Religious Studies Final

Religious Studies –Final Exam

1) Kiva Hewett
2) Lilwisegirl

3) I have not missed any classes, but I have been late. My class before this one ends at 12:15. It is across campus and sometimes I have questions I need answered or, heaven forbid, need to use the restroom.

4) Movie link

5) I read all of the Copeland k, it was pretty good, much different than I expected, but anti-climatic. As for the Reader, I have skimmed through quite a bit of it. I find myself attracted to the ones that are about more alternative religions and experience. “Pilar” is one of my favorites, I like witchy women.

6) Midterm grade: A solid C

7) This question of the grade I deserve is a tricky one. On one hand, I have allowed my self to get discouraged not only with how internet and tech-heavy the assignments in this class are, but also with the fact that at least half the time we are in class it is about the new technology coming out. I don’t dig it. That said I’m not as engaged as I could/should be when we finally do get to the topics at hand. Based on that, I would give myself a C.
Then we have to factor in what I understand in the class, what I will take from it. I never really had an “ah ha” moment, I expect those. Something that brings what I already know to a greater understanding. I guess we only scratched the surface of religious diversity in class and the rest was reading done outside of class. The only concept I really have a hard time grasping is the idea of spandrels in terms of religious… I get it but can’t articulate it. On the other hand, I worked really hard on this final, so in this area I would give myself a B.
As far as the over all knowing what you want us to grasp from this class, I already carried with me. I get that religions form for different reasons, and that they actually live on and spread even more. I get that the ties to ones religion is complicated, and I get that here in the U.S. it is predominantly Christian and that is hard to break through. I understand that as people ended up on this soil their believe systems were generally either squashed or adapted as to not offend the dominant belief. Taking this in to account, I would give myself an A.

I guess to average it out, I would give myself a B.

8) I guess the only circumstance is that I’m older and not tech savvy at all, it hurts to look at a screen for too long. I took five classes this semester and have a Friday afternoon radio show and I realize that this definitely was a bit too much, but I don’t know if I like making this excuse, or the one for having a kid and working, but you asked for factors. As for extra credit, I did the Ramadan fast. All of my posts that I pulled off before my laptop decided it hates Yahoo are on my blog, other than that, I tend to sign them (Kiva Hewett, lilwisegirl).

9 and 10) Provided in a separate post

11) 11. How does the miracle story surrounding Our Lady of Guadalupe inform and impact the spiritual lives of those who are believers?

The mythology of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an example of “popular religiosity” or the way a religion is “lived and experienced by a majority of people” (Rodriguez).
The story behind our Lady of Guadalupe is one similar to several other religious icons in history. For example, the image of the Virgin Mary has been use in other countries too, not just Mexico. Wherever all hopes are lost and the people are oppressed, they will often turn to religious icons that represent them. As a result, there has been many versions of the Virgin Mary—Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, and many other countries.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Hispanic religious icon that the people closely associate with. The story behind it is very simple and makes almost no sense to me: a brown skinned Virgin Mary was imprinted on a cloth. That’s it. Nevertheless, it is a huge icon in Hispanic culture. The reason for this is because it comes from popular religiosity. Our Lady of Guadalupe has come to represent the notion of enduring suffering, the ability to hope against all hope, and a sense that everything has meaning and it is the result of God’s will.
The people are rejected by a society and they are poor, the Lady of Guadalupe helped them get through their feeling of being rejected because this was an icon that was like them, ethnic. The Lady gives joy and shares the suffering of the people, and as a bonus, she is also the people’s symbol of resistance to assimilation. This is probably why she is brown-skinned, she is one of them, rather than the pale-skinned icon of the virgin Mary.
If we look at the Hispanic’s history, we can see that the people are usually poor and oppressed. The only possible way for the people to get themselves through when they have no say in their society, at least God’s is on their side. The lady of Guadalupe is a representation of God’s presence in human lives.

12) How is the Latino/a religious experience different than the Asian religious experience in North America? In what ways are they fundamentally similar?
One of the biggest differences between the two is that most Latinos are Catholic, which is basically Christian in that they celebrate the same god and savior. Because this faith is very close to the predominate one in North America, Latinos didn’t have to readjust themselves by changing to a new religion. Asian-Americans however didn’t have it so easy. Since many Asians came to this country with religions and ideals so different from the predominant ones, they had to create their own institutions of worship.
Although both the Latino and Asian were oppressed for a period of time in America, Asians had to deal with the issue of retaining their religion. The Asian generations that were born in the States were tempted to assimilate into American culture because it was an easier. Many did. This is similar to the African-Americans creating their own form of Christianity so that they could be more accepted by white men.
Some Latinos also suffered from this problem, those who continued to practice religions like Cuban-Americans practicing Santeria (Garcia).
The biggest difference between the Asian and Latino religious experience in America is the pressure of converting. Nobody ever told the Latinos that their religion is wrong. However, for Asians who believed in icon such as Buddha, they were pressured to assimilate by the virus Christianity. The Asian were harassed by the whites, so naturally they would want the harassment to stop by whatever means possible. The Chinese slowly converted, while the Japanese had a big tug-a-war. The Japanese began to change and convert and then during World War II they and being put in concentration camps they began to dissociate from American society and took a second look at their old Jodo Buddhist religion.

13) What role did the Buddhist Church serve in the "ethnic adjustment of Japanese Americans"?

