Question

Generally speaking, what do you think is the role of religion in History? What are the most uncommon religions you've ever heard of? We often see people discussing about how religion was and still is an instrument of control, but are there ways to see it otherwise? Which aspects of religion would you focus on if you'd have only 20min to presentate them? Also, I have to hand in a paper, but this is such a broad subject and I don't know where to start.

Answer 1

Melinda, you always ask the best questions! This is a HUGE topic. To handle it in a short paper, you will have to find one sliver to explore, which you can then expand into a rich and full discussion. To find that sliver, you will have to consider the forest, or at least some of it. How much time do you have to do some preliminary read-thinking?

Answer 2

I have about a week, so I'm starting to research. I haven't found useful stuff though, only crazy things. I mean, I tried to undress all my culture and pre-thoughts, but it's very hard to read some of the stuff I have and not think ''crazy people''. I don't want to focus on unknown religions anymore lol what would you suggest?

Answer 3

I would probably show how religion affects the world through science..like in evolution, many religions say that God did everything...,many say we just popped out of nowhere

Answer 4

Okay, soo you tried to undress your culture. How'd it go?

Answer 5

Talk about how religion led to wars.. Crusades, i can go on and on about them.

Answer 6

@Pina I guess that's pretty sensitive. I don't want to start a debate in class, just to presentate something nice that would make people think, but without of course causing conflicts.

Answer 7

@Bah Well, I tried my best but that's something we need to try on for a lifetime and even though we wouldnt be comprehensive enough, right?
Mmmm this war subject is something everyone knows. I want to show sides of religion that are unlikely

Answer 8

You could also show how people live according to their beliefs and customs with their religions...like muslims...how the more traditional women still cover their bodies adn faces...

Answer 9

Yea, as far as I know there are no muslims in my school so that would be interesting for people to know more. I'm watching some videos about muslims but there are all bad sides of the religion. I mean, I'd like to show people how the problem isn't religion. The problem is the way humankind uses it, do you agree?

Answer 10

I'm a muslim Melinda u can ask me away lol

Answer 11

you could also do how buddhism is and isn'tt a religion, becasue its also a way of life too

Answer 12

not on here, though, on skype lol

Answer 13

i'll do my best to tell u all i know and have heard of in my religion lol

Answer 14

@Pina that's nice as well, I had the opportunity to go to a buddhist meeting once and I was interesting. But you have to keep in mind that I got 20min and there are other people to talk lol maybe in the paper i can be more detailed.

Answer 15

it was interesting *

Answer 16

Thanks bah <3

Answer 17

thanks melinda ;)

Answer 18

thank you, pina! :D

Answer 19

Well, this conversation has really taken off! Here is what I was thinking, in response to your original question . . .

You have a week to research and to write, or you have a week to research before you need to start writing?

So you want to focus on whether religion (or spirituality, you might explore that distinction too) offers us something other than what its critics contend, which is that it is useful primarily for keeping people in line. And also keeping them content, one might add. "The opiate of the people," Marx called it.

The radical new atheists (Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris) argue that religion is nothing but superstition and myth. Radicals of various persuasions argue for an exact literal translation of their particular holy books. Is there no middle path through these diametrically opposed polemics?

Most of us probably do dwell in some aspect of that middle territory.

Every culture, in every continent, throughout time has developed a belief system of some sort. Is this just, as some contend, the effect of the "god gene"? Are we simply predisposed toward mysticism, because of the structure of our brains and the nature of thought? Or are we in fact attuned to something that underlies physical reality and that imbues it with energy?

Well, this is not a question you could do any justice to in a short paper, and it's not the question you are posing at any rate. But it must be something that many of us ponder, and it might be useful to explore those issues as part of the preliminary work you do in thinking about where you want to go with your argument. What texture you'd like it to have.

