Extra Credit:
26. The “ARC” is the range of degrees that the Native American Indian experience encounters that is covered with the central theme of self-awareness and search for true identity. In the reader, Native Americans were being taken over by the white man’s Christian influences and they were being conflicted in their Native and present Christian beliefs and had to adjust their lives such as in Laverne Jacobs section about the Native American Church. The “ARC” is the development of a range of cultures that are being differentiated by the competition. Native Americans were conflicted because the Christian religion looked down upon the Native American ways and the Native Americans were seen as bad stereotypes and this made Native Americans attracted to Christianity, but this was until they realized that they could be both supportive of their Christian and Native ways. Native Americans became attacked and started to think about their identities. Before they did not have to think about their skin color, their race, or the difference between themselves and another culture, religion, or religious practices. To many of the Indians in the reader religion became connected with identity. Now that the Christian missionaries came along and that they had to reflect on their whole way of life they were forced with three key actions to take part in assimilation, annihilation, or identification. Many Indians died for their Native freedoms in many battles and many massacre such as with the massacre at Wounded Knee. Native Americans are a very brave and honorable people that stick up to their system of life. Some Native Americans were either force or decided to assimilate with the Christian way such a Laverne Jacobs because the Native American way of life was looked down upon and Christianity brought meaning and purpose to their lives. Many of ones that assimilated with the Christian beliefs were also accepting of the Native ways, so they were conflicted with both their Christian belief and Native spirituality. Native Americans were in a great struggle of self-awareness of religion.
28. Make a film based on one of the readings provided in the reader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmBmsQWngD0
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
American Diversity Midterm
1. Web postings ( in order of most recent to oldest postings):
· Is religion more identity then faith?
http://dossing.blogspot.com/2006/02/is-religion-more-identity-then-faith.htmlthis site talks about how faith is sometime more connected withidentity then we think. The example that it gives is how the Irish lifeis still connected with its roots with Catholicism as an identity. Kidsat a young age are forced into their believes but they don't evenreally know what they are putting their faith into. I believe thatidentity should not be based on religion, because this is how wetransform and program our society to act so thus faith should bepracticed however people want to practice it. This is so that we arenot forcing people into believing thing and thus controlling or maskingtheir true identities.
· Nietzsche’s Superman
In some of Nietzsche's works, the idea of superman as he uses it tochallenge some of the values of our societies. Nietzsche says thatgood and evil came about in Christianity but is usually does not comeabout or run our everyday lives. He believes that we need to changeour values. Superman runs his everyday life based on good and evil.Humans have based their lives around a higher purpose. This notion isinteresting. He believes that the notion of God and Christianity istries to provide a solution to this problem. Christianity believesthat this world is evil and is one were to take part in its ways thenit would be a conflict with god's ways. This site's analysis ofNietzsche's beliefs is interesting and it gives a unique view on oursociety and how Christianity and our values have become hand and handand these needs need to be altered due to its inaccuracy.https://www.msu.edu/user/bradle45/nietzsche.htm
· Race Relationships and God rests?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-l-holland/why-the-race-word-is-wr_b_66014.htmlthe above website is a pretty interest read because it talks about howthe word "race" is essential to how we see ourselves and our definitionof our relationship to one another. But we have to get rid of theword "race" because it is not accurate and it is a very segregateword. The article mainly talks about African American people. Thearticle states that the word race (not the concept of a sociologicallydistinct people) is the linguistic clothing of slavery, but AfricanAmericans are still wearing it centuries after it was forced upon themby their slave masters.I thought during class I never thought why did god rest on the seventhday, but I like Lane's why of thinking in that we need to question who does itbenefit. I tried to find articles and things on this but they allseemed bias to the religious perspective. It makes you wonder howpeople were benefited back in the old days by their actions in thereligious practices and such.
· Religion’s superstitions and traditions
http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7509truth.htmlAre some traditions formed from superstitious beliefs? Manysuperstitions come from lack of understanding and inevitableunenlightened fears. As the website above believes that manysuperstitions are accidental luck or misfortune. This website is prettyinteresting because it shows how religious traditions and superstitionsintertwine.
· The God delusion
I found this interesting book called The God Delusion by RichardDawkins online. I talks about the unquestioned respect that we havetowards religions. It also says how some religious things just cant beexplained otherwise it takes away the understanding of it and mightdestroy it, so what we end up doing is just end-up calling it amystery. I have read a couple pages of it and it talks much about thememe theory and the memeplex.http://books.google.com/books?id=yq1xDpicghkC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=memeplex+and+religions&source=web&ots=1gdF17FaEU&sig=OYiS0e0s57D_kgAsAnxCwQjB114&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA201,M1
I believe more people should read some more about this book in order tounderstand more and grasp more out of the lectures. I order to get aproper understanding of American Diversity and religious methodology itis also very important to study the flaws and misconceptions.
· The Meme theory of traditional and cultural change
http://howtraditionworks.com/This website talks about how the "memetic" theory explains some of thechanges of cultural traditions. Just like in class where Lane said thatreligion has to offer something in order to be needed and followed. Itis interesting how memes can be both good and bad, and how sometime weare able to block out certain memes so that they do not "infect" us. Ilove how simple ideas and theories like these can explain many otherthings. All external influences are pretty much infectious to the pointwere we alter our behaviors and thoughts. Education is anotherinfluential infection. Think about it if every idea that comes about isinfections then what the meme theory is like David was saying it isbasically also an idea that has now infected us into thinking certainthings. I believe that the meme theory deals a lot with evolution andDarwinism and even evolution of traditions and cultural beliefs. It ispretty interesting how Christianity really adopted this meme theory. Inever really liked how religions try to force information onto you andmake you feel and think certain ways. I live my life and religionsalways make me second guess myself whether it is the right thing to doand is religiously speaking if god will condemned me because of it.
· Ecstasy
Tantra- (just additional info found off of Wikipedia)The tantric movement has influenced the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainreligious traditions. Tantra in its various forms has existed inSouth Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesiaand Mongolia. Tantra became a secret ritual, which may include anyor all of the elements of ordinary ritual either directly orsubstituted along with other sensate rites and themes such as afeast (food, sustenance), coitus (sexuality, procreation), charnelgrounds (death, transition) and defecation, urination and vomiting (waste, renewal, fecundity).I always felt like many religions did have a sense of relation tobliss, ecstasy, and self joy. Throughout history many religiousicons found ritual practices and enlightenment through differentmeans of body-altering trance methodology. I always wondered ifanyone else was willing to acknowledge such things. The first time Ideveloped thoughts about such things was when I first learned aboutthe Native Americans and their use of the peace pipe and suchmethods. I strongly believe that many people back in the day were sosimple in their life styles regarding the 4F's (food, fight, flee,and F**ing) that anything out of the ordinary must have beenextraordinary in the sense of godly relations.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacological_cult --> this Wikipediasite shows allot about different religions and the different drugsand methods they used to get high.http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect20b.htm -->this is a interesting site on mushrooms and religion. There havebeen many early recordings of religious ceremonies involvinghallucinogenic mushrooms to spark enlightenment.
· Isms…isms…isms…racism…Vegetarianism…, and the different degrees of racism
http://www.philforhumanity.com/Everyone_is_Racist.htmlThis website talks a little about how we all were born and raisedracists in some form. People are bigots is areas such as race,sports, religion, politics, education, social class, or million's ofother ways that differentiate people from themselves verses others.http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/can-science-rep.html?npu=1&mbid=yhpI also saw this article on the Atheon which is a temple being builtfor science. This is interesting because it brings about questionson where religion and science face off, and if science willeventually eliminate religion. Also is there such thing asreligious science? Can one really worship science? I think this isinteresting stuff. I think this area should be explored more, butcould this also alter some of our social lifestyles? Just look athow religion has changed our thinking over time. Worshiping scienceand its changes can also alter our beliefs and thinking which shouldalso be taken into consideration.http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020715/story.htmlHere is a kind of funny article on Vegetarianism. I don't believethat people should not eat meat they can do what they want. I am avegetarian, but the point that David was making is that we finddifferent degrees to segregate ourselves and are to some degreeracists. There are millions of different kinds of "isms" and "ists"out there. Vegetarianism is just a healthy choice some make and somemake the choice to be animal friendly. I just have one question ifstereotyping occurs making people survive wouldn't vegetarianism bea healthier choice? Well I believe that stereotyping in this casecomes hand in hand with personal preference and beliefs.
