My grand padlet by Matéa Martinez

Week 2

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-05 05:29:21 UTC

We can never simplify or give an exact definition of religion. There are so many ways for us to interpret and define it, so no matter how much we try we can never do those things. When we talk about religion we also talk about spirituality, but oddly enough they aren't the same thing. We often view and relate religion to our lives. For some people not everyone's religion is everything to you. That isn't a bad thing, but it tends to persuade a lot of things. If you are strong in your belief sometimes you base your entire view on that. Which is why a lot of people don't except same sex marriage, abortions, sometimes even other peoples religions. Sometimes in our heads we think that our belief is the best belief and have a negative view on others. What I am saying is not all true. I have others in my family who are Mennonite and when my mom left the church and became Christian it was a big deal in my family. My grandma doesn't like same sex marriage, as well as abortions. She also thinks that if I do not accept Jesus into my heart I am going to Hell. I on the other hand am Christian and I was raised to believe love is love, and our body is our choice. I am different from my grandma because she says her way is straight from the Bible and is the right way, but there are so many different ways to interpret things. I don't think either way is a bad thing at all. I think it's perception for a lot of things in life and religion.

Down here it talks about spirituality and religion.

https://thereflectivepen.com/spiritual-not-religious/

Week 3

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-05 05:55:17 UTC

To study religion we also study the different cultures, practices, rituals, the history of it all. There are so many different things that go into it. We look into all the different ways a religion has come together. If you think of it a person's faith and belief help shape who we are as people. We believe in something for the most part and it gives us peace of mind. My dad told me once about how he struggled with faith. He didn't understand how a God could be out there and see all the harm that is going on in the world and not do anything about it. How could so much bad happen and nothing changes. Someone told him to look at his children and tell me how you could create something as perfect, and beautiful as that. They were driving in Texas at the time and he told me he watched one of the most beautiful sunsets happen. The person that was with him looked at him and said " look around at how beautiful this is. You can't look at how perfect and beautiful this is and not think that there is someone out there for us." It changed my dad's perspective and when he told me that story mine also. I think that we get so caught up in facts that we don't look at the facts around us. My dad's belief and faith was changed after that and anytime he struggles with his faith he looks around at all the good God did for him.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2019/01/08/photos--fiery-sunset-spotted-across-texas-sky-

Week 1

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-05 05:55:32 UTC

In our lives whether you have a religion or not you practice a religious ritual. It could differ from blowing out birthday candles, or saying good luck to someone. In a website it explains the act of blowing out candles being around since ancient times. It is said that the smoke from the candle sends the Gods your wishes or dreams. There are so many different ways that religion impacts society. With marriage, abortion, certain music, and superstitions. Religion is everywhere and in some ways it affects how the government decides things. People tend to be very biased towards their religion. The government can sometimes base their opinion on what their belief is instead of what's best for society as a whole.

https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/local/2020/11/11/blowing-out-candles/6121942002/

Week 3/4

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-05 06:11:51 UTC

Everyone thinks that Christopher Columbus was this amazing guy. Actually he killed thousands of Indians and forced them to become like them. They weren't allowed to speak their language, rituals, they couldn't have their own beliefs. They had to become catholic like the rest of Great Britain. It ended up breaking the power of the church, but at what cost. The faith and reason for this is wrong. Christopher Columbus and Great Britain used absolutism thinking that being catholic was the only way, but they were wrong.

https://pparihar.com/2015/10/11/myth-of-discovery-of-america-and-barbaric-invasion-of-columbus/

Week 4

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-07 01:57:25 UTC

Relativism against absolutism. With relativism you have your own facts and I have mine. It's when anything goes and it ends up creating chaos. Absolutism is when there is pure objective and the absolute truth with a capital T. It is one sided and you don't have great communication. Nobody wants to think they are wrong so they don't listen to what anyone else has to say. The issue is if nobody wants to say they are wrong how can we explore other options? How do we know what is right and what's wrong. Nobody believed gravity was a thing until proven. Nobody believed in Thomas Edison, they thought he was weird and crazy for trying to create electricity. Our issue is we can be so closed minded that we don't realize we could be wrong. Think of how many world issues that could be solved if we listened to one another. So think about how if we listened to one another's on God/ Gods, how far we could get. For so long Jews were killed because Nazi's believed that their faith was the best and only good one. So they used absolutism and look what happened. With relativism we have communication. We listen to one another and we can get our points talked about. That's how I think of it anyways. I think the different sides could almost signify two different sides of war.

Probably isn't the best way to explain it or talk about it, but that's how I see it. What does relativism and absolutism mean to you?

https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb#:~:text=More%20than%20150%20years%20ago,workday%20and%20jumpstarted%20new%20businesses.

Week 5

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-07 05:41:55 UTC

What is imagination in religion? It could be interpreted in many ways. Religion is belief but it's also imagination. Nobody has seen God they have heard about him. They heard stories but nobody knows what God looks like. Some say he's black, some say he could be a woman. That is left to the imagination of people with their religion. With art it is from the imagination. It is a feeling and a way to express yourself. There are many different paintings that describe different times of religion. For example the last supper by Leonardo da Vinci He painted Jesus or Joshua eating one last dinner with his disciples. The religious imagination is as much a part of us as the literary imagination, scientific imagination, our political imagination… they are all dimensions of being human.

Week 6

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-07 06:29:33 UTC

A big part of religion is rituals and symbols. Without them religion wouldn't be as significant to people as it is now. Symbols and rituals are the very foundation, very core of what constitutes determinate religions. All the confessional religions traditions throughout the world have these incredible symbolic expressions. Symbols and rituals are intricately connected, you can't separate them from one another; rituals are a performative and repetitive act around symbolic expression. In some religions when they do it ritual it cleanses their souls, it represents purity, and in some cases people perform rituals as a way for them to send their wishes and hopes to God or Gods. Every ritual has a person to a person or religion which is why it is so important. Who do you think discovered rituals and deemed them a necessary for a certain religion?

https://www.britannica.com/topic/religious-symbolism/Relation-of-religious-symbolism-and-iconography-to-other-aspects-of-religion-and-culture

Week 7

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-08 05:33:11 UTC

In symbols there is one thing that stands out the most and is the most important. Vitality is the power to organize and configure a world of meaning. It is what makes a symbol so meaningful. Symbols always have a deeper meaning. A symbol isn't something you take literally. You once told us that "Greek mythology was a part of a religion, but some of the symbols and narratives lost that power and vitality; people think it's just a literary piece, they don't draw from it in a religious sense or Greek religion. God is three in one. People literalize the trinity thinking God is legitimately 3 separate people but he is only one with three persons; father son and holy spirit. The word God itself is a symbol because it points to a mystery." You stated that God was a symbol because of the mystery that followed. Nobody has ever seen God or heard from him directly. We like to think that when we pray to him he answers them, and he listens to us. We will never know if that's what happens until we die. Only then can we truly discover if there is a Heaven and Hell. God is a symbol because he represents a religion. We have never seen him, but we believe in him blindly.

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780761830351/God-as-Symbol-What-Our-Beliefs-Tell-Us#:~:text=In%20the%20broadest%20sense%2C%20God,to%20approach%20him%20for%20answers.

Week 8

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-08 05:47:11 UTC

There are many ways to define rituals. One way could be how we do the same thing everyday whether it's taking out the trash, brushing our teeth, taking a shower,etc. Those are all rituals. Or we could go for a ritual that is based more on religious beliefs. For example praying to God before dinner, bathing in the ocean in the new year to show purification. There are so many different rituals that other religions do for their God or Gods. "Ritualizing is an inherent aspect of human nature- it is the performative act by which we give expression to values, conviction, beliefs, and feelings through a repeatable sequence of action in symbolic form." That is how you defined rituals to us. Rituals can be a way to show our values, conviction, beliefs, and feelings to a God or Gods. Rituals are in most of the things we do and half the time we don't even realize it. You told us in one of the first weeks of school that whether you are religious or not you do something that is a ritual, or something that is of faith. I never knew that blowing out the candles on a birthday cake had a religious factor, but it does. There are five rituals that you talked to us about. They are intentional rituals, rituals of initiation, rite of passage, healing rituals, and death rituals. Out of all of them I think healing or death is the most interesting.

https://northstarbehavioral.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Rafferty-Healing-Rituals.pdf

Week 9

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-09 02:12:05 UTC

Can science and religion go together? Science is a fact like knowledge or an understanding of something. There are different areas of science that you can learn about have knowledge over. Religion on the other hand is faith, worship, prophecies, or practices of a stronger power. That could represent God or Gods to some people and religion. In the 19th century some scholars believed that there was a huge conflict between the two of them. They believed that as scientific knowledge advanced, it would eventually replace religious beliefs.They believed that as scientific knowledge advanced, it would eventually replace religious beliefs. They are two completely different things in some areas. Science is more fact based and religion is a belief. What is your take on this? Do you disagree and think that later in time science will prove that religion is a real thing, or do you think there is a possibility that science takes over religion entirely?

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/08/26/on-the-intersection-of-science-and-religion/#:~:text=Over%20the%20centuries%2C%20the%20relationship,at%20odds%20and%20entirely%20separate.

Week 10

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-09 04:36:03 UTC

What is indigenous religions? It is a broad or diverse belief system. They are more connected to the natural world. Native Americans would be considered someone who could believe to have an indigenous religion. They are very connected with the world and nature around them. They use the resources the world gives them and in return they protect their land. They are known for their rituals. Most importantly their culture is one of importance, and incredibly interesting. They have a shaman who heals them spiritually or physically. Native Americans can be very traditional people. Over the years it has evolved, but in many cases they still keep it traditional by hunting their own food, making their own homes out of wood, their rituals, etc. These traditions and lives they live in are interesting and there is something about it that is peaceful. To me reading and watching how they live it gives me a sort of comfort. When I say this I mean being so in tune with nature. When I take a walk it gives me peace and relaxes me, but to do what they do and live like that everyday is a satisfaction I don't know I will ever live. I grew up in a world full of electronics which is a good and bad thing. I tend to rely on them a lot more than I should so I don't spend as much time enjoying nature. Learning about them was one of my favorite things to talk about in this class.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American-religion

Week 11

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-09 04:52:27 UTC

If you could meet someone from the dead who would it be and why? I would like to meet Martin Luther King Jr. Some people might say Jesus or dead family members but I would say him. I think he is someone we need today. He was a person of inspiration and someone who didn't want war or fighting. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind and I would really love to talk to him. He might be able to bring me more closure than most people. I have a lot of questions and I don't know if he will be able to answer them, but I do know he was an amazing person and it was a shame how we lost him. My point on asking that question is because in some rituals it is believed that you can talk to your ancestors. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a relative of mine, but I still would want to talk to him. In some cultures when you perform the ritual you would give them an offering. It is a way for you to show respect and gratitude. In a way you are honoring them and who they used to be to you and the world. Some believe that you are dead physically, but when someone needs you then you will be there to guide and help them. Would you try a ritual to be able to talk to your ancestors and establish a connection to them?

https://ancestralvoices.co.uk/communicating-with-your-ancestors/

Week 12

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-09 05:14:47 UTC

Buddhism is in the top 5 most popular religions. Siddhartha Gautama is known as the awakened one. He had two choices in life: become the king or become a world teacher. He went to the village and was shown the death and suffering that was happening in the world. He was taught how to purify himself spiritually to distract himself from the world around him. With all the troubles around him he had questions and lots of them. All of them went unanswered which he didn't like. In Buddhism there are four noble truths. They were to live is to suffer, suffering comes to desire, to end suffering, is to end desire, and to release from suffering is possible and can be attained by following the Noble Eightfold Path. The Noble Eightfold Path was the right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right work, right effort, right meditation, and right contemplation. I think this is a good way to look at things. There can never be a good thing in life if there is never bad. There are bad things all around us everyday, but we choose to look at things differently and can choose how to see the world.

Week 13

mateamartinez5_ — 2023-12-09 05:28:36 UTC

Islam means to surrender or submission. In some cases that could be a bit drastic, but I remember in the video about how those are the two words to describe this religion. You have to give yourself over to Allah. Almost to be a slave to him which could be considered bad because of what has happened in the past. It just means to submit your mind and body. The terms for the people who believe in this is Muslim. Their book is Shahada and another word for that is declaration of faith. They only have one God and their God is Allah. They do have a messenger and their name is Muhammad. He would tell others about Allah and all about their faith. He was the only one in "contact" with Allah. They had prophets in Islamic belief as well as of course the messenger Muhammad. Islamic beliefs helped us with advancing in science, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy. Without Islamic beliefs who knows where we would be in our day of age now.