final

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVx3Hr809Sc



8. I was at my friend’s house for Thanksgiving and his brother had just became a priest, so he showed us the movie recording of the ceremony of when he actually became a priest. He explained to me about the schooling and getting his masters to become a priest. The ceremony was really long but it was interesting, it took place at a really big church in LA. Then he briefly explained how the hierarchy in the catholic church works with the bishops and the priests. My current boyfriend of 3 years had planned to become a priest before he met me, he told me that his plan was to study and become a priest so he can help people if he didn’t find someone he loved at the age of 20, but now that we are together his plans have changed. It was really interesting to hear about the process, I had no idea that they had to go to so much school, my friend’s brother studies theology and philosophy. Not being Catholic myself, me and my boyfriend have always wondered if we could get married in the church and we asked my friend’s brother. It turns out that you can, but the only requirements are that at least one of the party has to be Catholic, a letter of request has to be written to the bishop for him to approve before the church is allowed to marry us, and that since I am not Catholic but he is, I am not allowed to stop him from practicing his religion and I am not allowed to stop him teaching our children about Catholicism. That night I found myself asking a lot of questions and applying it to what we learned in class. I also began to question some of the things he said, he said that women are not allowed to be priests and that the church has science behind what they believe. I didn’t actually ask him out loud because I didn’t want to be rude, but why can’t women be priests? What kind of science do you have behind the religion, and I also noticed that he never actually mentioned how and what sciences have been done. I think I am still too skeptical to commit myself to one specific religion.





11. When the Europeans first took over Mexico and tried to convert them to Catholics, the native people did not want to and did not believe in it. The natives at the time had their own beliefs, this all changed with the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe was told. The brown-skinned virgin appeared to Juan Diego on a hillside. She told Juan Diego that he needed to go to the Bishop and tell him to build a shire in her honor in the spot that she was seen. The Bishop did not believe his story at first, but then Juan Diego presented the Bishop with a miracle. He brought roses from the top of the hillside to the Bishop in November, when roses did not grow, in order to convince the Bishop that she was real and that there is a miracle. After that, the Bishop believed Juan Diego and did what Guadalupe told them to do. The significance of this story is that, this was the first time that the Natives saw for themselves the virgin that the Europeans were all trying to convince them to believe. This led to a mass conversion to Catholicism for the Natives. For the first time Catholicism related to the Mexicans, because the virgin that appeared was brown skin and the event happened to a Native and not an European, therefore the rest of the Natives were much more convinced to convert to Catholicism.

12. Asian religious and Latino religious experience are different for both groups. Asians immigrated to North America, and when this happened they were able to bring with them their religious practice. These religious practice amongst the Asians, were brought over successfully because it was the first generation immigrants that brought them over. Religious practices that were brought over had no influences of Christianity like the Latino religious experience. Asian religions such as Buddhism and Shinto do not worship a god. Asian religions are more based on self contemplation. The four truths of Buddhism is more like philosophy more than a religious belief. Buddhism focuses on letting go desire and will therefore lead to no more suffering. The Asian religions focus on the mind and not a god.
The Latino religious experience was different from the Asian religious experience. Geographically Latinos are much closer to North America than Asians are. When the Europeans invaded Mexico, Catholicism was imposed on them. Catholicism focuses more on God, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus, the teachings of the religion is based on stories, these factors are different from the Asian religions. Many Mexicans accepted the ideas of Roman Catholicism after the invasion. By the time the Mexican-American war happened, the Mexicans had already adjusted to European languages and religion, so after the war, these components were brought to North America, as California, Texas, New Mexico and all those neighboring states became part of the United States.
In some ways the Asian and Latino religious experiences are similar to each other. Both groups of people are minorities of the country, and because of that they were segregated from the whites. When groups of minorities are being treated poorly by the others, they will work together to become stronger. These two groups of people both gathered together amongst themselves and practiced their religions together. These groups would gather together and use their traditional language, traditional customs and rituals together. Places like China town is an example of this, the group of Chinese people gathered together and lived in a one place so they can speak their native language and practice their traditions together. When minority group are separated from the white majorities, they will work within their own group to build a stronger foundation.

13. When the Japanese came to the United States they were treated poorly by whites and the Buddhist church was there to boost their morale. The Japanese immigrants were looked upon as inferior to the white community. The immigrants did not have as much money, and were new to the country and has not established root yet. This was a huge transition for the Japanese because in Japan they were considered to be superior and the greatest race of all Asia. Due to this situation, many upset immigrants turned to Buddhism. The religion provided them comfort they needed to deal with all the stress of the segregation. Buddhism taught them to be humble and patient, and to be calm about the situation and not get all worked up over it. The religion provided the immigrants an alternative way of thinking, instead of being upset, they were taught to deal with their emotions differently, by meditating. The Buddhist church brought together angry Japanese Americans as a group to help each other deal with the difficult times. Together they can speak their native language and practice their traditions, this gave them a break from their difficult life in the United States.

