Reflection On Religion

Religion is one of the most significant aspects in history and during our modern times, giving hope and forgiveness to citizens as they begin their spiritual journey but women’s voices are silenced and kept concealed. In this segment I will research and bring to light the women’s perspective through the hardships and experiences which they’ve encountered and focus on their lifestyle and personal values so we can understand better the role of women and faiths. .

As children we are shown life through rose colored glasses. Our entire world is dependent on the bias that is handed to us. For most people, what is taught in the years that they wear those jaded glasses is the backbone for their life. As a child raised in the Christian church I grew into a submissive, incompetent, and ignorant young adult. I purged myself of religion, and I quickly became a powerful, independent, and freethinking young woman.

My parents have discovered a different religion since then, one even closer to God, and me not being religious drives a wedge between us. I believe that if I hadn’t gone to catholic school, there would be a possibility of me being religious, as I would have been taught a different mentality than Catholicism regarding religion.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center as part of a broader Religious Landscape Study, 78 percent of people who do not identify with any religious group were raised in a faith system and then left as adults. Further, about half of those people said that a lack of belief caused them to leave their faith, citing, among other things, "science" and "lack of evidence" as reasons for this skepticism.

Without knowing that there are philosophies that try to explain the idea of Skepticism, I have always tried to not claim anything or accept anything that could not be proven to me in some way (Detrick, “In Search of Truth: Western Philosophy”). This can be a problem for some people when it comes to religion, but the facts that have been produced, have me able to accept the idea of Christianity in most instances. That being said, I now know that I am also a little agnostic because, I believe, “that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty (Detrick, “In Search of Truth: Western

Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I

As a child I was forced into a religion I knew absolutely nothing about. My mother woke me up early every Sunday and got me ready for mass. I hated it. I didn’t comprehend why I was being forced to attend and listen to some stranger talk for hours, about something I did not understand. This continued for a couple years until I was around 8 years old and my family became inactive. Although we became inactive, our faith still lingered and we continued to pray every night, and not leave our homes without a blessing. A couple years later I felt as if something was calling me to attend the church. I started

As a child, I remember always saying I want to live in a large house with all my close relatives. In retrospect, that was my greatest but far fetched fantasy, since I did not realize then how divided and chaotic my life truly was. I still don’t, since they say I pushed down all my unpleasant memories, and when I’m ready they’ll come out. I often regain glimpses of the past that hurt me deeply, so I wonder do I genuinely want to remember everything? Let’s rewind. A nickname for the South is the Bible Belt. Church is a part of everyone’s life, no matter what the social class. You pray for every meal, and every day and night you pray. I didn’t pray. There are so many different words that describe beautiful ways to worship, but I can think of none. I memorize the words I hear every day, like the Lord’s prayer, I repeat them, but no belief is held behind the words. I stare at the worshippers with their eyes closed and wonder how the same words have so much meaning for them. As I go home to my mother, her boyfriend and my step sister, I find the reason why I can’t pray. No matter how hard I deny it, they’re still the reason why.

Both of my parents were born and raised in religious household, one in an Irish Catholic suburb of St. Louis, and the other a small Roman Catholic town in rural Spain. By the time they were young adults both had rejected the religiously institutions they had grown up in. My brothers and I were raised in a house, which viewed religion indifferently resulting in us never receiving formal religious instruction. I grew up a scientist. I quickly developed a passion for science and mathematics, and found particular interest in areas of those fields supported by empirical evidence and had undergone trial by scientific method. I found comfort in the structure provided by my faith in our scientific exploration into the laws that govern the form and

The majority of my life I grew up believing that anyone who was deeply religious was that way because they were incapable of finding their own path in life, but instead needed to believe in some supernatural being to do it for them. I believed that their mind was so chained down, and that one must be so ignorant to believe in something that has no evidence in truly existing. Throughout my life I had been introduced to religious ideas, but the concepts never seemed to resonate with me. Ideas that could not be proven through empirical evidence and rational thought, to me seemed absurd. How could one be so naive to life by such concepts? It was very evident my mom's side of the family held much value in religion

I believe that my siblings conformed to the idea of being Catholics. That fueled the fire for me to be expressive about the doubts I had in this religion. I began to just say that I was an atheist and around this age there is a large portion of teenagers that are trying to rebel against their parents. I was invested in proving that I was right and that everyone should be able to see what I believe or why I believe it. As I got older I became more humble about my views and what I believed in, I stopped being so upfront about what I thought was right or wrong. One of the main reasons was that it was brought to my attention that everyone has their own personal reasons for what they believe in and just because I don’t agree with it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t respect it. A break through moment was when I had a conversation with my sister about God and the concept of him watching over everyone, and she told me that she believed in God because it was reassurance, she needed to believe that there was something beyond her and that she wasn’t entirely alone in this world. I understood what she was saying and at that point I respected her views. I also realized that in this point of my life I can’t be at peace with that. I’ve struggled with a lot of things in my life and it just wasn’t logical to me it still really isn’t clear to me. I continue to venture out and inform myself about different religions and

When I went into Grade 9 religion, I thought that it was going to be one of the most useless and boring courses that I took as religion is not significant in my life. About a quarter in to the semester, I was surprised when I realized that I actually enjoyed going to religion class every day. The heated discussions about controversial topics, the interesting lessons and the captivating movies were all responsible for the best hour and fifteen minutes of my weekdays. I was raised by parents who didn’t believe in any religion, but they never forced their belief on me. Until a year ago, I was completely uneducated about the Catholic faith. However, I learned a lot about Catholicism during religion class. That’s when I realized that just because

The concept of religion has been a vital part of my life for as long as I can remember. Christianity in particular has served as the utmost precedence for my family and I, as I was raised on eminently well-built and eternal Christian values. From the time I can remember, I was always in and involved in the church, whether it was bible study, Sunday school, or just typical Sunday morning worship. Being raised and brought up in the comfort and shelter of the Christian religion has provided me with a genuine appreciation for it. In retrospect, the comfort and shelter of Christianity has sparked fascination and bewilderment. Throughout the emergence of my formal Christian education, there are countless things I hope

When asked the question on my definition of religion, I decided to look at it in a way that goes beyond just my religion. Religion goes much deeper than being something that we just believe in, it is a relationship or a part of a person’s culture. My purpose of religion is something for me to try and understand what my goal in life is, as well as building a relationship with a higher being. Religion gives people that higher being that they can look to for guidance and comfort. I feel that you can also express your culture through religion as well as explain some of the reasons for some of the things that you have done in your life.

During the course of this class, I have learned a lot about different religions. I still have an unprejudiced view of religion. However, I did not suspend my belief to have an understanding of religion. I have been able to learn of other religious beliefs without feeling threatened of my own. I found there are many different practices in other religions, some I agree with and some I do not agree with. I have come to except others, ways of worship without getting upset. I have become humble in my conclusion now that I have a better understanding of others beliefs. The world seems to jump to conclusions and be judgmental about other religions. Postponing ones judgement on a religion is a difficult thing to do. Being raised and taught a certain religion and set of beliefs is distilled in to one’s mind. I, on the other hand, reserved my personal judgement until I have learned more about it.