This week in class we have discussed the definition of religion and the sociology of it. While peeling back the layers on the sociology of religion we have turned to texts to hear from the experts on the topic. As I delved into the readings many facts making up the religion and the sociology surrounding it have stuck out. According to Meredith B. McGuire in, Religion: The Social Context, “… sociologists have observed that upper-class persons are likely to belong to different Christian denominations than lower-class persons. In 1990, the median reported household income for Baptists and for Nazarenes was less than two-thirds that of Episcopalians and Unitarians” (7).

This is a factor of religion that I had never considered. This development creates curiosity as to why it is so.  It can foreseeably be debated that this is due to the types of churches in each community. One place of worship being easily available by those in the community who share commonalities in socioeconomic status, creating these divides in the statistics. Though this can be argued, from my personal experience, working-class families often live a street away from upper-class families. This being said, it would debunk the notion that the religions are easily accessed by those of a similar socioeconomic status. I am curious that this is due to the comfortability of being surrounded by people similar to you or if this is due to being raised in the religion and economic status and continuing the pattern. Hopefully, during the semester these shocking facts will be addressed and attempted to be explained.

There is currently a TV show titled “The Good Place” that airs on NBC.  The premise of this comedy is four humans die and are sent to the supposed “Good Place”, as opposed to the “Bad Place”.  Twist after twist leads them to question their respective lives on earth and what are the moral and ethical quandaries to what makes a good person.  Their demon-turned friend, Michael, discovers that the point system to determine where people go in the afterlife is so complex and complicated that it’s impossible for someone to get into the Good Place due to unintended consequences, we each make every second of every day.  I find this to be an excellent example of what we have learned so far in class.  Additionally, McGuire has mentioned something like the show in chapter two relating to an individual’s meaning system.  Although the main characters are dead, they each have defining traits that contribute to their actions in the past, present, and unpredictable future.  Eventually, they each build and assist one another in ways they never could have anticipated.

This week, while being the first week, we learned some fascinating details about sociology and not only its relationship to this class, but its intended purpose to better understand the religious landscape.  The four things that make up religion: experience, image, story and community, and how they relay back to each other was a set of logical steps that never really stood out to me before.  Finding out what a sociologist of religion does and how to utilize the data you’ve gathered is going to be a very useful skill set.  Social and personal relationships have changed so much, it’s hard to have it all connect and make sense.  Why has our world and culture become so complicated?

Chapter 2 in McGuire’s book covers the concept of religion being the catalyst for meaning.  This meaning is then expanded to the individual, social group, and meaning during a crisis.  While McGuire gives explanations on why religion is the center of giving meaning and interpretation in one’s life, I am still left asking if religion is the main source of meaning. As example, I was once a follower of the Catholic faith and despite the fact I did not enjoy my time there, I was still given a source of interpretation and a sense of meaning. Since it has been five years I decided to leave the Catholicism, I should have no meaning of the events and social groups I am a part of, right? This is not the case at all. My meaning and interpretations in life are still drawn from religion but are not based on Catholic teachings, rather, they are based on my exposure to other religions. If I were to explain why events unfold the way they do I would draw on the teachings of dharma and karma from Hinduism. I find myself referencing the teachings of the Buddha when I need guidance and assurance during my most stressful days. Concerning social groups, I tend to reference the Christian teaching of ‘love thy neighbor’ when I am presented with an ideology I may not agree with. McGuire is correct when she states that meaning is derived from religion. Now I question about the people who were never exposed to religion. Do these people have a system of meaning that truly has no religious influence?

Last week, we learned that religion can play a massively important role in society.  In her first chapter, Meredith McGuire wrote about how, 50 years ago, sociologists looked for religion in churches, but now they are trying to define religion differently. According to sociologists, there are two types of religious definitions. There are: substantive definitions, which use a Western worldview and define more narrowly, and functional definitions, which define more broadly but may encapsulate more than was intended. In class, we learned that there are four aspects of religion that all shape one another: experience, image, story, and community.

On Monday, January 21st, our university is hosting an interesting religious experience, called Beyoncé Mass. “The worship service uses the music and life of Beyoncé as a tool to cultivate an empowering conversation about Black women — their lives, bodies, and voices — while creating an event with story, scripture, and song that calls for the liberation of all people.” I am excited to “experience” this event from a sociological perspective, specifically focusing on the human. This religious event is going to bring experience, image, story, AND community, and it is an unorthodox worship service being held in a highly religious town, so I expect the overall response to the event to be thought-provoking. It is super cool that our school is hosting this event because last year in San Francisco, it was a hit.

I would highly recommend attending the event. I think it will bring some interesting discussions to our course.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/university-of-redlands-to-host-groundbreaking-beyonce-mass-300774037.html

On Monday we presented our church visits to sectarian style churches. I enjoyed these presentations because I am more familiar with denominational churches, therefore I learned a lot from these presentations. I thought it was interesting that our class visited churches that varied in demographics, attendance, location, and teachings. For example the church service I attended at the Redlands Christian Center was small and blatantly conservative in beliefs while the Sandal’s church appeared to have a large, younger crowed and displayed their worldview in a different fashion. However, each church had teachings that were similar across the board. For example, all of the churches made it evident that accepting Jesus into one’s life is crucial in salvation, and the born again theme appeared to be reoccurring as well. Overall, I enjoyed the broad spectrum of churches that the class visited, and I felt it gave a nice variety of sectarian style churches.