· Miracles, Probability, and the differences of East and West death Ideologies
Wednesday's lecture was interesting about the miracles andprobability. I never thought about miracles as random probabilitiesseen after millions of events. A miracle is an event believed to becaused by interposition of divine intervention by a supernatural beingin the universe by which the ordinary operation of Nature isoverruled, suspended, or modified.The following website talks a little about miracles. I think it isinterest how most people don't adopt rational thinking when it comesto miracles.http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/10/24/probability-and-miracles-what-is-likely-what-is-unlikely.htmLike David, I also get the feeling that religions make you feel likeyou are sick in order to cure you. It is also interesting how Westernand Eastern religions contrast in their views of death. How Westernreligions want to be resurrected into the same body and Easternreligions want to die and to be in a better life.
· The “list of known truths” certainly can explain much of our world
Today’s lecture about speaking in tongues, religious experiences, andtransference was both funny and interesting. Speaking in tongues isthe vocalizing of fluent speech-like but unintelligible utterances,often as part of religious practice. We keep talking about how somereligious experiences are just mishaps and that some people takethese situations and get carried away with it. Well I think this ishow most religions are brought about whether we like it or not.History is full of unintelligent followers. But to fully understandthese situations would give us more power like David was sayingin order to be ahead of the game and enlighten ourselves better thenothers. Knowledge is power, and this is what followers see in greatleaders whether they are spiritual leaders with spiritual knowledgeor educational leaders. Their purpose is to help others as seenthrough the eyes of the ones that want to be helped.Website information of Transference:http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/transference.htmTransference occurs when a person takes the perceptions andexpectations of one person and projects them onto another person.They then interact with the other person as if the other person isthat transferred pattern.In the way we tend to become the person that others assume we are,the person who has patterns transferred onto them may collaborateplay the game, especially if the transference gives them power ormakes them feel good in some way.Typically, the pattern projected onto the other person comes from achildhood relationship. This may be from an actual person, such aparent, or an idealized figure or prototype. This transfers bothpower and also expectation. If you treat me as a parent, I can tellyou what to do, but you will also expect me to love and care foryou. This can have both positive and negative outcomes.---------------------------------------------Understanding of transference is important in harnessing theunderstanding of knowledge I was talking about earlier. Transferencecan be either good or bad. Knowing when they are good or bad is key asDavid was saying because this is how you know how not to get suckedinto phony religious experiences.
· Human female and male fertility and sexual behaviors
Sex and diversity-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050224110544.htmthis website talks a little about the whole sex process does notjust create diversity, it is also an example of diversity—recombination rates vary across chromosomes, sexes, and species. Ilove this class because it makes me think about things that I neverdid or probably never would have at this kind off depth. I believethat the evolutionist theory and sex comes hand and hand inexplaining diversity and survival in this world. This article alsotalks about a hypothesis of sexual selection that I thought waspretty interesting. We never incorporate sexual selection usuallywith the variations in recombination rates.Women and men: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002877.htmlhttp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1255935these two websites talk about the coupling system that sexualmotivation creates. These two articles relate to lecture because ittalks about how physical adaptations coordinate sexual behavior withfertility. Males can increase their reproductive successby "promoting" female acceptance of their gametes in any sexualsystem. This is particularly effective in internally fertilizingspecies, where insemination lets males control a female'sreproductive output while being free to inseminate multiple females.Because of this process I feel like we as male humans only restrictourselves from being with other women for economic reasons. This iswhat I believe since we all know that most men would love to be withmultiple women. But this process in lecture is good in the sensethat it makes men to create a coupling system with the women theylove to protect them from other men.
· Websites relating to lecture regarding different topics
Here is my website that I created but it does not have much on itjust yet: http://americanlayercake.blogspot.com/Some websites:Racial diversity- http://www.racialcompact.com/racialdiversity.htmlThis website talks about how just like in lecture racial diversitycomes about through differences from both biological and geneticlevels, and there is also different levels of human variation whichbecomes manipulated by our cultures, social standards, andenvironments. It even talks about the interracial mixture that comeshand in hand with our nature of living in a multiracial society. Dueto technology the distance between societies is no longer an issueof isolation.Near Death Experiences-http://science.howstuffworks.com/near-death-experience.htmwhenever I have a dream, either good or bad ones, I also was wonderhow my brain could have created such an elaborate story that was nottrue. Now I understand and previously believed that my brain didwork in this fashion. Where like in lecture the professor said howour everyday experiences is what is sent to our brains and isactually remembered. I think this stuff is pretty interesting. Thearticle I found makes this stuff go more in depth by showing how itactually works in different ways. The article is separated into: anintroduction of NDE's, traits of NDE's, people who had them,Supernatural theories, scientific theories, and it give additionalinformation on related topics.
2. Attendance: I have never been late to classes or I have not missed any classes either. I have a spotless attendance.
3. 1st Digital Film: My film is about Indian Festivals in America. It took me a couple of days to get all the materials I wanted for my movie and plan how I wanted it. It took me about a day and a half to actually put the movie together. I used windows movie maker because I found the other program a little complex and I was familiar with windows movie maker so I just sided with using that. My video is in WMV format. I showed it on October 28, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuv0wIGc1Vk
4. To read or not to read, that is the question: I can honestly say that I have read the entire book, Not a Genuine Black Man. I believe it is a very easy read, a page turner, but at the same time a very funny interesting read and at some points a little depressing. For the required readings from the reader, I have read the entire section for the Native Americans and I have seriously read most of the African American section. I say seriously because somewhere in between in the African American sections I started to scan the material, but I did read the important sections.
5. An example of the usage of “consilience” explanation can be used to the religious phenomenon of why cows are worshipped in India. First of all, this practice is done within Hinduism it is not necessarily that the cow is sacred it is more of a taboo object. For theological explanation, in Hinduism the cow is honored as the source of food and a symbol of life and may never be killed. In ancient India, bulls and oxen were sacrificially used and their meat was eaten, yet it was prohibited even then to slaughter milk-producing cows. Cows are often referred to or symbolized as a mother for its nurturing and milk providing which essentially provided for life. In the early centuries, the cow was used as a gift to Brahmans and it was soon believed that to kill a cow is equivalent of killing a Brahman. Many explanations can be found in the stories of Krishna. For a sociological explanation, Hindu’s stopped eating beef during the initial launch of the religions of Buddhism and Jainism. This was probably for convenient reasons and for religious reasons. For instance, it might have been expensive to slaughter animals for eating, or giving to guests, or for religious rituals. The cow also was a great provider of multiple by-products including milk, butter to be eaten, brown butter for light lamps, and even dried dung for fuel (dung had multiple uses). For the psychological explanation, it is simple because the cow was a great provider, it could have been too expensive in the early centuries to slaughter for beef, and cows were often a ritual gift that was equivalent of their high priests so it would be highly prohibited for anyone of these reasons. For a biological explanation, the cow was connected to fertility by giving birth to life and providing milk for survival. The cow’s provided a social structure within the farm life, village life, which was connected with providing people land and the necessities of life. For chemical explanation, the cow’s milk nourishes children to grow up with strong bones and it was a major source of energy for households throughout India. Even though milk might seem like a simple white liquid it has many properties which include fat, phosphorous, calcium, whey protein. These were essential materials of life. Even when in the beginning when cows were being eaten they were used for survival from their providing of essential meat and other products. For the physics, I do not think that this Indian practice can be explained with physics as to why Indians would practice this.
