Essay on Why should Homosexuals be allowed to Adopt.

Several people are opposed to the idea of homosexuals adopting. Nonetheless, homosexuals have an abundance of privileges as many other couples do. Sexual orientation doesn’t have any relevance on your entitlement to adoption. Families are usually the central source of socialization. When we define the word family, a numerous of people would include a mother, father, and at best two children, possibly one child. Truly speaking of a nuclear family, but realistically families take different appearances and are represented in other ways. However, gay and lesbian families may not follow the traditional framework of what defines a family, but they most certainly create families and homes in their own ways. In fact it’s already hard enough for†¦show more content†¦Gay and lesbian families accuse legal decision makers for legal biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that are preventing them from providing them with equivalent protection under the law. â€Å"Current laws regarding the custody/visitation rights of gays and lesbians indicate a movement away from assumptions of unfitness toward requiring evidence that the parent’s sexual orientation is detrimental to the child’s well-bei ng† (Lehmann Jennifer, 2001). In an attempt to adopt a child and change a child’s life, they are often seen as incompetent parents and are unrightfully discriminated. Some of the concerns they have towards gay and lesbian parents are: their physical appearance, social skills, social adjustments, maturity, shared interest in a child, and whether he/she are the primary caretaker. These additional factors are considered and may be unsupported assumptions. However it could be an unfavorable effect toward his/her potential gain of custody. Several adoption agencies and some attorneys will turn down a gay or lesbian couple, even if the states allow it. â€Å"In most states, laws don’t address whether gays may or may not adopt. Only one state, Florida- specifically bans the homosexuals from adopting children. This law was challenged but was upheld by a federal court in 2004† (Pearson Education, 2000-2011). In the book Court Change, it says that â€Å"Florida prohibits any and all adoptions by gay and lesbian individuals orShow MoreRelatedGay Parenting Essay939 Words   |  4 Pagesmore people with each passing moment. Although homosexual marriage is not allowed in some states, the anatomy of the person, whether male or female, hardly allows them to reproduce without sperm or ovaries. Since gays are not capable of reproducing, then adoption is their next option or sperm donors. The big controversy is whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children or whether the â€Å"step-parent,† wh ich is actually the co-partner, can adopt the birth mother’s child. Adoption is anotherRead MoreGay Couples Adopting1042 Words   |  5 PagesHomosexuals must be allowed to adopt children just like any other couple who want to do the same thing. A child needs love, respect and a home in which they can assure themselves that there will be someone there to care for them. As in the example, there is no need for a dad and a mom who will always be arguing about the shared custody. Just because their parents are homosexuals does not mean that the child will grow up to be the same. Everyone is different and will grow up to be what they want toRead MoreShould Homosexuals Be Allowed? Adopt?1512 Words   |  7 PagesTeirra Thomas Professor Parks ENG 101, Documented Research Paper 18 November 2014 Should Homosexuals be allowed to Adopt Did you know that Florida absolutely bans homosexuals to adopt children? Over a million people in the United States disagree on same sex marriage. If they disagree with same sex marriage what about when homosexuals want to adopt children. In my opinion it is great that homosexuals want to adopt children, because it is not about who they are being raised by. It is all about ifRead MoreGays Should Have A Positive Impact On A Child s Life1441 Words   |  6 Pagesevolving for Homosexuals and their rights. Every child in foster care, and adoption agencies deserve to have a family regardless of the parents Sexual orientation. The United States is considered a liberal country if that is so, then homosexuals should have the right to adopt a child in the United States. Homosexuals adopting will have a positive impact on a child s life. The child will finally have a stable home and family to grow up in. The article mentions how children adopted by homosexuals are mentallyRead MoreGay Adoption Should Be Legal1355 Words   |  6 Pagesfamilies in need to adopt a child in need of a loving family. Many people have had a great ending with adoptions. The families who have adopted have left and created many loving families out there, but now that same sex-couples want to adopt children adoption has becomes very brutal. Same sex-couples are having trouble to get their marriage right now states are banning adoption rights. Although gay adoption could negatively impact the child s life, gay adoption should be allowed and enforced in everyRead MoreEssay on Same-Sex Parenting1442 Words   |  6 PagesParenting Since the early 1900s, homosexual people have become increasingly popular and greatly resisted. People that are homosexual face barriers placed upon them by the political system and society. Due to these challenges, homosexuals fought to have the same marital and parental rights as heterosexual people. Same-sex adoption is not prohibited in most states in the United States of America and many places worldwide. Family is not determined solely on blood relations and should be legalized in all partsRead MoreShould Same-Sex Couples Be Allowed to Adopt? Essays838 Words   |  4 PagesHomosexual people have faced many trials and tribulations in pursuit of living a normal and happy life. There are many controversial events and topics that are barriers blocking complete happiness. Although those barriers are in place, the people in the LGBT subculture seem to making the best of every situation. Fighting for their rights and changing laws to protect them are paving the way for a brighter fu ture. In hopes of being normal, many same-sex couples want to have a family and for some theRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal909 Words   |  4 PagesGay marriage is a highly controversial topic in today’s society. Should same-sex marriage be legalized nationwide, or should it remain illegal? Thirty-five of our states have allowed equality, however sadly the rest are not progressing on the matter (CNN). This is a significant issue because of those involved in a homosexual relationship want the same rights and freedoms of marriage as those whom are convoluted in heterosexual relationships. Marriage equivalence is a constitutional right promisedRead MoreShould Same Sex Couples Be Allowed to Adopt?954 Words   |  4 Pages2/8/13 Should Same-Sex Couples Be Allowed To Adopt? As time progresses societies view on certain subjects has become more lenient. One thing that still can cause an uproar seems to be what women decide to do with their children once they become pregnant, whether it be abortion or adoption. Even more controversial on the latter subject seems to be who can and cannot adopt children who are being put up for adoption. This leads to the topic of the argument, should same sex couples be allowed to adoptRead MoreHomosexuality Is Genetic Or Merely A Learning Process?1697 Words   |  7 Pagesbut at the same time look at the perspective of adopting, parenting, and the outcome of children with homosexual parents. We are also going to look at polls in which the people have a say of what is â€Å"right and wrong† with a homosexual couple, and the debate wither homosexuality couples have the right too parent children and even adopt children, and is the government braking there rights to adopt and parent a children? However my perspective of a partnership is man and woman are part of a succession

