Intro to Religion

Defining Religion

2007-12-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

I think the hardest question for me work through this semester has been what makes a religion a religion. Can we call groups centered on worshiping Elvis the same as those that worship Jesus Christ, God, Allah, Yahweh, and Atman? This subject has a way of making people uncomfortable because some of these religions seem to take away from what people believe is the true purpose of faith. It's true that people can get inspiration from Elvis, football, baseball, and other things not considered related to the main religions. But i believe there is a difference between admiration, and even infatuation, then deep seeded faith. The difference between these religions and main stream religions is the fact that the followers of main stream religions are following a path looking towards the future for guidance, moral code, a way to live, and spiritual support. It's not just about having the physical aspects of religions like having something that can relate to Eliade or Turner but it is about what is deep in the religion. There is an aspect of divinity that is missing from these religions like the ones based around Elvis. What is the higher purpose for worshiping Elvis, baseball, or football? Is it to live in the same way professional athletes and singers live, because in most cases this seems to prove self-destructive. Athletes and singers are not trying to find the purpose of life or deal with question about divinity, they are simply doing what they love and it is put on for entertainment. Elvis did not try to show people a higher purpose for life or a moral code, people love him because he was an amazing singer, entertainer, and a very interesting person. I think that making these people out to be creators of a religion takes away from those prophets and beings that give people faith, drive, guidance, and support at the deepest level every day.

Neo-Paganism and Female orientated religion

2007-11-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

I have heard the word pagan many times before in history and religious classes but I had never really looked into what exactly it was. This was probably because it had always been presented to me as something that was extinct and didn't really matter. I think the first time I started thinking about pagan and female related religions was when I read the "The Da Vinci Code." This book has a lot to do with the destruction and transformation of female based religions into male based religions. We had talked a little about this in class. How women were held as divine and connected with the Earth and then men took over as God became known as the Holy Father, and then men came to dominate women. There are many connections between women and the Earth, for example, they are both life givers and nurturers. But just as one creation story from Christianity states, mankind is supposed to dominate the Earth and rule it, just as men have now taken over the the main focus of religion. It's very interesting how you can see pagan religious symbols in present day religions. As the book states this is because the new religions are trying to erase the old religions and the best way to do that is to get rid of their symbols not by destroying them but by transforming them with a new meaning in the new religion.

Hinduism vs Buddhism

2007-10-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first studied Buddhism and Hinduism in my sophomore year of High School. We talked about one of the major differences between the two was the idea of the caste system. In Hinduism you must perform tasks that will fulfill your caste your whole life and then when you die, you will be reborn into a higher caste. The only way to move up toward achieving Brahman is to stay within your caste and accomplish everything required of that caste.
One idea we came up with, is that this is a very good way to keep the status quo. Then the lower class people will feel no need to try to move up in society because they will believe that they must first fulfill this role and then next life they will be higher in social status. In Buddhism the belief is that anyone is able to achieve Brahman no matter where they are born into society. This way there is no status quo or caste system that you need to climb before you can be enlightened.
The caste system is an interesting belief when it is also thought that everything in the universe is made up of the same "stuff." Then why is there a system in which people are at different levels in the caste and are unequal.

Holy Land

2007-10-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

I agree with the author of "Magic Kingdom Come." I liked how he talked a lot about the creator and his reasons for making this theme park. From what I got from the reading I think the author and I would have the same feelings about this place. I hate the idea of the park being used to convert Jewish people, and the way it portrays the creators values and enforces only his beliefs. This is the kind of thing that turns many people off to religion, and more specifically Christianity. Just like the author, even Christians feel uncomfortable with how their religion is being portrayed to others. It creates a very suppressive environment. Personaly I don't like the idea of trying to force people convert and being condescending to them and their religion. If any revelations or transformations of significance are to occur within someone, it will most likely occur due to an internal discovery, not someone running them through the facts of a religion and telling them why they are wrong. Religious history is not something to be portrayed by charicatures and skits being performed on repressentations of actual religious land. It is an interesting idea to bring the pilgrimage experience to people who are not able to go see the actual place, but it is impossible to re-create something with such immense historical and religious meaning. It is also very risky to try to educate masses about religion becuase it will be impossible to teach all the different points of view on translations of text and so there will always be a baised. Just like the author I think that this place would make me feel sick rather than give me a life experience.

