Week 1 – Religion and Society/Religion and Culture
The first lecture, independent study and tutorial I found quite interesting for societies and lifestyles. I quite enjoy learning about cultural and religious diversities and modern studies which means this module will be an interesting one for me.
As soon as the lecture began it was a real eye opener for me and how there are so many different definitions and interpretations of what religion is to a culture and society. For example a simple definition for religion was ‘religion belief is spiritual beings.’ However, I did not realise how wide such a question of what religion is, as a definition would have so many different views and contributions from others. The lecture showed me what: anthropologists; sociologists; historians and theologians would all say to what religion is.
I also found that from the lecture I am going to have to take religion from an ‘outsider’ approach if I am really going to understand all of the different cultures and religions. This means that I will be neutral and not let my own thoughts and feeling get in the way of my writing and discussions. I will not be bias towards any religion due to my own personal beliefs and thoughts. I am going to have the mind-set of a blank canvis to take in all the information and knowledge I can about religions and their importance or non-importance within a society.
This topic and lecture also showed me the need some people have towards religion. They think that it is a necessity. I was also taught about the different aspects and what takes place within some religions and what the following literally means. Such as: the beliefs; practices; worship; ethical codes; teachings; myths and festivals. I have fairly secure knowledge within this area and I am confident if asked I could explain the above aspects and their importance. I can securely demonstrate the knowledge I have gained if questioned or in the exam.
The most interesting part of today I thought was the importance and value religion can have on a society. For example: deals with life crisis; social relations; unites people within the group; semantics and structure; basic needs; peace in the community; identity and explanation and meaning. However, having so many different cultural diversities can provide some real challenges as well as positives. I explored challenges religion can have more in the tutorial. We took it as what different angles and answers could we put in this small area of the topic.
The lecture provided me with the knowledge of different scholars such as: Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942); Emile Durkheim (1858-1917); M.F.C. Bourdillon (1990) and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. Having researched some of these scholars and being told about them has helped me to widen my horizons on some knowledge already gained from studying higher RMPS at school. However, today’s lecture and tutorials allowed me to go into further detail and enhance my knowledge and skills of what different viewpoints from what unbiased people think. Although, I am not very confident in their viewpoints and stances without looking at my notes showing further study and research I needed here. This meaning this is a weak area for me but a very important one. I must be thorough when talking about these scholar as the lecturer kept reiterating their importance and how to talk about them in the exam. I will need to be sure what each stance is and provide secure knowledge of what I know about them. I need to look more into each of them and re-read my notes until I am confident about talking about each of the above people.
From a teachers and teaching perspective today was a very interesting day for me as I have a real interest in why religion is important in the world and the uses it has within our society. The main idea that stood out for me today was in a classroom the importance of learning different cultures and religions. To me this was important as the children will get to learn the needs of some people and why they choose certain religions. They will learn about religious diversity and cultures. They will be educated in why certain people are drawn to certain beliefs and choose those religions. The children will have a wide cultural and diverse knowledge of different religions and cultures. They will be fully educated and given knowledge in why there are so many religions with the positives and negatives of them in a society.