The First Era Of Industrialization - 1625 Words

In the 1760s, the United States began its first major period of rapid industrialization. Everyday there was a new factory built, a new machine created, a new industry expanded. The effect of industrialization was so massive that even songs were written about this period. One song depicted a man who could â€Å"hatch eggs by thousands; all by steam†.[1] With more factories and more efficient means of production, more commodities became available to the public for consumption. The first era of the industrial revolution drastically changed the way America functions as a consumer society. The second period of industrialization altered how America functions as a capitalistic society. After the Civil War, the next era of industrialization began in†¦show more content†¦Through offers made in cash or Standard Oil stock, Rockefeller was able to persuade other oil refineries to sell their business to him. Those who refused were specifically targeted by Rockefeller and put out o f business through various means.[3] [4] Andrew Carnegie, a man who made his fortune in the steel industry, used a method similar to Rockefeller’s- vertical integration. Vertical integration is the domination of an industry in which all steps of the process of a product are bought out. Carnegie did this, buying every stage for steel production, from iron mines to rolling mills. By owning every aspect of the steelmaking process, Carnegie â€Å"was able to supply his product at a cost less than that of his competitors†, thus running them out of business. Carnegie’s ability to produce more goods at a cheaper cost is known as the economy of scale.[5] [6] Political corruption was another common and favorable tactic amongst business owners. To prevent business-harming laws from being legalized or to pass beneficial laws, businessmen often bribed politicians â€Å"at the local, state, and national level†.[7] Politicians were given company stock, funds for elections, and free or reduced materials. Today historians most commonly associate the railroad industry with political corruption. To gain their business favor, railroad companies would offer free passage to

