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I have been very excited to start this class. I was not raised religiously, but with a general belief in the Universe and I am very interested in learning about other people's beliefs. I think there is a great value in studying religion. The idea value of studying religion is based on how other people live their lives because of it. People will change their entire interpretations of the world because of what they believe in. I think it is very important to study how that affects them. Homo-religiosus says that humans have an innate need to understand what makes them and this innate belief completely changes their world. Religion can be a very easy way for people to get answers that the yearn for. Would religion still be considered important if it was run by the government and not religious "prophets" or leader?

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Religion, in itself, is a Eurocentric concept. I was not aware that the term "religion" was not used throughout the world. Colonization caused many traditions to be warped because of the constant oppression and miscommunication between them. The fact that religion is a word created by predominantly Christian or other Western people and is still regarded as the correct term, is ridiculous. It is just another example of people's beliefs and cultures being controlled by a larger power (like Britain in the case of India in the 20th century). I wish I knew more about how much of religion was affected by colonization. Would the lack of colonization have caused other religions, like African or other Indigenous traditions, to become as popular as ones like Christianity?

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There are two main studies of religion, devotional and academic. The academic study is better at getting a less biased view of religion as a whole, while devotional is used for looking into the individual theology and symbolism of a specific religion.  They both are approaches to studying religion and neither is good nor bad.  However, when trying to understand the concept of religion, the academic approach is better at learning the concepts and reasons for spirituality and religion.  In this class we are studying religion academically and it gives a better interpretation of all of the beliefs and not just a specific belief system. By using the academic approach, we can try and have a humble disposition towards each of the beliefs. Is it always best to study religion in an academic matter, if you are studying more than one? Are there any exceptions to this?

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The paradigm of modernity is very interesting to me. The idea of belief not being subjective is hard for me to fathom. The concept of Modernity was a breaking point in the history of most of the world. This dated the separation of church and state. There were obviously still many governments, even now, that still have a heavy influence of religion. However, after the Enlightenment, there was a great shift in power from the church to the people. Now people could have their own subjective and informal relationships with religion. There was also now a focus on science and "Truth with a capital T" so religion and specular evidence was less appreciated. So events like the Salem Witch Trials would be harder to have happen since there was no science or fact behind them. Has the lack of spectral evidence in court ever hindered the case or made the innocent party be convicted as guilty?

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Truth is something that has been highly debated, as of late. I do agree that things can be argued to be true, to a certain point. There are many "facts" that people are considering to be debatable, which I do not agree with and I think need to be reassessed, but the ability for people to have their own "truths" is important for the future of humanity. The entire concept of truth feels like a Catch 22. If you say that something is absolutely true and there is no debate of it, you are forcing your beliefs on someone else, which is a form of oppression. But, if you let everyone just have their own "truths," there becomes a large debate on if that is safe for the entire human existence, like vaccine and politics. No matter which extreme on the spectrum of relativism or absolutism, you become the antagonist to someone else's beliefs. So the great fight of existence seems to be balancing the two. Find a way to have your own convictions, but also agree that other people can disagree with you. I hope that the concept of truth gets better with the future of humanity, but it seems to become more and more distorted, along with people's morals. Should religion ever be included in government, specifically a democracy?

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The entire idea of something being sacred is very odd. I feel like some guy could just say that this rock is this incredibly sacred and important objects and, if he is powerful enough, people will just believe it. After learning in class, I now know that idea is foolish, but also a little bit true. The appearance of something being sacred is the idea of it being a religious phenomenon that the secular world cannot fully comprehend or understand. Many of the parts of sacred objects and people are formed by saying that something does not have any human attributes, which makes it "divine." I have my own person issues with worshiping something that I do not fundamentally believe with or think is true, so I do not consider many things religiously sacred, while I consider many things sacred to myself. I consider something sacred if it is irreplaceable, which is similar to religious sacristy, but it is just personal to myself. Are there any common items that are considered to be sacred throughout multiple religions? Are there similarities in the type of objects, or people, chosen?

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I am taking a break about writing something from what we learned in class to discuss my personal relationship with faith and spirituality. Throughout the last bit of this class the question of truth and belief has been highly commented on and it has event made my own beliefs seem to alter because of them. I love not only hearing people who agree with my beliefs, but also those who have completely different views than me. One comment that was made in class that has stuck with me is that they do not believe in the Big Bang. When it was said, I was honestly a bit gob smacked, I had never heard someone say that they truly do not believe in something I have always been told is true since my birth. But then I started to think about my own beliefs. I am technically a Paganist, and would even be considered by others as a witch. The things that I believe are real, like magic and what is in the beyond, would likely cause people to have the same reaction to the things that I say. This class has given me a better understanding and respect for other people's beliefs, even those that I couldn't comprehend before now. I don't really have any questions at the end of this post, I just would like to connect with more people with differing beliefs to myself.

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Back to the regular scheduled programing, A Man's Search for Meaning is a very accurate book for how the human existence feels. No matter if you are religious, atheist, or spiritual, it feels like the entire point of being on this Earth, is to figure out why you are actually here. Religion can be a great way for people to feel like a part of something bigger, more important, whether that is good or not. Religion can give answers that people are constantly searching for, but it can also be an easy response to ease one's mind and not actually give real answers. Everyone's perspective on both life and death is different, but it is important to actually look within yourself for the answer and not just believe what people tell you. Is there ever an end to the search for meaning? Is the end death?

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I was very excited to talk about religion and science. I have always considered their relationship to be intertwined. The concept of Epistemology discusses how we acquire knowledge, and for a very long period of time, it was acquired through religious, or spiritual ways. There are plenty of different models and theories on how to have knowledge, but I would rather discuss the actual relationship. I do not think that you can be purely scientific or religious. In order to believe in the science of the Universe, you have to believe that there was something that happened, whether it be beyond the natural realm or not, that caused everything to start. The entire behavior of electrons disappearing and appearing is unexplainable through scientific means. And the idea that "God" (whoever they may be) created all of this without any help from science, is not really explainable either, unless you want to use pure faith and no fact. Trying to argue one side or the other feels like a waste of time, when you could be exploring their relationship instead. What are other possible relationships between science and religion that are highly debated?

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I am honestly sad to have this class come to an end. Throughout this class I have gained a much broader understanding of religion and the world around me. This class has completely changed my ideas on how religion is not always this bad thing that is ruled by power hungry monarchs. I am planning on continuing to study Buddhism to try and gain inner peace and continue to live my life with respect to those around me. I hope to take another religion class in the future and I have greatly enjoyed every single session that we had. Thank you!

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The section I have been waiting for the entire year, Buddhism. While technically, I am considered a spiritualist, almost all of my beliefs align with Buddhism. I have a great amount of difficulty with many of the untrue things spoken about Buddhism, because it feels like using a very sacred concept, for your own personal gain, which is the absolute opposite of what is supposed to happen. I believe that the Buddha was right, the only way to have true inner peace and happiness, is to get rid of desire. Am I going to be able to do that? Probably not, which is why I agree with his second great ideology, of The Middle Way. There is no end all be all for self-improvement. The entire point of this faith, is to get yourself to Nirvana, Enlightenment. It is not to worship a god, or even yourself. You should not be putting yourself above everyone else and ignore the world, and consider that to be Buddhism. The great belief is that we are all interconnected, we are all apart of a great Universe and we must take care of each other in order to be happy. I am striving to live my life in a more Buddhism manner, in order to help the world around me. How can Buddhism be practiced regularly, without even having to go to group prayers or other sanctioned events?