Reflective Essay On Religion

Religion is universal. Although people may have different ideologies and practices, everyone believes in something, whether they deem it their religion or not. In this way, religion is a powerful connection between all of humanity; thus, it is important to understand the people behind religion and how their unique characteristics correlates with and influences religion—whether that be their social class, ethnicity, gender, or politics. However, ethnicity and gender, along with the closely linked topics of sexuality and politics, are the most significant concepts to understand religion in our modern world.

One of the most talked about discussions in the world is religion. Across the world, you will find numerous religions, some more prominent than others and some more extreme than others. Religion is fundamental in so many places and cultures in the world today. Religion helps people understand the meaning of life or discern the origin of life. Countless people across the world invest their entire lives into their beliefs and their religions. To say that religion is influential in the world today is an understatement. There are many major religions across the world, but in China, there are five major religions: Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam,

Pakistan, May 2007 around 8:00 pm, I existed the local madrasa (religious school), completing the 5th daily prayer and recitation of the Quran, and proceeded to head home wearing my light blue Kameez, White Salwar, and a Kufi on my head to offer a sign of humility before God. The reason I remember that warm windy night is because that day the mullah taught me that we humans are sent to earth by almighty god so he can test our loyalty to him. Those who follow his true path will ascend to the heavens upon death, and those who disobey him and his prophets will suffer in hell for eternity. I was 8 back then and life was good. Despite the Taliban decapitating captured soldiers and letting them rot in the intersections to

The BA Religion program appears to be a good match and would help me on the path I am on judging from what I have done in the past. When judging my past history I am omitting my work experience because everybody needs work to pay bills and buy food which is a basic need. I call it a match because in the online material I saw history is a strong point for Colorado Christian University. The word history in this setting means to me learning history as it agrees with the Bible. This reminds me of a point brought at the end of a VHS video called EVIDENCES. That point is everything is built on the Bible. I do not have the information to site it as a source but I think it is sold by the Adventist Bookstore on DVD. Be careful since the release they created a series

Karl Marx once proclaimed, “religion is the opium of the people”(britannica) which suggests religion controls the majority of society while offering them nothing real; giving the masses synthetic or illusionary happiness, hence the comparison to the drug. According to an article from cbsnews.com, seventy-seven percent of Americans believe angels exist. So, it is a fair presumption that the majority of American’s is controlled in some aspect of their life by this institution, but why is this? Religion is not based on any insightful knowledge; I believe it is a human creation of dogmas and philosophies based on the practicality of an idea. My position: religion is a social construction and has remarkable impacts on the United States’ society.

Religion has many classifications, such as tribal, classical, transcendental and cosmological, usually based on one's belief and understandings. Religion also has many definitions, usually based on one's experience. A particular definition that I found was Religion originates in an attempt to represent and order beliefs, feelings, imaginings and actions that arise in response to direct experience of the sacred and the spiritual (Connelly, 1986). Religion also has many characteristics such as rituals, symbols and myths which play in an important part in how religion is viewed. We will take a look on how the definition, classification and characteristics of religion and how it ties into our understanding of the universe and

In Western society, religion plays a vital role in maintaining traditionalism. For instance, growing up as a Christian, I was taught that God loves everyone and forgives us of our sins, but he also condemns homosexuality and gives the consequence for such a lifestyle. Leviticus 20:13 mentions that “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood {shall be} upon them”. Basically, I believe that the Bible is saying that heterosexuality is the only way to living a comfortable and happy life. If one feels sexually attracted or drawn to the same sex, one should consider conversion therapy, ask for forgiveness from the Lord, or confess to the Virgin Mary. If one fails to comply by asking for forgiveness, one has not only committed a sin, but will also face judgement day by going to hell. Considering this theory, I do believe in the Bible and I agree, but I also believe that one should be free to choose who he or she wants to marry or love. That is, no one should be forced to live by what are claimed to be traditional norms and gender roles due to Christianity’s influence on society. We live in a society where one should be free to choose what religion they would like to practice or not and most of all, one should be free to express one’s sexuality without facing tragedies and feelings of oppression due to society’s rules, guidelines, regulations, definition of masculinity, and normality.