The “Dutch Disease” and Strands of the Resource Curse Literature Notes Free Essays

Introduction Explain the â€Å"Dutch Disease† Term invented to describe a phenomenon first noted in the Netherlands after the discovery of natural gas in the 60’s, following which manufacturing declined and enemployment increased (OECD 2006) The concept became prominent amongst economic theorists in the 1980’s and is now generally accepted both amongst economists, governments and political bodies following confirmation through empirical research (Inc NetLibrary 2008) More generally, the term means â€Å"the harmful economic consequences that may arise in certain conditions from a sudden increase in a country’s wealth† (OECD 2006) The notion is tied to the economy and exchange rate: a boom in one sector of the country’s economy dealing with international tradable goods leads to a decline in other sectors as exchange rates appreciate, those sectors making non-tradable goods expand, and the end result is less competitiveness overall (Zaqqa 2006). The concept assumes a simple economic model which features a binary distinction between two types of goods, the internationally tradable and the internationally non-tradable (Zacca 2006). The ‘Dutch Disease’ following the discovery of natural resources has a number of other problematic consequences, including poor growth, authoritarian regimes, civil war and government corruption (Inc NetLibrary 2008). We will write a custom essay sample on The â€Å"Dutch Disease† and Strands of the Resource Curse Literature Notes or any similar topic only for you Order Now The phenomenon is difficult to correct, and leads to problems of managing the economy, for example if the government borrows to sustain normal spending levels, this is likely to make recession more prolonged and severe. (Inc NetLibrary 2008) If a nation concentrates upon developing the natural resource and does not invest in other sectors, there may be â€Å"high uncertainty, chronic low rates of domestic investment, inadequate skills levels† (Inc NetLibrary 2008) Describe at least two different strands of the resource curse literature The term ‘resource curse’ was first introduced by Auty (1993), to denote a phenomena whereby countries with high levels of natural resources also frequently have lower growth rates (Cornell 2010) Much of the literature which tries to explain the ‘resource curse’ takes either an economic or a political/social perspective (Di John, 2009) Economic perspectives explain the ‘resource curse’ in terms of a nation’s economy, and include different aspects, for example the volatility of commodity prices leading to decreasing revenues, and the way these form relationships with ‘financial market imperfections†. They can also highlight the relationship between the natural resource and other sectors in the economy (Ellman 2006), or take a ‘rentier-state’ approach, suggesting that natural resources generate â€Å"rent-seeking behaviour†. The Dutch Disease approach highlights the role of exchange rates, international and non-international trade, and competitiveness of different sectors (Di John 2009). Political explanations widen the economic perspective by suggesting that government policy and institutional structures play a central role in creating the resource curse (Di John 2009) Political explanations of the resource curse are varied: they can use, for example â€Å"cognitive, societal or statist approaches†. Cognitive approaches hold that natural resources lead to short-sighted economic policies from the government, societal approaches suggest that a natural resource boom allocates resources to social groups which are not committed to the overall long-term benefit of the country, and statist approaches hold that a natural resource boom leads to a weaker government and poorer policies for long-term economic management (Gallagher 2008). Some claim that there is less empirical support for political and social explanations (Kim 2003) References Auty, R (1993) Sustaining development in mineral economies: the resource curse thesis, Routledge, London Di John, J (2009) From Windfall to CurseOil and Industrialization in Venezuela, 1920 to the Present, Penn State Press, USA Cornell, S E (2010) Azerbaijan Since Independence, M.E. Sharpe, NY Ellman, M (2006) Russia’s Oil and Natural Gas: Bonanza Or CurseAnthem Press, London Gallagher, K (2008) Handbook on trade and the environment, Edward Elgar Publishing, UK Kim, Y (2003) The resource curse in a post-communist regime: Russia in comparative perspective, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Aldershot Hants Inc Net Library (2008) Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the ESCWA Region 2006-2007, United Nations Publications. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2006) OECD Economic Surveys: Russian Federation 2006, Paris, France Zaqqa, N (2006) Economic development and export of human capital – a contradiction?: the impact of human capital migration on the economy of sending countries ; a case study of Jordan, Kassel University Press. How to cite The â€Å"Dutch Disease† and Strands of the Resource Curse Literature Notes, Essay examples

