Religion 1251 - Assignment 1

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Saint Mary's University *

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1251

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Religion

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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RELIGION 1251-1WW ASSIGNMENT 1 Emily MacDougall Mandy MacArthur Religion 1251-1WW September 25th, 2023 1. What is Religion ? Religion is difficult to define as it doesn't have one meaning that pertains to the world as a whole. Religion itself can be influenced by the culture, location, and age of the people defining it as it changes in relation to its surroundings. It can have many contextual meanings based on who you ask, if you asked me I would probably say: “Taylor Swift is my religion” on the other hand if you asked my grandmother she would certainly tell you all about her faith to the presbyterian church. Its definition is never definite as it is ever changing with the evolution of generations and their intake of culture. It's also important to think about the diluted presence of christianity today in the 21st century and what effect that has on the definition of religion itself. Many people are no longer practicing such beliefs, as they were quite commonly practiced by our older generations. I think this is because of atheism becoming a more normalized term and that it's no longer an abnormality to not believe in anything at all. 2. In your own words, explain each of the three different ways to think about religion There are three distinct ways we may think or portray religion, the first being substantive. Substantive belief in regards to religion is the thought of a higher power that not only controls and plays a role in day to day life, but is also worshiped in relation to what they contribute to us and in abundance of the gratefulness they feel towards the higher power. The higher power in question could be thought of as a god, deity, sacred text, ritual, or practice. (MacArthur, Module
RELIGION 1251-1WW ASSIGNMENT 1 2, 2023) It also captures the ideas of certain traditional aspects of religion, such as the glorification of mortality as it served as a meeting place, and the devotion to the essence of the religion itself. Secondly, functionalism is the way of thinking of the term religion in a non- traditional form relating it to pop culture's influences and certain aspects of life that are societally relevant. It can be easily used as a slang term in conservation or as an exaggeration of actions taken. Many forms of pop culture in media outlets relevant to the entertainment of ourselves as a society are relevant to the functionalist definition of religion. Lastly, stipulative definitions are thought of as a blend of both substantive & functionalist meanings. It incorporates not only traditional ways of thinking of religion, but also non-conventional culture based ideologies in order to cover multiple demographics that may consider the definition relatable in a sense. 3. What is the difference between high culture & popular culture ? High culture is the thought that certain concepts or ideologies are only accessible to a certain demographic considered to be exclusive due to maintaining small realms of such information. This is normally something that the exclusive people yearn for, or dream of having, making it even more conceptualized as higher and out of reach to others. Popular culture is greatly accessible and readily available to all, regardless of status. It is inclusive in the growth and reach of the information itself in regards to its normalization in society. A great example of this would be private education, in terms of grade school. A private education from primary-12 is one that is covered by those who are of higher income than the majority of the public, in order to afford the “higher” level of education the private schools provide. They are exclusive in the sense that there is a distinct group of children who attend these schools with one thing in common, that being income. Public schools can be thought of as the popular aspect of this example as it is accessible and not determinate of certain traits that individuals may need or
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