I mean, all religions are the same right? (Sumblog 7)

I think during our discussion of whether or not Muslims should be allowed to build a mosque 2 blocks from ground zero was very interesting to me. Especially because the day before an acquaintance of mine was questioned because of her religious faith as being a Muslim and the founder of the Muslim Student Association at UW-Green Bay but after she graduated in May really hasn’t been a part of the organization. She wrote a letter to her city councilman about how to get free bus transportation on Election Day so that everyone could get access to their polling locations. Her reasons behind there were many, including the fact that Green Bay has free bus rides for all packer football days. The city councilman responded by basically saying he’ll get to that question later, and then asked her if her organization supported Sharia law, and mentioned other problems that MSA’s have had across the country, while never actually listing any problems MSA’s have had. This is interesting because in class a lot of folks said how New York Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to build a mosque “so close” to ground zero… but we never really talked about why. We just said because it was insensitive, because it’s still a big problem that people aren’t comfortable with. We never talked about how in New York two blocks is different than two blocks in Stevens Point. How about, there’s this big problem of Americans being blind to other religions and how diverse each religion is. For example, when we talk about Christianity, people are always ready to jump and say what denomination they’re from. Catholic, Lutheran, Mormon, etc. But when we discuss non-Christian religions we go in and just start talking about the overall religion as if the individual groups that broke from that religion aren’t impactful in how the whole entity is viewed.

               I think the main issue is that when we talk about religion, we were all raised differently, but as far as education goes, there wasn’t much religious diversity taught. We were taught overall religions and then told that those were the only aspects to those religions. I think we cannot get confused, because how would a Christian feel if they were told they couldn’t build a church next to a military graveyard because the Westborro Baptist Church protested and were insulting and the wounds caused from that experience were still too fresh. They probably would be very upset that ANYONE would think the extremist group of the Westborro Baptist Church was any reflection on overall Christians.

There are many, many photos, videos, memes and posts about this type of idea. But let me again point out that this meme compares a SMALL DENOMINATION to AN ENTIRE RELIGIOUS ENTITY. Never did they say Muslim Extremists, they said Muslims. Where's our cultural relativism?

But First, Let’s Look at Our Profit Margins (Sumblog 5)

                I think that this week’s discussion on Rational Choice Theory was very interesting. I think that I could relate a lot to it especially when looking at it the way it was described in class as a combination of sociology, religious study and economics. It reminded me a lot of what I learned in my economics class, in particular when we talked about a free market. Religious choices being in the open market for anyone to choose from is very interesting because I think often we don’t have all the information needed to be able to make those choices. However, one could argue that this all a part of the game. We never will have all of the information and the fact that you may have biased information is important because others around you might think the same way. This could lead to the issue that people will see you as blank even though you are actually blank. (See extremists in every religion and their stereotypes). This could be a huge reason and implication that needs to be on your cost benefits analysis, because if you are looking into a religion that where you live is widely hated or misrepresented, becoming that religion could be very detrimental to your life. For example, if you are doing a cost benefits analysis on being Muslim and you live pretty much anywhere in the United States, a huge cost could be the negative stigma and stereotype that American’s have when it comes to ANYONE being identified as Muslim. This is mainly because of the media only portraying extremist Muslims who are typically from the Middle East. These ideas and hatred of these people and the religion could cause harm to the person who is trying to become that religion or is contemplating it.

               Here comes in my thoughts on how we must all look at the “Profit Margins” we talked about this in class as being the benefits,  but I also found the quote from class on how God could be one of the best exchange partners really fascinating. The profits of believing in God and the gains that yo9u could get because you are affiliated with him could be so large that even all of the costs you would incur throughout your life would never be all that bad. It’s interesting because when you look at religion from an economic standpoint, it can seem a little unemotional or less important when in relation with how people “feel.” But often enough, we see that people “feel” a certain way only because of what is being gained or given. So really, being unemotional and only gaining is kind of like living our daily lives.

I picked this picture, because I think it goes well with the idea that we have to know the latest research to be able to make a decision on anything. That the core value of Rational Choice Theory is that we can know a lot about everything and be able make a judgment from there. I think it's important to remember that not everyone has all the information, and even if you don't, you can still make a decision. You don't necessarily have to read the latest research to be informed.

 

 

The Religiously Neutral (Sumblog 4)

        The article “Nones” On the Rise by Pew Research really interested me because I consider myself to be religiously non-affiliated. What was interesting for me is learning about how religiously unaffiliated people still affiliated with a higher being or a sense of some other existence. Even some went so far as to agree that God existed and that religion is important in their everyday lives.

          I think that this is interesting because that would not be the same definition that I would give for someone who is religiously unaffiliated. I think that there is a really big tug of war going on about what it means to be religious in America and even all over the world-however I’m going to just focus on America for time’s sake. I see a lot of people say that they are unaffiliated because of multiple reasons; they either don’t like the politicking that religious organizations do. They don’t think that they conform to the Church as much as their Grandparents did. They don’t practice the same as their parents or grandparents. However, I don’t think that this means they are any less religious then their parents or grandparents.

          I think the generations before ours, there was a large push for them to be actively involved in their church services- whether that was going to Mass, participating in communion, being baptized or anything else. Being a part of a church meant you were religious, being heavily involved in a church meant you were extremely religious. I think that our culture has changed over the past 20 to 30 years and pushed that action behind-however the idea that you are religious only if you attend church is still strongly holding onto how we view ourselves. I think that this change is something that needs to be shifted in order for people to feel secure in their beliefs.

          Being religious doesn’t have to the look the same as it did 20 or 30 years ago. In fact, I would argue that the change we see now is for a more individualistic religion but not any less religious. These changes aren’t horrible in fact I think there will always be a need for there to be a church and for people to be attending that and building that community. I just also think that there has been some serious growth in how we express religion in our day-to-day lives.