International Business Finance Essay Example for Free

International Business Finance Essay 1.Introduction This report is specific for JKX Oil Gas. She is a petroleum company focusing on exploration and production in countries of the ex Soviet Union and the Ukraine. Her management is considering weather following her competitor expansion into Far East and Oceania. In this report I am going to show analysis in two sections. The first section is analysis on motivation of cross border investment in using FDI and find out the reasons of home countries host countries encourage company to FDI. The second section is evaluating any key causes of a financial crisis and show how financial crisis affect the international trading. 2.Motivations of using FDI as cross border investment Basically FDI could be divide into three type of motivates they are market-seeking, resource-seeking, and efficiency-seeking (Malllampally and Sauvant 1999). Other than above there are a lot of academics theories, which could explain the motives behind the FDI by enterprises. In these theories I have chosen five theories that is common to be use for explain the motivations of FDI. First is international product life cycle theory (Vernon 1966), every product ought to go thought some stages from a new product to a mature product. In order to take efficient and cost advantages in different stage, production plant move towards foreign. This theory help explain the motive of manufacturing business efficiency-seeking and market-seeking in using FDI but fail to explain reason of using FDI instead of using others methods such as licensing. For example car producer such as Honda, their new car will be firstly starting design and produce in Japan during the new product stage, then shift to USA for listen to the market where have a huge demand and lastly the production will be shift to the East-Asia to produce in order to lower the production cost in the standard product stage. Second is transaction cost theory (Williamson 1993), it stated that when enterprises business is affected by market imperfection, which lead transaction cost increase. They will go international which benefit the efficiency and decrease the transaction cost. Be remind that this theory fail to explain reason of enterprises using FDI instead of using others methods and it is usually apply to manufacturing business efficiency-seeking which products are low in price, heavy, and easily to product in every where. For examples cement manufacturing industry as the raw-material is easy found in every where and easy to product also it is cheap in price and heavy so that firm will be product it locally instead of export it. Third is market imperfection approach, (Hymer 1970) assume that due to market imperfection FDI present. Theory stated that when any factors which lead failure of perfect market. Because of extra cost of cover the barriers, advantage present in foreign countries, and advantages in using FDI over licensing such as full control, unique knowledge, and skill cannot be transferred. Enterprises will do the FDI to achieve profit maximization on their business. This theory help explain the motive of efficiency-seeking in every business by using FDI when they facing market imperfection. Fourth is eclectic theory (Dunning 1993), theory stated that following factors found by enterprise FDI will be present. Firm will get advantage over particular location ownership, the advantage of have location ownership are not by selling or leasing, for the advantage a profit advantage must be gain. This theory help explain the motive of industries using FDI to take advantage of market-seeking and resource-seeking. Fifth is following competitors theory (Knickerbocker 1973), this theory stated that in oligopolies industries firm will follow her competitors to move towards foreign countries. Following competitors in order to reduce the chance monopoly in a new oversea market by her competitor. This theory help explain the motive of oligopolies industries go international for market-seeking But this theory fail to explain the reason of first mover and reason of using FDI to expand other than licensing. Eclectic theory, following competitors theory, and market imperfection approach which help explain why JKX chose to invest internationally with FDI. JKX is focusing on petroleum exploration and production of oil. It is just perfectly apply the eclectic theory because JKX is fully depending on use of local resources oil field. FDI is the only way to gain the resource by takeover the location ownership, and JKX uses the location resource to generate profit by production. Also maybe reason of addition cost on oil production JKX will decide move to other country because of the unique knowledge and skill cannot be transferred JKX need to use FDI to build new production plant. Also exploration and production oil industry in oligopolies. If JXK do not follow her competitors she will lost the potential oil field and her potential customer in new location. Moreover when JKX decides to invest internationally she needs to beware of the following such as economic risks, political risk, exchange rate risk, and cultural risks. 