The more I read of McGuire’s Religion The Social Context, the more I realize how this book is essentially a self help book for creating a successful religion.  

By breaking it down by chapter and looking at the book through a business point of view it allows us to play with the idea of how we would make our own religion.

1. Chapter One “ The Sociological Perspective on Religion”
   1. Understand the Market Climate for Religion – This chapter reviews what is the current market for religion and how it relates in a social perspective. It helps the reader understand how important studying sociology is and exactly how that impacts ones understand of religion.

1. Chapter Two “ The Provision of Meaning and Belonging”
   1. How To Create An Individual Experience  – This chapter reviews how it is very important for people to belong. It shows how religion helps people belong to something and through that belonging learn the meaning of the religion they may be joining.

1. Chapter Three “ The Individual’s Religion”
   1. How to Create a Lifelong Consumer  – In this chapter religion and ones commitment is looked at. It is a time to look at conversion and perhaps disengage from one’s current religion to begin a new one.

1. Chapter Four “ Official and Nonofficial Religion”
   1. Product Templates and Models – This chapter goes into structural changes that have occured in religions. It goes over researching official and non official religious beliefs and feelings. It looks at the actual social construct of religion. Finally it looks at women’s religion as well  gender role.

1. Chapter Five “ The Dynamics of Religious Collectivities”   
   1. Understanding Consumers and How They Adapt To A Changing Market  – The focus of this chapter is the reactions of Religions in their social environment and how they develop and change. Another  aspect of the chapter is how people define and see Religious Orientation.

  So as you can see each chapter is sharing different aspects of religion and product aspects of it. But not one particular religion is looked at. So someone reading this can take what information learned in these chapters and make up their own religion that meets their own social needs.

When one thinks of cults, they often imagine a group of strange and misguided people flocking around a narcissistic and manipulative person. [A] cult is characteristically a loose associations of persons with a private, eclectic religiosity” (McGuire). This week’s readings made me realize that cults are more common than I could have ever imagined. In fact, I have unknowingly taken part in cultic practices (as have many people in the class). “Because of [the] pluralistic tolerance among historical cults, the [cultic] groups coexisted, indeed flourished, alongside [Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox] churches” (McGuire 153). I remember being a child and being told to pray to certain saints for guidance. It never occurred to me that the practice was a result of the Catholic Church absorbing cultic practices. In addition, it made me wonder if Jesus Christ’s following could have been considered a cult early in his teachings. He had a small group of apostles following him and living like he did. Likewise, people who were not followers of Christ were very critical of his message. I think that people need to remember that Christianity was not always a huge religion with millions of followers, it started out with Jesus and just a few eclectic believers. Early Christianity could possibly be defined as a cult in today’s times, which is an idea that many are uncomfortable imagining. It is important that we remember that cults are not always groups of crazy people. They could be religions that are not as developed or religions that do not fit into a more well known category. It is our duty to respect religions that respect others and cause no harm, even if that is a cult.

Out of the many things that we discussed in class this week, the one topic that caught my attention was the film “Separate Realities”.  This film portrayed two main characters who both lived in Lockhaven, PA. The first character was a women who attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  She introduces herself as a wife, mother, and an active member of the church. While she was introducing herself and talking about how she ended up being religious, the film showed her having a conversation with the pastor of her church.  She started to open up about her relationship with God and how it has affected her life. She also talked about how she went on this church retreat and how she gained a lot of insight about herself and her relationship with God. Throughout her side of the film, it seemed like she had so many questions about her faith to God, like she was confused as to why she believed in him.  The second character was a man who attended a First Baptist Church. He introduces himself as a husband, father, and also an active member of the church. He explains how in his past, he had a drinking problem. This struggle lead him to believe that he was “saved” by God. His problems with drinking made his relationship with God much stronger. He started to become more active in church.  For example, helping out with offering, teaching Sunday school, etc. His actions in church make him believe that everyone is responsible to share God’s words.

This film was very interesting to watch.  It showed two characters, both similar and different in their own ways.  They both found their relationship with God during adulthood but yet one is very confused and questionable while the other has such a strong love and belief for God.  This made me realize that the word “religion” could have so many different meanings to each individual and could possibly affect how they live their life everyday.

In chapter 2 McGuire explores the idea of legitimation and systems of meaning. This chapter resonated with me because, I have always believed religion was the greatest and oldest way of structuring a society, community, etc. but I never had the language to articulate those ideas. It was clear, after reading this chapter, that the idea of intentionally created “order” was not a new concept. In fact, I was surprised by the idea that marriage in the Christian Church didn’t come about until the sixteenth century. Growing up Catholic, and having received a Catholic School education, I was taught about the importance of marrying Catholic, so that you can receive the sacrament. In fact, the sacraments were strung on a banner across the classroom, right underneath the ten commandments. In my head, I didn’t differentiate between the two. I assumed both the ten commandments and the holy sacraments were cannon and somehow handed down my God. It was a shock, as a religious Studies Major and as a senior to be just now finding out that the holy sacraments that I had always known, were actually written by humans who are inherently flawed. But in a sense, that is precisely what McGuire is saying to us. If people knew that humans were playing a role in creating social groups and hierarchy, it wouldn’t be as effective as it is when a higher power prescribes it.

