Religion and how language together helped shaped our nation I found this week’s articles written by Bellah and Rokem a very informative and engaging read. Upon reading the material presented, I contained quite a few compelling things. From Bellah I could detect how our early founding fathers helped shape the constitution with a set of beliefs, symbols, and rituals that according to Bellah, is the American civil religion. Through Rokem, I gained valuable insight into the growing customs of our words including some religious context sometimes provoking violence. With my reflection paper, I hope to help enhance my view of religious language and how it helped shape our national identity, and distinguish between Bellah and Rokem to examine their …show more content…
Perhaps a good place to start my analysis might be some clarity of what civil religion is referring to. Patriot is what comes to mind when referring to civil religion. It somewhat involves rituals expressions and beliefs also, it is given high value by our leaders within a society. Bella’s interpretation is a set of beliefs about our American nation, which he views as symbolically spoken in American documents and our own presidential speeches. As a result, to my having more knowledge of civil religion perhaps I can start to identify how it enhanced and defined our …show more content…
For instance, there is another set of beliefs, standards, and our holidays and certain customs are all examples of how religion is a separate educational occurrence. In this case, I think it is easy to see how civil religion has helped shape our nation. It can be traced back to all the importance of presidential languages and all the documents that aided us a nation. Take the Kennedy Inaugural address to the nation he inspires upon us a hope for change and he accomplishes that by many references to god throughout his speech. Also, the declaration of independence, and the constitution are all deeply rooted in our history that shaped us and gave us an equally important set of beliefs for our future. Through our many different high-level public officials, influential documents, and patriot holidays that is what gave us tremendous pride and our identity as a
Maryland Toleration Act 1649 Religious is very important to many citizens today. Whether someone may be Christian, Catholic, Hindu, or Atheist. The religion that is chosen by the individual is important to them because it is a part of their culture. It is a huge part of who they are and what they represent.
The United States is possibly the greatest nation in the world, but there is no greatness without hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and much more. Many have lost their lives in order to gain freedom from Great Britain and become an independent country. The foundation of America was a very challenging thing to do, there were many factors to consider, like the Government's roles and the rights of the people. Who were the people responsible for the creation of a democratic government today? Seven people known as the founding fathers of the United States were the key to forming a powerful country and government.
Perhaps, the most frightening aspect of this book is the ever-darkening depravity of American culture. Honestly, if a reader traces the opponents of fundamentalism through the work, they find a disturbing trend that explains why America is facing the problems she’s facing today. Slowly but surely, those who hold to fundamentalism are becoming fewer in number. Now, most well-educated people would not know what fundamentalism is or (more importantly) what it stands for. Small wonder America is going to Hell in a handbasket (pardon my
Aviya Kushner, the author of The Grammar of God, was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family where not only was Hebrew her first language and language studied/spoken it school, moreover, it went beyond simply speaking it in home and class, rather, her family culture was vested in discussing, reveling in, and questioning the grammar, meaning, and overall language of the ancient Hebrew text: The Bible. When Kushner came across an English translation of the Bible for the first time, she writes about how she did not seem to recognize the thing she loved dearly. This jolting surprise in a Graduate school course led her on the path to write this book that examines the role of language, translation, and what it all means. The heart of the book seeks to
Americans are known around the world for their American spirit, notorious for the unsaid motto of, ‘My country, right or wrong’. However, America was not the only country known for its nationalistic ideals. If one were to take a trip back in time, they would find ancient Romans giving America a run for their money. While ancient Rome did not have a Fourth of July, one could argue that Americans are the modern-day ancient Romans in terms of patriotism. Modern Americans are quite similar to the ancient Romans in their love for their country.
Religion has been and always will be one of the core foundations in American society. This is especially true in the book, “The Kingdom of Matthias”. In this novel, Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz use memoirs and stories from many authors including (but not limited to) William Stone and Margaret Matthews. Matthias did not leave any written accounts behind so these articles are the only sources available to be analyzed.
