Illegal tertiary institutions in Nigeria

NUC releases list of illegal tertiary institutions (See full list) August 27, 2015 By Amina Mohammed The National Universities Commission has released a list of illegal degree awarding institutions operating in Nigeria.The schools were published in the NUC’s weekly bulletin dated August 24.According to the bulletin, the NUC Executivesecretary, Julius Okojie, warned that those who patronise the schools, do so at their own risk.“Certificates obtained from these sources will not be recognized for the purpose of NYSC, employment and further studies,” theNUC said.Full list: 1. University of Accountancy and Management Studies, operating anywhere in Nigeria.2. Christians of Charity American Universityof Science and Technology Nkpor, AnambraState or any of its campuses.3. University of Industry, Yaba, Lagos or any of its other campuses.4. University of applied Sciences and Management Port Novo, Republic of Benin or any of its other campuses in Nigeria.5. Blacksmith University, Awka or any of its campuses.6. Volta University College, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana or any of its other campusesin Nigeria.7. Royal University Izhia, P.O. Box 800, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State or any of its other campuses.8. Atlanta University, Anyigba, Kogi State or any of its other campuses.9. Sunday Adokpela University, Otada Adoka, Otukpo, Benue State or any of its other campuses.10. United Christian University, Macotis Campus, Imo State or any of its other campuses.11. United Nigeria University College, Okija, Anambra State or any of its other campuses.12. Samuel Ahmadu University, Makurdi, Benue State or any of its other campuses.13. UNESCO University, Ndoni, Rivers State or any of its other campuses.14. Saint Augustine’s University of Technology, Jos Plateau State or any of its other campuses.15. The International University, Missouri, USA, Kano and Lagos Study Centres, or any of its campuses in Nigeria.16. Columbus University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.17. Tiu International University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.18. Pebbles University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.19. London External Studies UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.20. Pilgrims University operating anywhere in Nigeria.21. Lobi Business School Makurdi, Benue State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.22. West African Christian University operating anywhere in Nigeria.23. Bolta University College Aba or any of its campuses in Nigeria.24. JBC Seminary Inc. (Wukari Jubilee University) Kaduna Illegal Campus.25. Westlan University, Esie, Kwara State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.26. St. Andrews University College, Abuja orany of its campuses in Nigeria.27. EC- Council University, USA, Ikeja Lagos Study Centre.28. Atlas University, Ikot Udoso Uko, Uyo Akwa Ibom State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.29. Concept College/University (London) Ilorin or any of its campuses in Nigeria.30. Halifax Gateway University, Ikeja or any of its campuses in Nigeria.31. Kingdom of Christ University, Abuja or any of its campuses in Nigeria.32. Acada University, Akinlalu, Oyo State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.33. Fifom University, Mbaise, Imo State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.34. Houdegbe North American University Campuses In Nigeria.35. Atlantic International University, Okija, Anambra State.36. Open International University, Akure.37. Middle Belt University (North Central University), Otukpo.38. Leadway University, Ugheli, Delta State.39. Metro University, Dutse/Bwari, Abuja.40. Southend University, Ngwuro Egeru (Afam) Ndoki, Rivers State.41. Olympic University, Nsukka, Enugu State.42. Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Abuja.43. Temple University.44. Irish University Business School London, operating anywhere in Nigeria.45. National University of Technology, Lafia,Nasarawa State.46. University of Accountability and Management Studies, Mowe, Lagos Ibadan Expressway and its Annex at 41, Ikorodu Road Lagos.47. University of Education, Winneba Ghana,operating anywhere in Nigeria.48. Cape Cost University, Ghana, operating anywhere inNigeria.49. African University Cooperative Development (AUCD), Cotonou, Benin Republic, operating anywhere in Nigeria.50. Pacific Western University, Denver, Colorado, Owerri Study Centre.51. Evangel University of America and Chudick Management Academic, Lagos.52. Enugu State University of Science and Technology (Gboko Campus).53. Career Light Resources Centre, Jos.54. University of West Africa, kwali-Abuja, FCT.55. Coastal University, Iba-Oku, Akwa-Ibom State.56. Kaduna Business School, Kaduna.57. Royal University of Theology, Minna, Niger Delta. The NUC listed another eight illegal institutions as currently undergoing investigations and court actions. The commission said the action will lead to the prosecution of the proprietors and recovery of illegal fees and charges on subscribers.The Universities are: 1. National University of Nigeria, Keffi, Nasarawa state.2. North Central University, Otukpo, Benue State.3. Christ Alive Christian Seminary and University, Enugu.4. Richmond Open University, Arochukwu, Abia State.5. West Coast University, Umuahia.6. Saint Clements University, Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti State.7. Volta University College, Aba, Abia State.8. Illegal Satellite Campuses of Ambrose AliUniversity.