A family friend comes to mind as I read the section titled “The Individual’s Meaning System”. My grandmother grew up with a woman who is enthralled in strange ideas at times that she claims come from Catholicism. For instance, her children cannot play with action figures or dolls, because she believes they are the devil. My family and I shake it off and roll our eyes, but to her it is real. It is real because of her individual meaning system, she has rationalized her views. In turn, her identity becomes that of the pious and enlightened mother through these beliefs.

After reading the second chapter of McGuire’s book, I found the idea of a meaning system very familiar. McGuire explains that people create their meaning systems through socialization as well as a groups social norms and legitimations. As we grow up, we are taught the social norms and meaning systems of the social group used by our parents, friends, and teachers. As we get old enough to begin thinking individually, we start to accept or reject any meanings that are introduced to us. The meanings we accept build our individual meaning system, which can begin to differ from the meaning system of the social group we are in. This meaning system we have created is the driving force of our decision making and reactions to events in our lives.

I recently began reading a book called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. In this book, Ruiz presents the same subject with different language. Just like McGuire uses the term meaning, Ruiz uses the term agreement. However, agreement is used as a word for the meanings you accept because of your agreement to believe them. To Ruiz, a meaning system is just a set of agreements between yourself and your personal dream. He talks about “the dream of society” and “the personal dream”. These concept are similar to the ones McGuire brings up about “meaning for a social group” and an “individuals meaning system”. Ruiz explains that as we grew up, we didn’t have the opportunity to choose our beliefs, we just agreed with the information presented by the dream, or worldview, of society. As we got old enough to decide our beliefs for ourselves, we were able to choose what not to agree to. He explains how your personal dream and set of agreements affects your life, and he describes how you can change it by adjusting your agreements.

I found it interesting to have a similar topic used in different ways and for different purposes.

Chapter 3 of Mcguire’s Religion: The Social Context, discusses the individual’s relationship with religion and spirituality throughout their lifetime. As children, we tend to follow our parents’ impressions and interpretations of religion, and many parents attempt to instill religious values in their children. This chapter goes on to highlight how each person’s religiosity adapts and evolves during each stage of their life, young childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and old age. In some cultures, each stage of life carries with it some sort of rite of passage, but the transition from adolescence into young adulthood is rarely recognized, resulting in uncertainty about where the individual stands with their religion, spirituality, and worldview. This religious angst often encourages the individual to rebel against their parent’s religion or spiritual beliefs, and may to take their religion into their own hands by turning to a different faith, becoming hyperreligious in their original community, or renouncing spirituality altogether. If the result is something of the latter, the individual may not reconsider religion again until they have their own children, and begin to reevaluate whether or not a religious worldview should be incorporated into their lives.

This transition into young adulthood and the religious struggle that comes with it reminded me of a certain television show that was popular in the early 2000s, “Gilmore Girls,” and the relationship of one of the main characters, Lane Kim, with her mother. Lane’s family is Korean, and her mother is a strict seventh-day adventist, mandating church attendance and bible study throughout all of Lane’s young life. When Lane finally becomes old enough to stand up to her mother, she announces that she dislikes being a seventh day adventist and everything that comes with it, and that she had no interest in attending church or formally observing the religion anymore, claiming that her “religion is rock and roll.” She only reconsiders this stance when she becomes pregnant and begins to question how she will raise her children, eventually deciding that her kids will have the option of going to church if they are interested. This is a prime example of the moral struggle many adolescents experience when faced with the question of a religious worldview, and how their relationship with their parents and their parents’ religion informs the worldview they must begin to develop on their own.

I found McGuire’s writings on the cognitive aspect in religion especially intriguing. The concept of something being real so as the person believes it’s real is a new perspective for me. Along with the Western concept mentioned in the text about religious beliefs not being viewed as empirical beliefs, my own experience with Christianity caused me to be defensive against this statement. Immediately I associated “cognitive aspect” with logic and proven fact and as someone who no longer finds logic in the faith I was raised in, my own defensiveness and bias came forward.

Upon reading and understanding the intent behind McGuire’s statement, I pretty clearly understood and could relate. I interpreted the section as explaining how truth can be individual, it doesn’t always present in the way we so often define it. Looking back on my religious experience, I saw how the things I believed were in a certain aspect true because they were true to my experience and the impact of that was very real.