Understanding Religion

Last week, we started to get into exploring and understanding different religions. We had to read Karen Armstrong’s, A History of God. The chapter we read is the history of the Islam religion. The Arabs had experienced a time where wealth was prominent in their tribes. They no longer put the tribe first but had a deeper focus on the individual and success. They looked to the sayyid or chief to lead their people and had lost any religious beliefs that they had. They were at a loss facing many problems including constant competition and killings. Muhammad saved his people. He became the Moses, Abraham that the Arabs needed. His first experience tore him from his sleep. “He said that an angel had appeared to him and given him a curt command:” “Recite!” He refused this angel twice and after the third embrace he had the words of the new scriptures. It took years for Muhammad to believe he was indeed a messenger from God; “the Koran was revealed to Muhammad bit by bit, line by line and verse by verse over a period of twenty-three years” (139). This history doesn’t really dig into what their belief is. It says their Gods name is al-Lah and is the creator of heaven and earth and he provided them with food and water. At the end of the chapter it says that Muhammad’s religion is known as Islām and that Muslim was something different. This was confusing to me because I believed them to be the same religion. While this chapter answers how this religion began, it does not specify what they really believe in.
After reading this, I want to know more. I want to understand the basics of their beliefs so that I can compare different religions and really understand them. This is something that really interests me. I hope that in class we will be able to touch more in depth on these topics.
Now I’m going to switch gears a little bit. Last night I watched The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Yes, this may be lame to some people but I am obsessed with it. Anyways, this episode Grace the Christian gets birth control. Her mother fond condoms in her room so gave her birth control but she told Grace she doesn’t want her to have sex. Grace wants to wait to have sex and to her the pills symbolize this commitment and make her want to wait.


This tied really well with our altar projects. To Grace the pills have a hidden message that leads to religion. For most we wouldn't get this message because brith control and religion usually clash. This brings symbolism to life for me. For me though, I find that I get so much more out of religion then just faith. It had given me tradition and strong family ties. I would not give up my experiance growing up as a Catholic because it has made me who I am today.

I was wondering for those who do not have a religion, how are traditions started in your families? Do they originate from some religious form?