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.