In the article “Organized Religion in a Voluntaristic Society” by Nancy Ammerman, she talks about Robert Wuthnow’s idea of the issues in the world are so daunting that some tend to do nothing at all. She then talks about how churches with more community service aspects tend to get more followers. Through the church followers are then able to feel that they are able to take on the more daunting realities of our world and 1) get involved and 2) gain the feeling of making a difference. I found being assigned this reading funny in some odd way, because this is also the opening week of Sense and Sensibility that is being put on by our theatre department. Now the play itself might not have ties to this idea but the process and intent of the actors are exactly the same as those who join churches for the volunteering aspect. Most actors and participants of theatre, definitely do not go into this field for the pay, but they participate because they also see the issues of our current world and want to take on these problems. The idea of faith is not limited to just religion. Theatre doers, religious or non religious volunteers, rely and actively practice faith, in the sense that what they are doing really is helping. This pushes me to agree with Ammerman’s argument against Robert Putnam’s view on the state of voluntary organizations in the US. If we try to be too narrow in our research we will always be painting a “gloom and doom” picture for society. If we use a wider scope for our research you will see how many people as a whole are using volunteerism and theatre as a way to improve the world, we have to look at movements or volunteer projects at a much lager scale and relate them to separate events that are pushing for the same thing.

This week my friends and I attended a bible study where we all just get together and talk about God and what he can do for us. The lesson we highlighted was about how we need to live life to the fulest in the moment because tomorrow is not a given. A lesson on Tim Tebow and how after being in a plane ride with a dying man and praying for 2 hours with that family really made him realize this in full effect. This is something I found very interesting especially with the murder of Nippsey Hustle yesterday. You never know when something crazy is going to happen to you like it did to Nipsy. The fact that he was shot in his hometown outside of his own store while he was with fans shows how nobody is safe anywhere. God gives and God takes from us what we deserve and dont deserve so we have to be grateful for everything we have and our life especially. Bad things happen to good people and its unexplainable  why it happens. Only God knows why these things happen to us and we have to trust in him that its part of the plan and we can come back from setbacks stronger then before. Witghout stebacks, everything in our life would just be smooth sailing but we wouldnt really learn anything about ourselves. The only way one can learn and get better at somethiing is if they end up making a mistake. Mistakes are apart of life and nobody is perfect like we always trive to be. God has a plan for us and we have to trust that plan in order to grow stronger in a relationship with him.

The article that my group read for class last week on Thursday was “Gospel Hour,” which we presented to the class. It was about a gay bar in Atlanta where performers in drag would put on gospel songs with choir from a local church. This blend of evangelical Christianity with the LGBT community was an interesting instance of highly individualized religion, and an example of spirituality. Something that I found interesting was that not only did the participants of the service claim  that Christianity was often hostile and derogatory towards members of the LGBT community, but that LGBT people who were Christian felt that they could not openly discuss their faith within their own community. This was surprising to me because as an outsider to both of these communities, I expected that the LGBT community would be more inclusive, especially members within the deeply religious South. However, it does make sense, because of the rhetoric used by many conservative Evangelicals with their interpretations of the Bible. It seems as though both groups’ overall disdain and animosity towards one another are the driving force behind this amalgamation of two countercultures. It allows both groups to express their religiosity without fear of judgment or negative reaction from their peers.

Some observers at first reacted negatively towards the Gospel Hour, claiming it was sacrilegious or anti Christian. However, when they are claiming it to be that, it seems that they are actually denouncing all forms of personalizing religion, thus, implying that adapting religion and applying it to individualized or personalized situations, is wrong. Obviously that is the job of priests and rabbis already, to help bring religion into the lives of the members of their congregations, so it seems hypocritical to claim that just because they happen to not relate to the performance.