Problem of Evil

I. The Problem of Evil Defined Three terms, "the problem of evil," "theodicy," and "defense" are important to our discussion. The first two are often used as synonyms, but strictly speaking the problem of evil is the larger issue of which theodicy is a subset because one can have a secular problem of evil. Evil is understood as a problem when we seek to explain why it exists (Unde malum?) and what its relationship is to the world as a whole. Indeed, something might be considered evil when it calls into question our basic trust in the order and structure of our world. Peter Berger in particular has argued that explanations of evil are necessary for social structures to stay themselves against chaotic forces. It follows, then, that such an explanation has an impact on the whole person. As David Blumenthal observes, a good theodicy is one that has three characteristics: "[I]t should leave one with one’s sense of reality intact." (It tells the truth about reality.) "[I]t should leave one empowered within the intellectual-moral system in which one lives." (Namely, it should not deny God’s basic power or goodness.) "[I]t should be as intellectually coherent as possible." (It is an answer that is both coherent and life-satisfying.) This is not to suggest that every culture deals with evil in the same way. As Amélie Rorty notes, evil and its relationship to the world has been understood in the West in a number of ways, including the following: The Neo-platonic: Evil as the privation or negation of the good or being, so that evil is only evil set against the greater good. Theodicy and coherentism: Evil can be understood as part of or in relationship to God’s larger plans for the cosmos. Manichaeanism: Good and evil are equal conflicting powers expressing their opposition in human history. Pious rationalism: Human reason cannot understand evil, but reason must postulate a God to explain human morality. Pious fidiesm: Human reason cannot understand evil, so a leap of faith is required to trust in God. Pessimism: Evil is real, but the world does not make sense nor can it be understood. Non-existent: Evil does not actually exist; rather, human beings project their own subjective disapproval onto events and actions. II. Theodicy Defined "Theodicy" is a term that Leibniz coined from the Greek words theos (God) and dike (righteous). A theodicy is an attempt to justify or defend God in the face of evil by answering the following problem, which in its most basic form involves these assumptions: God is all good and all powerful (and, therefore, all knowing). The universe/creation was made by God and/or exists in a contingent relationship to God. Evil exists in the world. Why? Notice what this problem suggests. It begins with the assumption that such a being as God will want to eliminate evil. If God is all good but not all powerful or knowing, then perhaps he doesn’t have the ability to intervene on every occasion. Likewise, if God is all powerful and knowing but not all good, then perhaps he has a mean streak. If God is somehow all these things, but the universe does not exist in a contingent relationship, then God has little to do with evil (even though God’s design can still be faulted). However, if God is both good and powerful, then why does evil exist? Now, this problem assumes several things. The first point implies that God is a personal being, though not all theodicists would agree. Likewise, the second point assumes that God interacts, or at least has interacted at some point, with the world. And that we can recognize evil is in the world assumes that "evil" is something that can be rendered intelligible and, therefore, discussed. Evil is typically defined as any undesired state of affairs and is generally considered to include both moral evil, acts done by humans, and natural evil, which includes pain and suffering that results from natural disasters, diseases, or genetic defects. As one can see this is an issue within and surrounding monotheism. Evil, its origin and purpose, takes on a different meaning when seen from the perspective of a polytheistic, atheistic, or non-theistic belief system. A system in which there are multiple divine powers, no power, or some form of impersonal cosmic force (e.g Tao) will not conceive of the problem in this way. Evil can not only be conceived in metaphysical and religious terms as abomination, disobedience, malevolence, impurity, and dishonor (or alternately in some Eastern systems as illusion or imbalance), it can also be understood in essentially natural or secular terms as social vice, egoism, partiality, corruption, criminality, and sociopathology (cf. Rorty). And many of these while not antithetical to a theistic belief system are not dependent upon one either.Theodicy is a specific branch of theology and philosophy, which attempts to solve The Problem of Evil—the problem that arises when trying to reconcile the observed existence of evil in the world with the assumption of the existence of a God who is fully good (or benevolent) and who is also all-powerful (omnipotent). A "theodicy" also refers to any attempted solution