For Wednesday, we listened to a talk on the spiritual lives and worldview of Catholic workers on Skid Row, by Jim Spickard. I thought that this talk was fascinating, as it gave a detailed portrayal of the worldview of these religious people. From watching presentations on sectarian churches to learning about the Catholic workers on Skid Row, there were very different belief systems and worldview for two groups. It’s interesting that both of these groups consider themselves Christian, but have vastly different beliefs.

This past Wednesday the class attended a symposium in which our professor spoke about the spiritual narratives of the LA Catholic Workers. His talk was really fascinating to me. It was so inspiring to hear about what these Catholics are doing for their community. They were grounded in their identities as Catholics but were living out a mission that many Catholics do not, and that is to serve thy neighbor. My Catholic high school really focused on social justice as a central theme in our religion classes. During my senior year, I took a class called Peace Studies and learned the importance of social justice in my religion. Lately however, I have been surrounded by Catholics who are more focused on the rituals and beliefs. It was so interesting to hear the words of some of these Catholic Workers, who believed that serving others was a crucial, if not the most important, part of being a Catholic. Their religion was centered around taking care of others and I think this is the direction the Catholic Church should be heading. The LA Catholic Workers are living their religion in a very bold way and hearing their stories of working for justice made me very proud to be a Catholic.

This week, going to the Wellness Symposium: Spirituality, Social Justice and Disability was a very interesting experience. Going into the conference, I was glad that we had read the assigned articles because I felt that I already knew the background and was familiar with the study on Catholic Workers in Los Angeles. It was very interesting to see how it was presented and the other aspects that Jim drew from his research.

Although the three presenters that we saw all worked in somewhat different fields, there was still a sense of overlap between all of them. Between the presentation on mental health awareness and the creation of the Vibe festival, Jim’s work on social justice and the Catholic Workers, and the last presentation on social justice and aspects that contribute to it, they all played very well into one another, despite what I initially thought. What I took away from the panel we attended at the conference was that there must be active thought that goes into actions or activities in the pursuit of social justice. It is not the size of the actions, but the dedication on the part of those who are giving.

If one were to take elements from all three presentations; the thought and effort that was put into such an event like Vibe that acknowledges issues of mental health awareness, the selflessness and dedication of the Los Angeles Catholic Workers, and the four elements of social justice and spiritual freedom from the third presentation, then they can form a cohesive whole.

Last week in class we presented on our sectarian congregation visits, and attended a talk in Orton about mental health and religious activism. On Monday, everyone presented on their sectarian visits, and talked about their experience while attending the service. I expected my sectarian visit to be similar to my denominational visit, but they were very different. The sectarian church I went to was called Redlands Church of Christ, and they are an evangelical Protestant group. Their beliefs are very conservative and traditional, which was very interesting to me as I have never attended an evangelical service prior to this. This group takes the Bible literally and believes that it is inerrant. I could feel some tension within this group, as they believe that the rest of the world will be damned when Christ comes again. I got a sense of an “us vs. them” mindset, and I really felt like an outsider, although they did their best to welcome me. I think the other people who attended an evangelical service also felt the “us vs. them” mindset during the service.

On Wednesday, we attended a talk in Orton that subsituted for our class. We saw two speakers, one of which was our professor. The first speaker talked about mental health and how important it is to remove the stigma surrounding it. I really enjoyed her presentation because mental health does not get the attention it deserves, and when it does it is in a negative light. Many people suffer from mental health issues, and removing the stigma that surrounds mental health would be an important step for our society. Jim was the next person to talk, and he talked about religious activism, especially among Catholic groups. This was very interesting because I was raised Catholic myself, and a lot of time people have misconceptions that all Catholics are traditional in their beliefs and very conservative, which is not the case. It was nice to see someone highlight a group of devout Catholics who were fighting for human rights, even if it went against what the Catholic church believes in.

On Wednesday the class attended a talk given by Jim Spickard in which his central question was: How do we sustain this life? The talk presented spiritual narratives of social justice Catholics. I found the topic to be fascinating since I had been raised Catholic but then strayed away from in high school. However, my upbringing in Catholicism is a major reason why I became passionate about social justice issues. It was inspiring to hear the stories of these Catholics and how they have used activism as a way to practice their beliefs. It was also interesting to see how some of them didn’t stick to traditional Catholic ways, but instead adopted modern ways of believing and worship. I have thought about trying to get in touch with my Catholic past, however I didn’t know how to without having to believe in some of the fundamentalist views. However, this group shows how religion works through them through activism. There was a quote that stuck out to me that someone who Jim interviewed said, “If I stop working for justice, I stop being human.” That was powerful for me because I resonated with those words. This talk allowed me to see how I can connect my Catholic past to my passions about social justice today.