This week opened my eyes to the diversity of religions in America. Since I did not grow up in a religion and my parents never spoke to me about it, I had always grouped all Christian  congregations together. I had friends that belonged to different churches, but they were never very religious and probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish themselves how their practices differed from each other. Watching the film Separate Realities surprised me in how different the two congregations and the individuals who attended them were. These are two congregations I would have previously just classified under the realm of Christianity assumed they were very similar, when in fact they are starkly different. When I was taking notes while watching the film, I did so by focusing on the differences between the two individuals. It wasn’t until we started our class discussion after watching the film that I realized in many ways, Susan and Glenn’s stories are similar. They both had prior issues that religion helped them to deal with and overcome, and they had each found a congregation that was able to satisfy their religious needs. This to me reinforced that different people need different things, especially when it comes to religion. After reading Chapter 5 and learning about different ways of classification, it was interesting to think about where Glenn’s First Baptist Church and Susan’s Episcopal church. Learning about how to classify different religions was another part of what made me realize how diverse Christianity is and how diverse religion in America is as a whole.

Reading about meaning and worldviews in Chapter 2 made me think about how my own meaning system was formed. I was not raised in any religion, and whenever we were talking to my parents about what happens after you die, they would tell us that nothing happens- you die and that’s it. If something bad happened, no meaning was applied to it- other than if there was something that could have been avoided by making a better choice. My parents do not believe in any higher power, and my mom would harshly dismiss any idea of a “God” or of things happening for a reason. My parents are also not ones to question the meanings of life, because, as they would say, who cares?
Although my parents instilled in us that life and the events that happen within it have no higher meaning, that in of itself is their worldview/ system of meaning. The purpose of their everyday actions is to improve their own lives and the lives of their children. The meaning/ purpose of my life, I think, is to maximize my happiness while I am alive. I do not really believe anything will happen after death, so most of the choices that I make are to make the time that I am alive the best it can be. As “all meaning systems are based on an intersection of self and social group,” I have developed a slightly different worldview than my family, which have not only come from within myself but also from different social groups, such as my friends (McGuire 31). Talking to friends growing up and participating in discussions in school caused me to question different meanings in the world instead of on impulse dismissing these topics as pointless to talk or think about.