to this conundrum. Almost all traditional theodicies have attempted to logically solve the contradiction amongst the three points—the omnipotence of God, the goodness of God, and the real existence of evil—by negating or qualifying one or another of them. Hence, traditional theodicies are of three types: Denying or qualifying the omnipotence of God (finitism) Denying or qualifying the goodness of God (despotism) Denying the reality of evil Three major traditional theodicies The three major types of traditional theodicies are: 1) Finitism, which denies or qualifies the omnipotence of God in the context of dualism; 2) despotism, which denies or qualifies the goodness of God, because of its belief that God's absolute sovereignty lets him do evil things in the eyes of humans; and 3) a third kind, denying or qualifying the reality of evil. Finitism: God is not omnipotent Finitism denies or qualifies the omnipotence of God and says that the finite God cannot avoid evil. It takes various forms of dualism. Some religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism presented the cosmic dualism of God and Satan. Plato and Aristotle were of the metaphysical dualism of God (or Demiurge) and prime matter (or Receptacle), where God is finite because he must have recourse to prime matter for the constitution of the world. Nikolai Berdyaev and Alfred North Whitehead suggested the mystical dualism of God and Uncreated Freedom (or Creativity), where God is finite because of the pre-existent principle of Uncreated Freedom. The American Methodist philosopher Edgar Brightman suggested a unique kind of finitism with his internal dualism of form and matter within God, where his power is restrained because of form. Finitism sometimes entails the so-called "free will defense" of God (as in Berdyaev and Whitehead) because it gives free will to humans in the context of God's finitude. But this free will defense based on finitism is not the same as the more insightful free will defense proposed by the American philosopher Alvin Plantinga to be treated below. Despotism: God is not fully good This type of theodicy can be seen in staunch Calvinism, and it presupposes the absolute sovereignty of God. God is so sovereign that although he may be a good God in principle, he does not look fully good in actuality. For God is the active creator and instigator of all sin and evil, including the fall, using these as instruments to accomplish his plan. Satan, thus, is considered to have no power of his own but is merely God's puppet. An important part of staunch Calvinism is the belief in the absolute predestination of all things by God, that is, that nothing happens unless God actively makes something happen. Whatever is is right, as long as God wills it. So, there can be no such thing as a problem of evil. In this view, humans have no free will. But, they will still be held responsible for whatever sins they commit because God has decided to judge them by his laws. Besides this Calvinist despotism, so-called "maltheism," the view that God is evil, also solves the problem of evil by attributing evil to God. But, maltheism is quite different from Calvinism because it says that God is simply evil himself without being necessarily despotic. Evil is not real Evil as "non-being" The non-being theme of evil started from St. Augustine, who as a Neoplatonic Christian regarded all being as good, thus referring to evil as non-being. Critiquing the Manichean dualism, which he used to adhere to, he asserted that the universe, including matter and its unique creator, God, are unambiguously good. Evil, therefore, is non-being (non esse). It is the privation, corruption, or perversion of something that was previously or otherwise good. Evil has no substantial being in itself, but is always parasitic upon good. Evil entered the universe through the culpable free actions of otherwise good beings—angels and humans. Sin consisted not in choosing evil (because there was no evil to choose) but in turning away from the higher good of God to a lower good. Natural evils were held by Augustine to be consequences of the fall too, and thus also consequences of human or angelic free will. When one asks what caused man to fall, Augustine answers through his doctrine of "deficient" causation. In his view, there is no positive cause of evil will, but rather a negation of deficiency. Augustine seems to mean by this that free volitions are, in principle, inexplicable—free willing is itself an originating cause, with no prior cause or explanation. This Augustinian definition of evil as the privation of good (privatio boni) can be seen also in St. Thomas Aquinas. It constitutes much of the Christian tradition on the subject of evil. There are other ways of saying that evil is non-existent. According to Spinoza's pantheism, there is no evil in the world which is divine. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, regarded evil simply as illusion, echoing Hinduism and Buddhism. Using relational logic and not theology, Canadian Baha’i mathematician William Hatcher has argued that evil is not absolute but simply "less good" than good.