Judaism

2007-10-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

I've always like the history of Judaism, and not just because it is also the origins of my religion. The history of Judaism goes back so far that it really gives you a sense of how things came to be and a better look at the mentality of the Jewish faith. Judaism has been through so much and still persevered. Through exile, slavery, return, exile, and then a Holocaust, they've still kept their faith because they consider themselves to be chosen by God. Many times people forget that Judaism is the basis for both Christianity and Islam. We differ upon who recognizes certain prophets and which specific traditions we follow but we all beleive in the same God. Just as Judaism does not recognize Jesus Christ as The Savior, Christains do not recognize Muhammad as a prophet. At the core of all these religions lies many related ideals.

Siddhartha

2007-09-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

I've read Siddhartha before and still the idea that i found most interesting was his ideas about his teachers. I like the idea that he didn't expect to be able to learn how to find true peace from another human. I think the best learning we do is on our own. The knowledge we discover ourselves seems to be the most important knowledge we learn. Siddhartha had many teachers and learned a lot from those teachers but he knew that there would always be something lost in translation from their thoughts and feelings to the words they use to express it. This is why the best lessons we learn cannot be expressed in words but have to be learned individually by experience. What we learn from others is very important in life and gives us the basis and tools to go out on our own and learn on a higher level, but we can't expect to have this level of learning from a teacher, especially from just one teacher.
I also like how he had to experience things that he knew to be wrong in order to discover the truth about the world. Without opening yourself up to new ideas and concepts that others know and experience, it is impossible to truly know the whole world. In order for anything to exist it must have an opposite and I think this shows up in Siddhartha, to truly complete himself he needed to experience what he had not been. This is the part of pilgrimage right before the metaphorical death when the person is reborn and appreciates and knows their old life in a new light.

Questioning Religion

2007-09-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

I have found myself constantly questioning my own religion. I was brought up Methodist and went to church every Sunday and to youth group since I can remember. But classes such as Sociology and history of world religion have made me question my religion more than ever. I don't know if I'll ever answer all the questions about my religion and my beliefs. I think this is better than following the religion blind and without actual understanding but does it make me any less of a religious person? I still feel very religious and connected to Methodism. Obviously I'm never going to know all the answers but there are very serious contradictions between many of my thought about society and how it shapes people in contrast to what many Christians believe and hold true with the Bible supporting their thoughts. This also brings into question interpretation though. How can we possibly expect the Bible to cover modern issues, and if so, how can some Christians interpret it so literally?

Moral Philosophy

2007-09-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

I believe that there is an ultimate truth, but my views so far are mixed between divine command, natural law, and in a way i believe in cultural relativism. I believe in God and that God and nature are combined. The thought that God is using nature to help us find truth about the world and about ourselves is very interesting. Because then the ideology would be that God is in everyone of us and all nature helping us find truth and ourselves. Instead of God as a lecturer God would be viewed as a catalyst to finding truth. This view sounds somewhat Buddhist. Instead of looking to be told what truth is and where to get morals from we are then expected to think and reflect not only on what we observe but include what we are told and the lessons we encounter in church and life in general. As far as cultural relativism goes, it is easy to see this idea in real life. This idea is the reason there are many conflicts between religions, races, and nations all over the world. Because we grow up in different places we have different experiences growing up and we are socialized differently causes conflicting views accross borders. It could be that the ultimate truth is to understand one another and listen, learn, and compromise seeing that we are all different according to societies rules.