All posts by Courtney

“Religious Leaders Bless Planned Parenthood Health Center And Its Mission Because this is sacred space, too.” From The Huffington Post

Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu leaders gathered inside a Planned Parenthood Center to bless the space. This gathering is important because it began to change the dialogue about women’s rights to their anatomy from one of dehumanizing and stigmatizing to one that is supportive and invites spirituality. The leaders from each of the religions came together to reconfirm women’s reproductive freedoms and overall health. This brought me back to McGuire’s reading that explained how many people decide their moral values and ideas of right and wrong through their religion. It seems that in this Planned Parenthood event, people were given the thumbs up to support a controversial issue in which something that was viewed as wrong (abortions) are now on the path to being viewed as something that is to be accepted. I see this as a huge leap in different religious systems of meaning coexisting with one another and with a society that values freedom of the individual. The fact is that religious beliefs deeply sway people’s ideas about what is right and what is wrong, and for some of the major and conflicting religions of the world to come together to support a cause like this could greatly affect how society accepts the idea of abortion.

The Quest for Meaning: Blog Response #1 (Chapters 1-3)

Chapter two of McGuire’s text has made me curious as to how much individuals actually internalize the meaning system of the religion they belong to, and with how much conviction they believe in the meanings provided for them. I draw back to our second class session in which I learned that almost a majority of the students have strayed away from the religion they grew up believing, and wonder “how would this shift in religious beliefs result in a panic or crisis of meaning?” The person who is struggling with what religion they identify with (and to what extent) would likely experience anomie— a term defined as “a crisis of moral order” (McGuire 35). Although not explicitly said, the text suggests that practically all aspects of a religious person’s life are given meaning through their religion. I then wonder if young people who experience a shift in religious beliefs are then more prone to having some sort of existential crisis in which the meaning of their life is being severely tested. There are far more suicides among young people than there are of people in mid to late life— could religious inner turmoil be a factor in this? Are systems of meaning implemented in society to sustain people’s wellbeing so that they don’t break down from the lack of meaning? I wonder, what becomes of people who do not adopt meaning from a religious system? Do these people suffer from this or have stronger sense of value if they single handedly choose their meaning system rather than adopting it from a religious institution?

Religious Leaders Respond to Trump’s Immigration Orders

President Trump has signed executive orders for building a wall on our Southern border, and later this week plans to issue an executive order that will dramatically restrict refugees from entering the country who come from countries Trump deems “high-risk”. The article quotes religious leaders such as Catholic Sister Simone Bell, Reverend Canon E. Mark Stevenson, Robert Bank (CEO of Jewish World Service) and many others who all agree that the President’s actions do not correspond with the values of America as a country, or the values of faith that many religious people of America hold. Bank acknowledges a historical time in which America was indifferent to helping Jewish refugees during World War Two, and regrets that “President Trump does not understand this lesson from the darkest chapters in world history”. Some of Trump’s religious advisers respond that the Bible does not command that everyone who wants to enter a country may do so, and that this is not a biblical issue. It is interesting how faith can be used as a political argument when it is convenient, and is dismissed when it is not. The Bible does not directly say “let refugees into your country”, but it does say to love and care for those in need. I reflect on the fact that this country is roughly 70% Christian, and find that not letting refugees into the country would not be in alignment with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Once again, religion and politics make for a very interesting combination.

The Trend of Youth’s Religious Conviction (or lack thereof)

In Chavez’s chapter 4, the author explains that “religious involvement in youth is one of the best predictors of religious involvement in adulthood, so trends in the extent to which people grow up in religiously active households foreshadow future trends in involvement” (p. 49). The author gives examples of how the emerging generation live in increasingly less religious households, and are increasingly less active in church than any the generations before. One suggestion the author makes as to why this is the case is that the traditional “family” (two parents and children) is less prevalent in modern America as there are more divorced, separated or single parents, or never married people with no children. This is relevant because married people who have children are twice more likely to attend church services than those who are not married or do not have children. This raises questions of the correlation between family structures and religious involvement in many ways. For one, do people who don’t live a conventional family life feel less inclined to achieve the “perfect” and socially desired life that involves going to church? Or perhaps do people who have children but are divorced spend more time working to provide for themselves and the child, thus not having as much time to attend religious services? Do failed marriages or lack of children make one feel an absence of love, which could translate into an absence of a god? As a millennial who has seen the separation of religious conviction and involvement between my generation and the baby-boomers, I wonder what the religious landscape of America will look like when my generation are mid-aged and have children of their own. I also wonder if there is a shift in religious involvement in the future, how will this affect social norms, political stances, or even the economy?