approximately 500 words).
Assignment: What is religion? Revised version.
Details: Re-read your definition of religion. Taking what you’ve learned from the course, re-think your response. Youare expected to use the required readings.
How will this assignment be marked? Your response to this question will be evaluated on the whole. I will be looking for you to integrate what we’ve discussed in class and what you’ve learned in the readings into your response. The response does not have to be written in essay form –although essay form will convey your point with greater force and clarity.
Aim of assignment: Show me what you’ve learned. This is your time to show me that this simple question isn’t so simple.
See Assignment 01 for expectations and regulations regarding assignments.
THIS IS ASSIGNMENT ONE
What is Religion?
Religion is a belief. What humans have in it is faith. Religion is practising faith, which, in my perspective, makes my life easier. If I know what my religion is, what I need to practise religion takes me to the right path.It only allows me to maintain my belief.It also helps me stay connected with my culture. Religion is also connected to spiritual belief. This actually actively demonstrates that they are both connected. In trying to know the meaning of life, To sum up everything that has been stated so far, it is that religion is all based on beliefs and the faith a human has in religion.
An example that I would like to give is actually my own belief. As a Muslim woman, Islam is very important to me. The particular reason for the circumstances is that everything I do is based on my religion. There are loads of do’s and don’t’s. which I have to follow a lot. My religion is not complete without me praying five times a day. It is not accepted after death if I do not offer prayers. My religion tells a woman to cover herself as it gives so much impirtance that no dirt should touch a woman. The reason for the circumstances is that women are like pure, clean water, or in other words, like diamonds. To me, the best way to show my religion is by wearing a hijab, hijab is more important to me than anything in this world. It acts as my protection shield. To sum up everything that has been stated, I believe religion is to believe what an individual has on.
These are some notes
please do not copy these notes
All assignments were very crucial in contributing to the knowledge needed to progress in understanding religion. It showed how often we are misconstrued by the many ideas and dogmas present in the current world of religion. Assignment 3 has to be the most interesting in the sense that I learned something completely new. With Clichés and the White Lie, I was somewhat aware of the general ideas of the topic. I had bits and pieces of information on hand but with the common approaches to definition, I learned how deep this takes us into making us understand that religion is not as simple as and that religion does not revolve around the famous monotheistic religions. It had me thinking was I an essentialist after all this time or was I a functionalist or maybe I was a bit of everything. It helped me learn about myself at the same time taught me how we should approach these definitions and how important they are in terms of defining religion. McCutcheon often mentioned the concept of ‘Origin’ and how lacking that has left this sort of hole in understanding some of the dogmas present in the world of religion. With origin, a significant amount of emphasis is put on our ancestors as well as they are often the main basis of questions as all of these findings came from someone or something and so it encourages one to think of religion with the many concepts in mind. Not your religion’s context, we are not talking about ‘your’ religion we are talking about just ‘religion’. And this was the actual eye-opener for me. This was an introductory course and I feel like there is already so much information to digest.
The White Lie also hinted at the origin aspect and what annoyed me is the fact that how scholars and the governing body of institutions, did not want anyone to know more than they should. The white lie which was the fabrication of texts made me question why this even is the case? This is funny in the sense that my explanation of religion is just how they want it to be. Maybe? Did I fall into the mindset of the masses which they molded by their set of rules? So I am just an ordinary and if I don’t question then I am just letting them win. I reiterated Smith’s work for the assignment but it was a very thought-provoking read and requires further research to expand on how to deal with this.
