"[do] doubts relate mainly to God or society: Is it religion that is really in question, or is it the secular loss of faith?... A hunger for certainty leads some people to embrace neotraditional formulations of faith and truth, but greater numbers, it seems, simply acknowledge the possibility of beliefs but do not necessarily affirm belief... many people are not convinced by older beliefs and notions about religion that were once more widely accepted; they combine skepticism with varying degrees of faith, or openness to faith" (Roof, 47-48).
Questioning and doubting religion has increased throughout history. As one interviewee, Becky, pointed out: "Faith has changed. Institutions are now questioned and faith is becoming a personal level of action behind closed doors. I think it is a good change." There is a trend that is seen throughout history of changing religious landscape much like what Becky is describing.
From Catholicism to the protestant reformation and Martin Luther, to, in the 1950s, "the decline of the Protestant establishment, post-Vatican Council II Catholicism, the Evangelical and Fundamentalist resurgence, the rise of new religious movements and increased diversity, the rise of televangelism, the growth of special-purpose groups, and the polarization of religious liberals and religious conservatives" (Roof, 48). To now the trend being more introspection and self realization. This shift is described by Roof as, "a shift from a world in which beliefs help believers to one in which believers hold beliefs" (Roof, 42). This shift in religious traditions is seen to evolve with different encounters between groups of people, for example, whites and blacks, southerners and northerners, east and west coast, social and Evangelical theologies, men and women, and gays and straights (Roof, 44).
Roof predicts that the next generation (the one that we are investigating) are "...less likely to value faith in God or to say they feel close to God that did older generations... and are more open about their doubts and uncertainties" (Roof, 52, 54). But are these doubts and uncertainties always bad? doubting causes a person to question their religions, which has the potential to make their religious views come back stronger than ever when the come to their own conclusions on why they believe what they believe.
We asked the last few people we've interviewed whether or not they had ever personally questioned or doubted their religion, and whether or not they thought this doubt had positive or negative retributions. All but one person agreed that intelligently questioning religion was a good, and even necessary, thing. The one who had hesitations started by saying she was naturally a skeptic, but that it is not good to doubt religion. Then she got quiet for a minute, thinking, and rephrased "Searching for answers could make your faith stronger when you find them". This very thought has been the general consensus thus far.
Jonathan, Christian
Had a hard time with religion for a while- questioned it. I believe that questioning your religion is necessary- if you don't question it you don't know what you really believe. So many people today just believe things because of the home they grew up in. This is a huge factor but it's not the only one. Religion is a personal thing and everyone has to find it differently and has a different view of things and meaning of what religion is.
Anjum, Muslim
Growing up your parents tell you your religion and you don't know why, but I have gotten closer myself not because of my parents enforcing it. It is an independent thing, I have researched things too. The experience has been positive.
Zack, None
It is best if you can doubt your religion. It is awesome. Doubt could still be considered worshiping the higher power as you are still considering the higher power.
Hilna, Hindu
I agree with Anjum [about the researching], I go to the temple by choice.
Theresa, Undecided
Yes. I think it's a must. I don't think you are your religion fully unless it is questioned. I am currently questioning my religion.
From listening and talking with these people, we are beginning so come to the conclusion that only through questioning can you truly know why you believe what you believe. Roof speaks about this a little in his book and one of his categories of religious people involved someone who has previously doubted their religion. Apparently this is common in the people that we are encountering in our study as well.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Different Views of Being "Religious"
In Wade Clark Roof's book, Spiritual Marketplace, he divides people into five catagories of religion:
Dogmatists
Mainstream believers
Born again Christians
Metaphysical believers and seekers
Secularists
He came up with these catagories during a study that he conducted that is very similar to ours. However, he focused on the "baby boomer" generation, while we are focusing on the generation after them (i.e. the kids of the baby boomers). Even though these divisions are in an older generation, it is possible that many of them can still apply to the age group we are studying. Before going into more detail with the groups themselves, we will take a brief look at a few of Roof's ideas of varying religion.
He starts out by giving two sets of statistics that surprised me when I read them. The first says that "Polls indicate that 94% of Americans believe in God and 90% report praying to God on a fairly regular basis" (Roof, 3). This contradicts the apparent decrease in religious people in America. Religion is being taken out of schools and is constantly railed on by the government. So why is it this happening when 94% of Americans report a belief in God?
