Now that my work load has lightened and free time has become more abundant, I've been able to sit down and start watching cartoons again. Childish, yes, but that's not to say it's not a good form of entertainment. Though, it has made me a bit nostalgic.

I remember watching cartoons when I was a kid. Back then, I wasn't concerned with ethics being taught, and I definitely wasn't paying attention to the hidden morals and themes throughout episodes. Now, however, I'm noticing certain themes coming out in jokes made during episodes of cartoons like Spongebob, Hey Arnold, and Invader Zim. One of them, was religion.

I noticed that more and more cartoons are addressing the issue of religion and its values. Spongebob, for example, has an episode called "The Magic Conch Shell" where Spongebob and Patrick come across a fortune telling conch shell toy, and begin to both worship it, and follow its words as law. Spongebob is notorious for having subliminal adult content, but this was blatantly overt. I took this as an obvious mockery of religion, those following an "all knowing voice." Despite the fact that the episode is sped up, you still get the point. I couldn't find an original clip of the video.


Throughout the video, allusions to organized/cult like religions are made. In the beginning, Spongebob and Patrick make a club and don't allow Squidward to come in because they don't think he'd understand. They then get lost, and show Squidward "the magic conch shell." The shell itself represents a diety or religious icon in which they abide by. Like all religious icons, there is oposition to it and its teachings. Squidward denounces their belief that the conch knows all and will lead them to freedom from the kelp forest, but the other two insist. Through a series of fabricated events, the conch is made to seem as if it's truly magical, and eventually Squidward believes too.

Although it's done ina ridiculous manner, the message can be taken one of two ways. The first and more cynical view is that religious belief is fabricated, and any miracles that occur are chance. On the other hand though, it could be seen that infact religion and the miracles that follow it are actually a series of circumstance and chance. The question is what are our kids getting out of it? Is it inadvertently turning the younger generations against certain beliefs and values that our country and many others were founded on, or is it just all in the name of entertainment?

Religion in America

I came across this article on ccn.com just yesterday. I thought it was an interesting read because it talked a lot about what we talked about in class. The article mostly talks about how religion has changed a lot in America. According to the article, more than half of American adults have changed their religion. The article also touch on the fact that religion has shifted. As we found in our class alone not to many of us do not go to Sunday church. Also, in the article I found it interesting that one of the reasons people may have drifted away from church is because of the Catholic Church sex scandals, which connected to the movie that we watched "Doubt". When one of the Sisters believed that the Priest was being inappropriate around the students.

Doubt

After watching the movie Doubt in class today, I began thinking about the whole Catholic Church molestation scandals. A certain line in the movie struck me as being funny on the surface, but when I started to think about it it worried me a bit. Father Flynn was talking to the boys about girls and how to handle themselves around them. When a boy asks him what if every girl he asks to dance turns him down, Father Flynn replies "then you become a priest." This may make the boys laugh at the time but maybe Father Flynn really didn't mean it as a joke. Maybe these men are turning to religion because they can't find women to marry and, being human, they feel the need for companionship and they will take it any way they can find it. And even if the clergyman finds a woman that he could potentially date and marry, the church does not allow it. The molestation scandals could potentially be avoided if these clergymen were allowed to date and get married. Maybe the church could amend their rules to accommodate this new trend of lonely priests.

Wanting More

As the semester comes to an end, I have been thinking a lot about American life and how religion fits in. I feel like we as a nation, are missing out on something because of our lack of faith. This brings me to think about the Amish people with their simplistic lifestyle. Our world is so full of commodities that we don’t need and these commodities have taken us away from something important. Religion is something that is very different in today’s society. These commodities have taken us away from what truly is important. Some would probably argue about this. My response would be; What do you get out of your video games? There is no true meaning in video games. We constantly overlook the best part of life. Spending time with family and friends and enjoying nature as it is. I think the Amish have all this. Yes, their life is very hard but I argue that they truly live life to its fullest. They appreciate every day and are experiencing life as many of us won’t. I want what they have, a life with peace and a true understanding of their faith. I feel very strongly that the faith of the Amish and people from the beginning of our country, had faith like we never will. I guess this is due to the lack of knowledge about evolution and commodities but I want that. I want to not have this faith that isn’t questioned but truly believed because I feel they have peace in their lives do to this. It’s just something I have been thinking about for years and really feel I have missed out on something. I want the world to go back to these days but realize this will never happen. The Amish interest me with their simplicity and community based society. I constantly wonder what it would be like to live in their society. Would I feel more at ease? Would it really provide me with all that I’d hoped it would? I have this urge to know this and yet I probably never will.

