This past week in class we went over the 6 Stories of religion. Summarizing the main theme of these stories helped to get a bigger picture of what the theme across was and how it is interpreted now. The one that resonated me the most is Story #4. There are 3 underlying culture desires that is within the story. People seeking community in a mass of society. The relationships in a society are transactions. The belief of religion has become less important than the actual connection that is created within the community. Make these two statements true. The first one is that religion is one of the few remaining sources of the community. The second one is that religion is a solace in an atomized word.

This story resonated the most with me because the statement of belief as a religion decreasing in importance but yet the reason individuals go to church is for that sense of community. I find this to be come more and more evident as our community becomes more advanced.

Last week in class we began to discuss six basic stories of religion that are used to try and interpret what is going on currently. One of the stories that I found explained what was going on in today’s religious culture was the story about religion acting as a source of community. This describes religion as a transaction of social relationships. Whenever people are asked what they find comforting about their religion, many say they find a sense of community there. This is very important, because of how large and impersonal our society is becoming. This gives people a place to come and feel a part of something, so it is understandable why people would turn to religion to find this. Another story I found interesting was that religion is becoming Anti-Modern. This explains religion moving back to old strict religion which helps people seek security and form, in such a complex society. There always seems to be this cycle of official religion and nonofficial religion going back and forth in popularity. I don’t think we will ever be able to say that religion will always stay either official or nonofficial because as soon as one has been in popularity for a certain amount of time, people will begin to crave the other. Recently we have seen a surge of millennials and younger generations preferring nonofficial religion, however this story states that because of the large society we are currently apart of, people will begin to move back towards official religion in search of its security. Instead of leaning to only one becoming popular over the other, I foresee a split with the public, and the preference of religion relating closely to political preference.

This week for our final Jigsaw, I read an article detailing the experiences of North African Muslim women who emigrated to live in France, and their opinions on the banning of headscarfs in schools. This article fascinated me because it explained such a different cultural narrative than the one we perceive to be “right” and “good” in the United States, which is focused on freedom and not being excessively constrained. Upon reading this article, I found myself frustrated and shaking my head, that these poor girls in school were being restricted from practicing their religion; I understood and respected the opinions of the Muslim women but struggled with still having my own opinion on the matter. Coincidentally, my other class’s readings for that week were also centralized on Muslim women and the veil, and as I progressed through this reading, and the next two that were assigned to me, and the classes that followed those readings, my opinion drastically changed. I realized that I had been guilty of ethnocentrism in a way, in thinking that the French culture was oppressive and that these women were bring stripped of their religious freedom and identity. Before I started studying religion I even thought that the veil itself was oppressive to women.
But I learned that the French culture has a very France-first focused identity for all of the citizens, and that it is no one else’s job, outside of the Muslim women living in France, to have an opinion on headscarves being banned from their schools. In my other class’s discussion on the articles we read I was shocked that so many people did not know the term “cultural relativism” and was frustrated that so many had an opinion on the headscarf without even understanding the concepts of cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, but having realized that I had been guilty of this when reading my assigned article, I realized that it comes from a place of having more to learn, and of not yet understanding.

This week I completed my interview with a religious specialist. I chose to interview an individual from the Center for Spiritual Living because with another class with professor Spickard we are required to intern with an organization that helps with homelessness. For my internship, I am interning with an organization based out of the Center. I also chose to do my last congregation visit with the Center for Spiritual Living because of the interest that I have generated while working with the organization.

My interview was done over the phone and it resulted in some informative information. I learned so much about the Center as a whole and its inner workings. Through this, I learned so much about how the religious specialist feels about doing what they do. I also discovered why and how they proceeded into this field. It is interesting interacting and conversing with someone so involved in a church. As I have previously stated, I do not know much about religion and I have never conversed with someone so involved in the church besides speaking to individuals about Freemasonry. I have spoken to individuals in length about being a Freemason and have read through some old documents. My recent phone interview sparked an interest and better understanding just as speaking about Freemasonry had previously.