Just for a little background thinking, you might listen to David Eagleman talk about "possibilianism" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQab6oHWgrY). You might listen to, or read, some of what Barbara Bradley Hagerty has to say. She did a whole series for NPR on religion, with a different spin. Here are a few links to get you started --

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997741

http://www.meetup.com/Emerging-Christianity-Conversation/events/45221182/

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1898804,00.html

http://www.npr.org/people/2100608/barbara-bradley-hagerty


You might check out Karen Armstrong --

http://www.ted.com/speakers/karen_armstrong.html

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03132009/profile.html


You might even read some of C.S Lewis, a Christian apologist (meaning: he explains Christianity). He wrote a beautiful piece on the role of suffering. He said that when he's happy, he's thinking only of himself. But suffering takes him out of himself, makes him think of other people and larger issues. Hmmm, that reminds me of something another student posted recently here on Open Study, regarding an article called "The Miracle of Melancholy."

Does spirituality in some way make us better people? Does it make us more compassionate? If so, what happens when dogma takes over? When we feel we must defend -- to the death, or to the death of others -- our own particular worldview? There has been much blood shed over the whole of human history in the name of God -- whichever particular god the warring parties wish to defend.

The name of God has also been invoked as an excuse when one group wants to command another, to take from them their lands, their homes, their goods. So the issue with religion and warfare is a thorny one. You might say in that respect that religion has done as much harm in human history as good.

But back to whether a belief in something -- some reality -- that transcends us offers us something other than an instrument of control (because there certainly has been that) for one group over another. If you're looking historically or culturally, you might have to turn to anthropology or sociology. If you're looking philosophically, you'd want to consider some of the more ecumenically minded spiritual thinkers and leaders, I should think. The Dalai Lama also comes to mind.

It's certainly a rich topic for exploration.

Answer 20

Wow, Redwood, thanks a lot! I have one week to do everything, but there are other people in my group so I will try to read everything you sent and discuss with them. Nice sliver you got there, huh? That's (almost) exactly what I wanted :D The only one I've read is CS Lewis, but I'm sure I will have a great time researching the others. Also, I'm gonna search for "The Miracle of Melancholy", sounds very interesting. Anyway, thanks a lot and I will let you know how it goes.

Answer 21

I'm so glad! I'd love to read whatever it is you (and your group) come up with. You're doing a paper and a talk, it sounds like? I'm curious to hear what you come up with for aspects of religion that aren't often discussed. I agree -- the war thing, you'd not want to focus on that. That's a common approach. Better to acknowledge that as part of your starting point and then move on into some new direction. Give your audience something to think about that perhaps they've not thought of before. Explore some new territory, offer new insights. Sounds like a fun paper to write too . . .

Answer 22

Yeah, it's a presentation plus a paper. I usually don't like to work in group but I'm in a nice one and I just hope that they will agree about following this topic. It's really better than our previous idea, which was talking about various religions at the same time. This concept is better because it explores religion as whole, also why it exists and how does it affect people generally. Yea, mentioning wars will be indispensable but it's not really what I want to focus on, since everyone knows that. It's funny to write something like this indeed, very interesting as well. I love giving people new perspectives. This is actually a sociology class homework, but I like how it relates to history, philosophy and anthropology. In fact I love studying humankind behaviors, so almost any topic is interesting to me :)

Answer 23

You like the humanities! Me too. I rarely met a class, or a topic, that wasn't interesting within that general framework. History, literature, philosophy, theology, sociology, anthropology, languages, the arts . . . it's all good stuff. I loved particularly when I'd come to that intersection of one or more of them, with the concepts and readings from one class/discipline having direct relevance to the concepts and readings in another.

Well, maybe you will post updates as you develop your thoughts, maybe even drafts of the paper as you're working?

Answer 24

Oh that's just great, I feel the same way. I love all of those, mainly literature. My school is starting to focus a lot on them because our new coordinator is a philosophy teacher, he is amazing.
Yea, I will surely do that. I just feel sorry for not being able to post the final paper, given the fact we are writing it in our native language. But I will let you know how it goes, definitely! I've already sent a huge email to my friends, I just hope they will find interesting everything I wrote lol

Answer 25

Oh, my gosh! You are not a native English speaker? Your English is so fluent . . .or perhaps you have more than one native language?