Cryptocurrency

INTRODUCTION Cryptocurrency, an encrypted, peer-to-peer network for facilitating digital barter, is a technology developed eight years ago. Bitcoin originated with the white paper that was published in 2008 under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.” It was published via a mailing list for cryptography and has a similar appearance to an academic paper. The creators’ original motivation behind Bitcoin was to develop a cash-like payment system that permitted electronic transactions but that also included many of the advantageous characteristics of physical cash. To understand the specific features of physical monetary units and the desire to develop digital cash, we will begin our analysis by considering a simple cash transaction. Bitcoin began operating in January 2009 and is the first decentralised cryptocurrency, with the second cryptocurrency, Namecoin, not emerging until more than two years later in April 2011. Today, there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies with market value that are being traded, and thousands of cryptocurrencies that have existed at some point. The common element of these different cryptocurrency systems is the public ledger (‘blockchain’) that is shared between network participants and the use of native tokens as a way to incentivise participants for running the network in the absence of a central authority. However, there are significant differences between some cryptocurrencies with regards to the level of innovation displayed. Bitcoin, the world‟s most common and well known cryptocurrency, has been increasing in popularity. It has the same basic structure as it did when created in 2008, but repeat instances of the world market changing has created a new demand for cryptocurrencies much greater than its initial showing. By using a cryptocurrency, users are able to exchange value digitally without third party oversight. Cryptocurrency works on the theory of solving encryption algorithms to create unique hashes that are finite in number. Combined with a network of computers verifying transactions, users are able to exchange hashes as if exchanging physical currency. There is a finite number of bitcoin that will ever be generated, preventing an overabundance and ensuring its rarity. Water, despite its requirement as a life giving material, is generally accepted as being free or of little cost because it is so abundant. If water was rare, it would be more valuable than diamonds. Value exists for bitcoin because its users have trust that if they accept it as payment, they could use it elsewhere to purchase something they want or need. As long as the users maintain this faith, the valued object can be anything. Bitcoin‟s value exists in its ecosystem much in the same way that wampum, a seashell, was the currency of the land for Native Americans. (Kelly, 2014). Bitcoin does not have intrinsic value like gold in that it cannot be used to make physical objects like jewelry that have value. Nevertheless, value continues to exist due to trust and acceptance. Current legal and financial structures are not designed with a technology like this in mind. Financial institutions are built off of much older forms of currency. In some ways, it is comparative to the computing industry. The baseline of computing still relies on transmitting and processing 1‟s and 0‟s, providing only two dimensions of input. Yet all of our current technology uses this technologically archaic system due to adoption, cultivation, and lack of need for newer systems. If cryptocurrencies became the global norm for transactions, long standing systems for trade would need to be completely reformed to deal with this type of competition. For this reason, cryptocurrencies could possibly be the single most disruptive technology to global financial and economic systems. BitPay, the largest bitcoin processor in the world, has recently seen transaction rate grow 110% in the past 12 months. (DeVries, 2016). CYPTOCURRENCIES A number of cryptocurrencies have emerged that, while borrowing some concepts from Bitcoin, provide novel and innovative features that offer substantive differences. These can include the introduction of new consensus mechanisms (e.g., proof-of-stake) as well as decentralised computing platforms with ‘smart contract’ capabilities that provide substantially different functionality and enable nonmonetary use cases. These ‘cryptocurrency and blockchain innovations’ can be grouped into two categories: new (public) blockchain systems that feature their own blockchain (e.g., Ethereum, Peercoin, Zcash), and dApps/Other that exist on additional layers built on top of existing blockchain systems (e.g., Counterparty, Augur). The combined market capitalisation (i.e., market price multiplied by the number of existing currency units) of all cryptocurrencies has increased more than threefold since early 2016 and has reached $27 billion in April 2017 . A relatively low, but not insignificant share of value is allocated to duplication (i.e., ‘altcoins’), while a growing share has been apportioned to innovative cryptocurrencies (‘cryptocurrency and blockchain innovations’). As of April 2017, the following cryptocurrencies are the largest after bitcoin in terms of market capitalisation: ETHEREUM (ETH) Decentralised computing platform which features its own Turing-complete programming language. The blockchain records scripts or contracts that are run and executed by every participating node, and are activated through payments with the native Cryptocurrency ‘ether’. Officially launched in 2015, Ethereum has attracted significant interest from many developers and institutional actors. As of April 2017, the following cryptocurrencies are the largest after bitcoin in terms of market capitalisation: DASH Privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in early 2014 that has recently experienced a significant increase in market value since the beginning of 2017. In contrast to most other cryptocurrencies, block rewards are being equally shared between miners and ‘masternodes’, with 10% of revenues going to the ‘treasury’ to fund development, community projects and marketing. MONERO (XMR) Cryptocurrency system that aims to provide anonymous digital cash using ring signatures, confidential transactions and stealth addresses to obfuscate the origin, transaction amount and destination of transacted coins. Launched in 