6. The theory of Memetics can certainly be used to explain why some religions are more successful than others (in terms of popularity) in the United States of America. The theory of Memetics exists as a cultural practice or idea the is spread orally or by actions from one person to another. Many cultures starting from Europe such as Christianity used either force (through military might) or through spreading ideas verbally through missionaries. For example, militarily the crusades which were religion driven military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought largely against Muslims. Campaigns were usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. Excommunication was a way by which the church could shun you and at the same time would cause society to look down upon you so you would not be able to spread your ideas against the church. The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Martin Luther is another good example because he was a church reformer whose ideas influenced the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. Martin’s translation of the Bible into the vernacular of the people made the scriptures more accessible to them, and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. In America, missionary work was strongly seen throughout. European ideas spread through America and even converted Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexicans. Memes are like viruses because their purpose is to survive by being spread and that is what many western religions try to accomplish as well. Christianity has currently 2.1 billion people; making it the number one religion in terms of popularity this is due to their techniques of sending out messengers to spread the word. By making one convert to a new religion it means erasing the previous religion totally and following the new one totally making the new one survive and the older one die. Nowadays, everyone has had a Christian come up to them and try to spread their ideas onto others. Memes and Genes are said to be analogous but they are also very different. The dictionary states that genes are a hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism. Genes are different then memes because genes stick with a person which makes them different than others and does not spread unless reproductively. Also memes are the spreading of a single idea whereas genes undergo mutation when their DNA sequence changes. Most of a DNA has no purpose. The argument of genes is different because genes make up the body and the brain which controls human behavior and ultimately culture. However, memes are an external spreading of ideas not connected with the body. The only thing that is similar is that they are both replicators. Memes work through imitation. Some religions do not become as unique or prominent because they get absorbed into other religions. Some religions are not as aggressive in spreading their ideas and thus become less popular, as can very well be seen in America.
7. The evolutionary theory of both Charles Darwin and later by Richard Dawkins very much helps in understanding human migration, cultural development, and social identity. Charles Darwin the founder of the theory of natural selection recognized and demonstrated that all species of life evolved from common ancestors through this method. Due to Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory it began to be seen as a primary explanation of evolution. Charles wrote a book called “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” which talked about the evolution of human psychology and it connection with the behavior of animals. Darwin developed his ideas that the human cultures and mind were developed by sexual and natural selection. Richard Dawkins, who came later, believed that natural selection accounted for the complexity of life in terms of purely material, which made God essentially unnecessary. Dawkins is best known for his idea of the gene-centered view of evolution where he believes that all life evolves by the inconsistency and survival of replicating entities. Dawkins believed that animal behavior and its relation to natural selection were interconnected. Dawkins believed that the gene is a principal part of selections in evolution. Both Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins ideas help in explaining the migration of humans because both essentially believed that evolution and migration were due to human behavior and their psychology to adapt to their environment and changes within themselves. Charles Darwin’s explains cultural development in the sense that cultures at affected from the inside by forces bring about change or resistance. These changes are due to social structures and natural events and the maintenance of those practices and ideas which are eventually bound to be subject to change. Essentially, psychological, social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new ones. Darwin believed that these changes and mutations through evolution brought about new identities to adapt their environment better and this goes for both animals and humans. Richard Dawkins’ ideas also connect to cultural development and social identity. For example, Richard’s theory of genes shows that life evolves through replication so cultural development came about through acculturation and the spreading of ideas through assimilation (by adopting different cultures) and even transculturation (which is where conflicts are resolved overtime). Transculturation impacts both ethnicity and ethnic issues so one can see how these changes can effect development culturally and giving form to shared characteristics.
http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Science-Religion/2003/12/Religion-For-Dummies.aspx
8. Race is a term sometimes used to refer to people sharing a particular skin color or sub-color, but the word race has no scientifically valid genetic foundation. We as a people are not born to be known as black, white, red, yellow, or brown because that is only the color of our skins and not our identities. We should only be known as the human race and the rest of the other meanings for “race” should be obsolete. Race is more of a modern term. This is due to the fact that ancient civilizations did not separate people due to physical differences; instead they divided them due to religion or class. There is no characteristic gene that separates one race from another. Race became a word to distinguish inferiority such as in America when they enslaved African Americans. Throughout time race has become a justification of social inequalities as natural as seen through the deaths of Native Americans, separation of Asian immigrants in America, and taking away of Mexican land. Humans do not have subspecies thus race is not biological yet identification is still needed and thus racism exists. Race is a social term that is very powerful in terms of people’s freedoms and opportunities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-l-holland/why-the-race-word-is-wr_b_66014.html
9. An example of an Indian ritual that gets transformed in American soil is that of arranged marriage. Arranged marriages are marriages that are set up primarily by the parents of the couple instead of the couple themselves. Some arrange marriages are sever in the sense of child marriages occur, “shotgun” marriages occur (marriage due to pregnancy), and some couples even get married off by their parent with the couple even ever seeing each other. This ritual still is practiced in India but it is slowly dying off due to the America influence and distance of the two continents influencing the separation in cultures thus creating a culture clash in America. In America, American law and government need to be present through an American priest in order to make the marriages official, yet Indians still want to keep their marital ways so they have both an Indian wedding and an American wedding. The American wedding is purely a government certification where the Indian wedding is for religious purposes. Nowadays, it is difficult to arrange marriages in America with people in India due to immigration laws and the detachment the slowly start to have with India as they move to America. American Indians start to know less and less people over time in India and more and more in America. Young Indians nowadays want a proper marriage to due their American upbringing and seeing how life is for Americans. Young Indians are becoming more and more integrated with the American way of life so they have to try to adapt to both. Arrange marriage used to be like a religious customary that was forced but now economic and legal reasons have transformed it into a western-styled marriage.
13. One religion that has had an influence after the 16th century CE in America is Baha’ism. Even though it is a distant sect of Islam it is attracting many westerners due to its unity with humanity and principals of peace. After the death of Baha’ullah, the movement came under guidance if the son ‘Abbas Effendi who undertook three missionary journeys: to Europe, the United States, and Egypt. ‘Abbas Effendi’s grandson then came into power who directed his power for more Baha’i communities in North America and Europe. The Baha’i religion has about 3 to 4 million followers in the world today; the largest of which is in India. Before Baha’ism came to America in the 1890’s it was already established in Iran. Despite the existence of New Age and liberal subcultures, the most widespread approach in the American Baha’i community to scriptural exegesis is literalism, as in fundamentalist Protestantism. A few members of the N.S.A have also become members. The N.S.A. did show concern to socialize the new Southern African-American converts to Baha'i values; admitted a representative of that community to the N.S.A.; and has done community service work, including setting up a radio station in South Carolina. In 1963, the American Baha’i community had about 10,000 supporters. The next large-scale immigration the United States came between 1978 and the mid-80’s with some 12,000 Iranian Baha’is fleeing persecution in Iran. Big changes came in the United States after 1979 due to the growing diversity with the religion including white, Iranian, and African-American members. Early American Baha’is did not have a clergy instead they elected leaders. The North American counselors command 70 board members each of which have 60 assistants making it a strong body of officials.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/jssr/bhjssr.htm
14. “God is dead” is a quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, but it is often misinterpreted. Nietzsche did not mean this literally but rather saying that the idea of god as a moral figure. Nietzsche meant that human had lost touch with god, religion, and spirituality and no longer recognizes it. He believed that people as a whole have changed and so what we need is for our idea of God to change as well. He also believed that if god did not exist then humans would thus invent one. Nietzsche believed that the majority of people do not identify this death due to fear. When people do acknowledge this people would despair and reevaluate their values. Nietzsche believed that there could be optimistic potential for humans without god. Friedrich believed that as humans get more sophisticated, our old religions thus die off, and this is how old gods die as well. After this maturity and knowledge will be gained this in turn will create new gods and religions. Thus he essentially thought that new religions were results of new gods.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0009.html
16. Religious diversity almost always starts with the founder because the founder usually sets constrictions for the religion which makes it a simplification and anything different from it becomes the change. Thus change comes about after generations and generations when over time the initial message of the found becomes unclear. Also as time goes on modern times do not see life in the same way as ancient times. After the founder usually what occurs is that religious offspring heirs come out to carry out the founder’s message, but what happens is that each successor has their own interpretation that they preach and each one of these heirs has followers. As this occurs throughout time diversity becomes apparent as each religious line starts to branch out farther and farther from its roots. Usually also people try to identify with the founder to be just like him as they are their followers. Yet more and more diversity comes about as people start to join different religions. So these new diverse religious freedoms also branch out. Thus other philosophers make contributions which make impacts on religion but are not the founders or is not a branch of religion.
