Day 6 (16-day format): Religion

6:00 - Attendance, collect Top Ten lists, Chapter 6 group confers, read An American Tragedy


6:15 - Discuss Chapter 6: Religion
Facilitators: Mita, Diana, Craig, Felicia, Dalia, Ashley, Maria 7:20 - Break

7:30 - Instructor-lead discussion...

Display of cultural markers to symbolize identity/affiliation

Discuss feminism, fundamentalism, and interpretations of the hijab
What about the burqa? Banned in France...
What about ultra-orthodox Jewish blinders?
Other intersections of religion and gender...
Implications of "Adam & Eve"?
Balpreet Kaur?

Religious symbols are functional - they provide "emotional and intellectual affirmation of values and beliefs" and reinforce collective identity and solidarity. But they are multivocal - so they can also highlight division and encourage conflict.

What about the mosque they're trying to build here in Waukesha?
(Waukesha patch)(Brookfield patch)
Should religion and religious views enter the political realm? (p.88-9)
- tax code
- Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution
- other countries?
- "sharia" law
- the "social gospel" and civil rights
- elections? (This November: A Tale of Two Catholics?)

So what IS religion?

• "belief and ritual concerned w/ supernatural beings?"
• "bodies of people who gather together regularly for worship?"
• that which "ties and binds" (the Latin, religare)
• what is the importance of "effervescence"?

What else do you think of when you think of religion? What is NECESSARY for something to have in order for us to consider it a religion?

-cults
-sects
-spirituality
-magic
-civil religion/sports (p.107)



Importance of rituals? (p.92)

Rites of passage and the liminal void...

Individuality vs. collectivity




What does the religious landscape look like?
Protestant (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Mennonite, etc...)
Catholic
Jewish
"Other"?
Eastern Orthodox
Muslim
Buddhist
Hindu
Sikh
Wiccan
Agnostic
Atheist
EvangelicalPentecostal
Fundamentalist (p.103)Scientology
New Age
Mormon
etc...



The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?


Social Control as a function of religion
-ecology and evolution metaphors
-views on reproduction
-strictness, free-riders, and rational choice





FOR NEXT TIME:

• Read Chapter 7: Race - Its Biological Dimensions, and prepare your daily Top Ten List
• ONLY: Nathan, Nate, Kaelyn, Maddie, Jeyson, Alex, Gabriella, Denielle - prepare to facilitate a discussion on Chapter 7