So I know that I probably won’t become Amish even though that thought is very tempting. I have realized I need to make changes in my life so that I don’t feel I am missing out. William Deresiewicz wrote an article “The End of Solitude”. He talks about how our society has turned away from solitude but specifically refers to our generation. “I once asked my students about the place of solitude in their lives. One of them admitted that she finds the prospect of being alone so unsettling that she’ll sit with a friend even when she has a paper to write” (1). This is a very startling thought to me because it describes me in some ways. Ever since I have been in college I have this fear of being alone. I don’t like it at all. I contribute this fear to when my parents had to leave me at college and I stood there knowing no one. That was the scariest thing I have ever done. Never have a felt more alone in my life. Ever since then, I make sure I am not alone for long periods of time. Yet, when I’m home, I seek out alone time. I can’t wait to spend time by myself just thinking but often to read and let my mind wonder.
Deresiewicz also talks about the use of cell phones and facebook. I honestly don’t have facebook because it would take up too much of my time and I don’t want that. I do agree that I would meet a lot more people if I did have facebook but I don’t feel I’m missing out. The idea of being on the computer that long is truly frightening to me. I also am not a fan of texting. It is not personal enough to me and I feel like I’m talking to a robot. I admit my phone is constantly on me and I should try not being with it but I am not constantly using my phone either.
To wrap these two ideas together, I think the reason I want to be Amish is because of the lack of solitude in my life. If I were to have more time to myself to enjoy my surroundings and get to know myself more I would find the peace I am longing for. Does anyone feel they need more solitude in their life or is it just me?

Educational Philosophy

We have spent a great deal of time in school up to this point. Most of us in this class have spent at least sixteen years in school to reach the point that we have today but what is the point of education? Is it to make us better more enlightened individuals? Maybe it is to train us for our future careers? What about to make us good consumers to stimulate the economy?

Depending upon what one views the purpose of education to be the methodology taken for that education can vary greatly. If education is to make us mindless consumers then maybe the best method is a rigid curriculum with frequent standardized assessments. Or maybe this is how we should be educating people to prepare them for the workforce. On the other hand, to be successful in a career people need to be independent thinkers with good leadership skills so maybe a loosely structured curriculum with both teacher and student driven aspects is best.

The Core at Champlain College is an experiment in educational philosophy. The idea that by mixing disciplines such as history, economics, philosophy, psychology, science, literature, arts, and aesthetics students can gain a better understanding of each by being able to analyze them from the perspectives of various disciplines. But yet for some reason many Champlain students in Core consider it to be stupid and a waste of time. The argument against Core that makes me the angriest is “This has nothing to do with my major so why should I have to waste my time learning it”. Champlain College is a four year liberal arts college. It seeks to give its students a liberal arts education which includes a cross section of many disciplines to ensure students are well rounded and prepared for the real world. If you are among those who do not want this then leave. There are many great two year technical schools that focus on teaching a skill or profession without the general education component.

In the Western World Philosophy, Immanuel Kant describes enlightenment as “man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage” and nonage as “the ability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance” (149). If the purpose of Education is to create enlightened individuals, which I believe it should be, then the Core’s goal of teaching us how to think is certainly pointed in the right direction. The problems associated with Core and any of its shortcomings are as much the fault of its students as its professors and administrators. Kant points out that laziness and cowardice are the primary reasons why “such a large part of mankind gladly remain minors all their lives, long after nature has freed them from external guidance” (149). If Core, or even education in general, is to succeed at created enlightened individuals then students need to break free from laziness.

Is our faith blind?