17. First of all I believe that Brian’s life experiences were bound to lead up to a peak of rupture just for the fact that I feel the same as Brian in the sense that I tend to look back on previous events in my life and question my current position often. Brian’s racial experiences were like a snow ball effect till the incident in the garage. I believe what happened was that the trigger point was the situation he was put in at the toy store with his son and then it hit him in the car when he was talking with his son in the car, because he realized that his life has become a cycle in the sense that his son was questioning the same racial issues that Brian had to experience as a kid. So this triggered his childhood experiences to be reflected upon in the current time. Then he thought about how he has become the same age as his mother when she had died. So this added further weight bearing of pressure on his shoulders because his started to clutch the stresses that his mother carried. I do not think that his actions were truly intentional but sometimes when we are emotional we tend to yearn for comfort yet subconsciously we then do not fully analyze his surroundings. Brian’s old wounds were opened with the thoughts of the current and past issues, but the point with his son triggered those past experiences of both himself and his mother.
18. In Not a Genuine Black Man, Brain experiences many subtle forms of racism many of which were probably unclear to Brian as a kid until he grew older. The first event was when Brian’s family first got to San Leandro when the boys were chasing him and then the police officer detained him and took him home. Many of the subtle form came in the form of the question “Can I see some Identification”. Sylvester, Brian’s father, brought up a lot of black racial slurs towards him that Brian started to question as a child. The many words that Brian was called brought about a question of identity. Even the apartment complexes and San Leandro Realtors were racists in the way they handled the Copland’s living in the city such as Mr. Wentworth. The Barber shops were also a subtle form of racism as they laughed and gave fake smiles as the kidded Brian and his grandmother out of the places. Every person that told Brian and his family to go back to Oakland were racists. Lester the barber in Oakland was also a racist towards white people which is another form of racism that Brain experiences. During the conversation with his son, Brian experiences another subtle form of racism when he found out that one of his son’s friend’s fathers had made a racist comment towards black people. The kids in Brian’s schools that called him names and beat him up were attacking him due to his color and his hair type. The toy store security guard that questioned Brian when he was trying to buy his sister a toy was due to a stereotype that Black people are thieves and shoplifters. Brian experiences more subtle forms of racism as he watches television and witnesses the many black men that are arrested due to bad actions which in his mind was only strengthening and increasing the stereotypes. When Brian would be just walking on the streets the people driving would yell out racial remarks and also the group that came up to Brian’s apartment due to the lie that they made about the cat was racist. Brian had many forms of racism in his life.
19. Brian and Malcolm X are very similar and very different. Both Brian and Malcolm X had troubles with their identities except Malcolm X’s life experiences were much more serious. Brian became conflicted with his white and his black sides whereas Malcolm was conflicted with his new found Muslim faith. Both experienced racism from the public both verbally and through physical abuse. They both had close encounters with death, Brian’s was with his suicide attempt or accident and Malcolm’s was with many of his death threats that he received. Both noticed racism affecting the peace within their families. Both also encountered experiences with the law and the police. Except Malcolm X’s situation was again more serious because he actually had to go to jail. Malcolm X fought against racism and Brain bottled it up till it exploded internally.
21. Many people were not comfortable in deserting their well-built Christian way of life and returning to their Native religious practices. In the sections of Laverne Jacobs he found the struggle of having dual religious identities. For instance Jacobs became conflicted because he wanted to participate in the sweat lodge ceremonies but avoided it due to Christian beliefs. But Jacobs discovers that Christianity and the Native peoples are not always in conflict and could be united as mutually present. In Laverne Jacobs’ reserve he lived in miserable social and economic conditions. There were many Indian dreadful stereotypes that he had to live with such as lazy, drunken, and irresponsible. He started to grow fond of the church going life because it gave him meaning and purpose to his life. He was convinced that the Native American traditions were naturally pagan and evil, so basically it was against the Christian faith. So Jacobs sided with the Christian faith and did not let Native traditions affect his spirituality. Christian members boycotted powwows. So basically Laverne kept trying to avoid sweat lodges and powwows until one day he could not avoid attending one. He realized as he listened to many stories that Christ was within many of their stories and so was the Christian way of life. So it finally clicked in his head like a “glorious sound” ringing that his identity was equally both Native and Christian.
22. The Native American Church of Jesus Christ is a religious group that practices usage of peyote which began in Oklahoma and is widely known among Native Americans. Native American beliefs and peyote use vary with different tribes, but they believe Jesus is a cultural hero so thus they see him as a spiritual guardian and associate his presence through the use of peyote. A Native American by the name of Quanah Parker is known as the father of the Native American Church of Jesus Christ Movement. The church started in the 1890’s and was finally incorporated in 1918. Quanah accepted the peyote religion when he envisioned Jesus after having received wounds after a battle. The Native American Church of Jesus Christ evolved into an intricate network which has lasted since Columbian times in Southern Texas. Peyote is harvested by a Mexican ancestry family since the early 1700’s. There are only 3 licensed Peyoteros left in Texas, due to over harvesting, poaching, and licensing and tax regulations. The Native American Church grew in popularity because the Native Americans were living on reservations and kept with their beliefs so they started to pass it down through generations over time.
20. North American Indians had to change much to their lives when the white man came along and started to change them with Christianity through missionaries. Native Americans were not organized into priesthood so they absorbed this way through Christianity because before they were formed of a loosely organized council of qualified individuals that were assigned to preserve ritual practices. North Americans changed their way of prayer, they added Jesus into their lives, and they used peyote to visualize Jesus. Their idea of the afterlife also changed as Christian concepts entered their lives. Native Americans started to believe in purgatory. Christianity actually saved some tribes because some tribes were so attached to the buffalo hunting that it would have killed them off to continue their dependence on the buffalo. Native Americans used to worship an all powerful god and they used to worship lesser supernatural entities and including evil spirits. Some Native Americans sided more with Christianity and some native peoples borrowed from Christianity by selecting certain elements of Catholic or Protestant belief and made rituals which they then combined with traditional Indian practices. The Native American Church beliefs and rituals slowly became mixed in with Christian fundamentals which became known as a process called religious syncretism.
24. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King grew up in different backgrounds. Martin was raised in a middle-class family were he was able to get an education. Whereas Malcolm lived in an underprivileged home and also lived as an orphan so he became a self-taught man. Malcolm lived in a opposite environment then king. Both fought racism but King fought with nonviolence whereas Malcolm X’s teaching was more hatred based. Both Malcolm and Martin spread their message through powerful speeches yet their intentions were delivered in different styles and purposes. Malcolm X was an extremist that preached separatism between black and whites as an Islamic minister. Martin Luther King preached about equality and was a church minister. They had very different background which is evident in their attitudes about equality. Malcolm X taught hatred towards whites whereas Martin taught for equality and integration through nonviolence.
