Out of the many things that we discussed in class this week, the one topic that caught my attention was the film “Separate Realities”.  This film portrayed two main characters who both lived in Lockhaven, PA. The first character was a women who attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  She introduces herself as a wife, mother, and an active member of the church. While she was introducing herself and talking about how she ended up being religious, the film showed her having a conversation with the pastor of her church.  She started to open up about her relationship with God and how it has affected her life. She also talked about how she went on this church retreat and how she gained a lot of insight about herself and her relationship with God. Throughout her side of the film, it seemed like she had so many questions about her faith to God, like she was confused as to why she believed in him.  The second character was a man who attended a First Baptist Church. He introduces himself as a husband, father, and also an active member of the church. He explains how in his past, he had a drinking problem. This struggle lead him to believe that he was “saved” by God. His problems with drinking made his relationship with God much stronger. He started to become more active in church.  For example, helping out with offering, teaching Sunday school, etc. His actions in church make him believe that everyone is responsible to share God’s words.

This film was very interesting to watch.  It showed two characters, both similar and different in their own ways.  They both found their relationship with God during adulthood but yet one is very confused and questionable while the other has such a strong love and belief for God.  This made me realize that the word “religion” could have so many different meanings to each individual and could possibly affect how they live their life everyday.

This past week we were introduced to the question of “what is religion?”  We have learned that religion plays a significant aspect of many people’s lives and although there are many different types of religions that people believe in, there are four key elements that all religions have in common: experience, image, story, and community.  During class we used these four points and implemented them while sharing our religious background. There were people who had unique backgrounds and who still believed in their religion till this day. There were also others who didn’t believe in any type of religion but a some kind of spirit.  However, the majority of the class had one common thread; they were no longer associated with their religion.

The reading this week was the first chapter of McGuire’s book.  She introduces us to what religion is and explains some of the important aspects to religion.  For example, she explained how every religion has different religious beliefs, rituals, experiences, and last but not least community.  Now that I am aware of the sociological perspective of religion, I am curious to learn about what religion means to others. What made people still stick with their religion?  What made others drift away from it? What makes others believe that there is a spirit in their world? I also wondered what if religion didn’t exist? Would people still have the same outlook on life?  These are just a few questions that I have always wondered about religion that I hope to find answers to in the next few chapters.