As Stephen Prothero states in the article “Blind Faith” that Americans are some of the most religious people in the world, but that they are also the least knowledgeable about their religion. He states that


“Americans are also the most religiously ignorant people in the Western world. Fewer than half of us can identify Genesis as the first book of the Bible, and only one third know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. These are just two of the depressing statistics in Stephen Prothero's provocative and timely Religious Literacy. The author of American Jesus (2003) and the chair of the religion department at Boston University, Prothero sees America's religious illiteracy as even more dangerous than general cultural illiteracy ‘because religion is the most volatile constituent of culture, because religion has been, in addition to one of the greatest forces for good in world history, one of the greatest forces for evil’” (1).


Recently, The Daily Show did a stint where one of the reporters interviewed several people about the Rapture. Many of them believed heavily that followers of Christianity would be saved from the eventual end of days while those that did not follow Christianity would not. One interviewee was Scott Butcher, the creator of Raptureletters.com, a site that would email anyone that was left behind after the Rapture and would explain what had happened. He could not even answer a simple question when asked about a specific detail about the prophecies regarding the Rapture. The video is shown below.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Heaven Can't Wait
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Miss California

One of the Miss USA contestants, Miss California's Carrie Prejean, said that she believed that marriage was meant to be between a man and a woman. Here's a clip of her from the pageant.

She later claimed that "Out of all the topics I studied up on, I dreaded that one, I prayed I would not be asked about gay mariage. If I had any other question, I know I would have won." Well, how fortunately for her that she yes indeed received a question on the topic of gay marriage AND in fact was asked the question by celebrity-(ish) Perez Hilton who is homosexual.

This issue already has a lot of attention in recent politics and she did acknowledge that it could have been a potential topic to be asked upon. Should have studied harder, tsk tsk.

Her answer caused her to be faced with a lot of negative attention-- Perez Hilton blogged about her on his site calling her a 'dumb bitch' and went on with how her having 'half a brain' and even said he would've stormed up onto the stage and ripped her tiara off if she had won.

It amazes me that in 2009 we still manage to live in such a closed-minded society. This is exactly one of the things that's wrong with the world today. Yeah, I do believe that Miss California had every right to express HER opinion on gay marriage that "Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage." She later told Fox News that "By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I'm glad I stayed true to myself." But when did we become such a religiously strict Christian society? (I'm not exactly sure what faith Prejean believes in.) In McDannell's Material Christianity, she states that Christians believe that "sexuality is God-given, homosexuality cannot be 'natural' " (pg. 217).

Still, I think that Miss California did not answer her question the way that a beauty queen should have. She wasn't asked what she thinks of same-sex marriage, she was asked if she believes that states should pass laws regarding same-sex marriage. And THAT is a completely different question than how she answered it. She was competing to be a representative of her state and country so she should have known that. Again, she definitely should have given more thought and much more carefully worded answer that didn't address whether or not she thinks same-sex marriage is wrong.

It's almost like we are going backwards; we fought so hard over the past years for our rights and beliefs, and now there are still people being told that they cannot marry because of their homosexuality. It's pretty silly that only FOUR out of fifty states make same-sex marriages legal. The other forty-six needs to realize that when religious and sacred meaning is taken away from the equation that homosexuality isn't a negative impact on our society.

Source

spring meltdown

This Friday was last day of classes; every single student in Champlain College was very happy person. At the same time, many of the students were not happy mainly because many of them had many other projects to finish. While many of the students were having great time at spring meltdown, many were in the library working on their papers. But that is live, you can’t always have fun, sometimes you need to do something that is more important. Besides homework and spring meltdown fun activities I saw something interesting this Friday, which is the Red Cross on the back of the free shirts that they were giving away.

What was the meaning of the red cross? What was the meaning “Of Duty” on the t-shirt? Did everyone on campus know the meaning of these words and the sign? To me, when students were coming up with these words and the red cross, they assumed everyone knew the meaning of these words and the red cross. To me, the words and red cross sign can be viewed in many different way, if someone had just shown up to this campus on Friday, this people would have interpret this signs differently. In the book Material Christianity, there are lots of symbolic symbols used. So if you had to ask someone why the red cross was used, I feel like no one would give you the right answer. It could have been used to represent lifeguards or it could have been used to represent international organization that cares for the sick, the wounded or homeless. It could have represented many other things. In the book of Material Christianity, “Christians use religious goods to tell themselves and the world around them that they are Christians”. The point that I’m trying to make here is Champlain College students did not do very good job on what they were trying to saying by using red cross sign and with the word “of duty”. I do not know what the school was trying to say; besides that school was over.