All in all, speaking more in-depth with individuals so involved with organized religion allows me insight into a world that I am not familiar with. This is why the study of sociology and anthropology is so beneficial, it allows you understanding into a world and culture that you had never known before.

In the article, “Supreme Court Stays Execution of Buddhist Inmate,” by Adam Liptak, it is described how the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas was denied his request for his spiritual advisor to be present in the execution chamber on the basis that Texas policy only allows a state-employed Christian or Muslim religious advisers present in the execution room, not Buddhists or advisers of any other religion.

The article goes on to discuss how when Murphy, the inmate, asked to allow his religious advisor to be present at the execution that a prison official responded that only prison employees are allowed in the execution chamber. Texas officials justifies this policy by saying that it is based on security considerations; that to have an untrained visitor to the execution chamber could succumb to a multitude of consequences such as irrational behavior, pulling lines out of the inmate, taunting witnesses and so on.

This case presents a great nuance in the justice system of what is considered the line between religion and state. Furthermore, it presents the discrimination of one religion against the upholding of others which is obviously contradictory to the U.S. Constitution’s freedom of religion.

It is fascinating to see how such a specific case includes so many interdisciplinaries with religion such as  state policy, societal norms, and prison protocol. It shows how there are still many issues that our country faces with the intersection of state and religion and it can be argued to a certain degree that our government is institutionalized to uphold a Christian faith.

Here is the article to read more.

This week’s reading was by Professor Spickard and was about understanding catholic worker house masses. The prevalence of charity in the article reminded me of my time studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria. As students, we were required to do a good deal of volunteering and a part of that volunteering was through a Catholic organization called Caritas. Their reach extended to nearly all realms of charity and was at a state level. As a student volunteer, I did activities like cooking dinner for a children’s shelter as well as serving food at a shelter for refugees and homeless Austrians. I see similarities in values and practices with the organization discussed in this article. This reading brought up so many questions for me, like is there something about Catholicism in particular that allows for charity originations or acts of charity to be commonplace? Or do we see it in our daily lives so prevalently because of the sheer volume and reach of the Catholic Church? With just over a billion Roman Catholics in the world, it isn’t surprising to conclude the prevalence is because of sheer number of adherents, but is there something else?

It was also interesting to learn that this Catholic group which was in the realm of radical Catholicism had a relatively traditional mass. The type of mass that you could find all over the world in a Catholic church. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of traditional practices coupled with the types of progressive activities they were involved in. It’s a testament to being able to being able to do good in the world and interpret religion for the benefit of others.

This past week I went to visit my assigned congregation.  My partner, Lucy, and I went on a visit to the Door Christian Fellowship.  We went to the 11am worship service and had a wonderful time observing the traditions that this church does.  We are excited to share what our experience was like during class this next upcoming week.

As we walked in the building, there were a couple of people that were having conversations with each other.  However, I noticed that there was no one there to greet us or hand us out information cards/pamphlets. So we followed the crowd and joined everyone into the chapel.  As soon as we found a seat, the worship service immediately started. They sang a total of four songs. The first two songs were really short and fast. They lasted about 1-2 min with rapid clapping for rhythm.  The last two songs I was in fact familiar with and was able to sing along. The worship leader that started singing was a very young man in his mid 20’s. After two more songs, the two pastors of the church each took over and sang the rest of the songs.  I found this to be very interesting being compared to my church’s worship routine. At my church, we would have a worship leader sing every song and the pastor would come to the stage after to speak his sermon. At the Door Christian Fellowship, they had a total of 3 people sing.

The pastor of the church, Rich Cox, was speaking his sermon that day.  His message was mainly about joy and how that with God in your life, He will bring you joy.  It was a very touching message as he made some comical jokes here and there.

The service then ended within an hour, with a quick song and a prayer.  Lucy and I were then able to chat with other people and got some good information about the church.  My partner and I can’t wait to share our experience at the Door Christian Fellowship in more depth and to answer any questions that our fellow classmates have for us.  

