Before lesson 4.5 I was not aware of the term and concept of ‘invented religions’. Some invented religions are questioned whether they are legitimate because it ‘lacks the necessary spiritual or non-secular element of a religion’. When studying invented religions it was discovered that their historical and social context and…

Before lesson 4.4, I was aware that Islamophobia was prejudice against Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia causes discrimination towards Muslims in public places and even on social media where they are portrayed as violent and untrustworthy. The dislike towards Islam and Muslims not only affects Muslims but also individuals who are…

Before lesson 4.2 I was not familiar with the concept of tolerance and how it does not mean the same thing as freedom. In US religion and politics tolerance is supposed to be a sign of openness and is between hate, but in reality, it is exclusionary and hierarchical. Although tolerance is an improvement over hate it does not mean the same thing as freedom. This idea of tolerance affects many individuals such as Jews, Muslims, and atheists. It affects them because although they are citizens in the US they are not fully accepted and treated as one. America is meant to be a country where everyone is welcomed but it is clear that there is still injustice in today’s society. I believe that we should work to strive away from the idea of tolerance and promote the value of freedom instead.

From lesson 4.1 I learned that the ideal of religious freedom in the United States is in favor of the majority-white Christian population. Even though the First Amendment of the Constitution states that every individual in the US has the right to practice their own religion or no religion at…

Before this lesson, I did not know how ‘class’ could relate to the academic study of religion. When I think about class I recognizes it as a system in which individuals are ranked and separated based on their social or economic status. After reading McCloud’s article on class in religious…

The way we relate to each other and is mainly due to our gender. From the day we were born gender has been embedded throughout our lives. Before this lesson, I did not realize how much gender is connected to religious studies. Gender is much more than a person’s biological…

Space in the study of religion is not a “preexisting static container isolated from other spaces.” In Thomas Tweed’s article “Space”, he describes religious space as a mixture of defining features including differentiated, kinetic, interrelated, generated, and generative. Spaces can be defined as “special” or “religious” if it appeals to “suprahuman forces and maps the ultimate horizon of human life.” Tweed mentions that there are no spaces that are purely profane and solely sacred that exists. This means that differentiated space is kinetic because nature, culture, and some secular forces impact religious spaces. This lesson can be connected to the concept of culture and religion because it is not a fixed or static entity.

Before lesson 2.5 I did not realize the importance of texts and that the study of texts and religion can go beyond looking at books. What I learned from this lesson is that religious texts can be examined through a number of aspects and can be interpreted in different ways…

Similar to the previous lesson where the word belief was described as an ambiguous term, the term ritual also has multiple interpretations as well. Before this lesson, I understood that ritual was an action or behavior performed in a specific way but I assumed that it only pertained to the…