I think the school should have used something else where the t-shirt would have more meaning. This t-shirt that was giving out was complicated shirt to understand. Like in this video, people that wearing t-shirt says, “Give peace a hand” were being friendly to people in the streets. The t-shirt said it all; they were there to give you a handshake. It was easy to tell the meaning of the t-shirt, it’s not like the t-shirts that we got this Friday.

Twitter- Everyone is doing it.

It is finally the end of the year, and I found myself learning a lot in the Secular and the Sacred. I learned more about religion. I learned about stereotypes and how it can affect people. I even learned about how our generation is when it comes to technology. As a lot of our blog posts have been about texting and how are generation is dependent on being around people. I found an interesting article on cnn.com called "CNN 'twitterer' completes London Marathon." I found this article interesting because it was about a CNN journalist who decided to twitter about his London Marathon experience. Peter Wilkinson the CNN journalist, basically ran in the London Marathon which is just over 26 miles and while running he was texting to his twitter to update people about his event. While reading this article it made me wonder what this world really has come to, I use to run in high school and I cannot even imagine running and texting at the same time. The fact that he still ran the marathon in about three hours and 30 minutes still amazes me. I have recently learned about Twitter and what it is. What I have learned is that it is a way for people to "tweet" about what they are thinking or doing. It is a new form of Facebook and Myspace but a little more simpler and with less features. When reading the article and just learning about Twitter, it brings me back to one of our course readings, "The End of Solitude" by William Deresiezwick. In his article he explains how our generation has a really hard time being alone. He mentioned how some students have to have someone talking to them while they are trying to do homework. He also mentioned how we are scared to be alone, and how we rely on technology. In the article it shows that its not just our generation who is relying on technology. I find that a lot of the older generations are starting up Facebook pages, and are starting their own Twitter accounts. I am even finding that instead of a parent calling their children they text.

Twitter Fever! Dir. E! Perf. Joel McHale. Youtube. 23 Apr. 2009. .

In the video above it shows how a lot of celebrities are becoming a part of the Twitter community. When you look at the different celebrities talking about Twitter they are a part of the older generations. Also, it is a video to show how everyone seems to be a part of Twitter, and a lot of them are telling people to look at their Twitter page to get updates. It is basically a reach to the fans. But just as our generation alone it seems like another way to stay up to date with our friends, and to meet new people.

Click here for another video about Twitter.

Watchmen

As I get older, I continue my quest to what I truly believe in. I feel myself extremely critical of religion, but believing in something above me. When I watched Bill Maher’s film Religulous, I was a huge fan because I appreciated how he questioned the religious extremists. How does Bill Maher or these religious extremists know that either is correct? Once studying religion in the Secular and the Sacred it is hard to segregate myself from parts of society that mention religion. Every object or person I see or hear that refers to religion, I relate it to this class. In the light of this realization, a couple weeks ago I saw the film Watchmen, which made many connections to components and themes within the Secular and the Sacred. This film not only recreated a comic book, but made many comments on American culture as well.
When viewing Watchmen, there were many comments about American society and how it functions. Watchmen made points about how advanced humans were becoming. In these advancements, people were ruining the human race. These advancements were making humans empty and detached from reality. This detachment reminded me of "The End Of Solitude" where the idea of people longer being alone and constantly engulfed in technology is presented. Similar to this concept, the humans in Watchmen need more than this technology, they need people to look over them when the world is not working out. The only thing to make the human race better was a group of super heroes who were nearly non-human. When this group of super heroes could not do anymore to save humans, they were looked at as deranged and evil.
From seeing Watchmen, I wonder is if this is what the film and comic book were predicting for the human race. Since the beginning of time, many humans have looked up to a higher being to be the savior. When things in life go wrong, they turn to this savior to eventually fix what has gone wrong in their lives. What if this is what ends religion? What if people forget about religion because the world may get to a point of no hope that even God looks evil or non-existent?
A point in Watchmen that stuck with me was when Dr. Manhattan spoke to his girlfriend, Laurie Jupiter in outer space of how the universe moves along with no regard for the human race. He claims that it gets along just fine whether one person dies or makes a difference on Earth. Although Watchmen is just a movie, it was a scary concept to grasp and probably a frightening one for many people. What if this is the truth? Without the organization of religion, would humans be disorganized and in absolute mayhem? Would human life just lose its value?