Support Death Penalty Essay Example For Students

Support Death Penalty Essay The Death Penalty vs. Alternative PunishmentsIn the United States Constitution, the 8th Amendment prohibits the use and practices of cruel and unusual punishment. What exactly is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment? This question is a hot topic among Americas many different current controversies. Many people are saying that the use of capital punishment (to be sentenced to death as a penalty in the eyes of the law a capital crime. An execution capital punishment) is a direct violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (Capital Punishment). They say there should be another way to deal with these criminals other than having them executed. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief history of the death penalty and state some alternative forms of punishment along with opposing viewpoints. As t which one is right, thats up to you to decide. We will write a custom essay on Support Death Penalty specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Capital punishment has been a part of our government since the seventeenth century (The Death Penalty in America). The criminal law that we had here was just a variation colony by colony, on the law of England. Although the capital law of the thirteen colonies differed from one another, many interesting and important details concerning the death penalty and various other things occurred during the century and a half of the colonial period. All of the colonies authorized public executions by hanging as the mandatory punishment for various crimes against the state, the person, and the property (The Death Penalty in America). In the early nineteenth century, English criminal law imposed the death penalty for a wide range of crimes from murder, treason, rape, to such stupid things as petty theft. Of all of the nonhomocidal crimes particularly by death, rape was by far the most numerous. Some ten percent of all executions carried out between 1930 and 1977 were for rape. Those who opted to keep the death penalty did so because they thought that it would act as a discouragement for would be criminals and to keep the community safe. In theory it seemed clear-cut, but does it work? America has had more violent crimes this century than in any other time in its history. The only real point that both sides can agree upon is that the death penalty stops the convicted murder from ever killing again. Some say that this reason is enough to keep the death penalty. There are currently five different ways to carry out the death penalty in the United States. The first is death by firing squad. Death occurs because of massive damage to the bodys vital organs, heart, central nervous system, or by a combination of these different effects with hemorrhage (The Execution Protocol). Probably the quickest way to execute a human being with a gun is to fire a single bullet from a piston at point blank range into the head. Yet in Idaho and Utah, the law specifies a five-man rifle squad. Execution by firing squad has a long history in America. The first recorded execution by firing squad was in 1608, when George Kendall, one of the original councilors in the colony of Virginia was put to death (The Execution Protocol). People opposed to the death penalty say that being shot to death if a form of cruel and unusual punishment. There have been cases where the marksmen have missed the shot and it has taken a man over an hour to die from his wounds. Another problem with this form of execution is that some members of the firing squad have been known to aim away from the mans heart, shooting him where it would take longer to die. .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .postImageUrl , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:hover , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:visited , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:active { border:0!important; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:active , .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1 .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9ea09bf485e9460312fe6996c3b297f1:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: GMOs EssayThis happened on September 10, 1951, in the execution of Elisio Mares. During his execution, all five of the marksmen aimed away from the target over Mares heart and shot him on the right side of his chest. The firing squad and witnesses watched in horror as Mares slowly bled to death (The Execution Protocol). When Gary Gilmore was shot to death in Utah in 1973, all four bullets pierced his heart. However, heart death was not immediate, and the doctor had to check twice before pronouncing him dead, two minutes after the