Throughout the many  Jigsaw readings and articles we have been discussing in class these past few weeks, one of the few that caught my eye and I resonated with was the Fluffy Bunnies one, about “fake” Pagans. While in no way am I familiar with the religions encompassing Paganism itself, nor do I claim to be a practicing Pagan, I took a WGS course last semester called “Women and Witchcraft,” which explored the portrayals of witchcraft in the media and how there are harmful stereotypes perpetuated in the media of it.

Many Pagans were offended by movies such as The Craft and Rosemary’s Baby which draw connections between Satanism and the devil with witchcraft. The Craft specifically was not intended to be offensive and the director consulted actual people involved in high leadership positions within the religion to incorporate real elements of Paganism into the film, however, many Pagans found it offensive that elements of their religion were “appropriated” for entertainment. The “Fluffy Bunnies” the article discusses are practicers of some parts of Paganism, but hardcore believers argue that they are giving the religion a bad name, and that they do not respect all aspects of Paganism, only some. Therefore, this gives others a limited view of Paganism is about. In both scenarios, only certain elements of a religion are represented by a practicer or production.

However, religion, and furthermore, spirituality,  is really about picking and choosing what parts appeal to the individual. That is the job of pastors, to appeal to the congregation by emphasizing certain verses of the Bible and adapting it to fit in people’s everyday lives so they can relate to it. It seems unfair to claim someone is a “fake Pagan” for the level of religious intensity they exercise in their lifestyles.

The last case study I read, “The Religious Varieties of Ethnic Presence” by Carolyn Chen, is about how the religious landscape changes for the same ethnic group when they follow different religions. Chen talks about two Taiwanese congregations: a Buddhist Temple and a Christian Evangelical Church. The assumption is that despite the fact that these are the same ethnic groups, their social experience would be different because off their religion; Christian churches would have a greater interaction with those outside their ethnic, immigrant religious group because they’re “inner-worldly” and are more assimilated into American society, whereas Buddhist Temples would find the cold shoulder. However, what was found in a study is that the Buddhist temple was actually more engaged with American society than the Christian church, despite being “other-worldly” and a religious minority. Why this all boils down to how it is, is because religious ideals determine a congregation’s public presence. The Christian church emphasizes evangelism and the spreading of the word, however this method was limiting to outreach for members due to the fact that the Taiwanese Christian church was faced with the challenge of social and language barriers. These limitations only allowed members of the church to engage with others who they could talk to and interact with, most being people of the same ethnic group. The Buddhist temple on the other hand, emphasizes more of good deeds, world outreach, and religious tolerance. These ideals enabled the members of the Buddhist temple to be more involved with the outside world because they focused on charity which allows outreach everywhere and results in more exposure for the members. Furthermore, because the Buddhist temple emphasizes religious tolerance, the members have had more religious interactions and thus, more ethnic interaction. It was really interesting to read this article because it shows how even though one may pertain from the same ethnic group, one’s experience within religion can be completely different than another’s simply due to the religious ideals one follows.

In her 1996 presidential address Organized Religion in a Voluntaristic Society, Nancy Ammerman mentions how Conservative Judaism emphasizes commitment as a spiritual journey rather than as an either/or facet of modern life. My experience with Conservative Judaism confirms this notion, and this characteristic of the religion is a huge part of what has drawn me to it.

Because nobody forced the religion upon me or insisted that I must have certain beliefs to call myself Jewish, I have always felt at home at synagogue, which set a solid foundation to build off of as a young adult. Since then, I have developed genuine interest in studying the mitzvot and adhere to as many as I can in my daily life. This contrasts with others in our class who described their religiosity as declining, but they came from different backgrounds– it is easier to feel welcomed in a religious community when you don’t feel judged or looked down upon for failing to achieve total piety. It’s not that the standard for piety is lower, it just takes intention and the implications of modern society into account. If I came from a religious background in which they required you to totally buy in right away, there is a good chance that I would be on a completely different spiritual journey than I am today.

Before reading Ammerman’s work, I didn’t realize that this emphasis on the journey was particularly a feature of Judaism. It makes me wonder when this ideology began, and whether it was a response to a decline in Jewish followers or an existing facet that helps explain the rise in Conservative Judaism today.

*********So sorry this is late, I forgot to post and I’m just hoping to avoid a zero!