25. We need to understand genealogical dissociation in order to preserve previous religious understandings, customs, rituals, traditions, and knowledge and pass it on to new religious emergences. Old religions are basics to newer religions. When old developed religions have formed in the past we follow them through generations. The foundations of Old religions are the roots to our present knowledge about humanity, our world, our morals, our philosophies, and our behaviors. What we form of new religions is basically an adaptation of our old beliefs. For example, Hinduism was not begun by any one person, and it developed gradually over more than a thousand years. This means that today it has many different branches, and its followers have a wide range of beliefs and ways of worshiping. Hinduism is a way of life as well as a religion.
· Is religion more identity then faith?
http://dossing.blogspot.com/2006/02/is-religion-more-identity-then-faith.htmlthis site talks about how faith is sometime more connected withidentity then we think. The example that it gives is how the Irish lifeis still connected with its roots with Catholicism as an identity. Kidsat a young age are forced into their believes but they don't evenreally know what they are putting their faith into. I believe thatidentity should not be based on religion, because this is how wetransform and program our society to act so thus faith should bepracticed however people want to practice it. This is so that we arenot forcing people into believing thing and thus controlling or maskingtheir true identities.
· Nietzsche’s Superman
In some of Nietzsche's works, the idea of superman as he uses it tochallenge some of the values of our societies. Nietzsche says thatgood and evil came about in Christianity but is usually does not comeabout or run our everyday lives. He believes that we need to changeour values. Superman runs his everyday life based on good and evil.Humans have based their lives around a higher purpose. This notion isinteresting. He believes that the notion of God and Christianity istries to provide a solution to this problem. Christianity believesthat this world is evil and is one were to take part in its ways thenit would be a conflict with god's ways. This site's analysis ofNietzsche's beliefs is interesting and it gives a unique view on oursociety and how Christianity and our values have become hand and handand these needs need to be altered due to its inaccuracy.https://www.msu.edu/user/bradle45/nietzsche.htm
· Race Relationships and God rests?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-l-holland/why-the-race-word-is-wr_b_66014.htmlthe above website is a pretty interest read because it talks about howthe word "race" is essential to how we see ourselves and our definitionof our relationship to one another. But we have to get rid of theword "race" because it is not accurate and it is a very segregateword. The article mainly talks about African American people. Thearticle states that the word race (not the concept of a sociologicallydistinct people) is the linguistic clothing of slavery, but AfricanAmericans are still wearing it centuries after it was forced upon themby their slave masters.I thought during class I never thought why did god rest on the seventhday, but I like Lane's why of thinking in that we need to question who does itbenefit. I tried to find articles and things on this but they allseemed bias to the religious perspective. It makes you wonder howpeople were benefited back in the old days by their actions in thereligious practices and such.
· Religion’s superstitions and traditions
http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7509truth.htmlAre some traditions formed from superstitious beliefs? Manysuperstitions come from lack of understanding and inevitableunenlightened fears. As the website above believes that manysuperstitions are accidental luck or misfortune. This website is prettyinteresting because it shows how religious traditions and superstitionsintertwine.
· The God delusion
I found this interesting book called The God Delusion by RichardDawkins online. I talks about the unquestioned respect that we havetowards religions. It also says how some religious things just cant beexplained otherwise it takes away the understanding of it and mightdestroy it, so what we end up doing is just end-up calling it amystery. I have read a couple pages of it and it talks much about thememe theory and the memeplex.http://books.google.com/books?id=yq1xDpicghkC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=memeplex+and+religions&source=web&ots=1gdF17FaEU&sig=OYiS0e0s57D_kgAsAnxCwQjB114&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA201,M1
I believe more people should read some more about this book in order tounderstand more and grasp more out of the lectures. I order to get aproper understanding of American Diversity and religious methodology itis also very important to study the flaws and misconceptions.
· The Meme theory of traditional and cultural change
http://howtraditionworks.com/This website talks about how the "memetic" theory explains some of thechanges of cultural traditions. Just like in class where Lane said thatreligion has to offer something in order to be needed and followed. Itis interesting how memes can be both good and bad, and how sometime weare able to block out certain memes so that they do not "infect" us. Ilove how simple ideas and theories like these can explain many otherthings. All external influences are pretty much infectious to the pointwere we alter our behaviors and thoughts. Education is anotherinfluential infection. Think about it if every idea that comes about isinfections then what the meme theory is like David was saying it isbasically also an idea that has now infected us into thinking certainthings. I believe that the meme theory deals a lot with evolution andDarwinism and even evolution of traditions and cultural beliefs. It ispretty interesting how Christianity really adopted this meme theory. Inever really liked how religions try to force information onto you andmake you feel and think certain ways. I live my life and religionsalways make me second guess myself whether it is the right thing to doand is religiously speaking if god will condemned me because of it.
· Ecstasy
Tantra- (just additional info found off of Wikipedia)The tantric movement has influenced the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainreligious traditions. Tantra in its various forms has existed inSouth Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesiaand Mongolia. Tantra became a secret ritual, which may include anyor all of the elements of ordinary ritual either directly orsubstituted along with other sensate rites and themes such as afeast (food, sustenance), coitus (sexuality, procreation), charnelgrounds (death, transition) and defecation, urination and vomiting (waste, renewal, fecundity).I always felt like many religions did have a sense of relation tobliss, ecstasy, and self joy. Throughout history many religiousicons found ritual practices and enlightenment through differentmeans of body-altering trance methodology. I always wondered ifanyone else was willing to acknowledge such things. The first time Ideveloped thoughts about such things was when I first learned aboutthe Native Americans and their use of the peace pipe and suchmethods. I strongly believe that many people back in the day were sosimple in their life styles regarding the 4F's (food, fight, flee,and F**ing) that anything out of the ordinary must have beenextraordinary in the sense of godly relations.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacological_cult --> this Wikipediasite shows allot about different religions and the different drugsand methods they used to get high.http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect20b.htm -->this is a interesting site on mushrooms and religion. There havebeen many early recordings of religious ceremonies involvinghallucinogenic mushrooms to spark enlightenment.
· Isms…isms…isms…racism…Vegetarianism…, and the different degrees of racism
http://www.philforhumanity.com/Everyone_is_Racist.htmlThis website talks a little about how we all were born and raisedracists in some form. People are bigots is areas such as race,sports, religion, politics, education, social class, or million's ofother ways that differentiate people from themselves verses others.http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/can-science-rep.html?npu=1&mbid=yhpI also saw this article on the Atheon which is a temple being builtfor science. This is interesting because it brings about questionson where religion and science face off, and if science willeventually eliminate religion. Also is there such thing asreligious science? Can one really worship science? I think this isinteresting stuff. I think this area should be explored more, butcould this also alter some of our social lifestyles? Just look athow religion has changed our thinking over time. Worshiping scienceand its changes can also alter our beliefs and thinking which shouldalso be taken into consideration.http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020715/story.htmlHere is a kind of funny article on Vegetarianism. I don't believethat people should not eat meat they can do what they want. I am avegetarian, but the point that David was making is that we finddifferent degrees to segregate ourselves and are to some degreeracists. There are millions of different kinds of "isms" and "ists"out there. Vegetarianism is just a healthy choice some make and somemake the choice to be animal friendly. I just have one question ifstereotyping occurs making people survive wouldn't vegetarianism bea healthier choice? Well I believe that stereotyping in this casecomes hand in hand with personal preference and beliefs.
