What does the word religion mean? According to sociologist Emile Durkheim, he defined religion as “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden -- beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them” (Jones, n.d.). In today’s society there are many different kinds of religious beliefs. Religious denominations and doctrines vary throughout the world. Some refer to religion as an affiliation with a specific organized religious doctrine which aligns under the Christian umbrella such as Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Protestant, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal to name just a few. However,
We must begin by researching how religion began in America in order to understand what impact religion has on today’s society. When missionaries first arrived in New Mexico from Spain in the sixteenth century, they came to save the souls of pagans. “It was important. This was life and death not simply life and death here on earth, this was eternal life and eternal damnation. For they believed that theirs was the true path to salvation” (“PBS American Experience & God In America 01 A New Adam,” 2015). However, the people who were living in New Mexico, the Pueblo Indians, had their own religious beliefs which they had been practicing for over a thousand years. Although they would listen to the Spaniards, they had no intention of ever converting their religious traditions and beliefs into those of the catholic denomination. Porter Swentzell, a Santa Clara Pueblo passionate describes the Pueblo religion “our whole world around us is our religion, our way of life is our religion, the way we behave is our religion, the way we behave toward one another and towards others that’s our religion” (“PBS American Experience & God In America 01 A New Adam,” 2015). According to Swentzell “The Pueblos were not closed saying ‘our way is the only right way’. When the church came in the Pueblo’s said, ‘hey, we will go to your mass
In an article entitled Influence of faith: Americans say religion is good but faith is losing its influence ,Matthew Brown of Deseret News, states “Newport [ Frank Newport, Gallup 's editor-in-chief] said the terrorist attacks that killed thousands in New York City and Washington, D.C., brought the country together, and the feeling of solidarity created a perception that religion was having an influence during a time of crisis. ‘What you notice at moments of national crisis is a resurgence of civil religion. And I think it’s genuine,’Hertzke added. [Allen D. Hertzke, a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma and a distinguished senior fellow for the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University.]"Crises strike at something deeper than mere patriotism, so we heard a lot of religious language, metaphors, ceremonies, prayer services" in the wake of 9/11. He explained that the message clergy should take away from the Gallup survey is to focus their efforts on loving God and their neighbors in a broadest sense. "Jesus taught that your neighbor is a very broad category to include people you may not like, appreciate or value. Our task is to go the extra mile to help them," he said. (Brown,
The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours.. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if the culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities between them. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful.
Mexicans were Christian people and White immigrants were not as alarmed by their religious practices as they were by the repulsive practices on California Indians or “pagan idolaters”. Mexican Catholics were at least a God-fearing people and therefore seen as more closely approximating European-American notions of civility. Their culture was welcomed and adopted through the Catholics Church’s “Americanization” program which included an introduction to bilingual parochial schools, orphanages, hospitals, and newspaper publications
Finally, when it came down to the types of ceremonies and views both civilizations had, they were on two different pages. The Natives believed happiness was the key to good fortune. So, in order to get that fortune, they’d do sacrifices, and rituals to please the “mighty ones”. Then, as stated in the book “A History of Latin America”, it says, “Jews publicly converted to Christianity to avoid the torture…”, In which, this showed how religion and the spiritual views were forced upon people in the Spanish civilization.
“About 270,000 religious congregations in the US have combined annual revenue of $80 billion. Slightly more than 50 percent of Americans belong to a religious congregation. In terms of membership, the largest faiths in the US are Catholic (about 25 percent of the population); Baptist (16 percent); Methodist (7 percent); Lutheran (5 percent); Presbyterian (3 percent); Pentecostal (2 percent); and Episcopalian (2 percent). Church membership statistics are notoriously unreliable.”(Hoover’s 2008)
When the settlers first came to America they were meet by the Indians. Once the settlers were able to make it on there own, they no longer needed Indian help. Then they began to try to change the ways of the Indian. One of the aspects that the settlers spent much time on trying to change of the Indians was there religion. One of the main religions that the Indians were forced to try to convert to was that of Cathoilism. Many attempts were made to change the Indians ways and convert them, but to understand why they were trying to convert them one should know the differences between the religions of that of the Indians and of the Catholics. One of the biggest differences is that of individual interpretation by that of the Indians. Compared to the structured ways of the Catholics.
