Thinking back to our class discussion regarding the personal religious experiences of each individual, one of the themes that we seemed to continuously stumble upon was the notion of a tragedy being the deterring factor in someone’s relationship within their religion. One of the theories that McGuire discussed in chapter 2 is the concept of theodicies or explanations that are given for these sorts of experiences. Looking at this from my own experiences I can remember hearing people say, most often when a loved one died, that it was just their time and that God had more important things for them to do, or that they had finished everything they had to do in this life, and I would remember thinking whether there was truth to this, or whether it was a justification and a way of coping. Now I look back and realize that someone’s belief in a religion, or belief in a higher power, as well as religious teachings themselves, instill in people that there is a purpose, even when it seems to come at the wrong time, or out of order as most people would feel. Looking at the other side of this story are those whose beliefs don’t carry the idea of a purpose and don’t see an explanation in a disorganized system, those who feel that their higher power wouldn’t allow tragedies, therefore there must not be one. Coming from someone who has grown up in a religious household, I was always taught the greater purposes, but as I got older, I grew to understand where the other half was coming from, and although I haven’t abandoned my religion, I find myself questioning these things as well as found it really interesting, but also relieving that others also identify this way.

While reading chapter two, The Provision of Meaning and Belonging, McGuire touched on a term I have never come across, theodicies. As McGuire describes it, “[t]heodicies are religious explanations that provide meaning for meaning-threatening experiences” (McGuire 33) I was quite surprised to find that this notion actually has a name for itself. In my opinion, a large portion of religious people are drawn to faith since it helps answer and bring comfort to the hard questions life offers, such as what happens when you die and does my life have meaning. I also believe that fear plays a crucial role in people’s attitudes toward religion, many people who seek answers to these questions like to think there is more after one’s death or that god in fact does have a reason for x,y, and z to have occurred. I think religion can provide an unparalleled comfort and reassurance that one’s actions do matter and thus will yield to repercussions that would affect them later in life or the afterlife. Religion can also manifest itself more dangerously when people use it as a shield or excuse for their behavior, there have been instances of crime occurring where the guilty use religion as a means of justifying their actions. I think that at times religion can suppress the truth and taint the reality of things that many find too hard to handle. There is a large grey area that comes with the “crisis of meaning”.

If interpretations of how and when a child becomes an adult—both biologically and socially—have changed in fairly recent generations, what might the socially accepted definition of “adulthood” be in future post-modern generations? What does it mean for the state of religious traditions and rites of passage, that for so long have determined one’s entrance into the adult world, if they are no longer considered indicative of an “official” adult within the greater modern society? Today, outside of religious communities it seems as though there is not one definitive age in which someone becomes an adult; instead, there are various stages in life in which someone may be considered an adult, depending on the perspective. In the U.S. some may consider someone as an adult when they reach legal age at 18 years old, or may not consider them an adult until they reach 21 and are permitted to drink alcohol. Even then, some may not be considered an adult until their mid-twenties. Being that many laws and ideas of adulthood stem from biblical interpretations and religious rites of passages, it is clear that what previously determined an individual as an adult has shifted, even within religious communities that continue to go through with rites of passage. McGuire presents these coming of age rituals as having become more of a tradition of religious celebration of children completing the last of their “obligatory religious training” rather than being recognized as an adult member of both religious and everyday society (pg. 63). As religious traditions and organizations continue to change and shift over time it will be interesting to watch for which aspects from the original interpretation of a certain religion remain, and which transform over time.

Biblical times were saturated with prophets and saints, devotees lining the streets to praise the messiah but now, people go to church in jeans. What I have gathered from this past week in class is that religion is not dying, it’s changing. How this change is impacting communities is what I hope to learn more about. The world has never been more interconnected before. All around the globe individuals have access to geographically new religions, ideas, and philosophies, giving way to new religious movements that integrate different religious traditions. Maybe people think religion is fading because Sunday mass is increasingly harder to recognize. As was reflected in our class population religious affiliation has decreased, and spirituality has become more individualistic. Religion seems to be a structure of worship, and spirituality seems to be an accumulation of experiences used to create one’s unique individual belief system. While sharing our stories, I was most intrigued to hear about family dynamics in regards to religion, how a student was attracted to their parents’ belief system or ventured far away. Personally I think school played a larger role in helping me solidify my beliefs, but most students referenced their parents religious experience to explain their own experiences and current conclusion. In the end the bible is a book of stories, but the people who practice a related religion are independent and free willed individuals who go beyond the words inscribed in an old book.