· Miracles, Probability, and the differences of East and West death Ideologies
Wednesday's lecture was interesting about the miracles andprobability. I never thought about miracles as random probabilitiesseen after millions of events. A miracle is an event believed to becaused by interposition of divine intervention by a supernatural beingin the universe by which the ordinary operation of Nature isoverruled, suspended, or modified.The following website talks a little about miracles. I think it isinterest how most people don't adopt rational thinking when it comesto miracles.http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/10/24/probability-and-miracles-what-is-likely-what-is-unlikely.htmLike David, I also get the feeling that religions make you feel likeyou are sick in order to cure you. It is also interesting how Westernand Eastern religions contrast in their views of death. How Westernreligions want to be resurrected into the same body and Easternreligions want to die and to be in a better life.
· The “list of known truths” certainly can explain much of our world
Today’s lecture about speaking in tongues, religious experiences, andtransference was both funny and interesting. Speaking in tongues isthe vocalizing of fluent speech-like but unintelligible utterances,often as part of religious practice. We keep talking about how somereligious experiences are just mishaps and that some people takethese situations and get carried away with it. Well I think this ishow most religions are brought about whether we like it or not.History is full of unintelligent followers. But to fully understandthese situations would give us more power like David was sayingin order to be ahead of the game and enlighten ourselves better thenothers. Knowledge is power, and this is what followers see in greatleaders whether they are spiritual leaders with spiritual knowledgeor educational leaders. Their purpose is to help others as seenthrough the eyes of the ones that want to be helped.Website information of Transference:http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/transference.htmTransference occurs when a person takes the perceptions andexpectations of one person and projects them onto another person.They then interact with the other person as if the other person isthat transferred pattern.In the way we tend to become the person that others assume we are,the person who has patterns transferred onto them may collaborateplay the game, especially if the transference gives them power ormakes them feel good in some way.Typically, the pattern projected onto the other person comes from achildhood relationship. This may be from an actual person, such aparent, or an idealized figure or prototype. This transfers bothpower and also expectation. If you treat me as a parent, I can tellyou what to do, but you will also expect me to love and care foryou. This can have both positive and negative outcomes.---------------------------------------------Understanding of transference is important in harnessing theunderstanding of knowledge I was talking about earlier. Transferencecan be either good or bad. Knowing when they are good or bad is key asDavid was saying because this is how you know how not to get suckedinto phony religious experiences.
· Human female and male fertility and sexual behaviors
Sex and diversity-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050224110544.htmthis website talks a little about the whole sex process does notjust create diversity, it is also an example of diversity—recombination rates vary across chromosomes, sexes, and species. Ilove this class because it makes me think about things that I neverdid or probably never would have at this kind off depth. I believethat the evolutionist theory and sex comes hand and hand inexplaining diversity and survival in this world. This article alsotalks about a hypothesis of sexual selection that I thought waspretty interesting. We never incorporate sexual selection usuallywith the variations in recombination rates.Women and men: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002877.htmlhttp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1255935these two websites talk about the coupling system that sexualmotivation creates. These two articles relate to lecture because ittalks about how physical adaptations coordinate sexual behavior withfertility. Males can increase their reproductive successby "promoting" female acceptance of their gametes in any sexualsystem. This is particularly effective in internally fertilizingspecies, where insemination lets males control a female'sreproductive output while being free to inseminate multiple females.Because of this process I feel like we as male humans only restrictourselves from being with other women for economic reasons. This iswhat I believe since we all know that most men would love to be withmultiple women. But this process in lecture is good in the sensethat it makes men to create a coupling system with the women theylove to protect them from other men.
· Websites relating to lecture regarding different topics
Here is my website that I created but it does not have much on itjust yet: http://americanlayercake.blogspot.com/Some websites:Racial diversity- http://www.racialcompact.com/racialdiversity.htmlThis website talks about how just like in lecture racial diversitycomes about through differences from both biological and geneticlevels, and there is also different levels of human variation whichbecomes manipulated by our cultures, social standards, andenvironments. It even talks about the interracial mixture that comeshand in hand with our nature of living in a multiracial society. Dueto technology the distance between societies is no longer an issueof isolation.Near Death Experiences-http://science.howstuffworks.com/near-death-experience.htmwhenever I have a dream, either good or bad ones, I also was wonderhow my brain could have created such an elaborate story that was nottrue. Now I understand and previously believed that my brain didwork in this fashion. Where like in lecture the professor said howour everyday experiences is what is sent to our brains and isactually remembered. I think this stuff is pretty interesting. Thearticle I found makes this stuff go more in depth by showing how itactually works in different ways. The article is separated into: anintroduction of NDE's, traits of NDE's, people who had them,Supernatural theories, scientific theories, and it give additionalinformation on related topics.
2. Attendance: I have never been late to classes or I have not missed any classes either. I have a spotless attendance.
3. 1st Digital Film: My film is about Indian Festivals in America. It took me a couple of days to get all the materials I wanted for my movie and plan how I wanted it. It took me about a day and a half to actually put the movie together. I used windows movie maker because I found the other program a little complex and I was familiar with windows movie maker so I just sided with using that. My video is in WMV format. I showed it on October 28, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuv0wIGc1Vk
4. To read or not to read, that is the question: I can honestly say that I have read the entire book, Not a Genuine Black Man. I believe it is a very easy read, a page turner, but at the same time a very funny interesting read and at some points a little depressing. For the required readings from the reader, I have read the entire section for the Native Americans and I have seriously read most of the African American section. I say seriously because somewhere in between in the African American sections I started to scan the material, but I did read the important sections.
5. An example of the usage of “consilience” explanation can be used to the religious phenomenon of why cows are worshipped in India. First of all, this practice is done within Hinduism it is not necessarily that the cow is sacred it is more of a taboo object. For theological explanation, in Hinduism the cow is honored as the source of food and a symbol of life and may never be killed. In ancient India, bulls and oxen were sacrificially used and their meat was eaten, yet it was prohibited even then to slaughter milk-producing cows. Cows are often referred to or symbolized as a mother for its nurturing and milk providing which essentially provided for life. In the early centuries, the cow was used as a gift to Brahmans and it was soon believed that to kill a cow is equivalent of killing a Brahman. Many explanations can be found in the stories of Krishna. For a sociological explanation, Hindu’s stopped eating beef during the initial launch of the religions of Buddhism and Jainism. This was probably for convenient reasons and for religious reasons. For instance, it might have been expensive to slaughter animals for eating, or giving to guests, or for religious rituals. The cow also was a great provider of multiple by-products including milk, butter to be eaten, brown butter for light lamps, and even dried dung for fuel (dung had multiple uses). For the psychological explanation, it is simple because the cow was a great provider, it could have been too expensive in the early centuries to slaughter for beef, and cows were often a ritual gift that was equivalent of their high priests so it would be highly prohibited for anyone of these reasons. For a biological explanation, the cow was connected to fertility by giving birth to life and providing milk for survival. The cow’s provided a social structure within the farm life, village life, which was connected with providing people land and the necessities of life. For chemical explanation, the cow’s milk nourishes children to grow up with strong bones and it was a major source of energy for households throughout India. Even though milk might seem like a simple white liquid it has many properties which include fat, phosphorous, calcium, whey protein. These were essential materials of life. Even when in the beginning when cows were being eaten they were used for survival from their providing of essential meat and other products. For the physics, I do not think that this Indian practice can be explained with physics as to why Indians would practice this.
