This week in class, we learned about the different categories of religions. I found out that there are a lot of different perspectives in this class. I'm excited to learn more and expand my understanding of my own religion as well. We also talked about how religion is kind of a part of our DNA. This means that in the base of our being; we are drawn to a tradition. I like this because I heard a paster once say that we are meant to be followers. This theory is encouraged when we learn about christians being referred to as sheep in the bible. Especially when God says that he is the shepherd and will leave the 99 other sheep in order to chase down the 1.

We also discussed the idea of interpretation. Personally, I believe that everything is up to interpretation because of our previous biases and beliefs. An example of this is Christianity. There are so many differences between each denomination. The Bible is pretty much up to interpretation. Tattoos comes up a lot in the older style of christianity verses the newer progressive style. Many believe that tattoos are against God because in the Bible it talks about marking your skin. But, I believe that when Jesus came to the Earth he kind of threw out the rules given in the Old Testament. But again, this is all up to the interpretation of the text and my personal beliefs. I have tattoos and I have always wanted them so it could've clouded my perception of the text.

In class we learned about the enlightenment and how it changed our range of thinking. The enlightenment is known as the age of reason. This was a cultural, intellectual and philosophical movement that emerged in Europe in the late 17/18th centuries. It paved the way for era that we currently live in; the age of post-modernity. It also led to the way modern emancipated thinking and democratic society. Modernity set up a set of rigid oppositions; such as objective/subjective, scientific/non-scientific, rational/irrational, public/private. Pure reason became the new absolute. These separations created an opposition between faith and reason. This pushed religion into the private sector of people's lives.

While writing my paper I kind of changed my stance from before. I came into brainstorming with the idea that any type of euthanasia was unethical and against what the bible says. But as I read and researched more, I came to understand that if I want to die naturally by refusing life-saving care then it is not voluntarily ending of my life. It is more of a way to die naturally. This was definitely a new way of thinking for me because I came from a very traditional family. I am hoping to continue to gain new perspective throughout the rest of the semester.

Religion is our set of beliefs that guide our lifestyle. Since it largely affects our everyday lives it commonly affects the relationships that we have, how we perceive things in school and overall perception of experiences. It can influence cultural practices, provides moral guidance and contributes to the organization of communities. Many christians spend a lot of time in their communities with other christians. I know that my family spends a lot of time going to bible studies and having dinner with other families from our church.

In my business communications class we talk a lot about low-context verses high-context cultures. A low context culture takes words literally and thats all that someone will use to decipher what you are saying to them. However, in a high context culture like United States, we use context clues, status, outward appearance to take in what someone is saying to us. I just think it is cool that even without language, we can use the environment to understand others.

Relative truth is defined as conditional, subjective, varying and contradictory; so it is capable of changing over time. However, absolute truth is defined as consistent and eternal; its meaning is universal and never changing. Dr. Lopez often refers to absolute truth as truth with a capital T. Personally, I believe that there is an absolute truth. I believe that the holy bible is correct and Jesus will come again.

I didn't truly know how important symbols were to each religion until this course. I know that communion is a huge symbol for us as remembrance that Jesus died for our sins and we are forgiven but I didn't know how strongly others felt about their symbols. This week gave me a new perspective on religious traditions and how sacred they truly are.

We learned about the enlightenment and how it pushed religion to the private sector of our lives and pushed reason and science to the front. This encouraged everyone to study true meaning and science over believing their religions. I enjoy having my religion in the private sector because it allows me to have my beliefs and not to judged for them but it also limits how much I can spread the gospel without getting ridiculed for it.

While finishing my paper, I came across a lot of interesting facts. Most of society is completely okay with euthanasia; whether it is active or passive. I am amazed that with most religions believing that life is precious and ending it prematurely is wrong that the majority is still okay with it. Its not the point of my paper to judge or even persuade. I just want to analyze both ways and how they differ.

In the video that we watched in class, one festival stuck out to me. Diwali festival is super vibrant celebration. It is known as the festival of lights which symbolizes good over evil. Families come together to exchange gifts, they have fireworks and lots of other fun traditions. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity who is commonly celebrated during the festival of lights. I like how happy and celebratory it is.

Sid Hartha Gautama, Buddha is the main prophet for buddhism. He renounced himself as a prince and pushed himself to seek enlightenment. It was under a Bodha tree in Bodhgaya, India. He meditated for forty-nine days in order to become Buddha.

I resonate with judiasm the most because it is the most closely related to christianity. Jesus was a jew who founded christianity by teaching a different style of law. Jews believe that they are waiting for a messiah. Whereas, christians believe that the messiah already came and died for our sins and that we are to share the gospel until he comes again.

If I had more electives to take or I needed to take more courses I would definitely look to dive a little deeper into the study of religion. Before college, I definitely considered studying religion. But I don't need to so I am going to focus on studying business and how I can use this course to be empathic towards others I will encounter in my career. Being a flight attendant I will meet tons of people and experience many different cultures. Understanding what some of these traditions believe will allow me to understand and respect their culture.