This past week we did an activity where we split into different groups, depending on which article was assigned.  I was assigned to read “Religious America, Secular Europe?” by Berger. It was an interesting article as it mainly explained the similarities and differences of what religion is like between America and Europe.  

As we discussed in lecture, we defined secularization as the idea that religion is disappearing from the modern world.  Berger claims that Europe is a more secular society while America is a more religious one. In our class activity, my group and I used a venn diagram as an outline and drew creative characters and symbols that represented each similarity and difference.  For example, one similarity between the two was that both catholic and protestant churches must operate as voluntary associations. So we decided to draw a church with open doors. The whole idea of thinking of different ways we could represent each fact was very challenging, yet helpful at the same time.  

The “Gendering Secularization Theory” group’s presentation of their poster really caught my attention.  Their article’s main focus was about how gender plays a significant role in the secularization theory, more importantly women.  On the poster, they drew a “working” women which represented someone who is not as religious. On the opposite side of the paper, there was a “stay at home” women which represented someone who is more religious.  However, in the middle they drew a hybrid of the two different women and explained how it represented women today who are both but still consider themselves as religious. These women were considered “jugglers” as they juggled both their job and home life.  I found this article very interesting because it shows how secularization has and still do affect women till this day.

As it shows, this week’s emphasis was really about secularization and how it plays a big role in religion.  I believe that this activity allowed me to see the different ways in which the different authors see how secularization has been affected in society

This week’s case study, “Is Religion the Problem?”, is about  religious violence and the debate about it here in America. In it, the author Mark Juergensmeyer puts religion in two different lenses: religion as the problem— it causes religious violence, and religion as the victim— violent instances are done under the name of religion. Juergensmeyer says religion is not a problem, rather religion in public life is; religion in politics is. Found in all religions is “sacred warfare,” examples being battles in the Old Testament, epics of Hinduism and Buddhism, and so on. This notion of “sacred warfare” is misconstrued when taken out of context— especially when it is applied to the political. Religion can personalize conflict and provide personal reward for doing things in the name of religion. It provides an organizational network, is a vehicle of social mobilization, and can act as a justification for violence when applied to an outside context. However, religion can also be used for something positive in that it can offer images of a peaceful resolution and can offer justification for tolerating differences.

This week in the classroom we performed a Jigsaw activity. In this activity we were paired into groups and were instructed to read two articles, one assigned, and one chosen. My articles were Roger Finke’s “An Unsecular America” and Linda Woodhead’s “Gendering Secularization Theory”. Roger Finke’s “An Unsecular America” surrounded the topic of the traditional secularization model of the investable decay of religion.  Finke highlights the aspects of this model that may pertain to Europe but not the United States. He explains that these contradictions may be in place for a few reasons. A few of the main reasons being that the US has a separation of church and state and religious regulations are not in place in the US. He uses data and statistics to strengthen his argument that the United States’ religious beliefs are not decaying.

In contrast, Linda Woodhead’s “Gendering Secularization Theory” is an argument stating that men and women in the US have drastically different experiences with religion. She states that when observing the decline in religious attendance, you must look at the data with the realization that men and women have left at varying rates. She states that this difference in the relationship with religion is based on the roles in the household and in the workplace that women have. She states that there are now three different types of women today. The ones who are stay at home moms, the ones who are focused on the workplace and the women who are in-between.

This week presented many important aspects that a sociologist should and does apply in their research.  Most famously is that of the six sociological narratives that answers what is happening to religion and why?  I find each one to be rich with unique ideas that sometimes overlap with each other; but stay relatively separate throughout the data-gathering process.  Overall, the structural change and the cultural change of society is constantly evolving to the point that, I believe, the thought of religion is divided in two parts: those who feel it is no longer relevant; and those who feel the need to change it along with the times.  Whether or not people decide to follow a religious belief does not preclude the fact that religious settings can also be a place for community fellowship; and that individual choice is deeply personal.

Furthermore, the article that was chosen for me to read, and the one I chose, both had a foundation in at least one of the six narratives.  Steve Bruce’s “Christianity in Britain, R.I.P.” focused on the irrefutable decline of church membership in the U.K.—thus confirming his thesis of secularization increase.  Throughout his essay, he denies Rodney Stark’s claim that secularization does not exist by citing data gathered from 100 years of research.  The idea that religion is disappearing from the modern world is the exact definition of secularization; and it unfortunately is what many believe has happened.  The move for religion to be more private is undoubtedly why secularization is becoming more prominent.

Reading about the different religious narratives helped me to tie together a lot that we have learned in the course so far. I realized why it was somewhat difficult for me to summarize what I have learned- because the same data can be interpreted in so many different ways. The narratives of secularization, conservative resurgence, religions as local communities, increased individualism, religious markets, and globalization all have some validity to me and that is difficult for me to wrap my head around. All of these narratives invite support and critique, and there is no way that one can ever be proved the “correct” narrative.

This week in my theory class we read Michel Foucault and his thoughts on discourse seemed relevant to the debates between the different religious narratives. Discourse shapes and defines our reality and ideas. There is nothing pre-existing being discovered though discourse, but it is created through power and knowledge. When reading about the different religious narratives, I thought about how no one discovers some pre-existing truth and there are only interpretations of data. This also made me think of social construction and how scholars construct the reality of religious trends, and because they are constructions none can be classified as “true”.

