Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Religion Reflections

-Guest Speakers-
I always enjoy when we have guest speakers in the class discussions, even if those speakers as not exactly 'guests'. I love to hear the perpectives of different individuals and why they think and believe what they do. I find that it challenges my own beliefs as I understand and relate to the experiences of the speakers. 

-Religion-
Religion is one of those topics that I completely avoid talking about with other people. It seems that every time the topic is approached someone is defensive and/or adamant to convince you otherwise. I thought that the group tonight did a wonderful job of maintaining an unbiased point of view while presenting the religious differences of individuals. This is a hard thing to accomplish. Congrats to them! SOme of the most interesting points from the discussions were:

  • 'Under God' was actually added to coins in the 1800's.  
  • Religious clauses of the 1st amendment: establishment clause, free exercise clause. 
  • