Nellie:
Part 1:
In order to reflect on my relationship with religion, I had to first go back to my parents’ views and how they affiliate themselves. My father was raised in a Catholic family where he went to church every Sunday until he went to college. He tells me that his whole life he never felt any real connection with the church and therefore found it inappropriate to continue to identify himself as a Catholic. My mother, on the other hand, was raised without any affiliation to any church. She preferred to take on her parents’ morals, which were centered around a lifestyle that involved eating healthy, wanting little, and being self-sufficient. I have taken into account both of my parents’ experiences with religion, but have made my own decision that I do not wish to be affiliated with any religion.
I can imagine myself, at some point in the future, becoming more spiritual than I am now. There are several aspects of Buddhism that appeals to myself and my logic. Christianity, however, and the predominant religions in the United States, have no appeal to me. I am a person who needs (usually) to see to believe and religion mainly sets store by a lot of events that have little or no proof that these phenomenas ever happened. Religion is essential for many people and I would not want it to disappear, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a religious person. I would rather create my own “religion” or thoughts about this world than try to mold my beliefs to fit into an already existing religion.
Part 2:
Assembling the other pieces for this project was time consuming, but interesting. I got out of the project what I wanted which was a better understanding of the situation in Jerusalem. I particularly enjoyed watching youtube clips on the topic and searching images of the different sacred sites. It’s amazing to imagine how long people have been coming to these sites and how each of their experiences when they visit the sites must be different. I imagined how I would feel. I suppose it would appeal most to the historian in me and my fascination with how people from different times lived their lives. I learned that this issue might be too complex and frustrating for me to try to solve. I found out that I could not handle a position in which I was asked to form a solution. I am too impatient and too ignorant of the feelings of both Muslims and Jews to propose anything that either side would agree with. It was hard for me to come to terms with this fact. Listening to the views of Jews or Muslims I become more frustrated with the conflict. This conflict has been going on for hundreds of years and if no one has yet to find an answer to the problem, how can there be hope that there will be an answer in the near future? However, I would be more than happy to contribute in any positive way I can to this issue. If the most I can do is to learn more and continue to enlighten myself, than that is what I’ll try to do.
Jessica:
Part 1:
To describe where I stand with religion I would first have to say that I identify myself as a Catholic. My parents raised me as a Catholic and I have gone to church almost every Sunday of my 18 years of life. I have been baptized, I have had my First Holy Communion, and I was confirmed a year ago. There have been a few times in my life when I have questioned my religion or considered not being Catholic and trying a more liberal Protestant form of Christianity but I have always found myself back where I started, a Catholic. During hard times, I often question God’s intentions and why I believe in a God that could allow such things to happen but, in the end, I always accept the famous saying “it’s all part of God’s plan”. I will probably always identify with Catholicism because the religion gives me a sense of belonging, both to my family and my community. It’s comforting to think that Catholics all around the world preach the same readings in, mostly, the same ways. Although sometimes I question some of the things the Catholic Church represents and see the flaws in many of its actions, there is something embedded in me that makes it impossible to see myself preaching God any other way. During my time in college, I have no doubts that my religion and beliefs will be tested many times. I am okay with bending and molding my belief system, I am flexible with my identity as a Catholic.
Part 2:
Throughout this project, I have learned a lot about other religions, especially Judaism and Islam. I did not realize how important the sacred sites in Jerusalem are to so many people. I guess I never really understood that these sites were not only important to my faith but to other faiths as well. In addition to this, I have learned the significance of these sites in the Palestine-Israeli conflict. These sites are at the center of the conflict because of their importance in the religious devotion and affiliation of three strongly faith-based communities. Overall, my own faith has not changed much. I am still a Catholic and I have no plans of changing this. However, I think it is important to learn about and understand other religions in order to communicate with a wider variety of people. I thought this project was really interesting because it caused me to reach out to other religious people and compare and contrast how we view our world, especially the sacred sites in Jerusalem. I thought the interviews were really enlightening and fascinating because we got to talk to unique individuals who have firsthand experience with the sacred sites and the conflict in the Middle East. I thought the interviews were the most important element of the project not only because we got to interact with people we would not otherwise have an opportunity to speak to but also because it gave us the experience and skills to be able to contact someone outside of our university. This project was very interesting and informative.
Bailey:
Part 1:
I do not know how to describe my relationship with religion. I do not consider myself religious, but I don’t put it aside completely. I am a Catholic, at least I was baptized as one and went through the tradition of having my first communion, although I was not confirmed. I have always had a struggle with my beliefs, not knowing what to believe in or why I should believe. I would not consider myself Agnostic or Atheist, because I do believe there is a higher being. I have a hard time determining what that higher being is. Is there one God? Is there a reason why I am here? What am I here for? Why do certain things happen to me? I guess these questions can be answered through religion, but isn’t it the same for everyone else?
I consider myself to be more spiritual than religious. I’m open-minded about everything people believe in, whether I do or don’t. My spirituality helps me reflect on my personal side, through meditation and experiences. I believe it helps me see the world through different perspectives, and to possess a certain light to help me understand things.
Religion, to me, is something you believe in. It can be love, God, politics, learning, sports, charity, work, prayer, or anything that you put yourself into. Although religion is usually associated within a gathering or community of people, I believe it’s within the individual. It’s how one person represents himself through his ideas and beliefs. One may be a Jewish man, who follows the tradition of Yom Kippur and calls himself a follower of Judaism, but he is not defined by being a Jew; the person he is and who he wants to become defines him.