Roof quickly answers this by providing a statistic showing that, while religion is decresing in public, it is still thriving and even increasing in people's private lives. "...65% of Americans believe that religon is losing its influence in public life... yet 62% claim that the influence of religion was increasing in their personal lives" (Roof, 7). Outwardly religion apears to be declining, but nearly the same percent feel that religion is growing inwardly. Now that we see that personal religion is actually growing, we must examine what that personal religion is.
Here are a few quotes from Roof that we thought well explained the growth and change of religion during the Baby Boomer generation:
"Spirituality is a very difficult word to define. An adequate definition would include reference to a relationship with something beyond myself... that is intangible but also real. It would recognize that spirituality is the source of one's values and meaning, a way of understanding the world, an awareness of my "inner self," and a means of integrating the various aspects of myself into a whole" (35).
"[The United States] is religiously pluralistic and lacks an established church... Organized religion can be experienced as distant and out-of-date; spiritually it can be dry" (36-37).
There is now a greater emphysis on self understanding and self reflexivity, which is a shift from the previous culture (Roof, 9).
"House churches, Catholic Eucharistic groups, Jewish havurot, Bible study, prayer groups, and other such groups are often invisable yet by all accounts are flourishing today" (Roof, 20). He later points out that, "One out of every four Americans are involved in small groups of one sort or another..." (Roof,39).
After seeing these small ways in which religion has changed, Roof showed interviews from a few people who fit into the different categories.
Sara Caughman: born again Christian, or a rediscovery of tradition
I think that Sara's story is similar to that of many people of her generation. She was raised in the church but dropped out when she reached her twenties. Years later (when she was in her 40's) something happened in her life to cause her to rediscover the religion she had once been a part of. Not only did Sara return to church, she became an active member and helped establish many groups in her church to further the knowledge and understanding of Christian values and teachings.
Not everyone who returns to their faith necessarily becomes super involved, but it can be commonly seen that people who have been away from the church tend to return when they have children of their own and want them to be raised in the church, or when some other big and life-changing thing happens to make them reflect back on their life and think about the future.
Vicki Feinstein: Eclectic Seeker
Vicki claimed to be not religious for most of her life, but said that she and some friends started to get involved with the religious movement occuring around her. She says she "cannot imagine herself belonging to any religious organization", so she struck out on her own. She looked into scientology and liked what she saw there about how the mind is shaped and the ways it helped her to know herself better, but wasn't satisfied and kept looking. She read everything she could about Buddhism and followed the religion's advise on self reflection and meditation. In addition to these, she mentioned liking Star Trek and asked if it could be considered a religion as well.
In this day people consider all sorts of things to be religions that never would have been given a second thought a hundred years ago. "New Age" teachings that combine religious ideas with things like yoga and other techniques to connect you to your body are becoming commonplace and Vicki is not alone in her blending of religions and other ideas to form her own "religious values".
Some people just don't want to be told what to do and what to believe, and would rather take the time to discover that themselves. This is echoed in several comments from our interviewees making statements like find quotes "should be your choice, your own personal beliefs, no one should make you believe anything, etc." That is why you find people, like Vicki, who can believe in Star Trek as a religion. That is how they experience spirituality on a personal level.
John McRae: Reawakenings (secular alternative to traditional faith)
John was born into a Presbyterian church but did not know if he was religious or not. He would refer to himself as a Presbyterian, but he had not been to church in about twenty years, claiming that he “got out of the habit of going and never went back”, and could not say that he even knew what Presbyterians believed.
His fiancé, who is Catholic and participates in small group study because they are not comfortable in church, influenced him and he started going to the small group as well. He said that he liked the group because even though they are Catholic, that does not matter, instead it is very open and they talk about their own lives and their own experiences. Through this group, John experienced the ability to address his feelings of doubt and uncertainty and think about his priorities.
Karen Potter: Feminist Journey
Karen was raised Southern Baptist and was very active until she began to desire to feel a spiritual movement through her own experiences, and through the feminist movement. She says, "I have come to find out that [the church] doesn't corner the market on spirituality. Still it's a tool for those that it works for. This church has helped me, but right now it doesn't have much to offer me" (Roof, 21). She became an active member of a women's group that helped her explore her own needs and empower her to reach deeper levels of feeling through activities like meditation. She claimed that she, "found God inside myself" through self help books.
According to Roof, this feminist movement is not uncommon in a society that has been male dominated in the past. Throughout history, women have separated into small groups to "bond" with other women and deepen the feminist unity in "gender-based alienation". In Karen's case, she did this through studying eastern religions, ancient goddesses, meditation, and spa treatments, to name a few.