Love and Basketball Research Paper Example

Love and Basketball Research Paper Example Love and Basketball Paper Love and Basketball Paper Watching movies is a great way to learn and study different interpersonal relationships. A lot of them are just like real life situations that happen every day between people. One of my favorite movies is Love and Basketball. I chose to talk about this movie because in my opinion it really focuses on the relationship of the two main characters. There are good moments and bad ones in their relationship with one another. I also believe there are a lot of different things the characters could have done and said that would have made communicating with each other a lot easier. It’s one of my favorite movies and I have learned a lot about communicating from it. The movie starts out with the main characters, Quincy and Monica. Both of them love to play basketball more then they love doing anything else. Quincy is in awe of how good Monica is at playing for a girl. They become friends with each other and remain friends throughout high school. Monica was never big on having a boyfriend and that is something Quincy makes fun of her for. She doesn’t care because all she is interested in is playing ball. After some time Monica starts to fall in love with Quincy and he starts to fall for her also. They end up getting scholarships to the same university and remain together. When Quincy gets news that his father has been cheating on his wife, he slowly falls apart. This causes a huge argument between Monica and him and their relationship falls apart. His playing ability also starts to go downhill as hers reaches a peak. After time goes by they remain apart from each other and keep playing ball for professional teams. Quincy gets hurt on the court and suddenly can’t play anymore. While he is out from basketball he gets engaged while Monica keeps playing basketball. Eventually Monica tells him her feelings for him and how she is still in love with him. At the end of the movie they end up playing a game of one-on-one for his heart. She loses but then he surprises her by saying he wants a rematch. They end up getting married and having a daughter together. The story wasn’t as easy as it sounds though. In the beginning of the story Quincy and Monica’s relationship was very open and good with each other. They would talk about things with each other and the relationship they had was very intimate. When one of them needed to alk about something the other would have no problem listening and hearing what the other had to say. Once Quincy started having problems with his dad is when things really went downhill for him and Monica. Quincy needed Monica to be the person for him to talk about it to, but she was too worried about her curfew. To me this would be an example of reward power. This is based on another person’s ability to satis fy your needs. In this case Monica couldn’t satisfy Quincy’s need for a companion when he needed it so this caused him to be angry at her and pull away. She didn’t seem to be understanding about his situation when he needed her to be. She was too worried about her curfew for basketball so she wouldn’t get in trouble with the coach. For them this was the biggest turning point in their relationship. Turning points are events or interactions that are associated with positive or negative changes in relationships. Their communication with one another became less and less. Relational de-escalation, the movement that occurs when a relationship decreases in intimacy, also happened. Quincy and Monica went to a party and saw each other there. Quincy was all over this other girl that was at the same party. Monica saw him talking to her and instantly got angry about it, so she walked up to him and started talking to him about it. She asked him if he wanted to go back to his place and talk about the situation with his dad. Quincy was obviously still angry at her so he responded by asking her if she had curfew. Monica told him she didn’t that night so she could talk, but Quincy just shook his head and told her not to worry about it. He told her he was tired and was just going to go to bed. This was when Monica realized that he was seriously angry with her. A couple days went by and she thought the situation had blown over and everything would be okay, but it wasn’t. Quincy ended up breaking it off with her one night as they were talking. One mistake in a relationship can cause it to end, and this is what this movie has taught me. In this movie I have learned a lot about interpersonal relationships. If I am understanding and am there when the other person needs me to be, things will go a lot more smoothly. I like to put myself in the other person’s shoes and look at it in a different perspective. I would want the other person to be there for me when I need them to be and I’d want to be listened to. Open relationships are what makes or breaks you. In this part of the movie it broke their relationship, but all that matters is that they did end up together and happy. They needed to realize what one another needed from the other and grow up and mature a little more in order to make the relationship work. In the end though, they realized they truly loved each other and decided to make it work after they saw their mistakes. This was a great movie to watch and learn from.