Because I was not able to attend class this past week, I cannot comment on the discussions that were had. However, after reading others’ postings and the assigned pages for the upcoming class I have learned a few new things. As someone who has grown up in an organized religion  it is interesting to read about the other perspectives that you lose when you aren’t able to view something from the outside. Chapter 2 and 3 talk a lot about community and how it plays a role within religion, both in finding meaning or self identity. I know for me having others around me who can relate and understand both my struggles and view points makes it easier to bond. This weekend I attended a small young adults retreat. There was about 70 people all from different Orthodox traditions, but because we had that one thing in common, we were able to come together smoothly. There were people there who haven’t gone to church since they were 14, while others attended regularly, but the foundation was there and they still identified as religious. At one point in a discussion the idea of “community” arose and the speakers put great concern on the importance, if you have a good community around you, you have support. Chapter 2 highlights the idea that religion gives a way to explain happenings in your life- both good and bad, while Chapter 2 states the importance of the community within self identity and helping you attain it. After reading others’ posting from last week the common thread was many people claim they are spiritual, rather than religious, but it makes me wonder, is that because we are in college and the community around us identifies as spiritual, therefore we are drawn to that, or is it true that religion is seeing a substantial decline?

Although I grew up in a somewhat religious household, I never thought to take a step back and reflect on religion from different perspectives. Just in a week’s time of observing from the outside, I have grown more aware of what determines personal religious/spiritual preference. Personal preference could stem out of family traditions and values or even from unexplainable and out of the ordinary life experiences. Similar to Dubner’s story in, “Choosing My Religion”, I was raised to follow one religion, in my case Catholicism, and instead I am beginning to carve my own spiritual path. My beliefs have not been solidified, but I do know that I believe in some form of higher being. Through reading this article and talking with my classmates about their religious backgrounds, I have learned that straining from traditional beliefs is growing more common. Very few people in our class are currently practicing the religion they grew up with and I would like to know why it is not more. Some people are raised to believe in one religion and while they make the choice to stop believing in the higher power, they hold onto the morals that the religion provided. While I find it interesting that some families stray away from religious traditions because of things such as tragedy, I also want to know why people are drawn to specific and new practices. It is interesting that monumental moments in our lives, positive and negative, can determine who and what we look to for guidance, if we look to anyone or anything at all.

In class this week we talked about our own religious backgrounds and we got to learn more about our classmate’s religious upbringings. The most surprising thing I learned in class is that California is one of the most unreligious states, and based on our class’s religious affiliations, I would agree to a certain extent. A lot of our classmates come from religious upbringings, but have strayed away as they’ve gotten older. This seemed to be true for the majority of the class, but there were a few who still are actively practicing their religion. A common theme seemed to be spirituality, as many described themselves as spiritual rather than religious. This is something I’d like to learn more about, as spirituality and religion seem to be synonymous to me. I’d be interested in discussing spirituality vs. religion in the upcoming week, since it seems to be a common theme among my classmates. In chapter one of Religion the Social Context by Meredith McGuire, she talks about how religion has not diminished in society, but rather, religious institutions. This aligns with the responses from our classmates because most have distanced themselves from their religious institutions, but many are spiritual and/or practice religion on an individual level. We also talked about how many believe that it is the millennial generation that has drifted apart from religion, but based on many of our classmate’s responses, it is actually our parents’ generation that has, as many millennials have grown up in nonreligious or non-practicing households.

Growing up, my brother has always been a strong atheist. We would often get into arguments surrounding the survival and importance of religion in a technologically changing world. He was convinced that religion was doomed to disappear within the next hundred years or so. However, listening to the discussion in class and through McGuire’s reading, I have come to see that religion as an institution may be dwindling, but spirituality is on the rise. Many students in our class identified with the fact that they grew up with institutionalized religion, then drifted to a more personal and spiritual practice. As McGuire points out in the first two chapters of her book, religion is inherent in human nature and practice. People need religion is explain the unexplainable and give them meaning and reason in an often complex world. Religion is also a tool for socialization, which groups use to develop a standard for culture, rules, and beliefs. While for some religion may seem outdated, it is going through a transition of evolving to a new generation of people.

Speaking as someone who has spent very little time exploring religion and spiritualism in general it surprised me to see just how prominent spirituality is in the community. Even disregarding the student responses we heard on Wednesday, the information that there are 59 religious organizations here in Redlands was shocking to me. It was also very interesting to see the trends of spirituality in the class. The most prominent trend I picked up on was the fact that quite a few students drifted away from the religious practices that they had been born into. Whether these students drifted to a different faith, a different idea of spirituality, or an absence of a faith system whatsoever, it seemed like there was a very prominent pattern in shifting from ancestral faith systems. This of course ties into what McGuire said about the need for close-knit religious organizations fading away. It was a very interesting experience to see this wide-ranging transition taking place on the individual level, and even more so to hear from the individuals in the class to whom this transition did not apply. Generally, however, it seems like students like myself, who don’t consider spirituality a major aspect of their life in any way, were rare. That would seem to suggest that religion as a concept is not fading away by any means, merely being restructured to suit a new generation and a new way of receiving information and faith. While this may, in the long term, lead to a diminishing of structured faith centers in the future, I find it hard to believe that the core tenets and ideas of any major faith system will be lost in any way.