This ties in with the common theme that Roof keeps reiterating of a gradual feeling of ambivolence toward the traditional faith in which they were raised and a growing spiritual hunger for self discovery.
Sam Wong: Evangelical Seeker
Sam was not raised in a religious household. When he was in college, he was exposed to Christianity and him and his wife became members of an evangelical christian organization. He was not an active member of one church until six years ago. Since then, the change was even aparent on his coffee mugs (Jesus is the reason for the season) and his WWJD bracelets. He described his church as a "seeker church" meaning they attract middle aged people who are "seeking" answers, and who often know very little about Christianity and enjoy a much more contemporary setting. This included being tied into a "Christian network" on the internet so he could talk in chat rooms to other Christians. Through this, his goal is to "win people over to Jesus" and "organize a worldwide evangelical campaign".
Dogmatists
Mainstream believers
Born again Christians
Metaphysical believers and seekers
Secularists
He came up with these catagories during a study that he conducted that is very similar to ours. However, he focused on the "baby boomer" generation, while we are focusing on the generation after them (i.e. the kids of the baby boomers). Even though these divisions are in an older generation, it is possible that many of them can still apply to the age group we are studying. Before going into more detail with the groups themselves, we will take a brief look at a few of Roof's ideas of varying religion.
He starts out by giving two sets of statistics that surprised me when I read them. The first says that "Polls indicate that 94% of Americans believe in God and 90% report praying to God on a fairly regular basis" (Roof, 3). This contradicts the apparent decrease in religious people in America. Religion is being taken out of schools and is constantly railed on by the government. So why is it this happening when 94% of Americans report a belief in God?
Roof quickly answers this by providing a statistic showing that, while religion is decresing in public, it is still thriving and even increasing in people's private lives. "...65% of Americans believe that religon is losing its influence in public life... yet 62% claim that the influence of religion was increasing in their personal lives" (Roof, 7). Outwardly religion apears to be declining, but nearly the same percent feel that religion is growing inwardly. Now that we see that personal religion is actually growing, we must examine what that personal religion is.
Here are a few quotes from Roof that we thought well explained the growth and change of religion during the Baby Boomer generation:
"Spirituality is a very difficult word to define. An adequate definition would include reference to a relationship with something beyond myself... that is intangible but also real. It would recognize that spirituality is the source of one's values and meaning, a way of understanding the world, an awareness of my "inner self," and a means of integrating the various aspects of myself into a whole" (35).
"[The United States] is religiously pluralistic and lacks an established church... Organized religion can be experienced as distant and out-of-date; spiritually it can be dry" (36-37).
There is now a greater emphysis on self understanding and self reflexivity, which is a shift from the previous culture (Roof, 9).
"House churches, Catholic Eucharistic groups, Jewish havurot, Bible study, prayer groups, and other such groups are often invisable yet by all accounts are flourishing today" (Roof, 20). He later points out that, "One out of every four Americans are involved in small groups of one sort or another..." (Roof,39).
After seeing these small ways in which religion has changed, Roof showed interviews from a few people who fit into the different categories.
Sara Caughman: born again Christian, or a rediscovery of tradition
I think that Sara's story is similar to that of many people of her generation. She was raised in the church but dropped out when she reached her twenties. Years later (when she was in her 40's) something happened in her life to cause her to rediscover the religion she had once been a part of. Not only did Sara return to church, she became an active member and helped establish many groups in her church to further the knowledge and understanding of Christian values and teachings.
Not everyone who returns to their faith necessarily becomes super involved, but it can be commonly seen that people who have been away from the church tend to return when they have children of their own and want them to be raised in the church, or when some other big and life-changing thing happens to make them reflect back on their life and think about the future.
Vicki Feinstein: Eclectic Seeker
Vicki claimed to be not religious for most of her life, but said that she and some friends started to get involved with the religious movement occuring around her. She says she "cannot imagine herself belonging to any religious organization", so she struck out on her own. She looked into scientology and liked what she saw there about how the mind is shaped and the ways it helped her to know herself better, but wasn't satisfied and kept looking. She read everything she could about Buddhism and followed the religion's advise on self reflection and meditation. In addition to these, she mentioned liking Star Trek and asked if it could be considered a religion as well.
In this day people consider all sorts of things to be religions that never would have been given a second thought a hundred years ago. "New Age" teachings that combine religious ideas with things like yoga and other techniques to connect you to your body are becoming commonplace and Vicki is not alone in her blending of religions and other ideas to form her own "religious values".
