This weekend my friends and I watched Bohemian Rhapsody.  I couldn’t help but notice some of my friends experiencing a change in behavior, almost like the transition in mindset that many experience while meditating.  After I asked them what happened to them while watching the movie. Most asked back “You couldn’t feel it?” and I could but I was curious about what they meant by it and one compared it to going to church, without any prompting. This lead to me questioning them more of what do they feel and how it affects them. The common answer was “It just makes me feel full” or “its just that feeling no one can name.” Something that I think is a key aspect of religion is filling that want to experience the unexplainable and a part of it is using religion to give it a name. I continued to ask about what parts of the movie sparked these undefinable feelings and it broke down to either was when Freddy was going through hardship and overcoming it or when music was playing. These are two key things in story telling and favorite story types. Everyone loves a redemption arch and there has always been magical sense about music that inspires and forces us to experience a wide range of emotions. While working on my congregation visit  I made a key point about the music that was being used and many of the stories from religions follow the redemption arch or the from suffering comes greatness arch. I think the “undefinable” feeling that most people experience is just good story telling followed up by strategically timed music.

This week in class my group presented on our book written by Marion Goldman on the topic of why Women whom are successful in the work field decide to join a Cult. When discussing this book with my group after previously reading it on our own we found similarities of perspectives that were discussed in the book that were a challenge to grasp. We found this vital that those points such as explaining the composite that Goldman discusses would be necessary to emphasize. The way in which Goldman conducted her research was brilliant. She knew that in order to protect everyone in this religion names would be confidential; however, the fact that so many of the women stories were similar that she had the ability to group them together making three different main groups was highly intriguing. What made an even greater impact on the research within the composites was the quotations that she pulled from her discussions with these various women and were implemented throughout the book.

On the other hand, the group that discussed the Mega Church was a complete contrast to my groups presentation; however there is always the similarity that individuals fall in to a certain religious community to belong to something bigger than themselves. I personally find Mega Churches more comforting and I always tend to feel a sense of relief when I don’t go to a small church service. From a sociological perspective I believe its because the more people that are at the church the less pressure it is to perfect your every move. For example when I belonged to a smaller church everyone had a closer relationship and therefore all eyes were on everyone and if you made the wrong move or said the wrong thing there was an immediate shift in atmosphere where as Mega churches are the complete opposite and tend to carry a more relaxed atmosphere.

One of the groups presentations that stood out to me this week was about the book, “A Mosaic of Believers.” The group shared about the Mosaic Church and one thing that surprised me about this church was the idea of havens. They had many different groups that someone could join based on their interests which grouped them with people similar to themselves and gave them a smaller community within the large church. They had five havens which were: theological, multiethnic, artistic, innovator, and age. The havens seemed similar to small worship groups at other churches because it gave people a way to feel connected on a personal level to others. This also gave the opportunity for people to express themselves. For instance, the art haven allowed people to make films and design, while also trying to spread the church’s message. One large draw back from the church is that it mostly resonates with younger people and isolated older ones. Many people that are middle age found it hard to feel encompassed in the church. Although it is mostly millennials that can be found, many similarities can still be seen when comparing Mosaic Church to churches with an older following. Both types of churches still had smaller groups within the church that gave them a sense of place and identity within the church. Just because these groups met however did not take away the importance of everyone coming together for a large service on Sunday. Music is also very important to the places of worship and although it is expressed in different genres, it is still very evident. I think these three ideas can always be found no matter what type of church you are looking at and serve as very important ideas for any type of religion to encompass.

As this course has continued, I have found that the concept of megachurches has appeared several times, both within the Case Studies and within classroom learning. As a person who grew up in a Megachurch, I would like to ponder on the subject a bit more. My personal experience in Megachurches was fairly negative, which explains why I am no longer a part of the practice. Something that always confused me growing up in these churches was the lack of secure Articles of Faith. When asked what members of a megachurch believe in, the answers are sure to be varied. Most of these megachurches claim to be Nondenominational Christian (Evangelical), however the megachurch I grew up in was technically a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. This knowledge was known to very few and was not publicly broadcasted often, if ever. In fact, the only people privy to the information were the pastors and whoever knew/cared enough about religion to go check. However, the church’s reason for being Southern Baptist was simply because the head Pastor had grown up in that faith, not that the Church had a fundamental stance on issues that made them Southern Baptist. How can this be possible? Should not a church officially believe in whatever doctrine they claim? Whose opinion matters more in categorizing beliefs, the Church or theologians?

