The focus of this weeks lecture and tutorial was: How religion influences culture, how culture influences religion and ‘unchurched’ spirituality.

For many people region and culture come hand in hand. They are part of that persons identity, they influence a persons day to day life.

Religion can give people hope in times of distress and pain. People who are part of a religion are also part of the community that religion can provide. They can work, talk, help and interact with others who are facing the same difficulties. Religious communities sometimes provide material help for those in that religion who are less fortunate. They can provide; shelter, food and advice.

Although religion can provide many benefits to those who believe, there are issues within religion that many see as negative and unethical. Some religions do not accept medical treatment, medication or contraception as it against their religious views. This can impact peoples’ health.

‘Unchurched’ spirituality was also discussed. This is when a form of spirituality is not within an organised religion and outside the church. Throughout the years religiousness has been in decline and this can be seen as a point to why ‘unchurched’ spirituality has arisen. This decline can be seen in the 2011 Scottish Census (National Records of Scotland, 2013). ‘Unchurched’ spirituality can be with or without the belief in a ‘God’ or ‘Gods’.

I am going to work on understanding theorists views and criticisms of religion and spirituality. I find this interesting to learn about and by understanding theorists this will enable me to provide a higher quality of answers in my exam.

As a student primary teacher I can see the importance of learning religion as it will help me to engage better with the pupils within my classroom. We are living in a society where culture and religion is so diverse therefore it is vital that we can have knowledge of the background the children in our classes are from.

While the concepts discussed within the lecture and tutorial were at times challenging to comprehend I now feel that since I have re-read the lecture slides and done further research on the concepts that I have a good understanding of the concepts. I plan on doing more academic reading to cover the concepts covered as this will help me for my exam.

References:

National Records of Scotland (2013) 2011 Census: Key Results on Population, Ethnicity, Identity, Language, Religion, Health, Housing and Accommodation in Scotland – Release 2A [Online] Available: http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/StatsBulletin2A.pdf [Accessed: 25th of January 2017]