Particle Definition and Examples in English Grammar

Particle Definition and Examples in English Grammar The English word particle comes from the Latin, a share, part. In English grammar, a  particle is a word that does not change its form through inflection and does not easily fit into the established system of parts of speech. Many particles are closely linked to verbs to form multi-word verbs, such as go away. Other particles include to used with an infinitive and not a negative particle. In tagmemics, the term particle refers to a linguistic unit seen as a discrete entity, definable in terms of its features. (Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 2008). Examples and Observations Particles are short words...that with just one or two exceptions are all prepositions unaccompanied by any complement of their own. Some of the most common prepositions belonging to the particle category: along, away, back, by, down, forward, in, off, on, out, over, round, under, up.(Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey Pullum. A Students Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge University Press, 2006.) The storm ate up September’s cry of despair, delighted at its mischief, as all storms are.(Valente, Catherynne M. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, 2011.) Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesnt go away.(Dick, Philip K. How to Build a Universe That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Days Later, 1978.) I was determined to know beans.(Thoreau, Henry David. Walden, 1854.) I was determined not to give up. [T]he idea (as all pilots understood) was that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line...(Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff, 1979) The Escape Category Particle is...something of an escape (or cop-out) category for grammarians. If its small and you dont know what to call it, call it a particle seems to be the practice; and a very useful practice it is, too, as it avoids pushing words into categories in which they do not properly belong... Do not confuse particle with the similar-looking participle; the latter has a much more well-defined application. (Hurford, James R. Grammar: A Students Guide. Cambridge University Press, 1994.) Discourse Particles ​Well and now in English... have been referred to as discourse particles, for example by Hansen (1998). Discourse particles are placed with great precision at different places in the discourse and give important clues to how discourse is segmented and processed... Discourse particles are different from ordinary words in the language because of the large number of pragmatic values that they can be associated with. Nevertheless, speakers are not troubled by this multifunctionality but they seem to know what a particle means and be able to use it in different contexts.(Aijmer, Karin. English Discourse Particles: Evidence From a Corpus. John Benjamins, 2002.) Particles in Tagmemics The tagmemics system works on the assumption that any subject can be treated as a particle, as a wave, or as a field. A particle is a simple definition of a static, unchanging, object (e.g., a word, a phrase, or a text as a whole)... A wave is a description of an evolving object... A field is a description of a generic object in a large plane of meaning.(Hain Bonnie A. and Richard Louth, Read, Write, and Learn: Improving Literacy Instruction Across the Disciplines, Teaching in the 21st Century: Adapting Writing Pedagogies to the College Curriculum, ed. by Alice Robertson and Barbara Smith. Falmer Press, 1999.)

Gospel of Mark Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gospel of Mark Paper - Essay Example rk was seen as a â€Å"translator or interpreter† of Peter – according to a statement made by a church father called Papias – with many commentators trying to identify his work with what â€Å"could only have come from Peter† (Court, 1990, p.47). On the other hand, as Drane points out, there are â€Å"remarkable similarities† between the first three gospels, aka the synoptic gospels, namely Matthew, Mark and Luke, which contain almost identical accounts of the teachings of Jesus; this comes to mean that they either derived their material from a common source or two of them are based on the third (2001, p. 1-2). Court writes that there has been â€Å"an explosion of a different kind of scholarly interest† in the Gospel of Mark during the second half of the twentieth century, with a different emphasis on what the writer – referred to as â€Å"Mark† – himself intended, presenting the materials he had collected in a particular way (1990, p. 47). Moreover, a close examination of the three synoptic gospels indicates that both Matthew and Luke used Mark’s gospel as the basis, â€Å"into which they fitted the extra material† they deemed it necessary (Drane, 2001, p.3). However, scholars widely agree that the Gospel of Mark is the â€Å"nearest thing† to a report of Jesus’s life, aiming to communicate a â€Å"picture of Jesus as he was† (Drane, 2001, p.6); while the complex themes Mark treats about the person of Jesus, along with the most pervasive and problematic feature – the theme of mystery and the hidden identity of Christ – actually denote a theological approach in the understanding of Christ (Court, 1990, p.48-49; Moloney, 2002, p.6). Although Mark’s gospel tells the facts of Jesus’s life, as stated by Drane, â€Å"in the simplest and most dramatic way†, it begins with the declaration of faith (2001, pp.6-7): â€Å"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God)† (Mark 1:1 New American Bible). Moving rapidly from John the Baptist to Jesus