14. One important point that I noticed from the religious experiences of different ethnic groups is the effect of segregation from being a minority. When a group of people are being discriminated from the majority, the minority group will work together to support each other. This is why we see certain ethnic groups living in concentrated areas, for example there is a big amount of Asian Americans all living in Westminister. This is the same with religious groups, Mormons for example, there are not a lot of them but they all live in a certain area together, Utah, and in Utah, they have a lot of power and a lot of churches. This point is this, there are so many different religious in this country, and it is difficult for people to practice their religion because of this diversity and in order for someone to be able to practice their religion without because taunted by other religious groups, one much gather with other people with the same religion and practice it together, and this is why there are clusters of people living in specific regions on the country that have the same religious beliefs. In conclusion, in order for people to be able to practice their religions comfortably one of two things must happen, either everyone needs to be accepting of all religions and not be quick to judge, or (just like is it now) religious groups need to live in the same community so they are not discriminated and can work together and practice their religions together.

15. The church of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons have impacted American life. This group of people are very exclusive and followers tend to be extremely dedicated. This group of people are concentrated in Salt Lake City, Utah, this is also where the Church of Latter-Day Saints is. The high population of Mormons and the exclusiveness of the religion has changed the dynamics of Salt Lake City. If you are a part of the church there are a lot of perks from the city, and everyone else is excluded from these benefits and can only get these benefits under one condition, join the church of Latter-Day Saints. Mormon churches are also very secretive and exclusive, those that are not of the religion are not allowed in the churches, and in front of the churches there is a list of names of the people that are a part of the church that can enter and everyone else is not allowed. The Mormon church is so exclusive and powerful because everyone that is a part of it is extremely dedicated, and because of these reasons, the region where they live at, they have taken over a lot of public benefits that are specifically only offered to them and no one else. They are a good example of a small religious group that worked together and completely altered the way of things not only within the church but the city as well.

Religious studies midterm

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVx3Hr809Sc copy paste link to see my video
2. In Indonesia the villagers believe that the volcanoes are their gods. For many years now the villagers sacrifice animals to the volcanoes gods so they don’t get upset with the villagers. It is believed that when the volcanoes erupted it was because either not enough sacrifices were mad or the villagers were doing something wrong. Indonesians adapted this tradition because Indonesia is made of volcanoes and there are many active volcanoes around that region (part of the ring of fire), this factor affected their lives greatly because when they erupt it can be a deadly tragedy. If there were not any active volcanoes in Indonesia, they would not consider them as their gods. Even today some of the villagers still believe there is such thing as a volcano god, I read in the National Geographic that recently the volcano had many signs that it was going to erupt soon, so some of the villagers sacrificed a goat together, finally most of the villagers left because the sign of eruption continued, but one of the older villager believe in it so deeply that he refused to leave because he was convinced that after the sacrifice the volcano god was no longer angry and the volcano will not erupt, in that story, ironically he was right and the volcano stopped.
3. The reason that certain religions become so popular it’s because they memetic their beliefs. Religions like Jehovah’s witness and Christian religions try to spread their beliefs by going door to door or passing out flyers or offering Bible study sessions. The groups of people in such religions are usually very friendly and very determined to get you to do something that is religion related with them. I had a friend in elementary school that said that I couldn’t go play at her house unless it was for Bible studying, she was a Jehovah’s witness, and because I wanted to hang out with her so bad, I took the offer. I would go to their group meetings and I even went to church with them once. I actually had a really good time, they are very nice people. Other religions (Jewish, and Buddhists) are less popular because they don’t go door to door to spread their beliefs, but instead they just pass on their beliefs to their children.
4. As population in a community increase, the resources of that area becomes more and more limited, in order to survive comfortably (with enough food and shelter), people migrated to unoccupied areas. The different climates of the different areas required different physical traits to make it favorable to live with, an example of this would be people from places near the equator have evolved with dark skin because the radiation from the sun there is much stronger than places away from the equator and in order to protect their skin from being damaged their skin pigment had to be a lot darker, therefore eventually the people with lighter skin in those areas were not as capable to pass on their genes as those with darker skin. Due to natural selection, people at different areas eventually evolved with traits that are favorable in those environments. People living in the same area (or climate) all encountered similar problem when it came to survival, an example of this would be the one given in answer 5, when the volcanoes erupted people would die from the lava and dust, so this group of people got together to formulate what they think is a solution to the problem, this solution is then turned into a belief and then past onto their children and their children’s children. Throughout this process, people living in an area all become believer of certain ideas.
5. Biologically speaking all human being are the same. Everyone’s DNA is made out of the same four nucleotides, A, D, C, and G. Race became a factor because the human race eventually spread throughout the entire world, and then people evolved to look different from each other. Due to our differences in physical appearances, and the past experiences we had when we encountered other races we are programmed to act and treat people that look different than ourselves differently. These traits are then past from one generation to the next by our parents.
6. Kama Sutra was first originated in India from the Hindu religion. Ever since it became popular in the United States, it’s resemblance to religion is fading. People use Kama sutra just for it sexual content completely disassociates the religious aspect of it. Overall Kama Sutra has become more of a “how to have sex”, usually in books, other than a part of a religion.
7. Heretical imperative describes the three ways a person can go about when they choose their religion. Deductive is when you believe in your own religion so strongly that you completely reject all other religions and views them as wrong. Reductive is when the explanations of all other religions are explained away or reject. Inductive is when you have an open mind and you base your religion on personal experiences and learnings. Religious plurialism includes all three (deductive, reductive, and inductive) approaches to choosing a religion. Religious plurialism is how a religion is chosen.
8. No answer.
   