2014, it saw a substantial increase in market value in 2016. RIPPLE (XRP) Only cryptocurrency in this list that does not have a blockchain but instead uses a ‘global consensus ledger’. The Ripple protocol is used by institutional actors such as large banks and money service businesses. A function of the native token XRP is to serve as a bridge currency between national currency pairs that are rarely traded, and to prevent spam attacks. LITECOIN (LTC) Litecoin was launched in 2011 and is considered to be the ‘silver’ to bitcoin’s ‘gold’ due to its more plentiful total supply of 84 million LTC. It borrows the main concepts from bitcoin but has altered some key parameters (e.g., the mining algorithm is based on Scrypt instead of bitcoin’s SHA-265). Although bitcoin remains the dominant cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation, other cryptocurrencies are increasingly cutting into bitcoin’s historically dominant market cap share: while bitcoin’s market capitalisation accounted for 86% of the total cryptocurrency market in March 2015, it has dropped to 72% as of March 2017. Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, has established itself as the second-largest cryptocurrency. The combined ‘other cryptocurrency’ category has doubled its share of the total market capitalisation from 3% in 2015 to 6% in 2017. Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies DASH and monero (XMR) have become increasingly popular and currently constitute a combined 4% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation. It shows that both DASH and monero have experienced the most significant growth in terms of price in recent months. While monero’s price already began skyrocketing in the summer of 2016, the price of DASH has increased exponentially since December 2016. The price of ether has also recovered since a series of attacks on the Ethereum ecosystem, starting with the DAO hack in June 2016, and increased 8x since its 2016 low of less than $7 in December. All listed cryptocurrencies have increased their market value in this time window. (Hileman, 2017). OUTLOOK As with any fundamental innovation, the true potential of blockchain technology will become apparent only many years, or possibly decades, after it becomes generally adopted. Forecasting the areas in which blockchain technology will be used to the greatest effect is therefore not possible. We nevertheless would like to mention a few areas where blockchain technology serves as an infrastructure platform that facilitates a variety of promising applications. CRYPTOASSETS The most apparent application is Bitcoin as an asset. It is likely that cryptoassets such as Bitcoin will emerge as their own asset class and thus have the potential to develop into an interesting investment and diversification instrument. Bitcoin itself could over time assume a similar role as gold. Moreover, the potential for trading securities on a public blockchain is large. So-called colored coins can be traded on the Bitcoin (or similar) Blockchain and used in smart contracts, as described below. COLORED COINS A colored coin is a promise of payment that is linked to a Bitcoin transaction. This promise is possible because the communication protocol of the Bitcoin network allows additional information to be tied to a transaction. For example, promises for the delivery of an ounce of gold or a dividend payment can be added to a Bitcoin transaction and represented on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Any of these promises are of course subject to issuer risks and require some extent of trust. This is in sharp contrast to native cryptoassets such as Bitcoin units. SMART CONTRACTS Smart contracts are self-executing contracts. They can be used to stipulate that a Bitcoin payment will be executed only when a certain condition is met. The Ethereum network is currently the leader in the field of smart contracts. Similar to Bitcoin, it is based on blockchain technology and provides a native cryptoasset, called Ether. In contrast to Bitcoin, Ethereum provides a more flexible scripting language and is able to track contractual states. Potential applications include but are not limited to e-voting systems, identity management and decentralized organization, and various forms of fundraising (e.g., initial coin offerings). DATA INTEGRITY Another application for public blockchains is the potential to monitor data files. We havevalready shown how fingerprints of block candidates play an important role in the Bitcoin network. The same technology can be used to produce fingerprints for all kinds of data files and then store them in a blockchain. The entry of a fingerprint into a blockchain ensures that any manipulation attempt will become apparent because any change to the data file will lead to a completely different hash value. Because it is very difficult to change a blockchain retroactively, a fingerprint can serve as proof that a specific data file existed at a specific point in time and ensures the integrity of the data. RISKS Much like any other key innovation, blockchain technology introduces some risks. The following sections will consider some of these risks. As we mentioned in Section 3, we would like to note that this list is non-exhaustive. FORKS The Bitcoin protocol can be altered if the network participants, or at least a sufficient number of them, agree on the suggested modification. It can happen (and in fact has happened) that a blockchain splits because various groups cannot agree about a modification. A split that persists is referred to as a “fork.” The two best-known examples of persistent splits are the Bitcoin Cash fork and Ethereum’s ideological dissent, which resulted in the split to Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. ENERGY WASTAGE Proof-of-work mining is expensive, as it uses a great deal of energy. There are those that criticize Bitcoin and assert that a centralized accounting system is more efficient because consensus can be attained without the allocation of massive amounts of computational power. From our perspective, however, the situation is not so clear-cut. Centralized payment systems are also expensive. Besides infrastructure and operating costs, one would have to calculate the explicit and implicit costs of a central bank. Salary costs should be counted among the explicit costs and the possibility of fraud in the currency monopoly among the implicit