We spent this semester working on an independent religion project entitled “The spiritual Lives of Wofford Students”.
** Frequently, religious diversity is thought of in terms of official, organizational lines like Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam etc. Other times religious diversity is thought of in terms of the demographics of a particular religious group – for example, the racial diversity of a particular congregation. Rarely, however, is religious diversity considered from the perspective of the individual as distinctive conceptualizations of the divine or religious experience. The basic assumption of this independent study is that there are many ways that everyday people, and more specifically Wofford students, enact and experience religion, regardless of whether they have official religious affiliations or not. Have you ever wondered what’s really going in the spiritual lives of Wofford students?
We set out on this quest of spiritual discovery on the individual level in hopes of discovering what drives people to a religion, how that religion and its practices affect people, and if there are any commonalities among these aspects despite the religious affiliations of the individual. In our pursuit of this study, we were able to classify people into categories based on their spirituality vs. religion, uncover several linking threads between these categories, the knots that those threads caused, and how society loosens those knots.
So what is the difference between religion and spirituality? Have you heard someone claim to be spiritual but not religious? What does that mean? For the sake of this study, religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural; a personal set or institutionalized system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Spirituality is the personal, inward connection and sensitivity to God or the supernatural. Based on these definitions, it is possible to have religion without spirituality. However, spirituality can be brought about through religious practices, but one is not dependent on the other.
To aid in our research, we read three book throughout the semester: Habits of the Heart , by Robert Bellah, who came 3 weeks ago (we ordered him 3 MONTHS ago); A New Religious America by Diana Eck; Spiritual Marketplace by Wade Clark Roof, who excitingly enough was given as a gift at the convocation yesterday, so if ya’ll are planning to give me the first departmental religion award for minors you are going to have to find another book, because I already have that one. Thanks.
Along with reading the books, we got down and dirty, immersing ourselves in the spiritual life at Wofford by conducting interviews and going with our interviewees to their perspective religious services in order to get a deeper understanding of the spiritual aspect of their life. Being biology majors, we know that in every study, you must have some type of format to gain significant data from which to draw legitimate conclusions.
** Firstly: A control. We came up with eleven standardized questions as our interview backbone.
** (For a complete list, refer to screen)
---What is your understanding of the religious experience?
—What in your life or culture has influenced you to make your religious decision?
—What is your understanding about the divine?
—What happens during religious worship?
—What is the purpose of life?
—What are your beliefs on the creation of the world?
—Do you believe in the afterlife? If so, describe your beliefs.
—How do you view the ideas of good and evil?
—What are your views about proselytization?
—How much do you know about other world religions?
—Do you think it is good to question your religion?
We selected these questions because we thought they would provide a basic understanding of all aspects of the interviewee’s beliefs, and could apply to people of any religious background. As we talked with people, we elaborated on their answers with applicable questions that were relevant to them individually.
By integrating all of this research, we were able to come up with six categories of religious people at Wofford.
The categories are as follows:
Dogmatists, Secularists, Metaphysical Seekers, Born again, Mainstream, and Religious Seeker.
To help you better understand these categories, we have provided a definition, and a short role-play of each; drawing quotes from the actual interview answers we received.
Dogmatists can be defined as religious but not spiritual. They are totally doctrine based, and there is no personal connection to the divine at all; basically they would be what we might call someone who is going through the motions of religion. They go to their perspective religious ceremony because it is the socially, or family accepted thing to do, but they don’t get anything out of it personally.
For example: Weatherly, What is your understanding about the divine?
Well, I am not really a spiritual person, but the divine is three persons, a facet of God whose son died for out salvation, and whom we work to serve. We will someday die and based on our deeds done in life will hopefully live in eternity. But again, I am really not that spiritual.
We actually had to go out and look for this group and had a hard time finding people. We were surprised to find that many people who we thought would fit this category actually had a spiritual side.
The next category, the Secularists, don't believe anything spiritual or religious. They might socially be identified as agnostic or atheist. Personally, I find this concept hard to grasp, because it would take a tremendous amount of faith to believe that nothing existed at all. It could also be that society expects people to have a religious label so even if our interviewee felt like a secularist they gave themselves a religious title. That is probably why we did not find anyone that fit this category, but needed to have it available, just incase. (So no role-play here, sorry.)
The third category is a Metaphysical seeker. They can be defined as someone who is spiritual but not religious. They typically use alternative methods to get some type of personal spiritual experience. They are completely non-traditional, and combine elements of many different religions, or even their everyday life. Roof talks about one woman who had a Christian background, but fused Buddhist moral values, yoga practices, and Star Trek as her spiritual guide.
One example we found: Lindsey, what are your beliefs on the creation of the world?
