All posts by Willow

An Experience Bigger than Oneself

Reflection

Religion provides an experience that is larger than oneself. After our discussion on Monday and the presentations on Wednesday, this thought has rang true. Religion, throughout history, has caused tremendous conflict. Whether it be through wars, colonialism, or a passive judgement between individuals, official and unofficial religion persists. One who is devout in their religion holds it dear to his or her heart, and will often defend it relentlessly. We’ve seen conflict between Ted and his Born Again brother, we have seen conflict in the daily lives of the characters of God Needs No Passport, and with Sheela in the Rajneesh cult who poisoned 750 people. Despite the fact that many of the foundational values of dominant religions are similar, historically, people have had a tendency to find their personal beliefs superior. This trend has declined with time.

But why have people been so persistent with their religious beliefs? Religion provides an experience that is bigger than oneself. Those who were apart of Rajneesh in Oregon felt that their religion provided an opportunity to be the truest form of themselves. Their religion provided a platform for self discovery, and an opportunity to live more freely, openly and peacefully than a typical society would allow. The feeling evoked from dynamic meditation made the sannyasins feel beyond an individual living a mortal life– they felt as if they were apart of a movement and connected to a greater spiritual being. Members of the Fundamentalist Baptist Church in the film Born Again, felt a purpose in life greater than just living day to day. They felt that their life’s purpose was to live and spread the word of God, and by doing so, they were apart of a grander experience.

Religion has pulled people apart. But religion also coheres people together, with others who desire to feel something bigger than oneself, making it worth some strife.

Israeli Bill Allows Seizure of Palestinian Land for Jewish Settlements

News Item

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has proven to be just as timeless as it is troublesome. Today, the Israeli government passed a bill into law that allows Israel to seize private Palestinian land for the use of Jewish settlements. This bill serves to protect Jewish homes that were built on Palestinian land, and thus were threatened for destruction. This bill, in theory, will protect those Jewish settlements from being destroyed. However, this protection may be temporary, as the law is extremely controversial and likely to be challenged in higher courts. The bill passed 60 to 52, and thus clearly has strong support. Israel’s Prime Minister and world leader Netanyahu is excited by the bill and believes that it will be invaluably helpful to Israeli settlers. The bill does not, however, escape criticism. Many people, both Jewish and otherwise, are worried that this legislation will turn the world against Israel, and is robbing Palestinian land. Some critics are also worried that the bill is illegal, and subjects the Middle East to more violence. Sean Spicer, from the Trump Administration, worries that this bill “may not be helpful” in means of achieving peace.

This current events provides an example for Mcguire’s argument that religion can both bring people together and pull them apart. The Israeli-Palestine Conflict is a classic example of just that– conflict. For those countries, religion is very much an appendage of their culture, and thus arguments over history and property rights cause rift, even if it means religious values are compromised in the process. This new bill is another component of a very complicated and deep rooted conflict between religious practices in the Middle East.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-passes-bill-to-seize-private-palestinian-land-for-jewish-settlements/2017/02/06/b6d14220-ec90-11e6-a100-fdaaf400369a_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-world%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.3a80071c1ae3

Baptists Less Political in 1987

Reflection

For the Fundamentalist Baptists in the movie Born Again, one needs to be a part of the Church in order to be saved. Before watching this film, I associated Born Again Baptists with political issues. As discussed in Chaves’ “Polarization”, religious involvement has become increasingly tied with political stance. As religious involvement has softened, those who still attend a weekly service are more likely to be conservative.

In my politically aware lifetime, I have known Baptists to be rather vocal about political issues. Particularly in the South, there is significant preaching to the public from the Baptist community in regards to gay rights and women’s rights. Born Again showed a different story.  In a Fundamentalist church in Massachusetts, God’s word is the only word that should really be considered, and following the word of God is the only way to salvation. Conservative politics are not particularly preached by the pastor. Rather, the pastor speaks about things such as how he has been “liberated by my wife” and says that “my wife knows something, and so does yours”. The pastor is heavily involved in counseling members of the church, and we frequently see scenes of him sitting down for coffee, helping husbands and wives through their marital issues. He serves as a source of wisdom and a reference to the word of God.