Some people just don't want to be told what to do and what to believe, and would rather take the time to discover that themselves. This is echoed in several comments from our interviewees making statements like find quotes "should be your choice, your own personal beliefs, no one should make you believe anything, etc." That is why you find people, like Vicki, who can believe in Star Trek as a religion. That is how they experience spirituality on a personal level.
John McRae: Reawakenings (secular alternative to traditional faith)
John was born into a Presbyterian church but did not know if he was religious or not. He would refer to himself as a Presbyterian, but he had not been to church in about twenty years, claiming that he “got out of the habit of going and never went back”, and could not say that he even knew what Presbyterians believed.
His fiancé, who is Catholic and participates in small group study because they are not comfortable in church, influenced him and he started going to the small group as well. He said that he liked the group because even though they are Catholic, that does not matter, instead it is very open and they talk about their own lives and their own experiences. Through this group, John experienced the ability to address his feelings of doubt and uncertainty and think about his priorities.
Karen Potter: Feminist Journey
Karen was raised Southern Baptist and was very active until she began to desire to feel a spiritual movement through her own experiences, and through the feminist movement. She says, "I have come to find out that [the church] doesn't corner the market on spirituality. Still it's a tool for those that it works for. This church has helped me, but right now it doesn't have much to offer me" (Roof, 21). She became an active member of a women's group that helped her explore her own needs and empower her to reach deeper levels of feeling through activities like meditation. She claimed that she, "found God inside myself" through self help books.
According to Roof, this feminist movement is not uncommon in a society that has been male dominated in the past. Throughout history, women have separated into small groups to "bond" with other women and deepen the feminist unity in "gender-based alienation". In Karen's case, she did this through studying eastern religions, ancient goddesses, meditation, and spa treatments, to name a few.
This ties in with the common theme that Roof keeps reiterating of a gradual feeling of ambivolence toward the traditional faith in which they were raised and a growing spiritual hunger for self discovery.
Sam Wong: Evangelical Seeker
Sam was not raised in a religious household. When he was in college, he was exposed to Christianity and him and his wife became members of an evangelical christian organization. He was not an active member of one church until six years ago. Since then, the change was even aparent on his coffee mugs (Jesus is the reason for the season) and his WWJD bracelets. He described his church as a "seeker church" meaning they attract middle aged people who are "seeking" answers, and who often know very little about Christianity and enjoy a much more contemporary setting. This included being tied into a "Christian network" on the internet so he could talk in chat rooms to other Christians. Through this, his goal is to "win people over to Jesus" and "organize a worldwide evangelical campaign".
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Religion: A Cultural Influence
In today's world it is easy to go with the flow, to believe things because that's what society tells you to believe. In the United States, especially in the Bible Belt of the South, Christianity is the most common religion. But that's not the only one out there even though many people aren't aware of what's in their own backyard. Here, if a person grows up a Christian, they remain a Christian their whole life; maybe they will become a solid Christian who goes to church every week and prays often, or maybe they will be more of a nominal Christian who does not really participate in church, yet still considers themselves a part of the religion. It is a rarity to find an individual who seriously questions their faith and why they believe what they believe. One reason for the lack of questioning could be the general social acceptance of the faith. If someone walks into church and says they are questioning the teachings of the church and need to work out for themselves why they are a Christian (this is applicable for all religions, not just Christianity), their fellow laymen and the ministers will probably not jump for joy. You just don't do that.
However, I personally believe that a questioning and reasoning out of why you believe what you believe is necessary in order to be fully in your faith. Know why you believe will make you a stronger follower and enhance the religious experience.
Think about it from this point of view. If you are born in a country where the primary religion is Hindu, but your family is Christian, it would be much harder to keep the will to remain a Christian. It would be the easiest thing in the world to convert to Hinduism and do what the majority of the population is doing. In this situation it is necessary to make sure you really know why you believe what you do, because if you don't there's not much reason to believe it. You are not doing the easy thing, but the hard thing: not letting your surrounding culture affect what you believe to be right.
How do we get past this paradox?
Let's think for just a minute about the major religions of the world. Besides the ones most people have heard of (Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), there are innumerable other religions. The East Asian Religions like Confucianism is just one example. Even within a religion there are divisions and sects. These religions are present everywhere, not just the country of origin. For example, in Spartanburg alone there are Christian churches of at least 5 denominations that I can name off the top of my head, a Hindu temple, synagogues, a mosque, and a Buddhist population.