9. No answer.
   
10. No answer.
    
11. As people became smarter and technology became more advance, the idea of god’s existence became more and more unrealistic, this is where Nietzsche’s idea that “God is dead” is stemmed from. Since humans are predisposed to having a religion, even if the previous religion is proven wrong (even if “God is dead”), new religions will always form to fit the current ideas.
12. No answer.
    
13. Religious diversity always starts with its founder, this is where new religions and ideas evolve from. Before death the founder has a way to practice his/her beliefs and after death, his/her followers may interpret the founder’s beliefs differently from each other. Due to these differences in interpretation in the followers, new ideas and religions may be created due to the conflicting ideas. As this process continues and the former followers become finders of new ideas, religious ideas become more and more diverse.
14. The tipping point that made Brian want to commit suicide is when he realized that no matter how big he made it in television he was still being called a “nigger”. He was already depressed at the time, he felt like no matter how successful he is, his skin color will still a limiting factor because people will always judge him on his skin color and not what he has accomplished in life.
15. In my opinion subtle racism is even more offensive than obvious racism. In his book, Brian mentioned several situations where he encountered subtle racism. When Brian went to the barber shop in San Leandro, his business was not welcomed, the barber claimed that he did not know how to cut that kind of hair. Who would have ever thought that cutting “white people hair” and cutting “that kind of hair (black people)” would be any different, I could see how the texture would be different but to cut it, it would be to same. Another time Brian had to dealing with subtle racism is when he was at the mall, and he would be followed by the security guards, the guards were racial profiling him and thinking that Brian was going to steal. When Brian and his family went out to eat at IHOP, once again racial profiling took place, the waitress did not provide good service to Brian and his family, stereotypically assuming that they will leave a bad tip because of their race.
16. Brian and Malcolm X’s feelings were similar because they both felt oppressed by the way they were treated because of their skin color. Malcolm X was more aggressive when he expressed his feelings, and even though he was never violent, he defended himself with violence. Brian on the other hand was never violent but expressed his emotions in a calmer way.
17. Native Americans accepted Christianity when the missionaries arrived. This happened partly because the Native Americans were forced to accept Christianity, if they didn’t the missionaries threatened to kill them. Besides that reason, the missionaries made to “compromise” a bit in presenting Christianity to the Native Americans. The missionaries explained to the Native Americans that Jesus is the guardian of nature and spirits.
18. Laverne Jacobs attempted to reconcile his Christian and Native American beliefs. As a strong believer of the Christian faith, he felt like he was compromising his Christian faith whenever he encountered any Native American rituals. One time when he was away in Korea the church practice there seemed so European, he felt overwhelmed and alone, he was approached by Native Americans and they performed prayers together. Afterwards, Jacobs felt peace and knew that he had not compromised his Christian faith. Throughout his experiences he realized that his beliefs are both Native and Christian and that he should not feel guilty for believing in both, because he feels peace when he practices both.
19. The church is in South Dakota and it started out as a traditional church. As time progressed the people of the church began to accept Christianity. In my opinion the reason that the church converted to due to the fact that there were so many different Indian tribes and there were so many conflicting ideas that people accepted Christianity so have a common answer and belief. Since Christianity was a new idea to them, none of the tribes really completely disagree with it so for the purpose of having a common ground between all the tribes, they agreed with Christianity. An example of this is in the olden days when one tribe believed that souls departed to the east and another tribe believed that souls departed to the south, but “Christ gave His life and made a road for us to go on. That’s one way: towards heaven”. In this example, Christ gave all people one answer and this answer applied to all people.
20. No answer.
    
21. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. both wanted to free blacks from being oppressed. Compared to Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X was much more aggressive when expressing his mission. Many whites were afraid of Malcolm X because of the way he talked, his speeches were more threatening than Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was peaceful and calm during his speeches, he emphasize a lot on equality of both whites and blacks. These two men grew up is very different environments which explains their actions. Malcolm X did not grow up with a privileged family and was not as educated as Martin Luther King Jr. because of that they communicated with the public differently.
22. Genealogical disassociation is a key factor in understanding why new religions are created. Genealogical disassociation is when one reinvents themselves by mythologizing their past. You have to disassociate yourself from something in order to seem different. An example of this is when Jesus was not accepted because he was considered illegitimate due to the fact that he didn’t come from married parents. In order to stray away from that, he had to mythologize the way he was created so he would be viewed differently. He disassociated himself completely to what he was viewed as.