Answer 26

Open Study just lost and regained its connection . . . I had issues with it yesterday as well. We are also going off-topic, I suppose. But best of luck to you, and I look forward to hearing more as you go along, if you are so inclined as to post progress notes. :)

Answer 27

Thanks, that's so nice to hear. No, I'm a brazilian. :)
Yea, I'm having probs with it as well. Ah, thanks again for your amazing ideas! Even if it doesnt work out with the rest of my friends, I will surely write something about that. Later, Redwood!

Answer 28

Beautiful country. I am impressed -- your English is *very* good. Chat later then. You post such good questions . . . it's always interesting talking to you. Wish I could read portuguese! Alas, no.

Answer 29

It means so much to me, I appreciate that. And oh, you also give the best answers. :) Portuguese is nice, but ten times harder than English :D I can teach you, though. Keep in touch

Answer 30

Update:
So, Redwood, I will tell you how I am working on this paper. It's been difficult to make others understand my point, specially because there are more 4 people working with me. And also because this subject leads to various and uncertain fields. I don't really care if the teacher will like it, but I know I have to be imparcial and I feel like I need to watch every word I write. It's also hard to differ and separate some subjects that seem so connected because I can't loose track and get carried away.
I have realised that I'm really digging deep and it might be not good for a school paper. Anyway, I don't know if I should continue. Maybe it's best for me to write something superfical and simple, given that exploring religion is not as difficult as I thought it was, actually it impressed me how much it can affect someone. It's really hard. I have spent hours on it this week and it is making me tired everyday because I'm gathering knowledge I can't interpret in a way that would satisfy me. It's like a quietness being ripped out of you. I will try to recompose myself so I can finish the paper as soon as possible, though now that I've learned new stuff, it will surely have some importance in my life. I feel like I will never ever see things as I'm used to see them. Anyway, I should just focus on less complex matters... I will let you know how it goes.

Answer 31

And oh, just so you know, the stuff you sent me is being very useful. It wasn't what disturbed me. Actually I find them very interesting.

Answer 32

Well, you're probably trying to take on too much given the time you have. The kind of paper you would like to write -- because you care about the subject and because you care about the quality of work (you are invested in your studies, in other words) -- would take far more time to research and to ponder. Deep thinking takes time. You're absorbing new material and making sense of it. You're integrating it into what you already know and believe. And you're trying also to come up with an angle that will work for the particular assignment you've been given. And on top of that, you're working in a group. Working in a group presents its own special challenges. I never really liked it. I prefer doing my own work, and having other friends to bounce ideas off of, or even with whom to have those impromptu and intense discussion/debates that can develop when a group of people all impassioned around the same topic come together. But those sorts of groups develop naturally. It takes a special group, I think, to then work in a concentrated fashion on the same project together.

I wish I'd had something else to offer, some cool angle into the material. We know that meditation changes brain structure, for instance. Neuroscientists have been studying long-time meditators (like Tibetan monks, for instance) and hooking them up to functional MRI and other machines to see what happens in the meditating brain. That's pretty cool. Somewhat too tangential to what you're doing, perhaps, but an example of what one type of spirituality -- the practice of it -- does for someone that was never known before. That's new info, cutting-edge science.

Anyway, thanks for the update. All the work you're doing on this project, whether or not it gets folded into the actual project, will still stand you in good stead. It is still material you are learning, and you never know where it might lead to in future. Learning about what interests you in never time wasted. Learning about nearly anything is never time wasted, for that matter. (Assuming material that falls more or less in the realm of disciplines we'd consider worthy of study. I know, that's circular! But you know what I mean.)

Answer 33

Thank you, RW. I really liked your last paragraph :D
Well, just to let you know that I have finally made it. I selected what relates to sociology and left the rest behind. It's just a paper but since I have found how much interesting religion is, I guess I will just write something for myself when I have time. And in English, so I can share with you guys. Anyway, it was a great experience! Thanks for all the help.

Answer 34

And thank you for the most interesting discussion, and the question that kicked it off. This was the high point of my week!