Here it comes the final exams

Well, it’s finally week fifteen and now is the time when every student is stressing over papers and studying for their final exams. After the semester of work, the student can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and then, bam, the whole world comes crashing down on you. You have so many exams that you need to study for, and are you going to be ready for all of your exams at the end of the day?

After already being tested on all the materials in a course throughout the semester, you are now asked to recall fifteen weeks of material on dates, numbers and definitions. Is this fair? For students, this is not fair, but for the professors, it seems like this is not a problem. We, the students want to argue with the professors about the type of exam that he or she is planning to give, but we know we are going to lose the argument. The only thing we are going to hear from the professors is “life isn’t fair” lecture. Let’s face it. With the finals right around the corner, we don’t have time to argue. Time is a very valuable commodity at this time of the semester.

For many students, the time before finals is a very stressful time. Before finals, it is usually where emotions are very high with desperate acts: study, cry, study, pray, study, cry, pray. And if you were like me: study, cry, curse, study, cry, curse. No matter which merry-go-around wagon you jump on, the end result is going to be the same: an upset stomach and nearly not prepared enough to take the final exam.

Majority of the student at this time of the year are writing papers and studying for their final exams. It’s not just this year; this happens every year. And this keeps continuing every year and for generations. This is the time when student know they have to study extremely hard in order to pass the class. Can anyone be prepared to take comprehensive final? Instead of taking this long exam, would you rather give up one of your limbs then take the exam? Or do you need Stewie to help you to study for your final exam? Click to see the video.

Piece and Quiet...Whats That?

In class we discussed how each of us as a different opinion about solitude and what that means to us. Some students said they rather be around people all the time and don't like being alone, while others said they like the piece and quiet. As I thought about my life, I realized that I don't like to be alone and I try to find something to do instead of being by myself. I'm the type of person who likes to keep busy and cannot just sit around and think or read. As the article "The End of Solitude" states, "technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone." I agree with this statement 100% because when I'm on the computer I go straight for my email and get side tracked instead of going straight to finishing my homework. I believe that this is an ongoing problem and will get worse as technology advances more. Another problem is cell phones. We discussed in class how many students always have their cell phones on and they text all day long. As for me, I don't text during class because I get distracted and I miss important parts that the teacher is explaining. I find it rude to text when you are with your friends especially if you are at dinner with them or if your just hanging out together. Most of the time my cell phone is near me where ever I go, but I hardly get calls and most of the people I talk to on my phone are with me all day. I believe that technology is sometimes ruining our education because it distracts us more than it helps us.

As this commerical points out, young kids are texting more than ever and even adults are using their phones to text there friends. Many of my friends text their parents instead of calling them. I feel that texting is not a personal way to communicate and I think that by texting someone you are more likely to say your true feelings to them, then you would if you said it to their face. For examply many people break off their relationships with someone over texting and that shows that they don't have the guts to tell them to their face.
Cell phones can be helpful in many ways, but we have come to take advantage of the benefits and now they are ruining our way of life. Could each of you spend one day without texting somone?

Evolutionary Religion

Last weekend, being Easter, I was called by several of my family members to wish me tidings on the holiday. More than once I was asked if I went to church, which made me think why they would ask that. I myself am not an avid church goer, nor do I really believe in the gospels and words of God that most religions teach, and my family is pretty aware of this. But, that isn't to say I don't have faith in a transcendent being or beings. It makes me wonder how many other people feel this way. Spirituality and organized religion often go hand in hand, but they're not the same thing. 

Religion, in my eyes, is in fact a whole other thing. There are a lot more people who are "religious," than there are people who are spiritual. Most people that I personally know claim to be religious, but only turn to their religion in times of need. In the article "Born believers: How your brain creates God," Michael Brooks explains the phenomenon of the rise of religion in times of global crisis. As the article states, "Our brains effortlessly conjure up an imaginary world of spirits, gods and monsters, and the more insecure we feel, the harder it is to resist the pull of this supernatural world." 