3. FDI impact on nation states Because of FDI bring a lot of advantages to nation states (host home), nation states attempt to encourage FDI to do so. 3.1Advantage of FDI to host country There are seven advantages of FDI to nation states, which explain why host countres attempt to encourage foreign to do FDI. First is resource transfer effects, FDI by foreign firm bring along with their capital, technology, and management skill to host country. Capital bring alone by FDI is an importance source of stable private external finance for every country especially to developing countries. For example JKX buy an oil field form the host country and invest on the oil drilling equipment and build production plant ,which is a long term investment, profit making though production ,and could not leave easily. Moreover the external finance give a big hand on the balance of payment and foreign exchange reserve which is importance element for the economic health. Technology and Management Skill are another resources bring alone with FDI, which enhance productivity and competitiveness of host country. Both of them are importance elements for success in global market when chance comes. Foreign firm provide training on knowledge and skills on how to produce and management skill to local employee in order to facility the production. These knowledge transfer direct benefits to local labors and enhance productivity and competitiveness of host country. For example in the 90’s computer parts MNCs build production plant in Taiwan by FDI, nowadays Taiwan is be came another computer parts manufacturing kingdom in Asia. Second is employment effect, FDI creating employment for host country. Foreign firms build up their manufacture plant in the host country which increases the employment directly by foreign own plant and relative industry, for example in Mexico FDI create every 1 job in the foreign production plant and create 7 job in the relative industry (Farrell 2004). Also the local trained employees may start their own business. But there will be opposite effect in market-seeking† FDI raise unemployment by forcing less competitive companies out of business as foreign firm will bring along with advance technology reduce employment need in same production, For example Wal-Mart’s entry into the Mexican food Market which decrease the margin of that industry push less competitive companies exit (Farrell 2004). But actually this effect is just base how government manage the FDI for example in the 90’s china government restrict of the sold inside market of foreign firm which protect the local employment would not be substitute. Third economic growth and local multiplier effect, high employment leads more consumption by the local country citizen. As a result encourage industries further develop to fulfill increasing consumer needs; lower prices, better quality, and more selection for consumers. It is because of further developed of the industries, which increase employment, and new products encourage consumer to do more purchase, the cycle will go on and on. Fourth credibility in international market because of demonstration of first mover success, build up a model for the followers others foreign firms will be more confident to FDI to the same country. As followers could learn the first-comer experience, enjoy the effort done by first comer in host country such as infrastructures, educated customers, trained labors, and research done. Also stop the first-mover to become monopoly. In additional the credibility may attract short-term investment others than FDI. For example India starting by the first mover to starting computer software relating industry, nowadays it became another silicon valley in. Fifth access to return markets (Malllampally and Sauvant 1999), as FDI by foreign firm increase accessing international marketing network. The network benefit to transnational systems related industry, domestic firm to getting spillovers foreign business, and wider economic of host counties, by greater the links between foreign and domestic. This also helps spread the enhanced productivity and competitiveness of host countries. Sixth tax revenue from profit (Razin 2002), profit generated by FDI contribute to tax revenues to the host country in general. But some countries may cancel out direct taxes for the MNCs to attract for investment, tax revenues will still be benefit as more consumption in local {Sales Tax} and better income of citizen {Income Tax} Seventh reinvestment within local economy, the credibility of host country established the foreign firm may reinvestment into same country by using the profit earns in there. Moreover host counties encourage foreign firms to do so as foreign firm bring the profit back to their home country may deplete the foreign reserve and the profit earned put back to host country will bring along with new benefit to host country. In additional FDI force host country improve their economic health such as policy system, industry, and better the living standard of the host country by better income, lowing price, improve quality and more selection for customer. 3.2Disadvantage of FDI to host country There are also some bad points together with FDI incoming such as, Adverse effects on local competition due to spending power and brand of MNC, MNCs become an impact on government decision due to the economic power of MNCs, Over exploitation of country mineral wealth etc†¦ 3.3Advantage Disadvantage of FDI to home country Looking on the surface impact of FDI to home country surely will be lot disadvantages follow by such as negative impact balance of payment and increase unemployment. But why home country will encourage company to do FDI aboard , FDI will benefit the country in such ways, company go aboard may increase the export due to new development demand, MNCs will bring the FDI profit back to home country that benefit the balance of payment, jobs will be create as additional need of support activity represent by FDI aboard. FDI increase the long-term competiiveness by learn from others countries. Home country could benefit from the FDI of the sunset industries to free labor force form the costly and low-value industry. FDI good to host country and long-run good to home country FDI need management and benefit to both MNCs and host government For FDI to be successful it require win-win situation benefit both MNC and Host country, but require a good control in order to manage FDI well. If the management of FDI is done badly which may result in harmful to whole host country’s economic system. On the other hand FDI going aboard not only