This week I read the article about “fluffy bunny syndrome”. The article talked about how active members of pagan religions often get annoyed with people who commoditize the religion and do not take it as seriously as other pagans. They do this by selling trinkets and influencing popular culture in a way that misrepresents the religion. For example, fluffy bunnies might sell “love potions” or air a TV show about witches. Some of the pagans were accepting of the “fluffy bunnies” because it introduced others to the religion and helped spread awareness of pagan practices.

After reading this article, I wondered if other religions have issues with “fluffy bunnies”. I have seen Christian knick knacks all over the place in various shops and online. I wonder if some Christians have issues with people making money off of religious symbols. I also remember visiting Spanish missions as a child and I recall that there were gift shops that sold expensive rosaries and ornate Bibles. Are these expensive symbols seen as a sign of deep devotion or as a scam? I can see pagan religions having more issues with commoditization because the religion is less accepted and known about by society. It is easier to skew the public’s perception of what paganism is if it is not widely practiced. When people see Christian products in a store, it is not likely that they will change their perception of the religion because they are already exposed to it. I think that if one is going to sell a product with religious influences, they should make sure they accurately represent the beliefs of those who practice the religion.

The article on “Religion and Spirituality” were describes to be different concepts although they are similar in the way that they correspond to each other depending on similar aspects. One example is a life changing experience from an individual where they were drawn spiritually and then that will eventually lead to religion. The term for someone being considered religious is based on the amount of church attendance. A social experiment was made where a large number of participants from various religions including: first Baptist, Pentecostals, evangelicals etc who varied from different age groups and ethnicities to a survey. This survey consisted of 5 questions that consisted on asking the participant what their definition of religion and spirituality are followed by statements that they believe match their definition best. The third questions was to distinguish whether they consider themselves to be more religious or spiritual followed by an explanation that supports their claim. These surveys were split into categories that included church attendance, education, age, demographics, ect. The article then concluded that religion and spirituality very distinctly different concepts spirituality being the highest dependent on the results from the surveys taken by the participants. Which I found interesting because I though that in order to be spiritual you needed to follow a religion or philosophy, but in fact gaining spirituality comes first then the individual can decide on a religion to follow. 

It was interesting that during the last class we were able to dip our toes into pagan traditions through the jigsaw assignment. In the research I did for my capstone project I explored goddess traditions to make a case for women being at the center of medicine through these healing deities. It was fascinating to see the modern traditions associated with goddesses and again I saw the same pattern of empowerment as is the case with Wicca/witchcraft. I also appreciated that the article I read (Dragonfest) not only detailed the way that women were empowered through the religion but also the ways that patriarchy and gender roles were being combated to aid in the empowerment of women. It also made me consider how much of this is was idealized. How many practitioners weren’t just having fun with the “magic” of it all. It seems like a tradition that is involved in that level of social justice would be larger or gather more attention especially given our modern circumstances. But, instead, it is a relatively small group which leads me to believe that there is another level to this that I cannot see. I would assume either 1. Much of the concepts and beliefs are idealized and at a ground level things are different 2. The connotation of witchcraft is so counterculture to our American Christianity that groups like these are and will continue to be marginalized.

This week I completed my second congregation visit. It was unlike any experience I have had before and vastly different from my first congregation visit. It was welcoming and lively. Singing, dancing and playing musical instruments was a common thread throughout the whole service. The experience began much like my first congregation visit, with a song. It then led into a synopsis of what has been completed throughout the week and a description of the events to come followed by an explanation of the safe shelter for women and ways to help out. It was explained that the shelter was previously going to close on Sunday the 31^st but the board of the church had decided to keep the shelter open for the women. Once the calendar was completed more songs were sung and then the visiting minister gave his sermon.

This day the power had gone out on the entire street, so they adapted and projected their voices and the visiting minister stood on the same level as the congregation and gave his sermon without the assistance of the projector or videos. The sermon was structured to make the members of the congregation feel as though they have a strong inner power and gave suggestions on how to build on that inner strength. All in all, the sermon was uplifting and centered around the personal self and the power we have to shape our own lives.