If we all think back to times that we've encountered something complicated, we've probably looked to some higher power and asked for help wether it be on the SATs, or for patience. It's not wrong, nor is it uncommon in any way. Though it's arguable about whether the presence of a God is real or fabricated, it's not undeniable that we embrace religion and the unexplainable more readily when we're in distress. Brooks points out that this belief in God(s) is connected to our need to thrive. Religion and it's foundations, in recent times, have been believed to be "an evolutionary adaptation that makes people more likely to survive and pass their genes onto the next generation."  

It's ironic to think about these two ideas in conjunction with one another, religion being a facet of the evolutionary process. Seth McFarland's short video about Monkeys talking about religion satirizes.

The two sides had argued against each other for years, but now scientists are now linking the two as one justifying the advancement of the other. The more you look at it, the more it seems fesible. If we look at how far both we as a species and we as a society have advanced, it makes sense to link evolutionary progress to religious progress. The further we move along in development, the more religion changes and morphs to conform to our societal needs. Could it be that in fact evolution and religion can't exist separately from one another? 

Economics and Religion a la Steve Colbert

Here is an interesting and entertaining clip that highlights some of the connections between the Secular and the Sacred and Capitalism and Democracy.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Turning to Religion - Jim Martin
colbertnation.com
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Why Gay Marriage is Bad

Vermont recently overrode Governor Douglas' veto of same sex marriages.

I'd like to point out that an outstanding majority of people opposed to same sex marriage are very religious and many see it as redefining a sacred institution. A sacred, religious institution that is deeply embedded with rights granted through government. Many religious people also ignore and deny the separation of church and state which was reiterated in a series of court hearings such as Reynolds versus the United States and McCollum versus the Board of Education. I've also read arguments that identified Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Church as not bringing about the separation of church and state, which when read is clearly outlining the separation. He write's: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State," (Jefferson). It can be understood in the establishment clause of the United States Constitution found here that it was purposeful to separate the two and with a glance back at history should be maintained. This separation has given our country a lot of power to enable everyone to gain the rights that were left to be fought for by minorities overlooked when establishing themselves in a country of equality. As there are a lot of different arguments, I think that it is safe to say religion should be left to the individual, their God and their Church, not to oppress other peoples right to marry. The stigma in society of homosexuality was brought about by religion. If you look into the history of Ancient Greece you will see that homosexuality was an accepted practice until it was outlawed in Rome when Christianity gained power.

It is also believed that same sex marriage is bad for children and would be harmful taking away their right to a mom and a dad. In a society that is full of children without any parents at all, this seems ridiculous. Artificial insemination is also looked down upon for women in a committed relationship with another woman. How is giving a child life and being raised by two women bad? They never would have been given life if they hadn't been artificially inseminated. It is only an expectation of our society that a child should be granted a mom and a dad, even when divorce rates are high. So many children in this world would love to have two parents or even a single parent. If you google "same sex parenting" you will find little evidence that there is a harmful effect on children from having same sex parents. In return, you will find studies that show that same sex parents are just as good as heterosexual parents.

Last night aired the pageant competition, Miss USA, in which one of the contestants, Miss California, said that she believed that marriage was meant to be between a man and a woman, not same sex. In return she has been faced with a lot of negative attention. Past Miss USA winners have even come forward advocating for same sex marriage. I think that this shows that our society is making a turn around. This issue has had a lot of attention in recent political and social spheres. When religious and sacred meaning is taken out of the picture people realize that homosexuality and same sex marriage is not an evil curse on society.

When it comes to the argument of letting "the people" decide on same sex marriage I would like to put forth this from The Transformation of American Religion by Alan Wolfe. "Democracy, liberals of this persuasion believe, is a wonderful form of government, but when it comes to protecting the rights of religious minorities or nonbelievers, a nondemocratic institution like the courts is required to keep it in check," (257 Wolfe). A mixed constitution of the many, the one and the few creates a balance of power. This is why we have a mixture of types of governments, a democracy (legislative), a monarchy (president), and an aristocracy (judiciary). They keep each other in check and protect the rights of the minorities.

