Religion Case Study

Religion 120 has taught me something more than just the meaning of religion. I would argue that I will be taking away more knowledge from this class than any other class I have taken so far in my college career. The learning path Professor Robert takes has benefited me throughout the semester. The learning path I took persuaded me to open my mind and absorb and understand the ideas of other individuals. After I opened my mind up and read all of the content we were assigned in class, along with listened to my classmates and professor Robert’s take on religion, I was able to picture religion as something other than just the physical place of worship and discussions taken place there. When most individuals think of religion they think about going to church and not much else. Religion is so much more than just the physical place and the individuals leading the practice. Religion has the potential to help guide you in life, along with giving you a sense of meaning in this big world. Religion has the power to help you connect with individuals like yourself,

For this paper, I have chosen to interview an acquaintance of mine who is a devote Muslim and follower of Islam. For the sake of this assignment I will be referring to him under the pseudonym of Jack. I spoke with Jack about some wide-ranging topics discussing things such as, media, bias, stereotypes, and really in general what being a follower of Islam is like in this divided country right now. In our country, today it’s pretty apparent there is a type of fear of Muslims, so much so that 7 heavy populated Muslim countries are not permitted from entering the United States of America. I never had conversations as personal as this with Jack and I feel as if I gained a lot of insight into the types of things minorities, and especially Muslims

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

Superintendent Noble contacted the schools district attorney, Donn Mixon, who advised him to have the decoration removed.

1. In a minimum of 100 words, describe the basic teachings of Zoroastrianism. What a fascinating religion, Zoroastrianism is! I never knew this religion existed. The first time I heard the word “Zoroastrianisam” it was a few months back when someone on Facebook was talking about Gal Gadot, the actress that plays wonder woman and saying that she is Zoroastrian, like it was a bad thing. Then, I found a chapter in my text book pertaining to Zoroastrianisam and I was excited to read the chapter, just to see what they are talking about. I asked myself, why would this be a bad thing if someone is Zoroastrian? I learned that this is probably the oldest monotheistic religion on the world and most importantly, the base for 3 major religions. Judaism,

When students think of Islam—if they do at all—they might summon an image of Denzel Washington playing a stern and passionate Malcolm X in Spike Lee's 1992 film, or maybe they imagine Louis Farrakhan on the speaker's platform at the Million Man March in 1995. Some might have encountered Middle Eastern Muslims on the nightly news, mostly as "fundamentalists" and "terrorists." A few have met immigrant Muslims in their neighborhood. Muslim students might be among their classmates. But Muslims are more diverse than popular images allow, and American Muslim history is longer than most might think, extending back to the day that the first slave ship landed on Virginia's coast in 1619. It encorporates two groups—Muslims from other countries who migrated

It was a morning routine before the kids headed out the door for school, the four of us stopped in the entryway of our home. Dropping the backpacks, we grasped hands and prayed together as a family. Jon had made it a habit of asking the kids if they had anything specific to pray about. The goal was to pray for the child's needs, the things that they worried about, whether the request was big or small it received our attention in the Entryway.

A sociologist, demographer and others had been studying Muslim youth after 9-11 found that many of had drifted away from their faith, distant themselves from their own communities, and even changing their names(Elliott). As the Americans have treated Islam as a dangerous religion and treat them as a evil force, the study of the experiment was a “tragic experiment in what happens when people are bumped from belonging from not belonging”(qtd. In Elliott).

Each day after finishing our work on the field, we went to a church for Children’s Bible School (CBS). Hundreds of children would walk miles to get to CBS, where we supplied them with shoes, snacks, water, and Jesus. In order to be accessible to children of different areas, the location of CBS would change daily.

“The staff here at Frances Slocum is very grateful every day for the selfless investment of time that the mentors give,” she said. “Many of these students have no other positive adult in their lives. For children in poverty, a significant relationship outside poverty may be the link to a better life.”

There, about 20 other people congregated with them, people who I only vaguely recognized, all Chaldean like my family—a small Catholic minority from northern Iraq with ties to ancient Mesopotamia. They had come from Midnight Mass at my grandfather’s church. In a stunning act of generosity, which I am reminded of whenever I see the scar in my reflection, some brought small gifts and all of them offered words of encouragement. It was then, for the first time, that I felt a part of something greater than myself and recognized the incredible worth of

As I walked into St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church, I was welcomed by everyone I passed by. There was a pleasant odor filling the halls that a fresh cooked meal was being prepared making me feel like I was at home. As I walked into the hall members of all ages were there to attend the Wednesday Night Recharge ranging from cute little infants, to

JUNE 14, 2015 --- On a Connecticut summer-like Sunday, three women and a man answered sensitive questions about Islam in an Episcopal church, while sharing their experiences as Muslim-Americans.

Shortly after, introduction letters were sent to archdicoeses, parishes and care homes across the world spreading the ministry across the world.

Religion, as defined by the High Court of Australia, is ‘a complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence’ (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005) and can be studied either substantively or functionally (Berger 1974:126). Substantive studies of religion fall predominantly in the realm of theology and are more concerned with defining religious beliefs; their historical accuracy; and the existence of supernatural entities (Holmes, Hughes & Julian 2007:425). Sociology however, concerns itself primarily with the relationship between religion and society, examining religion as a social construction (Van Krieken et al. 2010:350-1) and concerned only with the substance of