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.

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.

Human nature

We chose three categories to put our quotations of human nature in. We saw a pattern between a lot of the categories. Some were optimistic toward human nature and some where pessimistic in our view. We decided to categorize these quotes by 'what human nature should be' and 'what human nature should not be'. Some of these quotes were not seen in either category. To categorize these we had a separate pile we called 'what human nature is' or 'actually is'. This pile had the quotes that specified something that was a statement instead of a view or opinion.
We then started applying views of Government and Gods to these categories. They seemed to be pretty defiant. Most were views of government or how much of an impact god has on us. Some examples for 'what human nature is' are "imminent god" and "democracy". Both of these are statements and true, there are imminent gods and we have a democracy. In an example for pessimistic views are "mob rule" and "there is/are no God(s)". Both of these state a view someone has toward the subject of human nature. Also, mob rule is not the actual state of human nature so it falls under negative views. Lastly some optimistic views are "god is our watchmaker" and "God is all-loving and all-forgiving". These views are optimistic toward the state of nature and views on God.

Children See Children Do

Last week in class we were discussing how children should be raised. Does it matter if a child is raised by a mother and a father, or by a mother and a mother, father and a father? We came to the consensus that it really did not matter the sexual orientation of the parents, it is how the child is raised. When I was looking on CNN I came across this article. In the article by Jack Cafferty he is saying that there is no such thing as a perfect family. There is always going to be a level of dysfunction, and there will always be negative character traits. Also, in the article he talks about how parenting skills have been one of the reasons to why the school dropout rate is higher. Parents are lacking the skills of teaching their children manners which makes it hard for them to do well in school. In my opinion, it is how the parents raise their child. It does not matter what the parents sexual orientation is, it is how they decide to raise their child. Marriage today, does bring together a mother and a father, but it should also bring same sex couples together. In Mark Lilla's book The Stillborn God, he discussed that his book is about "how we perceive God and how it affects government." He goes on to talk about how religion has had such a huge impact on the government. Sometimes religion having an impact on the government can have a negative impact, there should be a limit to when religion should not be thought about. In this case, religion should be excluded to what marriage should be, if there is such a huge deal that marriage should only be of a man and a women then there should be another term for same sex marriage even though it would mean the same thing. If the couple are compatible and are functional enough to raise a child that is what is important. People get married because they feel that they are right for each other, then they have kids and feel that they still have to stay together because they do not want to hurt the child. When in fact it is hurting the child. The divorce rate today in America is high, it makes me wonder how many children are involved with the divorce. For me personally my parents are divorced and because I was at a older age when it happened I was able to understand the situation. But I wonder how other children take it and how it hurts them emotionally.

Eastwood, Matt. "What Children See Children Do." 6 Dec. 2006. Youtube.

In the video it shows how children see what their parents do and they copy. I have always looked up to my mother, and always watched how she responded to situations and how she carried herself. But I myself can say that I do have negative qualities, some I picked up from school, and others I have picked up from my living condition. Do you feel that the way you were raised has a bigger impact on your life? Or is it through your own life experiences?

Religious Uncertainty

Coming from a person who is not spiritual, or even religious, this class has been an interesting experience thus far. In last week’s class my mind was able to reflect on what the meaning of religion is. Before coming into this class I thought that people turned to religion because it was a chance to be a part of something, and to be in a place of comfort and peace. Also, I saw religion being used by my family during a time of death, and a time for a family get together. But I learned that there may be more reasons to why people turn to religion. It may not be because people want to belong to a community that shares common beliefs, it may be because our society has made it so that religion is part of our everyday lives.

As McDannell had said in Material Christianity, “one of the reasons why the material dimension of American religious life is not taken seriously is because of how we describe the nature of religion.” I think that one of the reasons that I am not very spiritual is because I fall into number of Americans who don’t take religious life seriously. I was not pushed by my parents to go to church, or to learn the bible. My mom did not have me baptized because she wanted me to have the choice of picking the denomination of what I want to be a part of. One of the reasons I have yet to be baptized is because there are a lot of religions, and within these different religions there are different beliefs, and norms. I do believe in a higher power, but because there are a lot of religions and it is hard to find something that shares my personal views. Sometimes I wonder how many people are in my shoes, and do not have a religion to conform to because they cannot relate to their religion.


Hannah and Her Sisters. Dir. Woody Allen. Perf. Woody Allen. Youtube. 5 Feb. 2007.

I am at a point in my life where I can make my own decisions. However, I have yet to find a religious group that I fit into. I have the chance to question what religion means to me, and what it will do for me. Today, in America I feel that people do not have this opportunity because many people either are not raised with any kind of faith, or they are and have difficulty casting aside the faith their parents gave them. I feel lucky because my mom told me she wanted me to have the chance to choose my religious beliefs. As in the video above Woody Allen’s character is trying to convince his parents that he wants to follow Christianity but they have a hard time understanding his explorations because they were raised Jewish and did not ever worry about anything else. It is obvious that Woody Alan’s character wants to know more about life than what his current religion is offering.

If given the chance, would you choose to erase your religious background and start exploring faith anew?

Informal Blog

This class will be very interesting and a new learning experience for me. I am not very religious, and my family never pushed the idea's of religion. We only go to Sunday church once every year. Also, for me I am not part of a denomination, my mother wanted me to chose the religion I wanted to practice. Hopefully, this class will give me a better understanding of religion and how it has affected the Western society. I would like to look deeper into the meaning of Secular, since I feel that it may be interesting.