We learned about more aspects of religion and focused on ‘unchurched’ spirituality. Before the lecture, I had never heard of the term ‘unchurched’ spirituality so I was interested in learning more about it. This means a type of spirituality that is not related with an organised religion. We also discussed more on how religion and culture are connected, both positively and negatively. I thought it was interesting to find out different aspects of certain religions, for example, the refusal of medical treatments due to certain beliefs. We also discussed more theorists such as Max Weber,  Karl Marx and Bruce Lincoln. To understand the theorists and their findings, I will have to research more and read up on them as I still don’t  have a full understanding. I believe this module is expanding my knowledge and giving me a better understanding that there is a larger range of religions and beliefs in the world than I actually know of. This will help me when I become a teacher as I can develop my understanding of religion and have an open mind and non-bias views which is important for teachers in a classroom environment.

The first lecture of Society and Lifestyles really showed me that there is a lot more to society and religion than I know. Although the class was filled with a lot of new information, I was certainly kept engaged throughout. Throughout the day, I gained a lot of new knowledge. We discussed the meaning of religion and sociology which helped me to grasp further information. We also covered different types of religion, some theorists who discuss religion and society in their work and the functions of religion. For a study task, we were to pick a theorist and look more into their work. I picked Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish theorist who was known as the father of anthropology. Malinowski went to Melanesia to study a native culture for many years. When he established his findings, he was known as one of the most important anthropologists of that time. After the lecture, I found out that there are many different types of religion and how close religion and society are connected. Many people around the world have different outlooks on what religion actually is. For example, historians believe that religion is a series of events due to beliefs, or a sociologist sees religion as an agreed way of looking at something. I feel although I party struggled on understanding all the theorists and their beliefs however, with some more research on those, I shall have a better understanding. The lecture has shown me that throughout schools, pupils may not be learning as much about religion as they potentially should be.  I do understand how parents may not want their children influenced in schools by teaching religion as it is of course their child’s own decision. However, I do feel that if religion was taught more in schools, there could be more respect shown towards others and their religion. I believe their would be a positive effect as the pupils would be learning more into different cultures and would understand why certain religions do what they do.