bring alone with disadvantage to host country in the long-run which may also give a huge benefit to the home country. The following paragraph will be shown both advantages and disadvantages of FDI to nation states 4.Root causes of financial crisis  There are many underlying reason which form a financial crises such as excess capital inflow, speculation activities, poor financial infrastructure, monetary policy etc.. all these factors encourage financial crises breakout. The following is a simple flow of twin crises (Kaminsky and Reinhart 1999). Starting form establishes of credibility of a country, foreign investors will start to invest into the country because expectation of return high. When the capital going into the local economic, that increase the economic health, local money supply, economic activity, foreign reserves, and government budget. All these factors increase country credibility and once again increase the attractiveness of capital inflow. The continuous increasing expectation of return will form rational bubble (Blanchard 1979) investors and speculators will holding an overvalued currency but would not sell it yet, they believe there will be a further appreciation on the local currency. Because of more and more capital inflow, banks in the country will facing difficult in generating profit as they have too much cash on hand, the banks will decrease the liquidity ratio lend more money out of the banks which result in increase risky loan, overinvestment, over-consumption, and asset price bubble. Banking crisis will more like to happen when bubble bursts and increasing bad loan. When the Banking Crisis outbreak which decline economic activity, costly fiscal bailout, decline the country credibility and lead capital flight. (Aghevli 1999) Capital outflow, costly fiscal bailout, decline economic activity, and speculation activities fasten decline the foreign reserves that result currency crisis.

The Forever Changing Economy :: essays research papers

The Forever Changing Economy How easy is it for smaller business men to achieve the Aamerican dream. How to stop corporate domination. The question I pose to you is " Is the American Dream still achievable?" The opportunity is there but for what select few is the opportunity available to. If the resources are out there but I can't tap into the resources they rae of no use to me. (Make note of the fact that we live in a market economy. Just about every definition of the "market" in the dictionary connotes an oppurtunity as a place where goods are bought and sold.(cite dict.) As an abstraction, a market is the possibility of sale. Goods "find a market", and we say there is is a market for a service or commodity when there is a demand for it, which means it can and will be sold. Markets are opened to those who want to sell and a convenience for those looking to purchase.(cite 2) The market represents "conditions as regards, opportunity for, buying and selling".(cite 2) The market implies offering and choice. The way a market economy works is that there are market pressures that develop for different commodities. The pressures work in one direction for a while, but at the same time pressures are budding that work in the opposite direction. As people look forward and see there's going to be some profit made from their production, they'll make decisions to increase volume, usually hiring more people, buying more materials, often bidding up their prices. When people are competing in the same market, that tends to generate more and more pressure in the direction of expansion. But at the same time, as costs and possibly interest rates rise, pressures begin to operate in the other direction, against profits.(cite 1) The public as a whole must get their fair share of the benefits. Macroeconomic reforms should translate into a more efficient delivery of public services, equity, social welfare and social security.(cite 3) The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released its findings on American living standards. The report, issued every other year on a decline that begsn in the late-1970's. The EPI's report also contends that the Americans are working more for less money because of slow growth in wages since 1989. According to the report, wages in the bottom 80% of men have declined since 1989. The report also contends that 20% of women have experienced a decline in trsl esgrd dincr the 1980's, a period in which wages fell but family income increased because of longer hours at work and increased participation of The Forever Changing Economy :: essays research papers The Forever Changing Economy How easy is it for smaller business men to achieve the Aamerican dream. How to stop corporate domination. The question I pose to you is " Is the American Dream still achievable?" The opportunity is there but for what select few is the opportunity available to. If the resources are out there but I can't tap into the resources they rae of no use to me. (Make note of the fact that we live in a market economy. Just about every definition of the "market" in the dictionary connotes an oppurtunity as a place where goods are bought and sold.(cite dict.) As an abstraction, a market is the possibility of sale. Goods "find a market", and we say there is is a market for a service or commodity when there is a demand for it, which means it can and will be sold. Markets are opened to those who want to sell and a convenience for those looking to purchase.(cite 2) The market represents "conditions as regards, opportunity for, buying and selling".