Whereas most of students’ written comments about this class are positive, and while the scores are at or above the college average in the majority of categories, the overall rating of the course itself is slightly below average. My sense is that some students’ lack of enthusiasm for having to fulfill their religion requirements (whether as a Core requirement or as a departmental requirement) may subdue their appreciation for the course and/or for their professor, even when their experience in the class was generally positive. In this light, comments like the following (from the REL 338 written evaluations) are all the more noteworthy: “Dr. Mocko, you have an amazing ability to make students care and learn about a subject required of them.

Most people grow up with some type of belief system. Judaism, Christianity, Islam and even Agnosticism are some examples. It wasn’t until I had a child that I realized that religion was just man’s way of explaining God. Even as a kid, however, I always believed in a higher being. Not just because of my very heavy-handed Catholic upbringing. I questioned many things about my religion. Since I loved science, I was confused about how the “Big Bang” and Adam and Eve coexisted, but I always knew that God existed. I had no scientific irrefutable evidence – I just had faith. You know how they say everything you ever really need to know you learned by first grade? Well it

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.

Religion is intricately intertwined with various aspects in the socio-cultural arena, that the above three factors are always present in the shaping of an individual’s religious identity. Ethnic differences; according to the Social Identity Theory, emerge when individuals of ethnic minority groups feel threatened in terms of identity, thus reasons for their emphasis on their social identities as a means of maintaining positive self-conception. Gender differences may impact on one’s religious identity; this being exemplified through the characteristic participation of the female gender in religious activities and in their expression of religion as being an important aspect of their lives, this being in relation to their male counterparts

Since the beginning, I always remembered being dragged to church. My egotistical six year old self thought that I was too young to be going to church. I was that type of child who would make up any excuse as to why I absolutely, positively could not go to church that day. Whether it was because I had come down with Ebola that day or that I needed to stay home or the cat would run away, my mother always forced me to go. This wasn’t because I didn’t believe in Him, but what kid wants to sit through an hour long presentation that had no visual aid or really any idea on what the pastor was saying? I sure didn’t.

Considering the notion that my religion plays a significant role in my culture and identity, I felt it was appropriate to focus my plunges on religion. Interestingly, Judaism is considered to be a culture just as much as a religious doctrine, thus for those who identify as nonreligious, may still celebrate the spiritual holidays for cultural reasons alone (Sue & Sue, 2016). Judaism is a monotheistic faith in which there is only one God. In the Jewish faith, Jesus Christ is not referred to as the Messiah; followers believe that God has still yet to arrive (Differences Between, n.d.). Judaism puts little emphasis on the afterlife because what is most important is what individuals do while still alive (Monaghan & Viereck, 2011). The Jewish lifestyle includes following the commandments that are in the Torah, attending a synagogue for Shabbat, and for some divisions follow the Jewish law, known as halacha (Monaghan & Viereck, 2011). Judaism emphasizes the value of atonement and asking for forgiveness for one’s sins, especially on the Jewish celebration, Yom Kippur (Sue & Sue, 2016). Other traditions include the coming of age ritual referred to as bat-mitzvah or bar mitzvah (Religious Facts, 2006).

Throughout my life I have been lost and confused when it comes down to one aspect of life, religion. I felt out of place in scripture class freshman year because I knew close to nothing about Catholicism and about who God is. Up until my time at Brophy, I did not even really consider religion to be a part of my life. I rarely thought about God and the only times I did were times that were selfish and when I thought I needed help. Like before a big game I would ask him to help me get a hit, or crossing my fingers when it was the final play of a game and hoping God would help. Looking back that’s because I did not truly know who God is, and I’m not saying I do now, but I for sure have a greater understanding through my experience and research. In chapter two I explored who God is and was able to find a good connection of who God is through the words of Reverend Doctor William Barry. Barry brings up the idea of how God and is like our parents in a way how they provide us with comfort and are always there when we need them. This I agree with because I believe that the best way that I have encountered God through my time at Brophy has been through the actions with others, not only my parents, but I have been reinforced that God can be found in simple ways. In my first experience with getting my dog Harper I talked about how that was one of the only strong evidences that I have of God working in my life. And this is most likely because I feel that God was acting as a parent to me

With the two religions, at first it made me feel unfair because I was not being faithful to both gods and religion because even though my family followed both religions, we never followed the two religions inadequately. For example, when I go to Fridays classes at the masjid, I observed that at first most of the children knows each other because of family friends, siblings and the people that goes frequently to the masjid. I felt like an outsider because I did not know anyone, but everyone was friendly and kind. After going every Fridays classes I got to know everyone and become good friends. Although, the other families were just Muslims, whereas my family is just half.