Born Again was released in 1987, which is an important factor to consider. It would be interesting to see if a similar church in the modern day would focus more on political issues, rather than providing personal advice to members of the congregation, and getting “non-believers” to be Born Again.

Homeland Security Say Immigration Ban not Discriminatory Towards Muslims

News Item

Earlier this week, President Trump made an executive order blocking admissions of new refugees and banning the entrance of travelers from seven, Muslim majority countries. Despite world wide protests and countless law suits, Trump and his administration insist that this will help protect the U.S from foreign terrorism. The executive order states that the “United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles,” insinuating that anyone from a banned nation holds clashing values to that of our Founding Fathers. At a press conference this afternoon, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly insists that the executive order will be used to assess the effectiveness of our system. The Department of Homeland Security defends the order, saying that it is “not a ban on Muslims” and thus shouldn’t be seen as discriminatory. However, at the conference, Kelly admits that “I would be less than honest if I told you that some of those countries that are currently on the list may not be taken off the list anytime soon.”

In class, we have discussed contemporary trends in religiosity in the United States. A consistent development is that as a body of people, we have grown more tolerant, and even appreciative, of other people’s religions. Different religions have began to see other types of faith as acceptable paths towards salvation, and many religious people have incorporated a variety of religions into their faith. Although many religious leaders have opposed Trump’s executive order, many Trump supporters, who are also Christian, support it. This could suggest a shift in this contemporary trend, in that more American people are less tolerant of different religions than we may have thought.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/31/512678699/trumps-immigration-order-is-not-a-ban-on-muslims-homeland-security-chief-says

Modern Trends in the Softened Protestant Church

Reflection

Throughout the first few weeks of class, we have learned that in the modern American world, the way people practice religion has shifted, and unofficial religion has grown to be much more significant.  In American Religion, Chaves argues that official religion has “softened”.  This is caused by many factors, and is associated with prominent contemporary trends.

Particularly within the Protestant church, these contemporary trends have been clear and trackable. There are 300,000 congregations across the country, which is and has been the most significant form of practicing religion. Within these congregations, the median size has been the same within the last 20 years, however, recently, more and more people have began to inhabit much larger sized congregations. In addition, within the span of just a few years, Protestant congregations independent of a particular denomination have increased by five percent. Technology has become a vastly significant aspect of most Protestant congregations, from broadcasting services to communicating with attendees. Most services have become significantly more informal, and people in the pews have grown older, with higher income and more education.

These trends have grown and intensified as official religion involvement has decreased. These six trends directly alter the way American religion looks, and are likely a consequence of both politics and the opening of the modern mind. As certain Christian leaders have been involved in scandals, churches have taken stands on controversial political issues, and women’s rights have increased in society, there have been some clashes in the values of more traditional congregations and some American people. Thus, modern trends emerge and official involvement has softened.

Father and Son Accused of Rape and Kidnapping Use the Bible as their Only Defense

News Item

A father and son, accused of rape and kidnapping, insist to defend themselves in court and to use only the bible, as they declare it the only law book that matters. The father, with the help of his son, allegedly held his stepdaughter captive in their basement from 2012-2015, repeatedly raping her and feeding her only rotten dinner scraps. The teenage girl was shackled to a support beam, but eventually escaped and was able to run for help.

The accused father and son were repeatedly advised to be represented by a lawyer, but made it clear that they had more faith in God than they do in the law. The son has said that the Bible is the only book that matters, and that “There’s a great deal of strategy in Scripture and I use those strategies in everything I do”. The father and son claim that the book is vital to their innocence and will be used in court to prove that as such.

The article also illuminates another example of child abuse where religious beliefs were used as a justification for their actions. A mother in Indiana who beat her son with a hanger argued that her religion was a sensible motive behind her actions.

Events such as this further the divide between official and unofficial religion. When people, like the accused father and son, use their official religion as a justification for horrid acts that go against the preachings of most churches, people often say “I am anything but that”. The shift to unofficial religion continues. In reality, the son and father in this story have let religion occupy all aspects of their lives, leading their religious life to be more cult-like than religious.

