In our last class we learned about two different presentations.  The presentation on the book, “God Needs No Passport” made me think about how we see the people around us who are involved with religion and those who aren’t.  I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for four months, and while I was there I noticed how secular the people seem to be as well as their emphasis on humanism, equality, fairness etc.  This reminded me of the two terms discussed in the presentation.  What I saw in Denmark appeared to be a great example of religious tolerance.  Religion isn’t something that is really talked about to your friends or people you know and is something private in Denmark.  The majority of the Danish people seem to be accepting of other religions, but the next step to pluralism doesn’t seem to be there.  It takes effort to be able to find communities or spaces in which to practice your religion with others, so in this way Denmark seems to be tolerant, but not pluralist.  All of this is just my opinion from what I have learned and experienced in Denmark.

The presentation on different types of people in terms of their relationship to religion was interesting.  I think it is hard to have only four categories of people just because the relationship an individual can have with their religion and how they treat others can not be reduced to four archetypes. There are many factors that can play into how one sees religion in the world versus in their lives versus in their communities and I think people and nations need to learn to be more tolerant of different beliefs to allow people to coexist.