Easter

This week was Easter Sunday, the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. For me, this holiday has no meaning, but for other students, Easter has so much meaning, or at least that’s what it seems like. I mean, I knew this holiday existed, but didn’t know when it was till this Friday, when many of the students were going home to celebrate with their families. Since I am one of those people that does not celebrate Easter, and don’t really know much about Easter. I decided to look into what Easter really is. Some of the questions that I thought of where: what is with all of those rabbits, and the colored eggs?

This Easter celebration happens every year, and churches are packed with strangers, women are dressed in fancy clothes and men in suites. After the service is over, kids scramble across the yards searching for eggs under the trees, porches, flowerbeds, and near the scrubs. What is the point of searching for eggs? Where does this egg hunting come into play? I thought Easter Sunday was the celebration of Jesus Christ rising from the dead. I just don’t understand where this egg hunting thing comes from.

I guess in order to understand what the meaning of Easter is, you have to talk to a true Christian and I did. I called my friend from back home who goes to church pretty much every day and asked him, “What is the meaning of Easter to Christians?” and he said Christians look beyond nature to the creator, the true and living God who put everything in motion and who keeps making move all the things by his eternal word. At this time of the year, Christians look back and remember the terrible death Jesus Christ went through and the awesome resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is sacred day to all Christians; it’s the day we celebrate for his scarifies, his gift of life, and the power of light to every darken soul.

This is just part of the story he told me. It was just amazing to listen to a person who can talk about their religion and knew so much about it. Then he sent me this video called “Easter.” Do all religious people know this much about their religion?

Where did religion come from??

Some of you may remember my previous post, helping to explain what religion is and why it is important to us. Recently I had watched a video called "Zeitgeist." This movie is very controversial, due to the many conspiracy theories discussed within it This video discusses, among other things, the origins of most of the religions in the world. The point this movie makes is that many religions have very similar qualities, teachings, and even religious stories. Although the entire movie may be found here, I found a clip on Youtube that, while cut short by Youtube's time cap, is perfect for this.

This video also shows just how easily a religious text can be misinterpreted, as the video explains that much of the writings are based upon constellations and their relationship with the sun, rather than what the religious stories told today tell us happened for real in the world. Perhaps this revelation can help us connect to other people with different religious beliefs than our own, and develop a bigger understanding of the cultures around us.

The End Of Christian America

Over the weekend I came across a Newsweek magazine that actually caught my eye.  The cover was all black and had the words, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America" in red text and in the shape of a cross.  I decided it was blog post material and my Dad was proud I was going to read Newsweek.

The article reminded me of a similar article we read at the beginning of the semester entitled "Pew In The Pews," by Alan Wolfe.  However, this article focused on Albert Mohler Jr. who is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  After Mohler read the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey he was shocked to see that Americans claiming no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990.  Mohler went on to say that "a remarkable culture shift has taken place...the consensus of the last millennium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crises which threatens the very heart of our culture."  A reason why the percentage of Christians in America are declining is that they are starting to understand the separation of church and state.  My opinion is that Albert is jumping the gun a little too quickly.  Just because the Christian numbers are declining does not mean that America is in a post-Christian state, just a less-Christian state.

The article went on to talk about the reasons why many conservative Christians are now entering a "post-Christian phase."  This is because they have not won their battles against same-sex marriage, abortion, and prayer in schools and they feel as if their faith is going nowhere.  In a Newsweek poll only 62 percent of Americans think the U.S is a "Christian Nation,"under Obama, while 69 percent did when George W. ran the country in 2008 which help show the fall of a Christian America.  It's not that people are not spiritual anymore, in fact 30% of people would rather call themselves "spiritual" rather than "religious."  

The article identified that Conservative Christians are the ones not ready to accept the way of life now compared to how it was many years ago.  They need to realize that "the Christian God is not dead, but he's less of a force in U.S politics and culture than at any other time in memory."  Conservatives do not need to abandon Christianity or their faith just accept the way religion is heading in today's world.  A quote from the article that I think describes today's way of life is "American public life is neither wholly secular nor wholly religious but an ever-fluid mix of the two."  Do you feel this way too? :)

Meacham, Jon. "The End Of Christian America." Newsweek. 13 Apr. 2009. 11 Apr. 2009

North Dakota.... Again?