costs. Moreover, many cryptoassets use alternative consensus protocols, which do not (solely) rely on computational resources. BITCOIN PRICE VOLATILITY The price of Bitcoin is highly volatile. This leads us to the question of whether the rigid predetermined supply of Bitcoin is a desirable monetary policy in the sense that it leads to a stable currency. The answer is no because the price of Bitcoin also depends on aggregate demand. If a constant supply of money meets a fluctuating aggregate demand, the result is fluctuating prices. In government-run fiat currency systems, the central bank aims to adjust the money supply in response to changes in aggregate demand for money in order to stabilize the price level. In particular, the Federal Reserve System has been explicitly founded “to provide an elastic currency” to mitigate the price fluctuations that arise from changes in the aggregate demand for the U.S. dollar. Since such a mechanism is absent in the current Bitcoin protocol, it is very likely that the Bitcoin unit will display much higher short-term price fluctuations than many government-run fiat currency units. (Berentsen and Schär, 2018) OPPORTUNITIES Cryptocurrency is in a unique position as a forerunner in a possibly transformative technology to long standing financial systems. By its very nature, it is able to fill gaps in current financial technologies and be able to help solve traditional banking problems by being a peer-to-peer system. Napster, another peer-to-peer system, transformed the music industry by cutting out the middle man. Transformative technologies start by solving a specific problem in an industry. For instance, cryptocurrencies are poised to help remediate the problems related to unbanked consumers. Significant portions of the population in developing countries are unbanked. In Latin America, 60% of 600 million inhabitants have no access to bank accounts. Bitcoin’s technology allows for individuals to exchange currency without needing a third trusted party, like a bank, to oversee the transaction. All that is needed to use Bitcoin is a mobile phone, which 70% of Latin Americans do have access to. Due to bitcoin’s ad-hoc networking capability, two users can trade bitcoin with each other by scanning QR codes displayed on their phones printed out by the application. This is a truly unique solution to a problem that has existed for many years for some people. This would invariably increase as the user base grows, so the demand for better cryptocurrency network and applications will come to the forefront. There is an enormous market for potential developers to create these applications, as this technology could affect any industry that relies on a trusted third-party clearing system. Any developers who increase usability through application and GUI improvements to bitcoin would be very successful. Bitcoin’s progression into becoming a transformative technology is driven by its ability to solve long standing problems, combined with a supportive and growing community of developers and users. Businesses are beginning to see the value in using cryptocurrencies for international transactions, especially when transactions need to occur quickly in response to an emergency. Cryptocurrencies are solely positioned to solve this problem thanks to the speed and ease of transaction in the peer-to-peer system. Money can be wired internationally, but typically arriving days after being sent and not for the full amount. The transaction can be hit with any number of unexplained fees as it crosses borders, making it difficult to send the correct amount to another business. A good example of this type of emergency need is an online company who is suffering from a denial-of-service attack and is looking to get immediate protection from a network security company. In this scenario, speed is of transaction is of the essence, for every minute that the company’s website is down, profits are being lost. Cryptocurrency has a major advantage over traditional currencies thanks to its agility in making fast peer-to-peer transactions, especially in international business-to business scenarios. Internet marketplaces have been thriving and are true contenders to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon.com has grown to a degree that seems almost unexpected. They have even begun to hire “on-demand” delivery drivers, who use their own personally owned vehicle to deliver standard packages. This type of growth shows an attempt to further tighten control of the company’s logistics costs, which expand exponentially with increased business. Ebay.com already uses a paying system that is similar to Bitcoin called PayPal, and has been very successful in using it to facilitate all purchases made on its site. Silk Road was another example of a thriving online market, albeit it‟s very illegal nature. It connected buyers and sellers who mostly used bitcoin to complete transactions. This marketplace showed how a digital currency can connect buyers and sellers without much interference by presiding governments and still succeed. Online shopping is thriving, and bitcoin is poised to extend its reach with efficient and easy payments for both vendors and customers. General purpose online shopping for individuals accounted for nearly 23 percent of transactions processed by Bitpay in the second quarter of 2015. Cryptocurrency has the advantage over traditional card-based for the vendor in that it eliminates those fees. International laws regarding taxation have been passed recently, creating validity for cryptocurrency as a mainstream device. Laws regarding the taxation of cryptocurrencies are required before digital currency could be considered a truly valid form of transactions. Towards the end of 2015, the European Court of Justice announced that it viewed bitcoin transactions as exempt from value-added tax. Steps like this will significantly increase cryptocurrency flow. Some users would refuse to use currency without knowing how it would affect their tax statements, regardless of what positive light in which they are viewed. One of Bitcoin’s largest opportunities is that it can also act as a sort of commodity, similar to gold. The value of gold can spike considerably whenever an event threatens the balance of the global market, as we have seen with the Brexit vote. The precious metal saw an increase in value to a two-year high as investors became uncertain