What is religion really? Is it the belief in a god or multiple gods? Is it the belief in certain values and beliefs, or is it a mix of all of these. I looked up the definition on line and only one of the entries did not use religion in the definition and really spelled out what I believe religion is on a very basic sense. I went to Merriam-Webster Dictionaries site and looked up religion. The fourth definition is ": a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith". To me this says that religion is a belief toward a set of beliefs, values and a system to believe and have faith in. Sometimes people just need to know someones there or know they are apart of something bigger. Also, having a community there with beliefs to follow, can help guide us through life. Through this course this question has come up a lot and of course there are many different views of what people think religion really is. There is no one definite answer to the question.
The other day I was watching one of my favorite shows, Family Guy, and it was the episode where Peter Griffin starts his own religion. He decides to build the church of the Fonz and people come. People partake in the service worshiping the beliefs of the Fonz and are all apart of the community. They have beliefs, values, and community to follow after. It is very simple but it is by the definition I go by, a religion on a basic sense.
I could not find the entire clip so The rest of it will just have to be discussed. Peter has conversations with his father who is strongly Catholic and who believes its a scam and a disc-grace to religion. In the end he realizes what Peter has done and that it really is a religion, and secretly worships the Fonz. This goes to show that some may not believe it at first but when you really look deep down and look at the simple facts, religion is about community, values, and beliefs; not about Gods, prayer and organ music.
"religion." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 2 April 2009
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.
Look deep down and try and remember where social stereotypes started. Personally I cannot think that far back. It could be the very dummied down versions of Disney films or it could be that it was a long time ago i started watching other films. Either way its a social reality that today's society has brought about terrible stereotypes that you and I have both in one way or another impersonated or used as fact just because it is what we have been brought up with.
This past week we watch two movies both of which I believe portrayed the same message, "Reel Bad Arabs" and "Crossing Boarders," however used different ways. These different ways also show two different realities. One reality is that in today's society we live and abide by stereotypes. The other is that stereotypes are far from the truth and that we just have no idea and never will unless we go find out for ourselves. Although these movies both use different methods of portraying the point, I found a video that summerises a lot of what these movies are getting at.
Here we see that the short video points out what Islam is straight up. Crossing Boarders did a good job at showing this, however it was not as blatant they did it in a more interactive way. I like how this movie points out over and over again how that stereotypical character we see over and over cannot be the real Islamic character that exists in reality. This is similar to what the guy in "Reel Bad Arabs" does, he just does it on a case by case basis with Hollywood Media. In an indirect way "Crossing Boarders" shows a lot of these characteristics, it just does it through situational cultural comparison between kids our age interacting in certain situations.
I have personally done a one week trip where i worked with homeless and lived with another church group from Rhode Island, and its amazing how you can see a huge difference. In this case the huge difference was how even just day to day i could form and hold conversation with homeless and connect with them on extremely similar levels. This is another stereotype people make and when you really get to know their story and interact with them you automatically think there intoxicated druggies who beg. Not to say there are not some but there are always some stereotype met characters in life. My point being, its a great experience to meet and interact with other cultures and people of different situations before letting a stereotype take over the image because usually its wrong or not speaking to that group of people but a separate group of people all together.
There are some efforts trying to be done about this subject and here is a link to the efforts if you want to get more information. This site gives some great information in picking out stereotypes. Where they come from and why they might be rendered. It also gives some pretty good information on the many types of stereotypes. Hopefully this site can give you some info on stereotypes and help be more aware of them so when one comes up its not the image we see when we think of a certain group, but really see them for who they are or find out who they are.
The week prior to the week of January 27 we all saw the inauguration as a class on Tuesday, and discussed the many forms of symbolism that we found throughout the ceremony. we found there were multiple views on the symbolism behind Lincolns bible. Some feel that it is strictly religious and it was due to that the bible is Obama's holy book. Others say that the symbolism is behind the ownership of the bible itself. Being that it is Lincoln's bible makes it special or sacred, even if not in a religious way,because Lincoln was president at the time of the United States Civil war. He is also the president that passed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all the slaves in the US and started the movement to even greater equality in our Nation. The fact that really makes our forty fourth president of the USA special is that he is the first African American president. This is where the connection between the bible belonging to Lincoln and Obama as president such a strong symbol.Personally I believe that the fact that it was Lincolns bible that was used did have a significant impact and sacred meaning to it, however I can also believe the other side to a certain degree.
Below is a Video clip found on NTVKenya's YouTube.com page that shows some of the reactions of people feeling optimistic and hopeful now that we have an African American president in office now. It touches on the link between Obama as the first African American president and how it the bible of the man who began the movement to free the slaves many years ago. This would have never seemed possible and now as specified in the clip, "its a dream come true". If I was Obama at that moment he was being sworn into office I would have been attributing my accomplishment to many different people but thinking of Martin Luther King additionally.
Other forms of symbolism that is not depicted as much in the video include how diverse things were on that day and are almost foreshadowed for the future. The cameras going over the crowd showed a wide range of nationalities as well as the special musical performance was performed by the best of each musical instrument class coincidentally all of a different nationality. Diversity I can see becoming more accepted and promoted in America now that we can see it is in effect already.
We did a reading that links to the irony that we use Lincoln's bible and Obama is being sworn in as the first African American president. This reading was found in "Material Christianity" by Colleen McDannell. In Chapter one there is a section on material culture. The simple definition of material culture is something that tells about someone in someway or adds a certain feeling to an environment. This links to Lincoln's bible being used to inaugurate president Obama into office. I believe many people think more strongly about the idea behind the situation than about the inauguration itself. Change is good and to finally have an African American president as president will be a change from our prior forty three presidents of the United States of America.
One thing that we can use to transition to the reading we have done for this class is to think about this quote in regards to the importance of Lincolns bible as a symbol and recurring theme last week. "Material Christianity" we see "In spite of the difficulty of defining "religion," scholars and theologians frequently accept a simple division between the sacred and the profane. They also see an evolutionary, modernizing trend that has caused Western societies to become increasingly secular."(4). It then goes on to talk about how material Christianity how Americans don't see the scrambling change but it is occurring. Are we as Americans really taking the sacred from material Christianity or are we leaving it as sacred? If we are maybe the fact that it was Lincoln's bible is more significant than it seems.
Throughout the semester this course, The Secular and the Sacred, will be examining how religion in western civilization has shaped things such as politics, culture and social institutions. This course seems like it will go into what religion influences and what is influenced by secular or non religious aspects. This relationship should be an interesting exploration.
Looking through the assignments it seems as though we will be relating different things we learn about religions and traditions and relate them to our own ideas and come up with our own with the conceptual knowledge we gain.
