All posts by Chryse

Pope Power

News Item

One of AP’s top stories this week is headlined “Pope takes over Knights of Malta after condom dispute” and is written by Nicole Winfield (https://apnews.com/acd056cee7144b58a66c1f90db0931d5/pope-takes-over-knights-of-malta-after-condom-dispute). The Knights of Malta is a Catholic group who are based in Rome, despite their name. The help to run hospitals and clinics worldwide.  Several years ago the Knights found out that one of the charity organizations they worked with wee distributing thousands of condoms. The program was quickly shut down with the pressure of the Vatican becoming involved. The individual who played a key role in the operation was the health minister, Albrecht von Boeselager. This act led to his election as grand chancellor of the Knights of Malta. However, the Knight’s leader, Matthew Festing, requested that Boeselager resign; he refused. This led to more trouble for the Knights.  Pope Francis got wind of this all and held and investigation for Boeselager. The Pope then met with Festing and following this meeting, Festing resigned. This has become problematic because the Vatican is not meant to get involved with governmental issues, but it has. Because the Pope “accepted” the resignation of Festing, the issue became a legal issue. On January 28, the Knights of Malta had to officially accept the resignation for it to be legal, which they did; however, they were not required to. The previous events have cause other issues to come to light such as: Pope Francis’ ” increasing clashes with more conservative elements in the church, especially those for whom sexual ethics and doctrinal orthodoxy are paramount” (Winfield, apnews.com).

This article is applicable to both the discussions brought up in class on Tuesday. The first being the polity of the Roman Catholic Church. Because there is an Episcopal polity, the bishops are the head of the church. The Pope is the head bishop, therefore he has the most influence. This is seen in his power to interfere in a government institution. This article also sheds light on McGuire’s typology. The Catholic church has shifted in recent years and in Pope Francis’ time to become more responsible for society as well as believing there is more than one way. There is still tension within the church, but Pope Francis is making changes and has the most influence within the Catholic Church.

Reflection Week 3

Reflection

This week’s readings and discussions centered around the idea of official and non-official religions. As discussed in class and McGuire, an official religion is focused on four main characteristics: specific leaders, specific location, specific doctrine, in a specific way. While unofficial religion consists of: whoever, wherever, whatever, however. This topic sparked some discussion within the class. Jim posed the question “what have we encountered on a daily basis that can be considered official religious practices in an unofficial way?” The answers varied from home alters to shrines. This made me think about my own encounters with religion.

This passed summer I spent ten weeks in Romania. Romania’s country religion is Eastern Orthodoxy. There was more religious “things” around the streets and homes than I have witnessed before. The people themselves were aware of the influence of the Orthodox Church on their own lives and were not afraid to display this. At many crossroads there was a large wooden cross with an icon of Jesus. They were usually over seven feet tall and could not be missed, but it was odd to me because many of them were in the middle of the country side with no homes or villages around.

I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around these classifications such as “official” and “non official.” In chapter 4 and 5 the term “cult” came up. There are some practices and forms of expression that are considered “cultish,” but like official and nonofficial, it is just another classification we give.

22 Powerful Posts From People Of Faith At The Women’s March

News Item

This past weekend there were many Women’s marches throughout the world. Each person was marching for the rights of women. People on seven different continents rallied together. This news article was focused on individuals who held signs at these various rallies. The signs ranged from sayings like “Jews Reject Trump,” “‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ -Jesus,” “Sikhs for equality,” and “Japanese Americans against Muslim Registry.” There were people of all different faiths, creeds, and associations coming together for one cause. Like McGuire argued in Chapter 4, it is the common people who are seen in religion, rather than elites.

This article also is connected to our conversation in class about official religion and non official religion. While this was not specifically within a building, there were still people promoting their religious beliefs. It was multiple people (whoever) practicing “whatever” in “however” they wanted. While this was not specifically religious, people were still practicing religion. This leads to the question is this considered worship or preaching, or is it something else? Was this rally religious in itself? Or was it going against the status quo of western religions?

Reflection Week 2- January 22

Reflection

In all honesty I had a problem with Chavez landscape of America. While I know there is much truth to it, I also believe there is a landscape that we are ignoring. This may only be due to the fact that I took a course last semester in which the purpose of the course was to question and redraw America’a religious landscape. With this in mind, I found our class discussion on Thursday interesting. We not only looked at the religions that are prevalent in the United States, but we also talked briefly about the history of the Christian church and the divisions which exist.

These divisions started very early in the church and were claimed as herasy. In Chapter 4 of McGuire, she talks about the importance of herasy in establishing a “religion.” I enjoy the class because I have never studied religion from a sociological point and as someone who has grown up with a religious background, it’s interesting to hear the different points. Jim mentioned in class that these different sects broke apart because of something small, that’s why he loved religion. From an outsiders perspective I feel like there might not be any importance of the splits. Because of the numerous Christian denominations, the more split there are, the less unified the church becomes. That is the importance of these splits. While this sounds very simple, for me, it holds great importance. I have grown up learning about all the saints who have defended and died for the Church because of these “small” things. I don’t know if it is something that contemporaries can understand. I look at the multiple splits of the different churches, yet they all belong to the “Christian” faith. Is each split as significant as the ones that do many died for?

“On Being Strangers in a Strange World”

News Item

In David Gushee’s article “On Being Strangers in a Strange World,” he addresses early in the article his opinion of three different types of “American Christians” and their views concerning  the President of the United States. He continues to tell of the discourse in Trump’s actions as compared to those of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the community Trump has created. He believes that “community” is not that of God and a Christian community, but one of something else which he does not find comfort in. The point of the article is to highlight the author’s understanding of how he feels about the new president, as a Christian. He ends his article telling the readers he will not be participating and watching the Inauguration, but he will be praying for the success of the president, despite who that is.

I thought this article related to our class discussion and the reading because of the different view points he defines at the beginning as well as his own approach. He highlights the importance of community, both religious and secular, in the success of a nation. His opinion as a Christian American is that Trump will lead us to a less Christian path and one that is not of Jesus. He has questioned both his identity and faith because of the president elect. However, he is finding meaning and peace in knowing that God is greater than Trump and it is in Him whom he must trust.

Community and Religion

Reflection, Uncategorized

Because I was not able to attend class this past week, I cannot comment on the discussions that were had. However, after reading others’ postings and the assigned pages for the upcoming class I have learned a few new things. As someone who has grown up in an organized religion  it is interesting to read about the other perspectives that you lose when you aren’t able to view something from the outside. Chapter 2 and 3 talk a lot about community and how it plays a role within religion, both in finding meaning or self identity. I know for me having others around me who can relate and understand both my struggles and view points makes it easier to bond. This weekend I attended a small young adults retreat. There was about 70 people all from different Orthodox traditions, but because we had that one thing in common, we were able to come together smoothly. There were people there who haven’t gone to church since they were 14, while others attended regularly, but the foundation was there and they still identified as religious. At one point in a discussion the idea of “community” arose and the speakers put great concern on the importance, if you have a good community around you, you have support. Chapter 2 highlights the idea that religion gives a way to explain happenings in your life- both good and bad, while Chapter 2 states the importance of the community within self identity and helping you attain it. After reading others’ posting from last week the common thread was many people claim they are spiritual, rather than religious, but it makes me wonder, is that because we are in college and the community around us identifies as spiritual, therefore we are drawn to that, or is it true that religion is seeing a substantial decline?