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The question that asked if it is better to be religious or non-religious when involved in the academic study of religion made me and the rest of the class think about this extensively. I know some said that it was better to be religious, some said it was better to be non-religious, and some said it does not matter/both. I stated that it was better to be non-religious because if someone goes into the class with preconceptions and initial beliefs then they will automatically block out or deny ideas that conflict with theirs or that do not make sense to them. This will happen regardless of whether they intend to be close-minded or open-minded. After all, nobody can let go of their preconceived notions because we are all human. This mental block can prevent the brain from growing in the learning environment of academic study.

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The bit about myths changed how I think about the word itself. Instead of seeing it as something that is false, it was defined as something fictitious and fantasy-like/mythical. "Myth" seems to be more like the word "legend" than "made up" Because I love the fantasy genre this gave me more of a reason to respect the stories told through religion. Even if I do not believe them, they are much more prominent in my mind now that I know how to think about them.

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This lecture helped me come to the understanding that Jews were being subjected to persecution and violence for a long period of time before WWII. Though I know that history repeats itself, it still was alarming to see that the same prejudice kept coming back time after time. This may be strange, but this has helped me appreciate the many people in my life who have aided and supported my journey through life up until now. If people were to keep pushing me down, it would take lots of time to get back up.

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This religion's ideas of different prophets being messengers of God fascinated me because of their intertwinement with the other Abrahamic religions. For example, both Moses and Jesus were considered prophets. Those two are both present in texts of Christianity as well, though they are viewed differently in those I believe. This made me wonder where divergences in religion in the past came from to begin with. I understand the backstories of many of these religions (especially Islam since it jut seemed to stick in my head for some reason), but I do wonder why some of these key people in religious history chose to stray from their current religion in the first place and preach something else.

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Buddhism's main philosophy really struck me as odd, because it was sort of counterintuitive. The idea that everyone is suffering because of desires they have, and that they must all purge themselves of these desires to relieve themselves of their suffering happens to be a desire in itself. Idol worship was prominent in the religion, which was a term I was unfamiliar with at first but a concept I actually knew already since I have seen plenty of instances of people worshipping and giving offerings to statues and the like (but mostly in media).

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The existence of so many gods/goddesses in this religion was stunning. I never expected there to be more deities than even Hindus could count. I had assumed there were many, but few enough that everyone part of the religion knew of them all. The concept of worshipping specific deities seemed to be up to personal preference, which was interesting to me. I did not understand at first that each one represented a different ideal, so after I learned that fact it made a bit more sense as to how they keep track of them all. But I still do find it somewhat strange.

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The idea of thinking of time as cyclical instead of linear was quite new to me. I found it both intriguing and odd. Since the society I grew up a part of has always made an emphasis on the past. present, and future I felt as if the cyclical passage of time did not make sense to me (at first). The only time I ever thought of time as cyclical was when I reminisced about the four seasons. It is only after I thought about the cycle of reincarnation that is seen and believed in other faiths/religions that I came to better understand it, because they are similar ways of thinking. There is no end, just a continuation of the existing. That is how I came to understand the cyclical passage of time as opposed to the standard linear flow.

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While the class was learning about symbols and rituals I realized that some of the non-religious rituals that I do on a daily basis (such as taking a shower, getting food, or going to bed) are all a symbol of my wish to take care of myself. But they, unlike religious symbols, are crucial parts of survival. Though some of my daily tasks are not done for these same reasons, they seek to provide me with something. Whether it be comfort, happiness, satisfaction, etc. These daily 'rituals' all symbolize my desire for something. This in turn makes me think of Buddhism.

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After being asked to define truth, I was sort of at a loss. I could not think of much besides the state of being true or the state of not being false. The other people in my group I was discussing with had the same feeling. They also did not know how to put it into words. I will admit that this made me feel slightly better because only a small handful of students had ideas to contribute to the class.

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I concluded that religion is a set of beliefs, ideals, and traditions that are often connected to a certain group of people or place. Many of these ideas were brought up in class that supported my definition, but I think it is still a difficult term to define.

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The relationship between religion and science has been viewed in various ways via different models. The models looked at in class were as follows...

Independence Model: Religion and science should be separate topics that do not overlap

Dialogue and Integration Model: Science and religion can integrated through communication (working things out with one another)

Conflict Model: Both religion and science are naturally opposing viewpoints

Descriptive Model: The study of religion should be separate from the study of science

Postmodern Model: Science and religion intertwine in various ways; strip away all of society's binaries

When I was asked what relationship I think they have, I put that I think the relationship between the two is better than most people originally believe it to be, and that science and religion tend to feed off one another despite many people thinking the two are opposing forces/topics. In some ways I would say that the relationship between religion and culture is similar to that of religion and science, because they both are interconnected.

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I learned that culture and religion are two sides of the same coin. While they are separate terms, the two are very closely interconnected. In fact, they intertwine so much that the dividing line is often more blurry than clear. Because of this, both religion and culture impact each other. For example, when the culture around someone has one or more strong beliefs, or follows a particular custom/way of life, they tend to follow suit and this can result in new religious practices. This is a large part of why many people in Cleveland consider themselves Christian. The culture someone is raised in can directly lead to what religion they end up identifying with. On the flip side, religions have their own customs and traditions, meaning religion can create culture. This reminds me of symbiotic relationships that I learned about in grade school. Especially mutualism, such as the relationship between clownfish and anemones. The clownfish provide the anemones with nitrogen and rid them of parasites, while the anemones protect clownfish from predators.

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Whenever I hear sacred vs secular I think back to music theory class from my senior year of high school because that was one of the topics we discussed. There was this constant battle, this everlasting struggle between the two throughout history. I always found it interesting how religion/being sacred has shifted from being public to private and being secular has shifted from being private to public.

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When asked this question, I wrote that learning about religion is important for one of the same reasons we learn about history. To not repeat the mistakes of the past. It also opens our minds to other cultures, ideas, and traditions to help prevent undeserved judgment. When people were sharing out loud what they had written down, two different students hit each of my two main points.