Religion Reflection

　　There are many books on religion that try to break down each with enough facts to get the reader to understand. Though books are filled fact after fact and at times, slight biases, they sometimes forget to include values and reasons why people follow them. Because of this, students can miss out on a chance to get a deeper understanding of religion and the people that follow it. Huston Smith’s The World's Religion, Revised & Updated is that book that can broaden students’ viewpoint of all religions.

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,

In his book, A Critical Introduction to the Study of World Religions, Craig Martin aims to introduce undergraduate students to a socio-functional approach in exposing the methods in which religion disrupts class equality. He succeeds by using intelligible explanations, arguments, and examples to skeptically understand how man is shaped by religion.

Before attending college here at Seattle University, I never necessarily thought that I would be interested in learning about religions other than my own. Throughout my life I was raised to follow the Christian faith. Everything that pertained to my life revolved around my faith. Although I do not regret being born and raised in a Christian home, some occasions have risen where I felt a sense of being “forced” into the religion. This caused myself to ultimately grow a disconnection from my faith. Coming to Seattle University with a sense of disconnection from my religion in actuality provided me the motivation and inspiration to possibly learn about different religions in order to compare and contrast their views from my personal ones, which

The first articles, for example, have already opened my eyes to the movement of Christianity’s popularity. It fractured the cornerstone of my stereotypical idea of what a Christian looks like. A Christian may be anybody and, sadly, I was surprised by this. This led me to wonder how much any religion may differ among its followers when the ethnicity and regions are changed. I had not even cared to contemplate the ideas already presented in class but enjoyed the experience of knowledge being thrust upon me. As with biblical heritage, in which, I have used my knowledge of the bible long after the class finished, I am enthusiastic to the idea of learning something that could be applied to my everyday life. This class may differ, though, as the concepts learned may be applied to other religions, whereas, studying the bible was only good for

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Upon reading the chapters written by both Kessler and Martin this week I believe that this will be an interesting course for the seven remaining weeks. Even though I identify myself as a follower of the Christian faith, I think it will be nice to have a fresh outlook on religion from the outsider's point of view. From my time as a first grader through my time as an eighth grader, I spent at least an hour or two each week learning about the Catholic faith in a religion class. Also, I would like to see how this course will possibly change my outlook or open my eyes to different aspects of religion. In addition, I expect to have discussions about several religions from the various regions of the world. I hope that these discussions will help me broaden my understanding and appreciation of other religion and cultural backgrounds

Theology 104 has changed my personal view of theology. Right away after week one when I open my Bible and start to read there was more clarification in the way I understood the scripture that was being read. There was a more comfortable and confident feeling in the way I regard God and redemption. In turn, I feel more knowledge of what I have learned and able to share the word of God more effectively. Finding factual proof to substantiate my theory of Christianity and the existence of God has become less challenging from the knowledge I have obtained from this division. Passing on my view of Christianity and God has been less challenging for me.

The first day of Religion 101 consisted of learning the basics of what will be covered during this coarse. The class discussed the main concepts of the coarse as well as what assignments we will have in the future. During this period we had attempted to define what religion is, however, it turned out that due to different interpretations of religion, we could not define it so easily.

Theology 104 has really changed my outlook and views regarding systematic theology. I now understand more clearly that as Christians, in order to be able to accurately share our faith that we must all be a theologian to some extent. Looking at the totality of it all, the four religion courses I have taken since January 2015 have really expanded my views and understanding of what it is to be a Christian. Between Philosophy and Contemporary Ideas (PHIL201), Contemporary Worldviews (APOL 104), Survey of Biblical Literature (BIBL 104), and Introduction to Christian Thought (THEO 104), my understanding of the Bible and Christianity in general has increased exponentially. While my overall belief system has not been impacted, I now have a better

I admit I had the same thought process regarding religion. Prior to this class I never stopped to examine the differences of religion in relation to origin or any other surrounding factors. I am a Christian and was guilty of critiquing other religions for not being equal to what I consider religion. My ultimate goal is this class will provide me with insight and understanding to other religions. Also, I didn’t thoroughly understand the concept of monoism either. However, on page 6 it stated that some religions that fall into this category are Hinduism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Therefore, I look forward to getting to chapters 3, 6, and 8 to have a better understanding of monoism and these religions.

While religion is a complex topic and an ongoing search for answers and explanation, the in-depth class discussions throughout the semester have significantly helped shape my personal understanding of religion. With the thorough reading and, discussions, my knowledge on the different ideas behind multiple religions has expanded. I gained a spiritual awareness of the diverse world of religion and an appreciation for all it has to offer. Now that I possess a better understanding of many different religious ideologies, I have a clearer view of what role “faith,” “religion,” and “critical reason” play in my life. Faith and Critical Reason has shaped my spiritual understating of myself in a positive way.

Religion has always been a blurry topic for me. I never knew how to define it. I was surrounded by numerous religions within my close circle - Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, and more - and I always felt like something in one religion contradicted the other one. I didn’t know how to settle it. How do you define religion besides a deep reverence? The closest I spiritually got was with Life of Pi that showed me it was a leap of faith. I started this course because I wanted to find an outlet to help define and make sense of faith. I also wanted to learn more about the religions I did not know about [Zoroastrianism]. I think right now - with this political climate - it is important to have an awareness and appreciation

On June 26th, I started my first online college class. I thought World History would be a great place to start and relatively easy course to pass. I had no idea how the class would make significant changes in my life. This class was far from a few easy credits I thought I would acquire in the short 8 weeks. The few weeks with Professor Jared Harrington increased my literacy towards topics I would have given up in the past. This class affected my world view, improved me as a student, a learner, enlightened my view on world religions, forced me to analyze information from readings, and helped me formulate my own thoughts. The amount of material covered in this course was immense and I now believe I have a better view of religion, its role in history, and where the world is heading due to all the historical events of the past.

Learning courses specializing in religion can foster open-mindedness, cultural appreciation and improve behavior among students. Students may be more apt to accept differences in people around them, and portray a positive attitude when they have access to learning about diverse religions.