Religion and Cultural Identity
Is it possible to be a Muslim without believing the validity of the prophecies of Mohammed? Is it possible to be a Christian without believing in the resurrection of Jesus? My definition of religion transformed greatly during my studies the past few months. Even as a religion major at St. Olaf College I thought of religion very narrowly, as a construct of metaphysical beliefs. But I've come to realize that religion runs far deeper than my Lutheran mind previously conceived.
By studying cultures and religions other than my own in Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and Greece it became clear to me that religion plays a huge part in shaping ones cultural identity. Bringing this "cultural identity" viewpoint to its fullest extent one could effectively be a Muslim or a Christian without really even believing the fundamental precepts of the faith. Of course this is not always or even usually the case. The point is, religion as a determinant of culture identity goes far beyond the agreed upon truths of the faith.
For the purposes of this study I have defined cultural identity as the feeling of self-definition an individual has which is formed through a sense of belonging to a certain group. In this presentation I will be looking specifically at the effects of religion to this sense of cultural identity.
Because of the colossal impact of religion in the countries surveyed the only accurate way to peek at how these people understanding themselves and their place in the world is to first have an understanding of the major religion or religions that are at work within a given society. But that statement demands the question, how is it that through religion we define ourselves? My research relies heavily on the inte...
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...tober 2004. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1599003.stm .> Pelham, Nick. "Morocco continues liberal moves." 22 October 1999. BBC News Homepage. October 2004. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/482053.stm .>
Interviews:
Binebine, Touria. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Birol. Personal Interview. Sept. 2004.
Bouamal, Asmaa. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Carmocoleous, Dimitris. Personal Interview. January 2004.
Chaouki, Adib. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Lacher Adil. Personal Interview. October 2004
Larbi. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Monsour, Sarah. Personal Interview. October 2004
Nahir, Mohammed. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Pinar. Personal Interview. Sept. 2004
Tarik. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Toprak, Binnaz. Personal Interview. Sept. 2004
Sajid, Mahmud. Personal Interview. October 2004.
Identity is defined as the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known. There is personal identity and even national identity and, even though everyone in society’s identities can change very quickly, it can convince one of doing almost anything. Without religion as a source of identity, it became fundamentally easy for ideas and ideology such as communism, social norms, and communism to became a person’s identity instead. After all, society’s citizens are always looking to unite through each of their identities.
Molloy, Michael. Experiencing the World's Religions. 5th Edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2010. 320-322. Print.
Nationally, roughly four million animals are killed in shelters every year. Of these, roughly 95% of all shelter animals are healthy and treatable. (No Kill Advocacy Center). No animal should have to ever be a part of these awful statistics. What will it take to help save these innocent animals from being killed senselessly? Animal kill shelters are horrible, inhumane, and overall completely unnecessary for multiple reasons: No Kill shelters improve adoption rates, all animals lives are valuable, and No Kill shelters save more money than other shelters.
Animals are overpopulated, and it is costing countries money to euthanize, or use chemicals kill animals with a shot, animals. Money is also being taken for shelters to operate. Some countries didn’t pay for the euthanization of their pet problem though, they found another way to try to fix the issue. “.... the dogcatchers of New York caught 5,825 dogs, which were then placed into crates and lowered into the East River to drown.”(Jennifer Sexton and Tom Warhol, Domestic Animal Overpopulation). According to Jennifer Sexton and Tom Warhol in Domestic Animal Overpopulation, “Catching, feeding and caring for unwanted animals costs taxpayers and private agencies millions of dollars each year, as do adoption and education programs.” Citizens, animals, and shelters are affected by this issue of animal overpopulation. Citizens are affected because their taxes are being put to shelters, the shelters are then cost for chemicals to put the pets to sleep. The animals are th...
In the United States, major league professional soccer has attracted little interest from the fans. Either indoor or outdoor proved to be successful, even with stars coming from Europe and Latin America. American Soccer League was the longest running professional league in the United States soccer history, going from 1921 to 1984. The North American Soccer League only existed until 1985. Some of the worlds' greatest players competed in this league, such as Michael Platani and Giorgio Chinaglia.
Religion, “part of the human experience that has to do with a god or gods, a higher power, or the ultimate values of life” (Cason & Tillman 6-7), is one of the most controversial and interesting subjects for humanity. It has been around for as long as anyone can recall and they have difference and similarities in their founders, beliefs, and history. Religion has served to give some sort of a meaning to life and everything around it. In modern society, some religions have grown and expanded significantly. These larger religions have been classified as world religions. In addition, these world religions have been split into two categories known as Eastern and Western religion.
