Week 2 – Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched Spiritualties‘
Today was another huge learning curve for me. The lecture, independent task and tutorial were very fact based with a lot of knowledge and analysis to process. In the beginning we spoke how some people require religion as a sense of identity. It gives them a sense of belonging. We then spoke about how some people find religion as an essential and a way of life. It can have an impact on such things as: culture; relationships; education.
Religion also has social issues both in a positive and negative light. For example religion has provided material claims such as he helped those in need and providing support to vulnerable groups. It provides a sense of community such as providing one unit of stability for social problems being experienced within a community or group. It can also leave spiritual claims. I will not go into detail for them as they are quite self-explanatory but here is a quick overview. The remaining ones are: altruism – may use altruism and welfare as a gimmick; susceptible to internal external forces – views can be hijacked which could promote violence and conflict; unethically of religion – may inhibit deviant tendencies and impact on health – can cause conflict with religious views so refuse medical healthcare and treatment.
The three main scholars that we looked at were: Max Weber (1864 – 1920); Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) and Bruce Lincoln (1992) . These three scholars had their own views on whether religion was an appraisal and benefit to a culture or whether there were criticisms and hindrance as religion was concerned within a society. In summary, Weber thought Christianity contributed to the success of the socio-economic world. Marx thought that religion gives false consciousness in oppressed people. Finally, Lincoln thought that religion was formed as part of the process of social formation. This is only a brief overview of the scholars and their beliefs. I do not feel confident yet to fully examine and analysis each of them. For self-improvement I need to look more over these scholars and analysis what they believe more, to use the knowledge sufficiently and effectively in the exam.
Lastly, we focused on a completely new term to me called ‘Unchurched Spiritualties.’ I had never heard of this before so was quite pleased to see that there was several definitions as to what was within this topic. For example: ‘Unchurched Spirituality is forms of spirituality not associated with organised religions. It involves ‘spirituality outside of the churches.’ This new religion has been accused of taking people away from Christianity. However, it has also been said this religion is bridging the gap that was already declining in religion. Unchurched Spirituality has helped people to feel more spiritual in a more modern way as opposed to the declining, ‘normal’, ‘traditional’ faiths. The main characteristics I found with unchurched spiritualties were: Autonomy; Eclecticism; Individualism; Appreciation; Believing without Belonging; Liberation; Blurring; Existing; Lack and Magic. The main criticisms that stood out for me was that unchurched spirituality is perceived to be detached from the political realm; it is alleged to be superficial, hedonism and consumerism and it only brings transitory happiness and self-affirmation as opposed to other religions which bring eternal happiness.
As you can see from the summarised points on what I have found most difficult or stood it for me is that some of the terminology can be quite confusing and complicated. To ensure that I have the knowledge, analysis and evaluation here I will need to look more into such things as all the scholars mentioned. I will need to make sure that I understand fully what knowledge is being talked about. If I chunk it down and ensure I understand everything that is being talked about I will give myself the best chance when it comes to the religion part in the exam.
Overall, the religion part of this module has been very intriguing but I need to go back and look at everything as there is a lot to know. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of knowledge and scholars. If I can dissect each section then religion will be much easier and I will feel more comfortable about talking about it in the exam. I have a lot of work until then though!
Tune in for next week where it will be a new chapter.
See you next week – Christopher
