Stereotyping Religion

After watching Reel Bad Arabs in class, I began to think about the stereotypes that dominate my life. I encounter stereotypes everyday. When I tell people I'm going to college, they act very surprised because I'm a waitress. Waitresses can't be intelligent? When I tell people I'm majoring in accounting, they make a painful face. Accounting can't be enjoyable? Why do people have to make assumptions so quickly?
I was raised to not be quick to judge. My mother hates being stereotyped, especially about religion. Around the holidays when my mother goes out and about, everywhere she goes there are people saying "Merry Christmas" to her. She hates it. Just to prove a point she will go out of her way to reply "I'm Jewish" even though we're not at all. However embarrassing this may be to me, she has a point. Why does everyone assume that Christmas is being celebrated in every house? The assumption that people believe in a higher power is evident in everyday life. Even the common reply to a sneeze is God bless you. In this video clip, Dane Cook finds himself in an awkward situation similar to that that the cashiers encounter with my mother. Warning: this video contains vulgar language.


Religion is not something to be taken lightly to some people, so why must other people insist on bringing it into everyday life. Or should these people not be so sensitive to these common sayings and greetings? I'm torn between these two extremely different opinions and I hope that through this course I can come to terms with my spiritual identity as well as others.

Different Meanings of Religion

Last week our class talked about the question "what does religion mean" and some people said it can be a sense of belonging, while others said it can mean being part of a larger community. My family turns to religion for hope and answers to why things happen. My step-dad Dave was just diagnosed with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) about 2 months ago, this disease will stop his muscles from working and lead to his death. When Dave learned the diagnosis he turned to religion to help him deal with the pain. He now reads the Bible every night before bed, my mom and Dave go to church every Sunday, and we say Grace before dinner on Sunday nights. My mom also has become very religious when she found out that Dave has ALS. She prays to God that maybe Dave will have the strength to hold on for many years to come. Through this experience in my life, I also look up to God and ask him why things happen to good people. I believe that God has a reason for why things happen, and even when they don't always go as planned we need to make the best of life. Many people have different reason why they turn to religion in tough times or why they feel that religion has a huge part in their lives. In my family we turn to religion for answers that no one else can provide.

Now I'm moving to the topic of religion in songs. I was sitting in the car last Saturday and heard the song "God Love Her" by Toby Keith. I knew the song has religious meaning but I never listened to it so closely until then. It describes a boy who falls for a very religious girl. The girl decides to run off with the boy and her parents are very angry at her. Her dad is a preacher who does not like his little girl dating a non-religious "bad boy". Watch the video here.

As you can see there are many material objects in the church that represent the faith. The Bible was shown in the video the most. She came walking out of the church with it in her arms and then when she made up her decision that she wants to be with the boy, she dropped the Bible showing that she wanted to be free from the rules of her religion.



In Material Christianity Colleen McDannell talks about how "material culture specialists derive meanings from objects themselves by paying attention to the form, distribution, function, and changing character of the objects and their environments" (pg. 2). If we would have listened to the song without any words we could have came to the conclusion that the girl was very religious because she came out holding the Bible and the song started with Toby Keith singing outside of a church. Objects such as a church, the Bible or even the Cross can tell us that they are of the Catholic religion. Although my house does not have many objects representing our faith, the hope in our hearts and the spirits of courage are enough to make us believe. We do not need material objects to remind us of God.

P.S- Thanks for listening to the country song, as I know most of you do not enjoy country!!

Further Understanding of Religion

Upon reading "Stop in the name", I found myself wanting to know more. I have grown up in a religious family who usually attends church every Sunday. In saying this, I don't know a lot about my religion and should probably know more. This article left me wondering what do certain religions stand for with the issues in our society. My religion is Catholic and I know that we are for pro-life. In church, our priest wanted to pray that the new president and congressmen would vote for pro-life. When he said this is brought me back to the article and made me want to know more. I just found it ironic that what we read was brought to my attention while I was at church.