In her book A New Religious America, Diana Eck describes the new religious setting of America, one in which religions that have never had much contact are now interacting on a daily basis. In this new religious era, many people are unaware of the beliefs of Sikhs or Muslims and many have never visited a mosque or Hindu or Buddhist temple. Yet despite are extreme lack of knowledge, we are willing to say that "Muslims" (as a collective term) are extremists who will resort to anything have their message heard, when in actuality that couldn't be farther from the truth. Our society has developed a set of stereotypes that have spread from the secular world into the religious world- it is these stereotypes that we intend to identify and set straight.
Eck goes on to point out that the diversity in America gives us the opportunity to study the dynamics of various faiths. Whereas in years past study of Buddhism would have only been possible through books and firsthand knowledge through traveling to the areas of the world where it originated, the playing field is in our backyard. It is easier now than ever before to walk down the street and experience something completely different than anything we are used to. This is an opportunity that people should take advantage of.
Religion (no matter how hard the government may try to fight it) is a big part of our culture and helps shapes us and the world around us whether we're aware of it or not. The study of world religions allows us to understand what's going on around us- the situation with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, wars between Pakistan and Israel, and wars between the Shia and Sunni Muslims, and countless other disputes. I think it's as necessary a topic as science or math- it's just a matter of time before people realize that.
However, I personally believe that a questioning and reasoning out of why you believe what you believe is necessary in order to be fully in your faith. Know why you believe will make you a stronger follower and enhance the religious experience.
Think about it from this point of view. If you are born in a country where the primary religion is Hindu, but your family is Christian, it would be much harder to keep the will to remain a Christian. It would be the easiest thing in the world to convert to Hinduism and do what the majority of the population is doing. In this situation it is necessary to make sure you really know why you believe what you do, because if you don't there's not much reason to believe it. You are not doing the easy thing, but the hard thing: not letting your surrounding culture affect what you believe to be right.
Every person we have interviewed thus far have said that they believe the culture and the environment that a person grew up in is one of the, if not the deciding factor for a person's religious beliefs. In the opinion of the interviewees, if someone is born here in the southern "Bible belt", and their parents are typical Christians, then they will be Christian regardless of any other factor. They will be born into a Christian home, environment, and culture, and they have basically no other choice but to be Christian. I have probed this farther with several people and asked whether they believed that just applied to the United States, or whether that was world-wide. The general consensus has been that it is world wide.
So, for example, if someone is born in India, then they will most likely be Hindu. If someone is born in the middle east, they will most likely be Muslim. But what happens if someone is born where there is no outside religious influence? The two common answers have been, "I don't know" and "then is depends on what the family of that person believes". Does that mean that religion is not a personal decision? If that is the case, then the entire last post is null because it wouldn't matter if someone shared their religion with others because that is not the influencing factor. On the other hand, every person we have interviewed has expressed the need for religion to be a personal decision, not influenced by any other factors than individual choice.
How do we get past this paradox?
Let's think for just a minute about the major religions of the world. Besides the ones most people have heard of (Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), there are innumerable other religions. The East Asian Religions like Confucianism is just one example. Even within a religion there are divisions and sects. These religions are present everywhere, not just the country of origin. For example, in Spartanburg alone there are Christian churches of at least 5 denominations that I can name off the top of my head, a Hindu temple, synagogues, a mosque, and a Buddhist population.
In her book A New Religious America, Diana Eck describes the new religious setting of America, one in which religions that have never had much contact are now interacting on a daily basis. In this new religious era, many people are unaware of the beliefs of Sikhs or Muslims and many have never visited a mosque or Hindu or Buddhist temple. Yet despite are extreme lack of knowledge, we are willing to say that "Muslims" (as a collective term) are extremists who will resort to anything have their message heard, when in actuality that couldn't be farther from the truth. Our society has developed a set of stereotypes that have spread from the secular world into the religious world- it is these stereotypes that we intend to identify and set straight.
Eck goes on to point out that the diversity in America gives us the opportunity to study the dynamics of various faiths. Whereas in years past study of Buddhism would have only been possible through books and firsthand knowledge through traveling to the areas of the world where it originated, the playing field is in our backyard. It is easier now than ever before to walk down the street and experience something completely different than anything we are used to. This is an opportunity that people should take advantage of.
Religion (no matter how hard the government may try to fight it) is a big part of our culture and helps shapes us and the world around us whether we're aware of it or not. The study of world religions allows us to understand what's going on around us- the situation with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, wars between Pakistan and Israel, and wars between the Shia and Sunni Muslims, and countless other disputes. I think it's as necessary a topic as science or math- it's just a matter of time before people realize that.
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