Reflection

One of the articles I read this week was  Redefining the Boundaries of Belonging by Peggy Levitt. She explores transnational economic and political practices and gives her audience a model examining three broad goals of transnational religiosity. These three goals look at extended, negotiated, and recreated transnational religious organizations. I was mostly interested in the recreated transnational religious organizations and how they are formed. It was interesting to learn how these religious organizations start their own groups when they come to America and thrive in this new country. These congregations can be created with guidance from the religion’s home country’s leaders or they have religious leaders come to these areas with large transnational people. It also interesting to relate this to other readings because it all shows how these organizations create a safe place and a sense of community to people who have just moved.  This also ties into what we have been learning about this entire semester in terms of religion being a main source of finding a sense of community and identity. Whether someone just moved here from India or just ended their long term relationship, people turn to religion for a sense of community and a way to find themselves.

This week went to a church called Brookside and they were a sectarian Methodist congregation. There were very few people in such a large church and it was definitely different from the denominational methodist church I went to a few weeks ago. The sermon wasn’t specifically about being “born-again” and didn’t mention the two words in particular at any point of the sermon. However, over the past few weeks they have been talking about this “armor-plate” that one needs to wear with them at all times to deviate from the temptations of satan.