as to how the markets would react to the vote, using it as a safe haven. The commodity market is a widely accepted form of trade worldwide, and cryptocurrency has seemingly begun to mimic the characteristics of gold. Gold has been a long standing holder of value, and that is based on the universal acceptance and trust of its value. Cryptocurrencies could potentially become a big player in the commodity market. They have a unique attribute of being purchased through a direct online mechanism, which creates easy entry for buyers. If bitcoin continues to be a valid refuge for inflating currencies, it will gain validity to investors and push deeper into becoming more mainstream. THREATS Bitcoin has quite a few hurdles to clear for user acceptance to become widespread. The value fluctuations that plague cryptocurrencies puts doubt in users, as well as investors. Ultimately a limiting factor in cryptocurrency is general acceptance. Value fluctuations reduce trust that a consumer’s value would be retained on a day to day basis, limiting faith in the currencies overall worth. The lack of central ownership of cryptocurrencies means that any attempt to remediate this marketing problem using advertisements could theoretically help the investing company’s competition. This is not an ideal situation for a marketing plan. Cryptocurrencies have also seen fraud and theft, generally due to faulty system setups by exchange companies. These hacks generally make the news, and can easily convince the layman that they are unsafe locations to put their money. There is also a large gap in laws that cover the use of cryptocurrency. As long as cryptocurrencies remain in an area not generally covered by law, user acceptance will be limited. User’s need to trust that any transactions using cryptocurrencies are legal and binding. Markets and governments are slow to react to the new technology. Ultimately, all of these factors limit consumer’s trust in bitcoin and cryptocurrency. This lack of trust leads to issues with investors as well. The dead pool of failed startups has increased to 24, mostly citing „security‟ as the main reason for closure. This metric could be considered a watermark for future investors to consider before investing in bitcoin. The Mt Gox and DAO hack shows how inattentive organization can not only lose millions of dollars‟ worth of digital currency, but can drop the value significantly. New startups now know that a haphazard and unplanned launch is ill-advised at best, and new market entry will be limited. This could ultimately hurt bitcoin, as development of better software is important to improve security and user acceptance. As obvious of a concern as it may seem, security implementation and fixes are both generally slow to adapt for any new technology. Even the DAO hack exploit was documented as a potential problem weeks before the attack. One of the issues with security is that the decentralized nature prevents a unified effort to completely secure every server that runs the code. A unified front in the realm of cryptocurrency may need to rise before the peer-to-peer network would become truly secured. A standards committee similar to ANSI, the American National Standards Institute, may need to be appointed for cryptocurrencies to develop security standards beyond the bitcoin application requirements. This type of regulation could only be implemented at the cost of the freedom of peer-to-peer networks, and may cause independent miners to exit the market. There are also competitors to cryptocurrency that are attempting to provide an alternative to digital currency. Apple is one of the main competitors with their product ApplePay. They are levering their infrastructure and hardware to give users the ability to charge their debit or credit cards associated to their iTunes account with their phones. Traditional credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard are happily joining ApplePay‟s infrastructure as are allowed to keep their fees. Bitcoin will always have a difficult time competing with these household names. PayPal has been very successful as the eBay exchanging system, and could potentially be moved into mobile payment. Companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have entire marketing budgets with a foothold in the mobile application market, giving them a huge advantage over Bitcoin‟s comparatively small time players. Mobile consumers want to be able to buy things with phones directly, and bitcoin would have a hard time rallying together as a community to beat out competitors. Another serious threat to cryptocurrency is the maze of US regulations that would need to be traversed before mainstream user acceptance. The US government has yet to even classify what type of asset bitcoin is, which will prevent most market participants from adopting cryptocurrency-based business models. Cryptocurrency could be labeled as either a security, capital asset, commodity, or a currency, and each would have a different effect on how bitcoin is adopted. International views of bitcoin vary by country, but seem to be viewed positively based on Bitpay‟s assessment of transactions. In Europe, transactions have reached an all-time high at 102,221 per quarter, which may be the cause regulations being passed regarding bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Bitcoin transaction have become exempt from value added tax by the European Court of Justice, effectively recognizing it as a legitimate means of payment in Europe. This simply means that bitcoin transaction will not be taxed in Europe. While great news for European bitcoin users, other major markets are still missing crucial legislation regarding bitcoin taxation. Legislation in the United States could negatively affect how bitcoin transactions are processed, delivering a severe blow to legitimacy as a currency. (DeVries, 2016). REFERENCES Berentsen A., Schär F. (2018). A Short Introduction to the World of Cryptocurrencies, St. Louis: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review. DeVries, P. (2016). An Analysis of Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and the Future, https://www.researchgate.net/publication. Hileman G., Rauchs M. (2017). Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study, Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Kelly, B. (2014). The Bitcoin Big Bang: How Alternative Currencies Are About to Change the World.