As someone who hopes to someday be a theologian, I am pushed to say that theologians have a larger say in Church categorizations, but something must be said on self-identification. If someone self identifies as a Wiccan, yet practices what a theologian would call Catholicism, there are some interesting discoveries to be made there. Theologians are not always right, and will never always be right. They are constantly learning and expanding their horizons everyday, just as a good scholar of any field should do.

One of the case study presentations this week in class highlighted the differences between a non believer and an active participant in religion’s daily activities and lives. While the man, an “agnostic atheist” millennial in the tech industry with several roommates lives a life without faith, a stay at home  wife and mother of a young daughter incorporates God and her religion into several aspects of her life. One of the more memorable parts of the video was when she claimed that people who are living without faith are not living life to its highest potential, as their lives do not have “as much meaning” as those who believe in a higher power connected somehow to humanity. Quite obviously, the belief that by living a life for God she was doing something meaningful, stuck with her. Another point made by her that jumped out at me was when she described briefly how her religion strengthens her in times of weakness, as heaven and unconditional love could be a comfort to those who might feel grief or distress.

This led me to considering the reasons people turn to religion, as well as the times that people do so, and it is undeniable that in times of grief or tragedy or shortly after, people do turn to their faith more often.  There are numerous reasons why someone may choose to practice a religion, especially more so after a tragic event to cope with it better, but one of the likely leading factors has to do with the situation being out of someone’s own hands and in a higher power–by placing full control of the situation into someone else’s hands, we relieve some stress. The idea that even death, a finite ending, is not the ultimate end, because you will see your beloved deceased relatives in heaven again and they are in a better and spectacular place, is a wonderful and beautiful idea no matter what your personal belief system is, even if for some non believers it is not a reality. Therefore, people do use their faith in religion to comfort themselves about the futures of their own lives as well as the future of others. My question is, what if theoretically God had no current interaction or control over humanity–for example, if Christianity drastically changed its main beliefs and suddenly,  while God did create the world and humans originally, he now has no control over current or future events, and no afterlife is certain, how many people would feel a loss of religion? If praying to God was unnecessary and pointless, there was no life after death, and no concept of “destiny,” and he was strictly the Creator of the world in the beginning and nothing more, then would people stick with their faith?

My personal guess is that many would turn to a more scientific “evolutionary” point of view of creation, and many would reject Christianity. What does this say about the influencing factors of religion and why people turn to it? Is comfort a necessary aspect of religion?

This past week in class we’ve continually been learning about our peers’ books and what they teach about congregations and religiosity throughout America and the world. I was very interested by presentation about the Ammerman book, “Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes,” and the array of ways people feel spiritual and religious in their daily lives. In class it was mentioned that Amy Moff-Hudec worked on this project, whom I work very closely with in the Community Service Learning Office on campus. I went and talked with Amy and asked about her involvement on the project and learned a lot more about her education and research projects prior to working at Redlands. She told me about her work with Ammerman as a grad student, and the different experiences she had throughout the project, driving all around Massachusetts and other parts of the United States to conduct interviews, as well as the work she did for the book she wrote on her own.

Her favorite experience she had on the Ammerman project was really beautiful to me. She interviewed a Catholic woman who had a higher socioeconomic status than other participants in the study, who lived in a beautiful apartment in a good area. When Amy entered the apartment, she met the woman, lively and beautiful and open to speaking, but was taken aback because the only furniture in the entire apartment was a a single couch in the living room and a table in the kitchen. While talking about her spirituality, this woman explained that she felt called from God to give her possessions away to the sick and needy, and that she did not eat much at all because she preferred to spend her money on giving food to the disadvantaged, even though she was wealthy enough to afford to do both. It was an especially fascinating story because the Catholic church does not mandate such extreme charity, it was part of her own personal call and relationship with God, that came from within and above her, not through any societal or religious pressures.

We’ve heard presentations from an assortment of religious traditions and sociological perspectives and approaches to studying those religions in class this week. It has made me really question if religions can ever be truly generalized. I never realized how much variety there can be within any given religion. Also, the people themselves are within so many stages of life as well as stages of their religiosity

I myself have had very stagnant religiosity. I was born into the religion that I currently consider myself a part of. I went to a school that practiced that same religion and my entire family is a part of that faith. I guess for me the idea of converting and having a fluid religious experience seems extremely foreign. For that reason, the in-class presentations have been so enlightening and have taught me so much about variation and change within the religious spectrum. It leads me to a greater appreciation for religions as a whole. A metaphor for religion that has come to mind is higher education. Saying you have a college degree could mean a hundred different things, like saying you’re religious. If you have a college degree it could be in art, biology, English, etc. It could mean you studied online or it could mean you went to a large state school or a small liberal arts institution. It could also imply that you took three years to obtain that degree or ten. The same seems true with religion. Saying you’re religious or even saying you’re Jewish or Christian doesn’t really provide a clear idea of who you are. Religion is so broad and there is so much variation even within a particular group that it seems near impossible to make generalizations.