I sometimes contradict myself when I think about religion and where I stand with it. I will think of something to base my ideas upon, but come to another conclusion where it’s the opposite. The same applies for thinking about when one becomes a man or woman. When does a girl become a woman? Is there a date, an event, an experience where she is no longer a girl, but a woman? We are supposed to ask questions about religion and when one becomes a woman. As individuals, we’re meant to ponder about our beliefs and provide our own explanations to be different and to have our own individual religion.
After completing this project I don’t think my spirituality in religion has changed. I don’t find myself being more religious than I was before, and I am not influenced to change my practices. However, I am more aware of the importance and significance of sacred sites and things. This conflict in Jerusalem is not a war over hatred, but of jealously and greed to call the city and these sacred sites theirs. I find it very intriguing that these sites have been sacred and visited by so many people. They have been standing through various events including wars, empires, and turn of the centuries. I came away with a new understanding of the importance of these sites not only to religions but also historians. I take into account what sacred means to people, and why they are sacred. It makes me think about the sites I find sacred and what they mean to me. After considering the sites that I personally think are sacred to me, I discovered their importance to me. The site I believe is the most sacred to me is Cranmer Park in Denver, Colorado, and it has the most breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountain skyline. The view runs north and south, taking in every inch of the mountains and the city of Denver. It isn’t a site that is affiliated with religions or has any religious significance, but it has so much meaning that I feel more pure and spiritual when I’m there. I believe a place is sacred depending on the individual and how that place makes them feel spiritually, in which it provides a connection to yourself and your beliefs.
Steph:
Part 1:
Steph:
Part 1:
My relationship with religion has always been confusing. I was baptized Catholic as a baby and was raised by parents whose families were strictly Catholic. They ended up being turned off to the religion later in life because of it. My mother said she got me baptized “just in case”, and my father did not feel strongly for or against it. I grew up in Santa Cruz, a liberal, non-religious town and no one I know in Santa Cruz is religious. I had not been exposed to religion until I attended a religious high school. It was a huge culture shock—not only did my classmates believe their religion was the right and only one, their social values regarding homosexuality, abortion and the death penalty were supported by their religious beliefs.
I consider myself spiritual. I rarely pray, and when I do it’s non-denominational. I have begun to think of God as the highest possible form of love that everyone at some point has inside of them. I have also grown up in a diverse town, one where we not only tolerate people but accept them. Part of my struggle to commit to any religion, especially Christianity, is that from what I can tell, acceptance of certain groups and ideas is a sin. Until I can find a religion that supports complete acceptance of all people, I will continue to view God as a power of love, not a being.
Another aspect of religion I have struggled with is that I believe in all paths to God. I disagree that there is only one right way to religion, or that any one is “the right one”. I believe everyone’s spiritual journey will bring them closer to the power they consider divine.
After reading Sigmund Freud’s theory on the evolution of religion and his idea of infantile prototype, I have began to consider religion as a form of security rather than “truth”. I stand by his idea of how religion started, that it was created because as we get older we realize our fathers, who we look to to protect us, cannot do that against all elements. When we look to a higher power for security, we find comfort knowing that natural disasters, death, and our survival is in the hands of a power we cannot control. But human’s greatest need is survival. We live in cities for the comfort of having others close to us. While some philosophers have tried to debunk Freud’s theory, it’s fairly solid. I agree with him in how it started, but I consider God to be a supreme love, not a power that can protect us.
In sum, I consider myself agnostic, but with limits. I highly respect anyone who can devote themselves so strongly to their religion that they would die for what they believe. I also, however, question if the beliefs they hold are those they have developed themselves or if they have been programmed by their parents and peers to accept a certain God as the right one. I am thankful everyday that my parents let me decide for myself what I believe and that I grew up in a society that is accepting of everyone, even those religious people who are surrounded by a sea of atheists. I reject the notion that there is only one God out of respect for other religions and my own uncertainty. I do not think I could ever consider myself so right that I would discredit something someone else believed just as strongly about their own religion. My relationship with religion continues to develop, and I read philosophical texts to help develop my beliefs. I hope to develop them further in this class.
Part 2:
Through this project, I’ve learned a lot about myself and other religions that surround me. In many of my classes we’re reading books or articles about Islam and studying the conflict in the Middle East. The topic of our project tied in perfectly with my other studies. Through the project, in which we looked at the various religious monuments in Jerusalem, we studied sites that correspond to many religions rather than one. The diversity of the project was important to me, because I personally believe in all paths to God. By looking at how the sites are important to the religions they are celebrated in, I realized that religious monuments mean a lot to the people in the religion they belong to. The places that are sacred to a religion are places of great reflection and spirituality. For a Christian to stand on the ground where Christ may have been resurrected is extremely meaningful. After researching the history of all these places I realize how important they are even though they do not relate to my spirituality. The important sacred places have to a religion is greater than just being a place for pilgrimage. In places like Jerusalem that have a lot of religious history, the amount of our lives that depends on these sites is huge. To celebrate your religion in a place of greater meaning than your local church, mosque or synagogue would surely bring you closer to your religion, your God, and lead you closer to peace through spirituality after experiencing it.