Franciscan Friars who were trying to convert the natives became increasingly militant about stomping out all traditional religion. Local Pueblo people were beaten in public to show other pueblo the consequence of resisting the church. Some people even went as far as killing Pueblos. The worse punishment, through the eyes of the Pueblo, was not death but having long hair cut in public to be ridiculed and embarrassed. Residents were ordered to attend mass every Sunday, native and non-native. Although many Pueblo had converted to Catholicism, there were still many more that held strong to ceremonial ways. The oppression of religion lead to secret ceremonies in disclosed locations. The Pueblo people continued to hold their rituals and dances and prayer services in private hidden mesas in the desert. As more Christian churches were built, the Pueblo began tearing down these churches and started replacing them with Kivas, a Pueblo place of
Once settled down the English and Spanish went in two different directions in regard to their religion. The Spanish conquistadors’ and friars’ in the southwest wanted to spread christianity to anyone they could. The Spanish would conqueror Native American tribes and force christianity upon them. To the Spanish in the southwest they just wanted the Native Americans’ to have some type of Christian beliefs. The Puritans’ however were very strict about following their values. For instance, Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were both banished from the colony for going against their official teachings. As well, as being less tolerate, the Puritans’ were not as aggressive as forcing their religion onto Native Americans’. Other than praying towns, the Puritans’ did not force their beliefs on to the Native Americans’ who lived around them. The Spanish on the other hand sought out Native Americans’ to convert them. The Spanish, after conquering a tribe or ransacking a village, would force the Native Americans’ to convert. If they refused they would use the encomienda system to convert them. The encomienda system was a Spanish practice, where they enslaved Native Americans who refused to convert to Christianity. The conquistadors’ would force them to mine gold and silver until death or conversion. How they Spanish and Puritans’ managed their religion reflected on how the two interacted with Natives. The two differed in their treatment toward Native Americans’ with the intimate relationships they had with them. In the southwest many Spaniards would marry Native American women and bear children called mestizos. In Massachusetts, however it was unheard of to have any type of intimate relations between whites and Native Americans.
Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print
Upon first inspection, Hester Prynne and Huckleberry Finn may not appear to have much in common. Hester Prynne is an ostracized woman and mother in 17th century Puritan Boston, while Huck Finn is a 14 year old boy essentially running away from home in the antebellum south; their stories are vastly different from one another. However, there are certain similarities between these two characters and their circumstances. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn share a common trait; a protagonist that rejects society and who must learn to coexist with the moral and religious influences that bolster it. Though Huckleberry’s rejection may be more external and obvious than Hester’s, both characters go against
Explanation- This article gives examples of how indigenous people used to live before the colonization of Christopher Columbus. After the appearance of Christopher Columbus in Mexico different ethnic groups were distributed amongst different states along with their different languages. In the state of Oaxaca there around sixteen different ethnic groups which the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs are the two main ethnos who have continued to expand amongst the territory. During the Spanish conquest the Mixtec and the Zapotecs’ religion was mostly based on belief in the vital force that animated all living things, meaning that they worshiped the land and the creator. Throughout this day there are still indigenous people who believe and practice their ideology, and the “modernized” are set to practice Catholicism.
Religion and Politics Both liberals and conservatives have become quite adept at mixing religion and politics in our current society. One also continues to observe an ongoing practice of civil religion demonstrated by presidents and office-seekers on both the left and right. Generally, the leftist merger of religion and politics has received greater social acceptability because it has been cloaked in such rights' causes as civil rights, women's rights, or economic rights (the social distribution of wealth). The advocating of these rights issues have provided an appearance of transcending religion, keeping the left relatively free from criticism of any church and state overlap. Christian Conservatives, however, have found it more difficult to reasonably combine faith and politics because they have more overtly recognized that their political positions are grounded on faith assumptions.
One thing that many Americans do not realize is how much religion plays a role in American lives, and how it has played a role in our presidents lives from the very beginning of our country to now
In the past few years, America has been becoming more and more liberal with its stance on various issues. We are changing laws and practices that have long been in place, and while some view it as progressive, others view it as morally wrong. By encouraging changes in practices that were established with a Biblical mindset, America has begun to subtly alienate the Christian. Although America is still a land where individuals are free to practice their faith freely, it is becoming harder to display...
How do we define religion? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows: “the belief in a god or in a group of gods, an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group” (Merriam-Webster.) My personal definition of religion is that it is a set of beliefs and practices that generally pertain to the worship of one or more than one spiritual being or representation of a spiritual power. Religion can be a personal belief or an organization or group of people who have similar beliefs and values. There are many different types of religions in the world and have been since the beginning of mankind.
The definition of religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods(Merriam-Webster). After this semester I have come to realize that religion is a much more advanced, complicated, and personal definition. Religion can’t be defined in one word or one term because there is a lot that religion entails. There really is no concrete answer of what religion is and the definition varies among different groups of people and individuals.