This past week in class we continued with our presentations of our readings. Being that I have no prior experience with organized religion, the teachings of the texts are ones that perplex and intrigue me. The idea of the new wave of churches is interesting in how they are attempting to appeal to a younger congregation. The tactic of bringing in popular music, art and a new presentation style of the church’s beliefs are interesting, and it makes me curious about how they came about. It is intriguing to me how almost every presentation has discussed how the congregations desire to bring in new members. It is conceptually obvious when looking at the necessity of the church to continue on but in almost every text it was presented in a business standpoint. I now understand that the organizations need to treat the church as a business but when first learning about this I was perplexed. It was almost shocking to hear that they are treated as a business, but I believe that this is due to my inexperience with churches and my idea of them as a whole.

This week has also been one of confusion due to the upcoming congregation visit. I have found myself worried about this visit due to my lack of experience with religion. I have found myself worried about things such as dress, how to behave and overall what to expect. I understand that I must go into the visit with a sociological mindset, which I presume will be easy due to my lack of understanding and lack of expectations of religion. Though this is true I also find myself worried about unintendedly being disrespectful or cold. Overall, this next week of class and experiences will be those of further understanding.

This past week four more groups were able to give their presentations about their case study.  After listening to what each group had to say about the book, one group really stood out to me.  It was the “Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes” presentation. In this case study, two main topics were brought up: theistic and extra theistic.  The group defined theistic as someone who has a one on one relationship with God, whereas extra theistic is someone who believes in more spirituality things than religion.  The group discussed the similarities and differences between the two and how it played a major key in the author’s book. They also included a short video of two people, a women who is theistic and a male is extra theistic, and showed how they live their everyday lives.  

This video was very interesting because it would show the male and female doing the exact same things throughout their day.  They would both wake up, brush their teeth, eat breakfast, etc. The women had a child that was about 2-3 years old. She was a stay at home mom and went to her church very often.  She believed that without religion, without believing in God, we humans wouldn’t be living our life to the fullest. The video then showed the male’s perspective. He was a single, mid-30’s man, who works at home on his computer.  He lived with 5 other roommates because he said he was a millennial. He said that he was an atheist and did not believe in religion.

It was interesting to see how similar, yet different these two theistic and extra theistic people’s lives were.  It showed that they both do the same things as any other human would do. The difference between the two is their outlook on life and how they think they are living their life to the fullest.  This is why the topic religion is a major controversy. Some people are just like the women who believe that life would not be the same if it weren’t for God. However, there are others like the male who don’t believe in any religion, yet they are still living their life to the fullest.  

This week we listened to presentations on a variety of different religions. What I found most interesting, which was a theme I connected back to the book our group will present on, is how there really is no one “right” way to participate in religion. Within every country, within every religious group, within every domination, within every place of worship, everyone is practicing a little bit differently. This is something that I have long pondered over.

The reason why I distanced myself from my childhood faith was I had a hard time grappling with the idea that a loving God could condemn good people to Hell for worshipping the wrong way (or not worshiping at all). As a child, I noticed the differences in the way people worshiped, even within my own church, and how easily people would condemn one another for the way they chose to practice their faith. It is even worse between denominations. One high-school friend of mine who went to Calvary Chapel told my Mormon friend she was going to Hell. As a Lutheran, I was told many times by Christians from other denominations and from Calvary Chapel (non-denominational) that I wasn’t a true Christian which never made sense to me, especially since Lutherans were pretty much the original protestants. My great uncle, a Baptist pastor, asked to pray over my dying Grandma, who was also Lutheran, to ask God to let her into Heaven because he didn’t believe she would go to Heaven because of her faith. This is why I distanced myself from religion. In my mind, we were all worshiping the same God, weren’t we? And even those who weren’t worshipping the same God, weren’t they also just trying their best to make sense of the afterlife? It has been interesting hearing about the different ways people learn and practice religion, and although I’m not sure what I believe about the afterlife, I feel confident that there is no one “right” way to Heaven/enlightenment/Nirvana/etc