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Religion and Society

After today’s input, I learned that religion is a form of knowledge and that it is part of today’s society, culture and it also is an identity for many people. I learned that religion for many people defines who they are. Following a religion unites people in a shared experience and makes them feel part of a community where they feel welcomed and this is where they belong. I learned that religion is part of today’s society and it is an individual’s choice if they would like to take part or not.

I found today’s lecture difficult to follow as I have never took part or participated in any aspect of religious education. It was interesting to learn something different and have an open mind set to different peoples beliefs.

I would like to widen my knowledge therefore I will continue with academic reading on this subject. I will also speak to the people around me about the religion they follow to gain an understanding of different peoples beliefs and thoughts.

Society and Lifestyle

What is religion? A question which may have appeared simple to me at first glance. Yet, despite assuming this would be simple to answer, I have been able to take […]

Religion, Diversity and Society

This week’s input opened my eyes to the many differing opinions and definitions of ‘Religion’. I have always been fascinated by religion and enjoy learning about different religions and cultures worldwide. RME was not a subject I was offered and school and therefore I feel that this module will give me a deeper insight and … Continue reading Religion, Diversity and Society →

Society and Lifestyles – Monday 16th January

During the lecture on Monday 16th January, I learned about the different types and functions of religion as well as learning about religious diversity. Due to the fact I did Higher RMPS at school, I felt that I knew a lot about religion however learning about the different functions of religion really interested me as … Continue reading Society and Lifestyles – Monday 16th January →

During the lecture on Monday 16^th January, I learned about the different types and functions of religion as well as learning about religious diversity. Due to the fact I did Higher RMPS at school, I felt that I knew a lot about religion however learning about the different functions of religion really interested me as I was not aware of just how important religion was to some people and how they use it in everyday life to cope with different aspects or to keep peace in a community. Before this lecture, I did not realise there was a difference between a sect and a cult however I now understand that a sect is “a group which depends on voluntary membership and personal commitment” and a cult is “a group that is smaller and more remote from the main trends in society than a sect.”

This lecture improved my knowledge greatly on religion as I was unaware of most of the aspects that were covered. One of the things covered in this lecture was the seven common features of religion that Ninian Smart identified. I had known about these and had covered them briefly in Higher RMPS yet the detail that we covered them was basic so going more in depth about them really appealed to me because it was a familiar concept. The lecture also made me realise how much religion impacts on society. Bourdillon (1990) identified several ways that religion impacts some societies in his book Religion and Society which included “deals with life-crisis” and “unites people in a group”. For example, focusing on religion helps deal with life-crisis, funeral rituals can help people to cope with death and keep some control over the disruption a death can cause in a community.

Religion, Society and Diversity

Today’s learning proved to me just how complex the concept of Religion is and the impacting effects it has on society. I learned a number of new aspects today including a new type of religion, Sect. I had previous knowledge of established religions and their role in society, however discussing Cults in depth and learning … Continue reading Religion, Society and Diversity →

Today’s learning proved to me just how complex the concept of Religion is and the impacting effects it has on society. I learned a number of new aspects today including a new type of religion, Sect. I had previous knowledge of established religions and their role in society, however discussing Cults in depth and learning valuable stories of them helped improve my understanding of a Sect religion.

One main concept I understood fairly was the positive and negative aspects of Religion. Coming from an area in Scotland where religion can be a conflictual subject within my community, I understand how Religious diversity can bring both competition and separation to group of people. I also can see how it can ultimately unites believers to defend the idea of spirituality.

An area of improvement I have identified within the main concepts and issues of the topic would familiarising myself with the anthropologists and scholars we studied in the lecture. I feel to succeed in understanding Religion and society is to study and investigate deeper into the scholar’s findings.

To sum up, so far I find the topic of Religion and Society very interesting and look forward to looking into it in more detail.

Religion, Society and Diversity

Monday 16th January – Reflective Blog In our first lecture of the module, Society and Lifestyles we were introduced to the topic of religion. After having no education in […]

Monday 16th January – Reflective Blog

In our first lecture of the module, Society and Lifestyles we were introduced to the topic of religion. After having no education in religion for the last 5 years I found this input to be incredibly eye opening. I enjoyed the way the concept of religion was introduced to us. From my school experience of studying religion, we would consider individual religions and their beliefs and traditions. However, today I felt we could look at religion from scholarly approach, considering many aspects such as the Functions of Religion and Religious Diversities. From the classes I learned a great deal about theorists and their views on religion. I felt this was beneficial as we could have theory to back up the ideas being presented to us.

In my opinion, we were given a lot of information in a short time. Because of this I am struggling to fully understand some concepts such as functionalism. However, I hope to revise the notes given and complete the past exam papers. Doing so will allow me to have an overall better understanding in the areas I am struggling to comprehend at present and, additionally, allow me to understand how to answer the exam questions to a high standard.