...nged other soccer leagues in Europe as well the struggling NFL. The ASL’s stars would eventually lead the United States to a third-place finish in the very first soccer World Cup in 1930. Soccer almost became a major sport in the USA. But, just before the 1930 World Cup, disaster struck. The ASL clashed with the USFA (United States Football Association) because the ASL wanted to use rules that were never used before in soccer. The ASL was eventually brought to an end in 1933. Although this was a big tragedy for American soccer, it has started to show signs of life again. Soccer has started to gain popularity again, with top players from around the world playing in America’s MLS (Major League Soccer), and many fans cheering on MLS teams and the USA national soccer team. If this continues, then, maybe one day, American soccer will return to its illustrious golden age.
Religion is considered as a pervasive force in this world. It shapes people as to how they behave and interact with almost everything present in the society. Influencing behavior, character formations, ideals, policies, standards are just among the dimensions and societal perspectives affected and impacted by religion. Because of these applications and implications in human lives and existence, religion should be understood deeply, particularly, on how it affects the world. Looking at the American perspective of the term "religion," it could be simply
Animals are used today for many sources of protection, food, clothing, transportation, sports, entertainment, and labor, but millions of these animals die each year from abuse. “Most of the reasons that people give for denying animals rights are: animals do not have souls, god gave humans dominion over the animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, animals do not reason, think, or feel pain like humans do, animals are a natural resource to used as humans see fit, and animals kill each other” (Evans). It all started in the nineteenth century, when people began abusing animals by beating them, feeding them poorly, providing them with no shelter or poor shelter, left to die if they were sick or old, or by cruel sports. Most of the organized efforts to improve human treatment of animals all started in England. Around the 1800s, there was signs of rising concern for animal welfare in the United States.
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
“There can be many reason for animal cruelty, like any other form of violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless, unnoticed, or under control of others. Some who are cruel to animals copy acts what they have seen or that have been done to them, others see harming an animal as a safe way to get revenge against--or threaten-- someone who cares about that animal”. (“Animal… Statistics”) Concerns towards abusing animals have gone up in the past. Although there are not many cases on animal abuse, many have occurred. Abusers are charged with Criminal Animal Abuse and then sentenced to life in prison. Some animals that are physically abused are sometimes rescued by Animal Control, and are taken it to an animal shelter. However, many shelters have not had the space to keep the animals so the workers would have to put them down (Carol Roach). Researchers have shown that the main animals getting abused are dogs, chickens, horses, and livestock (“Animal...
Every day in the United States animals are beaten, neglected, or forced to struggle for survival. Animals are left behind without anybody to care for these poor animals; they’re left with no food or water and left with no hope of survival. Some animals get lucky and get rescued giving them the chance to be loved again from others and showing them that they are people out there that do care; but in some cases some animals aren’t as lucky. Some are killed, or some die because of their unsanitary conditions every day. Animals do not deserve this kind of life style were they are abused and neglected they should feel safe and love and for this reason is why people should stop animal cruelty. Animal cruelty makes animals suffer when hurt; cause owners to abandoned there animals and left homeless and also causes some animals to be put into dangerous situations.
It is therefore important to be a multicultural person by first forming a positive cultural identity. Manning and Baruth (2009, p.24) defines culture as “people’s values, languages, religions, ideals, artistic expressions, patterns of social and interpersonal relationships and ways of perceiving, behaving and thinking.” However, in this paper, cultural identity also relate to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class and all that defines the self. Hence to have a positive cultural identity (PCI), one must be able to identify with and integrate those identities that bring about a well-built, healthy self-perception and a sense of well-being. PCI would also be ingrained into a person’s self-concept seeing as culture affect how a person thinks, understands and perceives the self. “I am a psychology student, my mother’s daughter and I am gay.” The sentence used to describe myself illustrates how culture shapes the structure of self-concept with the use of more social self-descriptions indicating an interdependent self, typical in collectivistic cultures (Franzoi, 2009).
The transmission of religion and faith has survived through various different cultures and societies. Religion and faith have both evolved either into more branches or a completely different ideology or thought process. These new creations of branches or new ideologies change the course of thinking and provide new outlooks on life. For instance, baptisms in Christianity mean a “salvation” and rite of passage to follow in the footsteps of God while in the Islamic religion a baptism is closely correlated with a Wudu, which prepares Muslims for worship at any time to Allah. What these examples show are that people strictly follow “obligations” in order to fulfill their religious ideology. Religion, in my opinion, is confined too strictly to regulations and a process that is not externalized to an individual. The conception of faith is more personalized than religious practices with the open mind and “free-lancer” aspects.
Soccer is an international sport that has gained popularity in the United States. From the people involved, the rules of gameplay, and its invention, soccer has certainly left its mark.