Living Religion

WHAT IS RELIGION? Religion is a universal phenomenon and it is virtually as old as humanity itself. It is connected to worship, belief, adoration, feelings and conduct. In ages and times past the words of mouth were treasured more than the written word. The word may have been heard by just one person but it is still prized and highly regarded, for an example, Jesus never wrote down his words yet He founded a religion. One hard question to answer is, what religion is. Is religion the way we think about God? If this is so, then Buddhism may not pass completely as a religion. Next, Is religion living an ethical life? I doubt that also since many ethical atheists or better still non-theists are religious in that they live healthy ethical lives. Is religion only an organized institution? Religion is more than all these. Etymologically, the word religion comes from the Latin religio, relegere (to re-read), relinquere (relinquish). Also religare (relegate, unite, to bind together)- generally then it connotes a sense of person bound to a supreme being(s), God or a deity or superior powers. An all- encompassing description must be one that sees religion as a human activity that satisfies one’s inherent spiritual needs and desires. At this point it is appropriate to take a tour and see the definitions of religion by some past scholars. Karl Marx A German Jew believed that religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the opium of the people. Sigmund Freud Religion arose from humanity’s infantile wish to defend itself from the forces and terrors of life Emile Durkheim This sociologist saw religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. This was after the model of religio –reverence for God or gods. The nearest term in Hebrew is halakha (walk, path) which suggests ‘law’ which guides religious practice. Friedrich Schleirmacher He defined religion as a feeling of absolute dependence. Edward B. Tylor Religion is the belief in spiritual beings William James Religion is the feeling, acts and experiencing of individual men and women in their solitude so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine. Joachim Wach Wach talked of three forms of religious expressions Theoretical Practical Sociological Theoretical Form It was the postulation of Joachim Wach that all religions teach something which implies that in some way each religion has a theoretical content which it teaches through myths, doctrines, and customs. Even atheists/non-theists still fears hell. One of our major concerns when we study a new religion is to ask what is teaches. Other aspects related to the theoretical expression of a religion include, but not restricted to; -Teachings on world creation -On human origin -Future and destiny of the world -How to live now (ethical codes) -Value orientation Practical Form Practical expression of religion deals with the manner of worshipping, paying reverence to the deity or deities the adherents believe in. This expression relates to what adherents do in worship. There is Mass for Catholics, or service for other Christian denominations, synagogue and temple gatherings for the Jews while the Muslims have salat five times a day. Each religion is known by what her adherents do viz their tradition. All religions have one form of ritual or the other. Sociological Form This deals with the relationships and expressions of different religions as well as their symbols. The Dome in Jerusalem for the Jews, Kaaba of Mecca or the Crescent above mosques and also the Cross as a sign of Christianity In defining religion from whatever perspective, one thing is very clear that every religion deals with beliefs, behaviors and teachings. It is a felt, practical relationship with a supernatural being or beings, it is the human being’s highest effort to know the nature of the ultimate being to recognize his activities and his will for humans. From the anthropologist and sociologist’s response to the existence of the human condition in which humans seek security, status and permanence by identifying themselves with a reality greater, more worthy and more enduring than himself. Religion is a search for the meaning of life amidst fears, doubts, uncertainties, insecurities, death, sufferings, pain, life and there hereafter. In the Christian sense religion simply means believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as the son of God and thereby procuring salvation and eternal life for whosoever believes in his name. The church history is more than a history of an institution or movement. It is the history of the deeds of the Holy spirit in and through men and women, though this history; even though this history may show all features of pure human history. There were and there still will be episodes in the course of church or Christian history where it will be very difficult to see the action of the Holy Spirit: the inquisitions, the crusades. There are three pillars of religion which are primal and we must take into account namely; Faith in a Supernatural Being Morality this points to a written or unwritten code of guides for actions Worship there is relationship of reverence to the Supernatural Being(s), power(s), God or gods We must remember that these three elements are not linked to a written word. A religion is not a religion because its tenets are written down but its tenets are written down because there is a religion in existence with a need to hand over or record its tenets and beliefs to future generations. WHAT IS A LIVING RELIGION? A living religion is one that is exists, is alive, is relevant and equally sensitive to present needs, aspirations and situations of adherents of the religion and open to understanding of non-adherents as well as dialogue with other faiths. Such a religion evolves with time. It changes aspects of itself that are changeable according to the needs of the times yet keeping its ESSENCE intact. To this end, though it essence is same; it is reinterpreted according to the needs of the times. Any belief system that changes and evolves to suit time, and environment is alive. A bad example of a living religion is a religion that has not altered since its birth; holding on to dogma without recourse to explaining it within contexts of new milieus and adapting it to situations –any religion that acts in such a manner may be doomed to irrelevance. In response to the above exposition about a living religion we must ask these questions: Should religion be all about orthodoxy and dogma alone? Has mankind known more peace, inner contentment and happiness after religious and technological advancement? Has religion become truly a way of life or it remains a form of rituals alone? A living religion emphasizes the personal consciousness of believers; it has sympathy for history and the traditions of indigenous people. Such a religion can be doctrinally rooted in the past yet emphasizing strongly personal consciousness and responsiveness of the adherents in succeeding epochs of history. The Supreme Being and his doctrines may not change but the presentations and explanation to successive generations is ever changing and ever new.