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The word Religion does not have a true definition. This was a hard concept for me to grasp because I am usually a very literal person. But this was a refreshing thing to learn about. We learned of the latin word Religare or to "re-bind". Which was interesting to me because is almost as if people are saying that you are re connecting with something insinuating that you already were once before.

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One of the most interesting things we have learned in my opinion is the difference between faith and belief. When Dr. Lopez said "Belief is an accident of birth and faith is your deep self that you are ambiguous about". That was a very intricate statement that can be broken down. When people are young they are very easily conditioned or molded the way that their parents or peers want. But once older your true self decides what you truly have faith in, that is powerful.

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We learned that paradigm shift is when the typical example or path of something changes or veers. A paradigm shift would look like when people used to think that the Earth was the center of the universe but then we learned that the sun was the center of the universe. An example in politics would look like when monarchies were accepted as the main types of government, but then the American Revolution happened, and people started to veer towards Democracy rather than Tyranny.

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We learned about and read brief introductions to 10 different influential scholars in religious studies. One that was emphasized was Emile Durkheim (Photographed Above). He was a French sociologist and is known for his studies on the social aspects of religion. His book "Elementary forms of religious life" is a foundational text in sociology of religion.

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We learned that language is not just a fixed set of rules applied universally but the meanings of certain words and phrases are deeply connected to the regions they are spoke and the contexts in which they are used. We talked about certain metaphors or other figures of speech not being understood in foreign areas. This is even true of people of different ages. Certain people wont understand slang terms because their aged group doesn't use it on the regular.

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We learned about Buddhism among other religions. I had some knowledge on most of the other religions we were introduced to. But I knew little to nothing about Buddhism. I found the four noble truths particularly interesting. They are Life is full of sufferings, cravings root of suffering, suffering ends when craving ends, and craving stops when you follow the eightfold path. The eightfold path teaches all buddhists how to live each day.

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We learned of Linear, Cyclical, and Eschatological time. Linear means time progresses in a straight line from a defined beginning and a foreseeable end, it is irreversible. Cyclical time is a concept of time where events and phenomena occur in a regular cyclical pattern it implies a regular recurrence of similar states or epochs. Lastly, Eschatological time is the study of "end times" or the final events and ultimate destiny of humanity. Each concept of time relates to certain religions which is yet another way that we all think differently.

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Recognizing sacred moments like baptism, or religious holidays where fasts are observed are different because people are doing these things to follow their beliefs and values. Sacred comes from a Latin word meaning separate, this means we separate the secular parts of life from the religious “sacred” ones. They are important for their communities and traditions to be upheld. This is important for understanding various religions because each religion represents the idea of sacred in different ways.

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We learned and watched videos about indigenous religions and this was very eye opening because it cleared up some preconceived notions i had. Previously i thought that indigenous people were only in the USA but then i watched those videos and learned that they can be all over the world. Another interesting thing was how much these people love and respect the land that we all live on. So much that they risk their lives to protect it.

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The Dichotomy between Faith and Religion

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The Dichotomy between Faith and Religion

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Faith is your deep self that you are ambiguous about, in other words it is your inner searcher and questioner. When people disagree about things then there tends to be conflict and wars. Unless we can find common ground on things as Wyatt said in class than there will be no improvements in society. Last, dichotomies cannot hold up because things aren’t always secular or religious, or rational or irrational. They can be in-between which is a clear error and problem in this.

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I have learned that most religions are very different from each other. In the past I learned that each religion had a god, a food, a person, and a holy place etc. But now I have learned that it is much deeper than that. I also learned how much of an affect religion has had and is having on everything we know and love. This class has actually made me reconsider my major a little bit because of how much there is to study in the world.

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Humans can break and create sacred vehicles. The stupa burial ground is a sacred creation from Buddhism, and this is clearly humans solution to dispose of remains sacredly. Lastly, some things that we look past every day are sacred. Such as rings, prominent people in our lives, and music.

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We watched a video about hinduism and there was some art on buildings that depicted people having sex. To our western minds this was odd to me. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that they think things we do are odd as-well. So it taught me not to judge things that I do not understand.

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We debated in class if culture impacted religion or vice versa. I think that culture impacts religion tremendously and can even showcase the difference between the same religion in different regions. For example, at a southern church in the United States you would see people singing together and clapping their hands with people wearing large hats and flamboyant colors. Whereas in a northern church you may see people in very subtle outfits and not singing or dancing as much. This could be due to the sad history of slaves in the south and the church being their escape and happy place.

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We learned about Judaism through a couple videos and worksheets. I found this very interesting because there were two very different but still very similar types of Jews. We learned of the traditional Orthodox Jew who was very old school about everything, in-fact they did not even allow women/girls to make certain sacraments. But the other type was a more modern Jew and they didn't dress in the traditional clothes or anything like that but they still honored and respected the religion of Judaism.