to Royle and Towers, only one third of those employed by the industry actually try to turn it into a career (Royle and Towers). Cowboys needed to have specific skill sets such as riding horses, being able to round herds up the trail, and manage the farmland. Teens and those who work the oven and fryers don’t need to have a specific skill set because each skill is specialized. It can be juxtaposed to an assembly line where a worker will perform one task all day that requires low input of labor. Therefore, the value of work from cowboys compared to employees of the fast food industry is diminishing. As seen with managers and employees of the cattle industry of the past and fast food industry of today, the hierarchies of the workforce are evident and haven’t been drastically modified. On the ranch, a cowboy (especially one of color) couldn’t become a cattlemen. In the fast-food industry a burger flipper can become an owner of his own franchise but, unless its handed down like a ranch from cattlemen to cattlemen, its an outrageous number of years to climb in rank. The hierarchy in a typical fast-food restaurant is as follows, from lowest job to highest: crewmember, crew trainer, manager trainee, second and first assistant manager, associate and general manger, store supervisor, and finally owner. By the time a worker reaches the top they’ll have white hair and be ready for retirement. Climbing the different levels isn’t promising. That’s how owners of big industries want it. The higher class will continue to improve and gain wealth while the lower class will struggle to fight for a higher economic standing for the majority of their lives. Many workers won’t ever obtain the life they thought they would achieve in a nation known to be the home of the free and the land of the brave and where an â€Å"American Dream† is possible. The United States needs to adapt to make lives easier for its people by giving health care, increasing minimum wage, and actually listening to the voices of the people who inhibit this great country. If the United States’ industries continue to suck the life out of their workers and have total control over every aspect of these laborers, then the ideology of being â€Å"equal† will be never be in existence.

Tolerence of Religion - 1636 Words

Tolerance is a basic principle of Islam. It is a religious moral duty. Islam teaches tolerance on all levels: individual, groups and states. Tolerance is the mechanism that upholds human rights and the rule of law. The Qur’an says very clearly: in which you differ’) (Al-Hajj 21:76-69). Intolerance is on the increase in the world today, causing death, genocide, violenc (To every People have We appointed rites and ceremonies which they must follow, let them not then dispute with you on the matter, but do invite (them) to your Lord: for you are assuredly on the Right Way. If they do wrangle with you, say, ‘God knows best what it is you are doing.’ ‘God will judge between you on the Day of Judgment concerning the matters e, religious†¦show more content†¦In surat Ash-Shura Allah says to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), (If then they turn away, We have not sent you as a guard over them. Your duty is but to convey (the Message)†¦)(Ash-Shura 42:48). In another place Allah says, (Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious. Your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance)(An-Nahl 16:125). Further, Allah says to the Believers, (Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if you do turn back, know then that it is Our Messenger’s duty to proclaim (the Message) in the clearest manner)(Al-Ma’idah 5:92). One can also cite Allah’s words: (Say: ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger: but if you turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and you for that placed on you. If you obey him, you shall be on right guidance. The Messenger’s duty is only to preach the clear (Message))(An-Nur 24:54). All these verses give note that Muslims do not coerce people; they must present the message to them in the most cogent and clear way, invite them to the truth and do their best in presenting and conveying the message of God to humanity, but it is up to people to accept or not to accept. Allah says, (And say, ‘The truth is from your Lord, so whosoever wants let him believe and whosoever wants let him deny’)(An-Nahl 16:29). TheShow MoreRelatedUnderstanding Diversity Within Society Essay4388 Words   |  18 Pagesreligious beliefs and culture practices. Religion: Religious belief refers to a faith or creed concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine. It may concern the existence, nature and worship of a deity or deities and divine involvement in the universe and human life. It may also relate to the values and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. Unlike other belief systems, religious belief tends to be codified. While often used synomously with religion, in this article religious belief willRead MoreEssay on Atheism, the Hidden Prejudice1362 Words   |  6 PagesAtheism is a â€Å"new age† trend; this is incorrect. The term Atheism originated in approximately 16 C.E.*, but philosophical Atheistic thinking appeared between the 5th and 6th century B.C.E. (â€Å"History of Atheism†). During the Renaissance, criticism of religion became a more frequent occurrence, but being labeled as an Atheist normally led to execution. By the Age of Enlightenment, Atheism was ceasing to be a dangerous accusati on, and was a position openly held by some. Although it was no longer deadlyRead MorePrejudice And The Dark Abyss Of Prejudice By Harper Lee1297 Words   |  6 Pagesin to the dark abyss of prejudice because they merely following the trend of society. Prejudice is exactly what it sounds like; its root words are firmly planted. Prejudice may be defined as the act of pre judging someone because of their race, religion, sex, ethnic background, or can be based solely on how they look. Prejudice is a flaw in society many have dealt with for centuries, but one race has suffered in the United States of America where â€Å"all men are equal†, more than any other race inRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Aristotle s Philosophy1454 Words   |  6 PagesPhilosophy finds knowledge through reason and rationality to make predications of world around. But humans are flawed in their perceptions of the world and therefore reasoning can become false. Therefore philosophy alone can never gain godà ¢â‚¬â„¢s insight. Religion and the study of the sacraments of god along with faith, which allows for divine revelation. This divine human and reasoning is the only way to achieve happiness. This limitation of knowledge is the key to Aquinas political theory. In order for any