6. The theory of Memetics can certainly be used to explain why some religions are more successful than others (in terms of popularity) in the United States of America. The theory of Memetics exists as a cultural practice or idea the is spread orally or by actions from one person to another. Many cultures starting from Europe such as Christianity used either force (through military might) or through spreading ideas verbally through missionaries. For example, militarily the crusades which were religion driven military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought largely against Muslims. Campaigns were usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. Excommunication was a way by which the church could shun you and at the same time would cause society to look down upon you so you would not be able to spread your ideas against the church. The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Martin Luther is another good example because he was a church reformer whose ideas influenced the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. Martin’s translation of the Bible into the vernacular of the people made the scriptures more accessible to them, and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. In America, missionary work was strongly seen throughout. European ideas spread through America and even converted Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexicans. Memes are like viruses because their purpose is to survive by being spread and that is what many western religions try to accomplish as well. Christianity has currently 2.1 billion people; making it the number one religion in terms of popularity this is due to their techniques of sending out messengers to spread the word. By making one convert to a new religion it means erasing the previous religion totally and following the new one totally making the new one survive and the older one die. Nowadays, everyone has had a Christian come up to them and try to spread their ideas onto others. Memes and Genes are said to be analogous but they are also very different. The dictionary states that genes are a hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism. Genes are different then memes because genes stick with a person which makes them different than others and does not spread unless reproductively. Also memes are the spreading of a single idea whereas genes undergo mutation when their DNA sequence changes. Most of a DNA has no purpose. The argument of genes is different because genes make up the body and the brain which controls human behavior and ultimately culture. However, memes are an external spreading of ideas not connected with the body. The only thing that is similar is that they are both replicators. Memes work through imitation. Some religions do not become as unique or prominent because they get absorbed into other religions. Some religions are not as aggressive in spreading their ideas and thus become less popular, as can very well be seen in America.
7. The evolutionary theory of both Charles Darwin and later by Richard Dawkins very much helps in understanding human migration, cultural development, and social identity. Charles Darwin the founder of the theory of natural selection recognized and demonstrated that all species of life evolved from common ancestors through this method. Due to Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory it began to be seen as a primary explanation of evolution. Charles wrote a book called “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” which talked about the evolution of human psychology and it connection with the behavior of animals. Darwin developed his ideas that the human cultures and mind were developed by sexual and natural selection. Richard Dawkins, who came later, believed that natural selection accounted for the complexity of life in terms of purely material, which made God essentially unnecessary. Dawkins is best known for his idea of the gene-centered view of evolution where he believes that all life evolves by the inconsistency and survival of replicating entities. Dawkins believed that animal behavior and its relation to natural selection were interconnected. Dawkins believed that the gene is a principal part of selections in evolution. Both Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins ideas help in explaining the migration of humans because both essentially believed that evolution and migration were due to human behavior and their psychology to adapt to their environment and changes within themselves. Charles Darwin’s explains cultural development in the sense that cultures at affected from the inside by forces bring about change or resistance. These changes are due to social structures and natural events and the maintenance of those practices and ideas which are eventually bound to be subject to change. Essentially, psychological, social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new ones. Darwin believed that these changes and mutations through evolution brought about new identities to adapt their environment better and this goes for both animals and humans. Richard Dawkins’ ideas also connect to cultural development and social identity. For example, Richard’s theory of genes shows that life evolves through replication so cultural development came about through acculturation and the spreading of ideas through assimilation (by adopting different cultures) and even transculturation (which is where conflicts are resolved overtime). Transculturation impacts both ethnicity and ethnic issues so one can see how these changes can effect development culturally and giving form to shared characteristics.
http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Science-Religion/2003/12/Religion-For-Dummies.aspx
8. Race is a term sometimes used to refer to people sharing a particular skin color or sub-color, but the word race has no scientifically valid genetic foundation. We as a people are not born to be known as black, white, red, yellow, or brown because that is only the color of our skins and not our identities. We should only be known as the human race and the rest of the other meanings for “race” should be obsolete. Race is more of a modern term. This is due to the fact that ancient civilizations did not separate people due to physical differences; instead they divided them due to religion or class. There is no characteristic gene that separates one race from another. Race became a word to distinguish inferiority such as in America when they enslaved African Americans. Throughout time race has become a justification of social inequalities as natural as seen through the deaths of Native Americans, separation of Asian immigrants in America, and taking away of Mexican land. Humans do not have subspecies thus race is not biological yet identification is still needed and thus racism exists. Race is a social term that is very powerful in terms of people’s freedoms and opportunities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-l-holland/why-the-race-word-is-wr_b_66014.html
9. An example of an Indian ritual that gets transformed in American soil is that of arranged marriage. Arranged marriages are marriages that are set up primarily by the parents of the couple instead of the couple themselves. Some arrange marriages are sever in the sense of child marriages occur, “shotgun” marriages occur (marriage due to pregnancy), and some couples even get married off by their parent with the couple even ever seeing each other. This ritual still is practiced in India but it is slowly dying off due to the America influence and distance of the two continents influencing the separation in cultures thus creating a culture clash in America. In America, American law and government need to be present through an American priest in order to make the marriages official, yet Indians still want to keep their marital ways so they have both an Indian wedding and an American wedding. The American wedding is purely a government certification where the Indian wedding is for religious purposes. Nowadays, it is difficult to arrange marriages in America with people in India due to immigration laws and the detachment the slowly start to have with India as they move to America. American Indians start to know less and less people over time in India and more and more in America. Young Indians nowadays want a proper marriage to due their American upbringing and seeing how life is for Americans. Young Indians are becoming more and more integrated with the American way of life so they have to try to adapt to both. Arrange marriage used to be like a religious customary that was forced but now economic and legal reasons have transformed it into a western-styled marriage.
13. One religion that has had an influence after the 16th century CE in America is Baha’ism. Even though it is a distant sect of Islam it is attracting many westerners due to its unity with humanity and principals of peace. After the death of Baha’ullah, the movement came under guidance if the son ‘Abbas Effendi who undertook three missionary journeys: to Europe, the United States, and Egypt. ‘Abbas Effendi’s grandson then came into power who directed his power for more Baha’i communities in North America and Europe. The Baha’i religion has about 3 to 4 million followers in the world today; the largest of which is in India. Before Baha’ism came to America in the 1890’s it was already established in Iran. Despite the existence of New Age and liberal subcultures, the most widespread approach in the American Baha’i community to scriptural exegesis is literalism, as in fundamentalist Protestantism. A few members of the N.S.A have also become members. The N.S.A. did show concern to socialize the new Southern African-American converts to Baha'i values; admitted a representative of that community to the N.S.A.; and has done community service work, including setting up a radio station in South Carolina. In 1963, the American Baha’i community had about 10,000 supporters. The next large-scale immigration the United States came between 1978 and the mid-80’s with some 12,000 Iranian Baha’is fleeing persecution in Iran. Big changes came in the United States after 1979 due to the growing diversity with the religion including white, Iranian, and African-American members. Early American Baha’is did not have a clergy instead they elected leaders. The North American counselors command 70 board members each of which have 60 assistants making it a strong body of officials.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/jssr/bhjssr.htm
14. “God is dead” is a quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, but it is often misinterpreted. Nietzsche did not mean this literally but rather saying that the idea of god as a moral figure. Nietzsche meant that human had lost touch with god, religion, and spirituality and no longer recognizes it. He believed that people as a whole have changed and so what we need is for our idea of God to change as well. He also believed that if god did not exist then humans would thus invent one. Nietzsche believed that the majority of people do not identify this death due to fear. When people do acknowledge this people would despair and reevaluate their values. Nietzsche believed that there could be optimistic potential for humans without god. Friedrich believed that as humans get more sophisticated, our old religions thus die off, and this is how old gods die as well. After this maturity and knowledge will be gained this in turn will create new gods and religions. Thus he essentially thought that new religions were results of new gods.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0009.html
16. Religious diversity almost always starts with the founder because the founder usually sets constrictions for the religion which makes it a simplification and anything different from it becomes the change. Thus change comes about after generations and generations when over time the initial message of the found becomes unclear. Also as time goes on modern times do not see life in the same way as ancient times. After the founder usually what occurs is that religious offspring heirs come out to carry out the founder’s message, but what happens is that each successor has their own interpretation that they preach and each one of these heirs has followers. As this occurs throughout time diversity becomes apparent as each religious line starts to branch out farther and farther from its roots. Usually also people try to identify with the founder to be just like him as they are their followers. Yet more and more diversity comes about as people start to join different religions. So these new diverse religious freedoms also branch out. Thus other philosophers make contributions which make impacts on religion but are not the founders or is not a branch of religion.