Sine and cosine are two universal energies along with gravity, which pulls things together, and dark energy which pushes things away. Dark energy is on the rise and gravity is in the decline. Black holes form and combine which are just incredible gravitational forces that have ever arching pulls as they gain matter. So black holes get bigger until they extend to where the dark energy is, and you get to a point where they are at equilibrium. The big bang was that point. Then the cycle starts again, but in reverse. Tangent is the supernatural. You can see were the supernatural system came from and where it went but you don’t know where it started and where it is going. We as people are somewhere part of the sine cosine system. Like the yin and the yang, they are always balanced but the dots are the tangent.
The fourth category are the Born agains. They are both spiritual and religious. They are usually identified in society as evangelical, with a major emphasis on a personal relationship with their deity. They do this by the renewal of their life as a personal journey between themselves and their deity.
For example: Weatherly, What is the purpose of life?
Well, a divine experience is not a huge dramatic emotion or a booming voice but a gentle understanding in my thoughts and heart that is either at peace or not. We are nothing without Christ and he is why we are, what we do, and everything. So the purpose of life is to live to glorify and teach people about Christ and to bring others to know him so they can have eternal life.
The fifth category is identified as Mainstream. They are also both spiritual and religious, but they are more denominational and traditional than the born agains. The religious congregation is for social betterment and involvement, and used to help others in the community. They generally follow ritual practices to get their spiritual growth.
This was a common category among people we interviewed giving us answers like: Lindsey, What happens during your religious worship?
We sit down, light candles, greet each other, sing songs and hymns with the choir, read from the Bible, say structured prayers then quiet individual prayers, give offering, then there is a sermon. I like the music. It makes me feel at peace. Church is not a stressful place. The atmosphere is joyful with singing, no 'amen' every 10 seconds, it’s not a loud church, but there are a lot of older people.
The final category are the Religious Seekers. They perform the traditional rituals but don't feel that they have to in order to have a spiritual connection with the divine. They have established beliefs, but question those beliefs and follow logical thought, usually a combination of science and religion. They also believe that the individual should do whatever is best for them to reach a spiritual enlightenment.
When we interviewed these individuals, the answers to their questions were so well thought out that it almost always made us think. For example: Lindsey, what is your understanding of a religious experience?
A religious experience is an intuitive understanding for a higher, fundamental truth which is eternal, and is always viewed through the peripheral and never straight on. You can see it through nature and you own interactions with people. It is basically found however you can find it. Sometimes it comes as an epiphany. I believe that in some ways Christianity misses the point of the doctrine. It confuses it, because a religious experience should be deeply personal. There are times when you get that feeling that something else is out there worth my trust and faith.
What do you think, Weatherly?
Religion is a personal thing and everyone has to find it differently. Everyone has a different view of things and interpret different meanings of what religion is. I don't always go to church when I'm at school, but I'm there every Sunday at home. Church provides a place of healing about things that can't always be healed any other way. It's not necessarily a specific part of the sermon, but the whole atmosphere. I'm a nature person, and for some reason when I'm out hiking or on the water, I feel connected, like there has to be a God. I consider myself to be a religious person, but I follow my own interpretation of the bible. I don’t think it should be taken as a literal interpretation. It was written a long time ago, and now it is outdated and should be revised to fit today’s society.
Here are the results of our interviews, the percentages of each category based on the people that we interviewed.
Category Number of people Dogmatist: 8.3% Secularist: 0%Metaphysical Seeker: 16.7% Born-again: 20.8% Mainstream: 29.2% Religious seeker: 25%
In looking at people in each of these categories (except secular of course) we were able to come up with several common threads winding through them. These are topics that groups of people agreed upon despite being from different categories. A few of those basic threads that we extracted were the ideas of proselytization, the influence of culture and family, and doubting and questioning your faith.
First of all, most of ya'll are probably thinking 'what the heck does Proselytization… that p-word that mean?', because when Dan first told us that word we sure did. Proselytization means: To induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith. The common thread we found was that no matter what religion you choose, it is your choice and no one should influence you to choose one particular religion or another. Therefore, forcing your beliefs onto someone else is wrong. Instead, you should spread your faith by demonstrating it in your own life. Some examples from our interviews include:
Mainstream: I try to impact as many people as I can through my religion, it is not hounding them with the Qu’ran or preaching to them but it is through my actions that I am doing this.
Metaphysical Seeker: No one tries to convert others to Judaism and it is wrong to do so because people should make their own decisions about what they want to do, especially with religion.
Born again: Our goal as Christians is to preach the gospel to all the world. To quote St. Francis, "preach the gospel and if necessary use words". It is not affective to walk up to someone and tell them they're going to hell. Most people who're completely against Christianity have that view because of Christians who have done that in the past.- influence of culture and family
The second commonality was the role of culture and family in the individual’s religious decision. Most of the interviewees agreed that the society that you were raised in and your family’s own beliefs are a major influence and deciding factor on your religious and spiritual life.
However, despite this fact, questioning and challenging your background beliefs is necessary to discover the faith that best suits you. This leads into the importance of studying other religions besides your own. In Diana Eck’s book, she point out that the diversity in America gives us the opportunity to study the dynamics of various faiths. It is easier now than ever before to walk down the street and experience something completely different than anything we are used to (and we are living proof of that!)
