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

Many more case studies were presented and many more added to our multi-diverse discussion.  I remember on Tuesday regarding the books “Tradition in a Rootless World” and “A Mosaic of Believers”.  What was fascinating was the background research each author did for their respective church setting.  Ms. Davidman did her outline surrounding the conversion of orthodoxy in Judaism with two very distinct groups of secular Jewish women.  I loved the consistent theme regarding women’s role in both groups that showed not only their experience; but also, the thoughts of their fellow Jews and how they treated women’s roles and if they were going to be progressive.  One common factor both groups seemed to share was that conversion happened mainly due to a sense of feeling lost, or discontent—ultimately leading them to their faith.

Next, Mr. Marti’s in-depth analysis of the Mosaic Church located in L.A.  The four “havens” were interesting in their own rights; since they all have their own pros and cons.  The theological, multiethnic, artistic, innovator, and age havens seem to have alienated a certain area of humanity—thus leading to more people leaving the church.  They did share one quote that I found inspiring; and one that I think sums up how many contemporary religious groups feel.  Gerardo Marti stated: “Change does not have to be feared; it can be embraced, especially if it accomplishes the purposes of God.”  It appears that the Mosaic church truly wishes to increase its fluidity of ethnicity; because it aims to create a new shared culture of different kinds of people together; rather than adapt the varying cultures.

My group and I did a case study on Konieczny’s book, The Spirit’s Tether: Family, Work, and Religion among American Catholics, and I was intrigued. I didn’t know much about Catholicism as I was growing up (all I knew was that they baptized babies and “worshiped” the Virgin Mary), so I took this as an opportunity to learn more about the religion itself. However, this book gave me two, very detailed, experiences at two very different Catholic churches.

When I read about the Our Lady of Assumption church, I didn’t understand how a Catholic church could be so strict. I always remembered my Catholic friends being allowed to do more than I was when I was younger, and their parents were always less strict. I always wanted to convert to Catholicism as a kid because it seemed more fun. But this church wasn’t what I thought a Catholic church would be like. They had bold opinions on abortion, there were gender roles, and there was a bit of a hierarchy. I was blown away when I read the stories of the people Konieczny interviewed.

The second church, Saint Brigitta, was interesting as well because it was very different from Assumption. It was definitely a lot more lax, and it seemed like the members enjoyed being members there. I thought it was crazy that they met in a gymnasium, compared to Assumption that met in a grand chapel with stain glass windows. I thought it was especially crazy that members of this church were pro-choice, and they weren’t reprimanded by the priest. Overall, I love how Konieczny wrote this book because she took two churches of the same religion in the same city, and showed how completely different they actually were.

In chapter four of McGuires book, she brings up the topic of Women’s Religion and Gender Roles. She explains the connection between religious expectations and societal gender stereotypes. The roles that men and women have in society are created by the religious groups  definition of them. In class recently, we have been talking about how more people are identifying as Unaffiliated and how the word “Spiritual” is being used more. When examining America in recent years, we see an increase in women and minority rights. People today are defying gender stereotypes and breaking the norms and views of society. Women of this generation refuse to conform to a man’s idea of what a woman should do or say. This creates many women who reject what many traditional or official religious teachings say. In non-official religions, women are allowed to define their own roles and find meanings that have relevance to who they really are and not who men tell them to be.

I find it very interesting that “extrascientific explanations” can be so interwoven ad/or coexistent with official religion. As a practicing Jewish person, I am very familiar with numerology and its prevalence in Judaism. I learned when I was very young that the number 18 somehow spelled out the Hebrew word for “life”, and haven’t questioned the correlation or logic since. Although I was aware of the concept of numerology, I never thought of it as a stand alone belief system. I just assumed it was an exclusively Jewish concept, and one that did not fall anywhere near in the same category as UFOs or witchcraft.

Another practice I never considered comparable to religion is astrology. I have been around astrology my entire life, but I have never really delved in too deeply. However, I have always known that I am a Scorpio, and the related basic traits. I have observed that this is a commonality among most people in modern society– astrology is acknowledged as existent, but not necessarily believed in. I found it fascinating that McGuire felt the need to say that astrology can exist alongside official religion, because I never thought of the two as conflicting. I have several people in my life who subscribe wholeheartedly to astrology, and also express belief in G-d. Now that I think about it further, it does offer explanations for goings on in everyday life and personal tendencies that might otherwise be justified by religion.

Growing up in a Hispanic household I was always surrounded by tales of the paranormal and witchcraft. To convey how I felt to the reader, it almost felt like I was in the time period of the Salem witch trials. These stories range from La Llorona to witchcraft in the form of animals. These stories are so embedded in the Hispanic culture that they are passed down generations and always include a first-hand experience of the events. Of course, like most traditions, some of these stories tend to die off in the children of immigrant families. This I do not know why considering I am a child of immigrants. But what is consistent throughout these stories is that there always is some sort of religion implemented into the accounts. In the case of my family, my mother absolutely hates the fact that she can hear the Lechuzas at night. For those who do not know, Lechuzas are large owl like animals that are associated with death and witchcraft. My mother is a major believer in the stories to the point where she would sprinkle holy water around the foundation of our house to cast a sort of barrier from the evils that these Lechuzas bring. She has also tied in the death of a family member to the appearance of these animals. It is a strange occurrence that we happen to live by a mountain where these creatures are located and other various paranormal observations, made by my mother, happen. To say I do not believe in these stories would be a lie because there are things that have happened that I cannot explain and my usual response to the paranormal stories told by friends is “I’m Mexican so I’m not going to mess with that.” Could this just be folklore passed down generations and perhaps occurred before the arrival of the Spanish or is there actually something that is going on that people have used religion to counter these acts of the paranormal? Is culture a factor into these stories as well?