I'm not sure if you all remember. A few weeks ago I posted an informal post about North Dakota making it illegal to have an abortion. Well, again North Dakota has taken a few steps backwards. As Vermont has moved forward with same-sex marriages something that may seem completely ridiculous to us has happened. A policy to end discrimination in housing, employment and credit based on sexual orientation was put forth to the North Dakota House losing 54-34. I think it is absolutely shameful. I don't see how any policy on any person to end discrimination could be rejected. We are supposed to be an equal nation yet we say it's okay to discriminate people if we're not comfortable with their sexual orientation.

I would like to see a policy put forth federally to end discrimination against sexual orientation. If we are truly a free nation we need to protect everyone.

April 7th, 2009, A day to remember

Today, April 7th, 2009, Gay marriage was legalizied in Vermont. As the fourth state to recognized gay marriage. This was a big deal for a Vermont, because once the first vote passed 95-42, Governer Jim Douglas made a big commotion when he publicly stated that he would veto the bill if it ends up on his desk. And well when it did, he picked up his pen and vetoed the bill. However, with a 25-3 override vote in the senate, and a 100-49 vote in the house, April 7th is a memorable day for gay couples. A day to remember, when they are given more rights, and able to legally get married. According to the Burlington free press article, Jim Douglas was expecting to happen. So what if he was expecting this, was the point in vetoing the bill to begin with when there are other things that need to still be figured out? Watch the video to see his reaction. It's the third movie down. 

So what does this mean now for gay couples? Even though the positive things that come out of the law, it means that they can file taxes together. Well, at least only in Vermont. It is only aloud to file state taxes. Federal taxes still need to be files separately. With the pass of this new law, there were some changes to it before it was passed through the house and. Some of the changes that happened. "Before, the Bill stated that religious communities do not have to perform or recognize a same-sex marriage ceremony, the House decided to take it one step further.'A religious hall, they will also have the same exemption. They do not have to offer that under the public accommodations law,' Campbell said" (Kennedy). This was a big step for the house to decided to pass the law. Click here to see the whole article from Fox 44 News. 

This related to our class because we have been talking about how religion effects our everyday lives. This bill wouldn't have passed without any religious beliefs taking place. Obviously the downfall to that is that if a gay couple wants to marry in a Church, they need to make sure that the Church allows it first. But that is a minor bump in the road compared to everything that has happened up until this point. 

Kennedy, Ben. "Same-Sex Bill Breakdown." Fox 44 News. 7 Apr. 2009. 7 Apr. 2009

Solitude and the Chaotic Life

Personally, I text message at least 75 times a day. This is a recent development in my life actually. When I first signed for my cell phone plan, I only had a plan for 300 text messages thinking that I would never go over that. And I didn't for a while. But as I began to make more friends and be more social, I found my bill becoming more expensive. The moment when I realized that my texting was becoming a bit outrageous was when I got the bill for $209, $140 of that being charges for going over my texting limit. I knew I had to make a choice. I chose to switch to an unlimited texting plan. To me, the extra $15 a month for the plan was a small price to pay for being able to stay connected to all my friends. In this clip from Family Guy, even in a crowded theater these friends need to communicate.

The End of Solitude is an article that describes how solitude is hard to come by currently. I agree. My life is very chaotic and I rarely have time to myself. This winter was probably the most hectic time in my life. Between school, work, coaching, and driving to and from all these different places, the last place I wanted to be was alone. When I did have time to be alone, I chose not to. I wanted to be with my friends having fun rather than sitting alone doing school work. If I feel like this, I'm sure many other students have this problem as well. Solitude is just not a priority in the lives of busy people. I do feel the toll that always being on the run and surrounded by people has had on me. My health, my spirituality, and my relationships are all affected. I'm sure I'm not the only one. With the declining number of people who are religious I'm sure that being to busy is a big factor in their decision as to whether they should go to church or watch TV with their friends and family.
Given the choice, after a long week of studying and working hard, would the students in the class rather sit alone by themselves or go have a good time with their friends?