In the process of studying other religions, many people feel challenged and end up questioning and doubting their own faith. Doubting causes a person to question their religion which has the potential to make their religious views come back stronger than ever. We asked our interviewees 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. Nearly all of them agreed that questioning elements of their religion was a means of growth. It is by raising these questions and searching out the answers that a person really knows why they believe what they believe. Here are a few examples:
Religious Seeker: I think you shouldn't follow something blindly. If you question and still have faith, it'll make it that much stronger. There's things science can't answer. You should keep open dialog with what you are questioning amongst peers.
Born Again: 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.
Metaphysical Seeker: 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.-flow chart of one category to next
After looking at all our data, we came up with what we thought was the most likely way that each group was connected. An individual starts out in the mainstream category, joining in with whatever faith their parents or society hold true. Once they become old enough to start questioning their beliefs, they move to the dogmatist category where they learn the theological answers, but still continue going through the motions of their influenced religious practice. After a while, more and deeper questioning leads to one of several things: a loss of religious faith and spirituality- secularism; a gain of spirituality through a significant life experience and a recommitment to the faith- born agains; a gain of spirituality through more personalized religious means- religious seeker; or a gain of spirituality with a loss of the religious theology – metaphysical seeker. This is not necessarily what always happens, it is just one possibility. In actuality, the arrows could move from any one category to another.
It would be perfect if these common threads that exist throughout differing categories of religious belief, spirituality, and among different religions held true for all beliefs. However, we don’t live anywhere near perfect, and the simple fact that we were able to separate the individuals we interviewed into categories makes it obvious that there are differing opinions and answers to the basic fundamental questions we were asking in our interviews. This leads to several problems. One problem is the problem of pluralism. If there can be more than one explanation to questions within a certain religion, and all the explanations are correct to the individual, then other religions and their explanations must be correct as well. But somewhere deep inside we believe that our answers are right, and there (logically) can’t be more that one right answer to a given question. If we did entertain the idea that another religion could be truthful, then we are betraying our own faith.
Another problem that has already been mentioned in several quotes from interviewees, is the problem of stereotypes. When you hear the word "Buddhist", you think of bald monks in orange robes not eating, sitting cross-legged, and chanting "om". When you hear the word "Christian", you think of people handing out Bibles and telling you you're going to hell if you don't believe in Jesus. When you hear the word "Muslim", you think of men with long beards wearing turbans bombing buildings and women completely covered up and oppressed. These are all examples of society’s perceptions of different religions. These pictures you see up on screen are the images we found when typed these words into Google images. That example says a lot for the stereotypes we are talking about. Societal perceptions should be based on the majority, but are these stereotypes the majority? The answer is no. In actuality, it's the minority and these people are often the extremists of the religion. But the religion as a whole should not be based on only a few members.
Before we make any judgments about a religion, we need to study it. One Muslim interviewee explained the stereotype of the oppression of women. She said that being covered was a sign of respect and was a choice. During worship, the women pray in a separate room behind the men by their own preference, as being in front of the men and having to bend over would be embarrassing. In addition, our findings throughout the semester have shown that the extremists are hard even impossible to find. The cause of these stereotypes is a lack of education of the reality of religion. As people become educated and gain knowledge of other religions surrounding them, the common misconceptions will be better understood and hopefully someday ended.
When we look at other religions as being truthful and more than just what the stereotypes tell us, we are not denying the validity of our own; instead we are evaluating our own beliefs and relating the beliefs of others and of what we hear to what we already know. Many of the people that we have interviewed agree with this idea. They can take what they have learned about other religions and get something out of it that they otherwise would not have been able to see. Whatever religion someone is, they see the divine in a way that is personal to them.
Many of the answers to our questions were highly individualized to fit the belief systems of the individual and transformed to a deeper and more meaningful level for that individual. If everything can be interpreted to fit an individual’s own beliefs, then they understand that their beliefs will be different from someone else, and that is no longer a problem.
Roof gave several thought provoking statistics in his book. He reported that 94% of Americans say they believe in God and 90% pray to God on a fairly regular basis. At first glance this seems contradictory to the beginning of the next set of statistics. 65% of Americans say religion is losing influence in public life, but 62% of people said on the same survey that religion is increasing in their personal lives. This demonstrates the individualism that Lindsey was just talking about. Religion is not becoming absent, simply shifting fields from the public to the private sector.
Through our study we found that the experience and expression of religion is changing over the course of time. It is becoming a more private and personalized thing. In talking to people, we later realized we had to make a new category of religious person- the religious seeker- as there were several people who did not fit into our five original categories. Even with the new category, it was difficult to place many people into just one group as they had thoughts that overlapped with multiple groups. In the end, we decided that it was the value of individualism that is the beauty of religion in our society. We have the freedom to question religion and faith until we find a solution that fits us.
So this has to be the longest post we've done yet, with ALOT of color changing. Thanks for sticking with it!
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