(cite 2) The market implies offering and choice. The way a market economy works is that there are market pressures that develop for different commodities. The pressures work in one direction for a while, but at the same time pressures are budding that work in the opposite direction. As people look forward and see there's going to be some profit made from their production, they'll make decisions to increase volume, usually hiring more people, buying more materials, often bidding up their prices. When people are competing in the same market, that tends to generate more and more pressure in the direction of expansion. But at the same time, as costs and possibly interest rates rise, pressures begin to operate in the other direction, against profits.(cite 1) The public as a whole must get their fair share of the benefits. Macroeconomic reforms should translate into a more efficient delivery of public services, equity, social welfare and social security.(cite 3) The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released its findings on American living standards. The report, issued every other year on a decline that begsn in the late-1970's. The EPI's report also contends that the Americans are working more for less money because of slow growth in wages since 1989. According to the report, wages in the bottom 80% of men have declined since 1989. The report also contends that 20% of women have experienced a decline in trsl esgrd dincr the 1980's, a period in which wages fell but family income increased because of longer hours at work and increased participation of

Representation in “To kill a mockingbird” Essay

Mockingbird: The mockingbird represents innocence. Like hunters who kill mockingbirds for sport, people kill innocence, or other people who are innocent, without thinking about what they are doing. Atticus stands firm in his defense of innocence and urges his children not to shoot mockingbirds both literally and figuratively. The mockingbird motif arises four times during To Kill a Mockingbird. First, when Atticus gives Jem and Scout air guns for Christmas and instructs them not to kill mockingbirds. Second, when B.B. Underwood writes about Tom Robinson’s death in his column. Third, a mockingbird sings right before Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Finally, Scout agrees with Atticus that prosecuting Boo for Ewell’s murder would be like killing a mockingbird. Atticus: Father of Jem and Scout, Atticus Finch sits on the Alabama State Legislature and acts as Maycomb’s leading attorney. The epitome of moral character, Atticus teaches his children and his community how to stand up for one’s beliefs in the face of prejudice and ignorance by defending a black man, Tom Robinson, wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. Having lost his wife when Scout was two years old, Atticus devotes himself to his children despite criticism from family and neighbors who think his children lack discipline and proper guidance. Atticus stands as one of literature’s strongest and most positive father figures. As one of the most prominent citizens in Maycomb during the Great Depression, Atticus is relatively well off in a time of widespread poverty. Because of his penetrating intelligence, calm wisdom, and exemplary behavior, Atticus is respected by everyone, including the very poor. He functions as the moral backbone of Maycomb, a person to whom others turn in times of doubt and trouble. But the conscience that makes him so admirable ultimately causes his falling out with the people of Maycomb. Unable to abide the town’s comfortable ingrained racial prejudice, he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man. Atticus’s action makes him the object of scorn in Maycomb, but he is simply too impressive a figure to be scorned for long. After the trial, he seems destined to be held in the same high regard as before. Atticus practices the ethic of sympathy and understanding that he preaches to Scout and Jem and never holds a grudge against the people of Maycomb. Despite their callous indifference to racial inequality, Atticus sees much to admire in them. He  recognizes that people have both good and bad qualities, and he is determined to admire the good while understanding and forgiving the bad. Atticus passes this great moral lesson on to Scout—this perspective protects the innocent from being destroyed by contact with evil. Ironically, though Atticus is a heroic figure in the novel and a respected man in Maycomb, neither Jem nor Scout consciously idolizes him at the beginning of the novel. Both are embarrassed that he is older than other fathers and that he doesn’t hunt or fish. But Atticus’s wise parenting, which he sums up in Chapter 30 by saying, â€Å"Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him,† ultimately wins their respect. By the end of the novel, Jem, in particular, is fiercely devoted to Atticus (Scout, still a little girl, loves him uncritically). Though his children’s attitude toward him evolves, Atticus is characte rized throughout the book by his absolute consistency. He stands rigidly committed to justice and thoughtfully willing to view matters from the perspectives of others. He does not develop in the novel but retains these qualities in equal measure, making him the novel’s moral guide and voice of conscience. atticus’s wisdom, Scout learns that though humanity has a great capacity for evil, it also has a great capacity for good, and that the evil can often be mitigated if one approaches others with an outlook of sympathy and understanding. Atticus Finch – Scout and Jem’s father, a lawyer in Maycomb descended from an old local family. A widower with a dry sense of humor, Atticus has instilled in his children his strong sense of morality and justice. He is one of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality. When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. With his strongly held convictions, wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novel’s moral backbone. The father of Scout and Jem, Atticus is a lawyer and an extremely morally upright man who strives to deal with everyone fairly. Atticus is sometimes overly optimistic, but his unshakable hope in mankind and self-created role as the town ‘do-gooder’ sustain him. Atticus’ wife died when Scout was very small, and he has raised his children only with the assistance of Calpurnia, his black housekeeper and cook. Quotation: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he’d rather I’d shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted – if I could hit ’em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncrib, they don’t do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us. Atticus’s advice to Scout deals with his philosophy about tolerance, and how if you try and put yourself in another person’s place, one might better understand their reasoning. The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the â€Å"mockingbird† comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirds—innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. This connection between the novel’s title and its main theme is made explicit several times in the novel: after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to â€Å"the senseless slaughter of songbirds,† and at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like â€Å"shootin’ a mockingbird.† Most important, Miss Maudie explains to Scout: â€Å"Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.† That Jem and Scout’s last name is Finch (another type of small bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly. His stern but fair attitude toward Jem and Scout reaches into the courtroom as well. He politely proves that Bob Ewell is a liar; he respectfully questions Mayella about her role in Tom’s crisis. One of the things that his longtime friend Miss Maudie admires about him is that â€Å"‘Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.'† The only time he seriously lectures his children is on the evils of taking advantage of those less fortunate or less educated, a  philosophy he carries into the animal world by his refusal to hunt. And although most of the town readily pins the label â€Å"trash† on other people, Atticus reserves that distinction for those people who unfairly exploit others. Atticus believes in justice and the justice system. He doesn’t like criminal law, yet he accepts the appointment to Tom Robinson’s case. He knows before he begins that he’s going to lose this case, but that doesn’t stop him from giving Tom the strongest defense he possibly can. And, importantly, Atticus doesn’t put so much effort into Tom’s case because he’s an African American, but because he is innocent. Atticus feels that the justice system should be color blind, and he defends Tom as an innocent man, not a man of color. Our first-person narrator is Scout Finch, who is five when the story begins and eight when it ends. From the first chapter, though, it’s clear that Scout is remembering and narrating these events much later – after all, the second paragraph of the novel begins, â€Å"When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to [Jem’s] accidentâ⠂¬  (1.2). For the most part, Scout recounts the events from her childhood perspective, as she understood them at the time, rather than imposing an adult commentary. This makes the narrative perspective a naà ¯ve one: often we get descriptions of events just as she experiences them, without commentary on what they mean, or a commentary that is humorously innocent. But having the adult perspective be there in the background, even if it isn’t in play for most of the narration, means it can pop out when it’s needed to point out important things that the narrator realizes only later, to make sure that the reader sees them too. The strongest element of style is Lee’s talent for narration, called â€Å"tactile brilliance†. â€Å"Harper Lee has a remarkable gift of story-telling. Her art is visual, and with cinematographic fluidity and subtlety we see a scene melting into another scene without jolts of transition. Lee combines the narrator’s voice of a child observing her surroundings with a grown woman’s reflecting on her childhood, using the ambiguity of this voice combined with  the narrative technique of flashback to play intricately with perspectives. This narrative method allows Lee to tell a â€Å"delightfully deceptive† story that mixes the simplicity of childhood observation with adult situations complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition. However, at times the blending causes reviewers to question Scout’s preternatural vocabulary and depth of understanding. Lee uses parody, satire, and irony effectively by using a child’s perspective. After Dill promises to marry her, then spends too much time with Jem, Scout reasons the best way to get him to pay attention to her is to beat him up, which she does several times. Scout’s first day in school is a satirical treatment of education; her teacher says she must undo the damage Atticus has wrought in teaching her to read and write, and forbids Atticus from teaching her further. Lee treats the most unfunny situations with irony, however, as Jem and Scout try to understand how Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent society. Satire and irony are used to such an extent. Scout narrates the story herself, looking back in retrospect an unspecified number of years after the events of the novel take place. POINT OF VIEW  · Scout narrates in the first person, telling what she saw and heard at the time and augmenting this narration with thoughts and assessments of her experiences in retrospect. Although she is by no means an omniscient narrator, she has matured considerably over the intervening years and often implicitly and humorously comments on the naà ¯vetà © she displayed in her thoughts and actions as a young girl. Scout mostly tells of her own thoughts but also devotes considerable time to recounting and analyzing Jem’s thoughts and actions. TONE  · Childlike, humorous, nostalgic, innocent; as the novel progresses, increasingly dark, foreboding, and critical of society MAJOR