The Buddhist Church served as a cultural anchor in the Japanese community in some ways even more so than a religious center. While the church held ceremonies and followed the teachings of Buddha, there was not an expectation that you be Buddhist. The church helped as a place to work out the cultural differences in language and custom. Where language was an issue of misunderstanding (in the case of the woman’s breast) the church helped by changing the words so it would not be taken out of context.
Over all, the Buddhist temples were a refuge for the Japanese community to help deal with the stresses of being in a new land with people that did not really accept them.

During World War II most of the Japanese people in America were forced into concentration camps and all of their goods were taken and sold off to buy weapons, the Japanese had nowhere else to turn to. Once they were released from the camps, the Japanese didn’t have anything to start over with so the Buddhist church offered their temple as a sanctuary for the newly released Japanese. They help these people start new lives. The church also offer religious service and stuff (I am not going to list them all) such as Sunday school, wedding ceremonies and helped their people to learn English.


14) Overall, what lessons should we draw from the diversity of religious experiences in America? More specifically, what hurdles or conflicts do Americans still face in trying to practice their respective religions? Can they be overcome? How?

Although people today are not being persecuted for their religious ideas, especially here in America, they do deal with a more subtle form of persecution. The problem here is that, even though it’s said to be different, there is no separation between church and state. This causes an underlying mentality where people tend to be very narrow-minded and consider their religion to be the only true religion that can be correct. Here in the States, that religion is most often Christian.

Religion is a very sensitive issue amongst people, they do not like others criticizing their beliefs and most people will become very defensive when the issue is brought up. Thanks to such narrow-mindedness, many Americans would prefer to leave religion out of any conversation and will avoid the issue when possible to avoid being criticized or judged based on their belief system. This is a major issue amongst the political realm because those “unexpressed” religions tend to get pushed out to the margins. When a person hears that there is a Mormon, or even worse, Muslim (who’s not Muslim) candidate running for president, they immediately begin to pass judgment on him based on his religious beliefs. It doesn’t matter how little or how much this man is involved with this religion, he is still judged accordingly. If he decides not to mention his religion then he is seen as an immoral person because he doesn’t have the teachings of religion to “help him lead a good life.”

The hurdle that Americans have to face in practicing their religions is the mentality that one religion is more true than any other one, they are all constructs of the imagination. One needs to sit down and realize that each person has the right to choose the religious path of their choosing. When it comes down to it they are all just teachings and guides on how not to live a self-destructive life. Once people begin to realize that religion is a matter of personal choice and decision and not a competition, one will be able to worship in peace. Religious groups tend to look down upon other religious practicing groups which go against what is taught especially that of the Christian faith. Therefore in order to overcome this obstacle, people must realize that religion is not a competition and is not a game, it is simply a way to live life.



15) Describe how one new religious movement (founded in America) has transformed American life in unexpected ways?

I am going to take a huge leap here and say that all of the new religious movements that were founded on American soil had huge impacts in one of two ways based on whether the new religion was a “made up” one (for lack of a better term) or an assimilation of an old, earthy religion that was meshed with Christianity.

A) Caused typical Judeo-Christian Americans to be skeptical of their religion and the origins of it because they took a look at the new ones, like Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses, and see utter bologna.
B) Caused typical Judeo-Christian American to grow in their convictions because the “almighty god” prevailed and those “heathens” saw the true way.
The reason why I chose to answer this question this way is that no one new religion has made an impact on American life as a whole. The Native American Church only impacts the lives of Native Americans; Scientology has impacted Hollywood as a networking club. What is more common is the view that outsiders have of each new religion, and how that makes them feel.

16) There is an "arc" in each of the readings in the READER... If you were to start a new religion in America how would you best adapt it to the Judeo-Christian ethos in the United States? How have some of the religions mentioned in the Reader done the same?

The common “arc” in this reader is that each non-European culture had some adaptations to make in order to cope with the presence and beliefs of “white” America.

Usually when a people’s religion is oppressed by another they have three options; to abandon their own religion altogether (usually not voluntarily, like African-Americans), to incorporate the new religion (like Native American did), or to choose just to be different (like early Asian immigrants).

If I were creating a new religion in America I would choose to stand apart rather than adapt. The odd way I would choose to stand apart is by incorporating rituals and celebrations from all religions as best as possible.

17) Take one of the gurus/groups mentioned in the GURU IN AMERICA and describe
how they "branched" off from their original influences.

Eckankar Versus Radhasoami on “Soul Travel”

The conflict between more traditional Radhasoami and Twitchell’s new Eckankar is super interesting to me. That some level of waking time outer body experience is a big part of the traditional branches in order for the experience to have any merit and along came this newbie changing the game is maddening.

In the States where people want instant satisfaction, it is not surprising that people were drawn to the newer Eckankar version of this religion. It just goes to show just how desparate Americans are to have some sort of rooted spirituality.

18) Why do some religions get "stronger" and more resilient after they make an
extraordinary claim that gets disconfirmed? In addition, why do some religions
gather more followers after they have been publicly criticized and/or exposed in
the public media?

There are two ways that certain religions get “stronger” and possibly gain membership in the face of public opposition. The first is, of course that they get publicity. Not so well known religions have a lot of land to cover, and as we know, religions catch on by spreading their ideas. Negative attention is better than no attention at all.

The other part is more so regarding the ideas of the religion. Even if they get disproved in the public eye their will still be those die-hard members who don’t care what the public thinks. Those are the member that will stick it out, those who were riding the fence will fall off and what they left is a core group of true followers who will ultimately be more affective in spreading the message and gathering new recruits.

19) What is the most important thing you learned this semester?

This semester the most important thing I learned is that my teacher is an idiot. ;)

20. Extra credit: describe how you would make a successful new religion in
America? What would be some of the things that you would implement that would be
different from already existing religions?