The West was a blank slate: a new land with uncharted areas with unfamiliar scenery, animals, and inhabitants, as well as different weather patterns. The West was an entire new place to view. It could be settled about in so many different avenues. It was up to the individuals in the East and South to move west and make it a place of success. Additionally, a whole new way of thinking was born into the region.
Yenesis Murillo 16 December 2015 Professor Cummings RS 100 The Hidden Religious Significance of American Baseball Abstract I have reviewed the hidden religious significance in American Baseball, how similar the two matters tie together is remarkable. There is not one aspect of baseball that does not tie together with religion from the first pitch being thrown to the hot dog eating fan in the stand; the similarities are undeniable. I. Introduction
The speech that was read by Chief Red Jacket to defend the religious beliefs of his people is a powerful piece of literature that is underrated. The speech describes the feelings that were caused by the religious intolerance from the Americans. Currently, the United States have started to appreciate the impacts of the Native Americans and other minorities in history. However, a piece of history that has been quite hidden is the religious intolerance of Native Americans. Chief Red Jacket utilizes repetition, pathos, and rhetorical questions to convince the Americans to tolerate the religion of the Native Americans.
While most studies and theories are concerned with the differences between religion and culture, Bellah (1967) spent a lot of time examining the similarities of religion specifically in America. While Rousseau is credited as the one who coined the term “civil religion”, Bellah provided an in-depth study (2007:167). Based in presidential inaugurations, he continuously recites that people in authority often cite a generalized god, one that does not belong to any set religion (Bellah 1967). He goes on to explain that in America, there are “certain common elements of religious orientation that the great majority of Americans share” (Bellah 1967:166). This is important to understand in the sociology of religion because it shows how cultures and ideas can combine to create something the majority of society agrees on, even if it’s something as strongly held as
The United States has had major changes since its establishment. This country has been through a lot of diversity and plenty of ups and downs in order to get to where we are now. We’ve seen a lot of contributions from different people and events that had advantages and disadvantages to come with. For example, our first president George Washington who played a key role in the early development of this country along with the Louisiana Purchase that helped the country double in size, or whether it was negative like the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition acts that caused uproar and outrage to people. Altogether these events brought us what we have today.
Religion is a cultural universal that affects society in so many different ways. The various teachings can give explanations of things seemingly unexplainable, it can act as a way of social control, but either way religion is an integral part of American society now and it was maybe even more so in early America. In early 17th century, the Puritans came to America in a great migration to escape religious persecution and in the hopes of creating “a city upon a hill.” They established their society in New England and Puritanism dominated the area. In Puritan colonies, there was very little distinction between law and religious decrees, and this is just one of the examples of how Puritanism was the foundation of New England culture.
1 A) From a historical perspective, the United States was a Christian nation from 1600 to around 1940’s despite efforts to enforce the notion that the state is separate from the church. The main reason for this was due to the characteristics of the Puritans which included being strict and religious. The Puritans were persecuted from Britain for going against the church of England and declaring a divine intervention for their faith known as “Errand in the wilderness”. During the Great Awakening from 1730’s to the 1740’s there was a call for the state to get rid of religious hierarchy and place a more egalitarian system in its place.
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life” (Buddha). Throughout different time periods religion has impacted the society in which people live. Religion has and continues to dictate the rules citizens have to follow in all areas, especially social, educational, and political. Religion influences morals, values, and people’s identities. Many people turn to religion for not just spiritual answers, but for guidance and help in everyday life.
While using many of the fundamental ideas in structuralism, I follow the American anthropologist Roy Wagner in using the notion of trope or metaphor in the context of a phenomenology in order to map the unfolding structure of social forms. Using linguistic sociological tools in an analysis of mysticism & some other relevant subject matter such as magic, sacrifice, ritual initiation, and so on, is difficult for several reasons. One of these is that language & the structure of society were in their origins and development completely entangled in religion and the sacred. It seems that language originally was, by its very nature & power, sacred. In addition, it is pretty clear that secular society developed out of religious society &