In chapter 8 of McGuire’s book, she explains the different theories which sociologists have proposed to answer the question of how religion has changed in the United States and how it may change in the future. The first of these theories is secularization, which suggests that we no longer live in a society dominated by religion. Reasons which have been given for this shift include differentiation, societalization, and privatization. Institutional differentiation and societalization essentially suggest that we live in a a corporate society which is made up of many large-scale institutions and corporations. Government institutions such as welfare offices have now replaced small church organizations; people look to religion less and less to solve their problems. Privatization suggests that religion plays much less of a role in an individual’s social life. Instead, it is seen as a private aspect of life, and many are against religion playing a role in public policy and government. I wondered why McGuire proposed this reasoning for why Americans may now be less religious, considering she admits that this explanation doesn’t necessarily suggest that people are against religion or are less religious. Instead, it simply suggests that they may not make it as central to certain aspects of their lives, and they view it as a separate and private role. Privatization strikes me as being one of the central concepts in Ammerman’s “Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes” book that my group and I conducted our presentation on. While she seemed to suggest that the American people have become more private in their religious life, and are less willing to accept every part of one religion, she does not suggest that Americans are less religious. Instead, she observed that many of the people she interviewed did in fact find religion to play an important role in their lives; the role was more private and tended to be separate from their political and social lives, although it did seep in at times.

It is no doubt that we are living in a peculiar time where politics and religion intersect. With the recent events in New Zealand, I would like to address the increasing threat of radical Christianity. It is no doubt that the shooting that took place last week was based on race and religion. There was, of course, a narrative that was pushed with this recent shooting (which can be found in the manifesto left by the shooter). This narrative has many similarities to the Crusades from the 9th century and so on. The one main similarity is the narrative that the Islamic faith is a threat to Christianity. In this situation, there was a mention of a secret Christian group named “reborn Knights Templar.” Should this group exist, there is no question that they are a cult that expresses radical sectarian ideologies. In much of this, we can see an obvious trend and motivation to the shooting. The result that this murderer wanted was the balkanization of the western nations which indefinitely leads to a race war of sorts. It is clear that this attack was to provoke those that are radicalized to take action against a group of people. This attack will, unfortunately, create fear in the world, increase the cultural rift that we see occur, and drive us away from obtaining world peace. Thus leading to my claim that this event is one of many examples that we are going through a modern crusade and we are at the crossfire.

In Chapter 8 of Religion: The Social Context, McGuire describes the narrative of religious individualization, which refers to “the degree to which individuals choose among various religious options, crafting a custom-made religious life, rather than choosing a package formulated by religious institutions.”

While some may have a hard time grasping this concept of patchwork-religion, my father immediately came to mind as a perfect example. He grew up in Protestant household, and was taught to believe wholeheartedly in G-d and Jesus Christ. He went to church on Easter and Christmas with his family, but aside from that his life was very secular. With fatherhood, my dad became more interested in religion and spirituality. When I was young, he read the Bible all the time and taught me and my brothers about Protestant tradition, even though we were raised Jewish. Over time, my father started gravitating away from traditional Protestantism and seeking more spiritual fulfillment. Soon, he began meditating and worshiping Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian yogi and guru, insisting regular meditation made his everyday life easier.

While the changes I observed pointed towards conversion, my father continued reading the Bible throughout this process, and even worshipped pictures of Jesus beside pictures of Yogananda. Eventually, I asked about his religious identity, and he explained that he identified as a “Christian yogi”. He found a way to quench his spiritual thirst without giving up his belief in Jesus, and didn’t mind the stark lack of like-minded individuals around him. This made-up title and blending of two separate belief systems into one satisfying way of life is pretty much the definition of religious individualization, and I had the opportunity to observe it first hand growing up.

Also, it would make sense that when children are exposed to religious individualization, they are more likely to explore unconventional modes of religious expression later and life, which certainly fits the religious individualization narrative.

A family friend passed away a couple of week ago, and the family asked me to sing at the funeral this weekend. The song is a gospel track called “It’s OK” by Bebe and Cece Winans. I have been practicing it all week, and for some reason, I’m finding so much comfort within this song. Gospel music is deeply rooted in African-American tradition, and my grandma played it all the time as I grew up. My parents took me to a nondenominational Christian mega church as a child, so the only Christian music I heard was contemporary. I used to laugh at my grandma’s gospel music because it sounded so different to me. As an adult, I have heard it a lot less often, so I appreciated it whole lot more.

Although it isn’t very popular now, I was fascinated to hear that famous singers like Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande, and James Brown were all influenced by gospel music. The genre has made its mark on history and the American music industry. Gospel music has also influenced a lot of the music in churches today. When I went to visit the Pathway church a month ago, I recognized one of the songs that their worship team sang as one that my grandma would play in her kitchen. I have found comfort in this song as I’ve practiced it this week, so I hope the family members at the funeral find some comfort in it as well. I would also highly recommend you all to give the song a listen.