CONFLICT  · The childhood innocence with which Scout and Jem begin the novel is threatened by numerous incidents that expose the evil side of human nature, most notably the guilty verdict in Tom Robinson’s trial and the vengefulness of Bob Ewell. As the novel progresses, Scout and Jem struggle to maintain faith in the human capacity for good in light of these recurring instances of human evil. RISING ACTION  · Scout, Jem, and Dill become fascinated with their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley and have an escalating series of encounters with him. Meanwhile, Atticus is assigned to defend a black man, Tom Robinson against the spurious rape charges Bob Ewell has brought against him. Watching the trial, Scout, and especially Jem, cannot understand how a jury could possibly convict Tom Robinson based on the Ewells’ clearly fabricated story. CLIMAX  · Despite Atticus’s capable and impassioned defense, the jury finds Tom Robinson guilty. The verdict forces Scout and Jem to confront the fact that the morals Atticus has taught them cannot always be reconciled with the reality of the world and the evils of human nature. FALLING ACTION  · When word spreads that Tom Robinson has been shot while trying to escape from prison, Jem struggles to come to terms with the injustice of the trial and of Tom Robinson’s fate. After making a variety of threats against Atticus and others connected with the trial, Bob Ewell assaults Scout and Jem as they walk home one night, but Boo Radley saves the children and fatally stabs Ewell. The sheriff, knowing that Boo, like Tom Robinson, would be misunderstood and likely convicted in a trial, protects Boo by saying that Ewell tripped and fell on his own knife. After sitting and talking with Scout briefly, Boo retreats into his house, and Scout never sees him again.

Essay on How Religious Young People Are

Essay on How Religious Young People Are How Religious Are Young People? In many cultures religion is considered to be a part of tradition, and as such it is seen as an integral part of social life. However, younger people are not likely to be tied to tradition, and are more prone to expose themselves to diverse cultural influences. Youth considers religion to be a practice of the elderly. This is due to the fact that people are seen to embrace religion as they age and get closer to death, thus seeking the scenario of an afterlife for comfort. Young people are introduced to religion by their parents, but many of them decide to abandon their faith later in life. Studies conducted on Protestants aged between 18 and 30 showed that seventy percent of them stopped going to church by the age of 23, despite having attended it regularly in high school (Wilson, 2009). Studies carried out on young people and their attitude towards religion help understand its place in modern society and its future. It is the young generation that is at the forefront of social and cultural change. Their engagement in religion provides information on its innovation, transformation and adaptation in relation to wider cultural and social trends, as well as the future of faith and how resilient practices and beliefs are (Wilson, 2009). Further studies conducted on people under 30 showed that both Christians and non-Christians are now more critical of Christianity, than their peers were ten years ago. The study conducted by Bama Group showed that opinion of non-Christians about adherents of this religion was also more favorable than it is now. A research conducted on senior pastors indicated that they were having difficulties in church, as Christianity was facing a lot of negativity and hostility. The common perceptions expressed by young people regarding present-day Christianity included seeing it as too involved in politics, old-fashioned, hypocritical, and judgmental. The interviewed people were not ignorant, as they had been either attending church themselves before stopping to do so, or had at least five friends who were Christians (Grossman, 2007). The contempt for faith was seen to come from a position of familiarity with it, through personal interactions and true stories from other people that provided non-Christian experiences. One of the reasons that young people specified in a survey conducted to find out why they disdain Christianity was the excessive unloving attitude and disdain that Christians showed towards lesbian and gay people. They said that church regarded homosexuality as a bigger sin than others, and failed to provide biblical teachings that would help them relate to or have friendships with such people (Robinson, 2007). Both young Christians and non-Christians are frustrated at the level by which modern Christianity has shifted from its earlier teachings. This opinion was discovered to be shared by the majority of the population, implying that the common trend whereby more people became religious as they aged would be a thing of the past as well. Christianity is the most common faith in the United States, though there is a possibility that the situation will change with more people becoming secular in a few years to come. Many high school and college students get involved in community service and volunteerism. Their participation in such activities is seen as a way to define themselves and their identity as Christians. Religion is often presented as compulsory by parents, denying young people the experience of spiritual and personal understanding, but in doing so they only provoke rebellion and make youngsters disdain religion even more (Grossman, 2007). Some young people are able to maintain their tolerance, and are, therefore, able to grow in both spirituality and religion, irrespective of their denomination. It is, however, possible that some young people are beginning to understand religion in ways that they did not before, and are, consequently, strengthening their religious beliefs and faith.