Laura Tennent ePDP UWS

eJournal- reflective work for 16th of January. As a result of our first lecture, of the society and lifestyle module, I have now understood religion from a different perspective. Having done higher Religious education in high school, I understand and know a fair amount about religion and how religions differ between one another. However, during … Continue reading Laura Tennent ePDP UWS →

Religion, Society and Diversity

From today’s lecture, independent task and tutorial is have gained lots of new knowledge and interesting facts. There were many new terms and topics I was introduced to including different religions and their values, diversity in religion and also theorists that support religion. Although I was feeling a little confused after we were presented with … Continue reading Religion, Society and Diversity

Although I was feeling a little confused after we were presented with a lot of new information and concepts, after spending sometime in the lecture theatre completing the independent task I was able to give myself time to re read my notes and understand the learning a lot more. In this session I chose to research further into Bronislaw Malinowski’s and by doing so I gained a better understanding of his theories.

For the other theorists we looked at I will have to spend some more time researching and reading up on their work as they acquire more time to understand their theories and get your head around the new concepts. I look forward to doing some further research into these theorists and their theories as I would like to further my knowledge and improve my understanding of their work.

Religion, Societies and Lifestyles

The lecture and tutorial today helped me gain a better insight into what religion is and how it is defined in the world. I learned that there many types of religion and that they can be split into different categories such as established religions, sects and cults. This was something I did not know before as I thought that sects and cults were not classed as religions. I also learned about some of the theorists involved in religion and this helped me to understand religion from a more academic point of view. I also understand a bit better from the lecture and independent task how religion can be influenced and interpreted by theorist views.

I feel that the notes and concepts were a bit confusing at first as it is such a heavy workload, however I feel that it will be easier to understand the concepts by reading the extra reading materials and trying to link the concepts to modern day society and religion. I also feel that I will enjoy the module and so I will find it easier to learn the concepts and theory.

I enjoyed the tutorial today as we got to share our opinions with people we didn’t perhaps speak to very often within the class. It was useful to get to hear other people’s opinion on religion and how their own faiths linked in with the information about religion and the research we had found out about the theorists.

By being a part of this module, I feel that I will gain a better understanding of religion in the world around me and may notice more aspects of religion that I did not notice before. I think that this will be useful in a primary school setting as a teacher because I think that it will be easier to adapt lessons and gain more insight to the different religions and cultures that children are part of. As a future primary teacher, I aspire to be able to make all children in my care feel comfortable expressing their beliefs and practices regarding their religion and not to feel that they cannot in other people’s presence in society.

Using what I have learned today and my previous understanding of religion, I can see how religion has an impact on societies and lifestyles. I can see from both sides that religion can be both good and challenging. I can see and understand, following Durkheim’s theory that religion brings society together and the benefits that this has. I can also see how religion can be derived and divide societies through cults and negative forces on a religion.

Overall, through the course of the lecture, independent task and the tutorial I have gained a better insight into religion and societies and lifestyles and how religion impacts society and lifestyles. I feel that I will grasps the concepts better by reading over notes and further reading. I am deeply interested in this subject and I am looking forward to learning more about the topic in the module.

Response to “Room”

Reading has always been more of a task, or a chore rather than enjoyment for me. Reading isn’t something that I have been encouraged to do other than higher English at Secondary school, and now university. My English teacher informed me that we should all read as it stimulates the brain and widens your vocabulary, therefore you would find it easier to write essays and also communicate with others. As I was growing up, technology was becoming such a big necessity and it was become more and more normal for a primary school child to have a phone. As social media was making its way into Adult’s lives, it was also making its way into children’s lives. As my Mum had just bought a laptop for the family, I would much rather speak to my friends through social media and messaging sites such as Bebo and Msn at a young age. I think this took the interest off of reading at a young age as I would have much rather spoken online and shared pictures on my new colourful profile, even at the age of 11.

The type of texts I tend to read now a days are texts issued by university. However, I shocked myself when reading “Room” as I actually really enjoyed it. This has prompted me to start another fiction novel named “Me Before You” by Jo Jo Moyes. I find it easy to latch onto a book if it captures me in the first few pages. I also like to look at reviews to see if anyone else has found it interesting. “Me Before You” has a great review and people have recommended the movie, therefor I think I will enjoy the book. I would like to start reading more novels to widen my vocabulary.

The minute I started to read “Room” the writer had captured me. I was so fascinated with this little boy and the terms he was using to describe different things and the context he was in. I enjoyed this story as it was something different than I have ever read or watched before. The story line was grasping and interesting. Parts of the novel were disturbing for example when Jack was put in the wardrobe and had to listen to his mother get abused by Old Nick. I found parts of the novel hard to read such as when Ma had to tell Jack that the stain on the carpet was when she had a still born child. I also found it distressing when Ma tells Jack that she was kidnapped when she was 19 and has be captured in “Room” for many years. I find it hard to believe that this novel was based on a true story as I could never imagine this situation happening to me. I would recommend this story to a friend as it was eye opening and also a very good read.

Reading “Room” was often challenging as it was from a 5-year old’s point of view. As Jack missed out crucial words such as “ a” and “the”, this made it hard to read. Reading Room has encouraged me to read other novels as I really enjoyed the story line and could hardly take a break from reading it. It has proven to me that I thoroughly enjoy a fiction novel once I get into it. The story helped me to understand language acquisition and development once I analysed Jack’s language. It was helpful to analyse features of Jacks language to understand how context can have an impact in a child’s development.