17. First of all I believe that Brian’s life experiences were bound to lead up to a peak of rupture just for the fact that I feel the same as Brian in the sense that I tend to look back on previous events in my life and question my current position often. Brian’s racial experiences were like a snow ball effect till the incident in the garage. I believe what happened was that the trigger point was the situation he was put in at the toy store with his son and then it hit him in the car when he was talking with his son in the car, because he realized that his life has become a cycle in the sense that his son was questioning the same racial issues that Brian had to experience as a kid. So this triggered his childhood experiences to be reflected upon in the current time. Then he thought about how he has become the same age as his mother when she had died. So this added further weight bearing of pressure on his shoulders because his started to clutch the stresses that his mother carried. I do not think that his actions were truly intentional but sometimes when we are emotional we tend to yearn for comfort yet subconsciously we then do not fully analyze his surroundings. Brian’s old wounds were opened with the thoughts of the current and past issues, but the point with his son triggered those past experiences of both himself and his mother.
18. In Not a Genuine Black Man, Brain experiences many subtle forms of racism many of which were probably unclear to Brian as a kid until he grew older. The first event was when Brian’s family first got to San Leandro when the boys were chasing him and then the police officer detained him and took him home. Many of the subtle form came in the form of the question “Can I see some Identification”. Sylvester, Brian’s father, brought up a lot of black racial slurs towards him that Brian started to question as a child. The many words that Brian was called brought about a question of identity. Even the apartment complexes and San Leandro Realtors were racists in the way they handled the Copland’s living in the city such as Mr. Wentworth. The Barber shops were also a subtle form of racism as they laughed and gave fake smiles as the kidded Brian and his grandmother out of the places. Every person that told Brian and his family to go back to Oakland were racists. Lester the barber in Oakland was also a racist towards white people which is another form of racism that Brain experiences. During the conversation with his son, Brian experiences another subtle form of racism when he found out that one of his son’s friend’s fathers had made a racist comment towards black people. The kids in Brian’s schools that called him names and beat him up were attacking him due to his color and his hair type. The toy store security guard that questioned Brian when he was trying to buy his sister a toy was due to a stereotype that Black people are thieves and shoplifters. Brian experiences more subtle forms of racism as he watches television and witnesses the many black men that are arrested due to bad actions which in his mind was only strengthening and increasing the stereotypes. When Brian would be just walking on the streets the people driving would yell out racial remarks and also the group that came up to Brian’s apartment due to the lie that they made about the cat was racist. Brian had many forms of racism in his life.
19. Brian and Malcolm X are very similar and very different. Both Brian and Malcolm X had troubles with their identities except Malcolm X’s life experiences were much more serious. Brian became conflicted with his white and his black sides whereas Malcolm was conflicted with his new found Muslim faith. Both experienced racism from the public both verbally and through physical abuse. They both had close encounters with death, Brian’s was with his suicide attempt or accident and Malcolm’s was with many of his death threats that he received. Both noticed racism affecting the peace within their families. Both also encountered experiences with the law and the police. Except Malcolm X’s situation was again more serious because he actually had to go to jail. Malcolm X fought against racism and Brain bottled it up till it exploded internally.
21. Many people were not comfortable in deserting their well-built Christian way of life and returning to their Native religious practices. In the sections of Laverne Jacobs he found the struggle of having dual religious identities. For instance Jacobs became conflicted because he wanted to participate in the sweat lodge ceremonies but avoided it due to Christian beliefs. But Jacobs discovers that Christianity and the Native peoples are not always in conflict and could be united as mutually present. In Laverne Jacobs’ reserve he lived in miserable social and economic conditions. There were many Indian dreadful stereotypes that he had to live with such as lazy, drunken, and irresponsible. He started to grow fond of the church going life because it gave him meaning and purpose to his life. He was convinced that the Native American traditions were naturally pagan and evil, so basically it was against the Christian faith. So Jacobs sided with the Christian faith and did not let Native traditions affect his spirituality. Christian members boycotted powwows. So basically Laverne kept trying to avoid sweat lodges and powwows until one day he could not avoid attending one. He realized as he listened to many stories that Christ was within many of their stories and so was the Christian way of life. So it finally clicked in his head like a “glorious sound” ringing that his identity was equally both Native and Christian.
22. The Native American Church of Jesus Christ is a religious group that practices usage of peyote which began in Oklahoma and is widely known among Native Americans. Native American beliefs and peyote use vary with different tribes, but they believe Jesus is a cultural hero so thus they see him as a spiritual guardian and associate his presence through the use of peyote. A Native American by the name of Quanah Parker is known as the father of the Native American Church of Jesus Christ Movement. The church started in the 1890’s and was finally incorporated in 1918. Quanah accepted the peyote religion when he envisioned Jesus after having received wounds after a battle. The Native American Church of Jesus Christ evolved into an intricate network which has lasted since Columbian times in Southern Texas. Peyote is harvested by a Mexican ancestry family since the early 1700’s. There are only 3 licensed Peyoteros left in Texas, due to over harvesting, poaching, and licensing and tax regulations. The Native American Church grew in popularity because the Native Americans were living on reservations and kept with their beliefs so they started to pass it down through generations over time.
20. North American Indians had to change much to their lives when the white man came along and started to change them with Christianity through missionaries. Native Americans were not organized into priesthood so they absorbed this way through Christianity because before they were formed of a loosely organized council of qualified individuals that were assigned to preserve ritual practices. North Americans changed their way of prayer, they added Jesus into their lives, and they used peyote to visualize Jesus. Their idea of the afterlife also changed as Christian concepts entered their lives. Native Americans started to believe in purgatory. Christianity actually saved some tribes because some tribes were so attached to the buffalo hunting that it would have killed them off to continue their dependence on the buffalo. Native Americans used to worship an all powerful god and they used to worship lesser supernatural entities and including evil spirits. Some Native Americans sided more with Christianity and some native peoples borrowed from Christianity by selecting certain elements of Catholic or Protestant belief and made rituals which they then combined with traditional Indian practices. The Native American Church beliefs and rituals slowly became mixed in with Christian fundamentals which became known as a process called religious syncretism.
24. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King grew up in different backgrounds. Martin was raised in a middle-class family were he was able to get an education. Whereas Malcolm lived in an underprivileged home and also lived as an orphan so he became a self-taught man. Malcolm lived in a opposite environment then king. Both fought racism but King fought with nonviolence whereas Malcolm X’s teaching was more hatred based. Both Malcolm and Martin spread their message through powerful speeches yet their intentions were delivered in different styles and purposes. Malcolm X was an extremist that preached separatism between black and whites as an Islamic minister. Martin Luther King preached about equality and was a church minister. They had very different background which is evident in their attitudes about equality. Malcolm X taught hatred towards whites whereas Martin taught for equality and integration through nonviolence.
25. We need to understand genealogical dissociation in order to preserve previous religious understandings, customs, rituals, traditions, and knowledge and pass it on to new religious emergences. Old religions are basics to newer religions. When old developed religions have formed in the past we follow them through generations. The foundations of Old religions are the roots to our present knowledge about humanity, our world, our morals, our philosophies, and our behaviors. What we form of new religions is basically an adaptation of our old beliefs. For example, Hinduism was not begun by any one person, and it developed gradually over more than a thousand years. This means that today it has many different branches, and its followers have a wide range of beliefs and ways of worshiping. Hinduism is a way of life as well as a religion.
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