The Intersection of Official and Unofficial Religions

Reflection

The number of “nones” in terms of religious affiliation are rapidly growing in our country. We know that this is caused by a number of reasons. Official religious organizations taking political stands in regards to abortion and birth control, sexual abuse scandals, figure heads contradicting religious pillars, and the preaching of discriminatory gender contributed to the rise of people who declared themselves “unaffiliated”. We have also established that although the number of people who don’t practice an official, organized religion, does not mean that religiosity is also on the decline– it is merely manifested in different ways.

In McGuire’s fourth chapter, the author discusses the complicated relationship between official religion and unofficial religion, and how different religious sects may interact with one another. For example, a devout Roman Catholic, who said her religion was a main component of her identity, described how she began to “weave in understandings of a variety of different religious and … spiritual traditions, and … ways of behaving in the world” in order to live a more comprehensively spiritual life (107). This is a small example of how even the most religious people are opening their hearts and minds to different denominations, changing “religious tolerance” to “religious appreciation”.

McGuire continues to articulate how many religious texts discuss women, and how that discussion often influences people to  assign women inferior societal roles. Just as other official religions have began to play apart in people’s personal religious lives, social progress has began to play apart in people’s agreement with traditional religious texts. McGuire associates this issue with that of power structures, and said that this may also be contributing to the growing number of unaffiliated people, making the intersection between official and unofficial religion all the more complicated.

McDonald’s Location Opens Near the Vatican

News Item

At the start of the new year, a McDonald’s location opened right outside of Vatican City. The McDonald’s franchise is expansive and global and thus it is characteristic of the company to monopolize on the extensive tourism surrounding the Vatican. It is surprising, however, that the Catholic community, the leadership of the Vatican, and the agency that handles its real estate would allow for McDonald’s to utilize that space. Although the McDonald’s has successfully opened their doors, they have not done so without vocal disappointment from its surrounding community. Cardinal Elio Sgreccia called the new location a “disgrace” and also noted that the restaurant clashed with the historic visual appeal of the rest of the Vatican City and disrespects Roman traditions and cuisine.  The Vatican will receive approximately 30,000 euros monthly in rent from McDonald’s, proving financial gain to be a significant factor in the Vatican’s approval of the lease. The real estate agency has also approved The Hard Rock Cafe to open it’s doors near the City, which will replace a religious bookstore.

 

The incoming of McDonald’s and The Hard Rock Cafe is representative of the recent shift in religious traditions. As we have studied in class, although spirituality may be on the rise, involvement in religious organizations has declined significantly. The Vatican City is an emblem of the Catholic tradition and is powerfully symbolic to many who practice Catholicism. The influx of commercial industries near the Vatican exemplifies the notion that the tradition within the organization has become less important, and capitalistic tendencies has began to play a bigger role in its function.

The Search for Meaning and the Rise of Spirituality

Reflection, Types of Religion

To most folks, life is a mysterious adventure. There is no true certainty as to what will happen to any individual within the next hour, the next week, or in the next decade– let alone after death.  This uncertainty is universally scary. In order to find meaning and purpose in the midst of such uncertainty, people often turn to religion. Whether that is organized religion, or a personal worldview and set of rituals, religion is used as a way to find meaning in life. This search for meaning runs deep in human history and serves a plethora of purposes. Meaning provides a reason to persevere through life’s challenges, it explains inevitable crisis like death and suffering, and functions as a way to connect to a community. Whether an atheist or a devout Catholic, it seems that few individuals go through life without any sense of personal meaning. However, this meaning does not have to be legitimized, or told through a specific, organized story. These stories are present in organized religion, and function as a platform for communities of people to believe in a united meaning. One of the benefits of organized religion is that it is less frightening to put your faith into something when a community is also devoting themselves to the same cause. The tradition in organized religion runs deep. However, organized religion has lost prominence in recent years as many modern social standards began to contradict that of ancient sacred texts. Although organized religion has seen a demise, personal, spiritual religious practices are more present than before, and the search for meaning is streamlined through the daily lives of spiritual people across the globe.