This morning I went to my usual Sunday service at my local church back at my hometown.  The senior pastor Dave Fukuyama spoke and gave yet another powerful message. He emphasized his sermon on what the word “peacemaker” means and how those who do consider themselves Christian should be one.  He explained how a peacemaker is one who doesn’t start fights, doesn’t gossip, doesn’t start rumors, etc. In order to be a peacemaker, one shows faithfulness to God no matter what the circumstances are. Pastor Dave gave us an example of how him and his friend got into a huge fight.  The argument kept going on for days which then turned into weeks and he just got tired of the constant fighting. He then decided to become, in this situation, the peacemaker and took one step to reconcile himself with the friend. The friend and pastor Dave finally made their amends and are friends till this day.  He believes that being a peacemaker allowed him to save a very important friendship of his. Pastor Dave also touched on the subject that being a peacemaker indicates that you are a child of God. A quote was given on the screen and it explained how if one finds joy in scandals, if one is unwilling to make peace, if one is mean, etc. then you are not a true Christian.  He explained more on this quote how being involved with the church doesn’t mean you are a true Christian. What it means to be a true Christian is that you are obedient to God and live in the life of Jesus Christ.

I don’t have a great relationship with a person in my life and we have been fighting lately.  Today’s message made me realize that I need to be the peacemaker and ultimately make amends with them.  I really enjoyed this sermon. It really made me look at my own actions in my life from a different point of view and reminded me what it means to be a true Christian.  

The jigsaw assignments prove to be very thorough in the way they bring us individually together to learn about if conservative, traditional religions are indeed becoming more militant and what that does to their future.  I thought crafting a non-verbal display would be difficult—and it is; however, it makes it a little better in a group.  On Tuesday, my group and I discussed one of Professor Spickard’s own text; and it was a doozy.  The main idea followed religious change in response to the social and theological change happening all the time in America.  Nowadays, people shut out religion because it is deemed too “conservative”, or “militaristic”.  Professor Spickard states that this thought takes away the weight of religion and its stance in moral/ethical discussions.  In other words, it undercuts people to let religion be a part of the public conversation.  Nobody is talking about religion due to the way the media has displayed it as being too radical rather than something that can be seen as an ethical part of one’s life.

Then, for my next reading on Thursday, I learned all about the British organization called Quest; which is an organization dedicated to gay and lesbian Catholics as they are free to express both their religious and sexual identity.  What is fascinating is most of the respondents’ positions on the current issues.  For example; many Catholics are accepting of same-sex relations; as long as it is in a committed relationship—like marriage.  Another majority are completely against the idea of same-sex relations—and many of the Quest community do not believe that the institutionalized church will change its mind.

The term “Fluffy Bunny” is used as a derogatory term within the contemporary Pagan religion to refer to practitioners whose adherence to the faith is perceived as being superficial and dominated by consumerist values. As the lines between authentic pagan adherence and commercialism blur, it is hard to identify who genuinely appreciates the religion and who falls under the category of the fluffy bunny. This may not seem very troubling, but what Woodward’s article, “Fluffy Bunny Syndrome,” says is the contrary. Modern media representations of the craft is a complete misrepresentation of it; it fosters surface meanings by trivializing and fetishizing the craft into entertainment which devalues the actual spiritual practice. Many of the representations of the Pagan religion are wrong and overly induced in the magical aspect of it, but this turns people to believe falsities. Craft tools sold as commodities— wands, for example, popularized by the Harry Potter series— promotes a “dabbling” in the craft and not a serious engagement with its principles and philosophies. These practices and tools need to be conducted in an appropriate context and with right intent, but the commodification and consumerism imbued in these religious symbols eliminates the deeper meanings of craft symbolism. However, there are Pagans who say turning their practice into commodity may attract people to the craft, so it is seen as a way to advertise the religion. Pagans themselves who are serious in their practice can also fall for secretly liking the fluffy bunny stuff, like television shows that may not accurately represent the religion, but that still bring representation of such a group in the media.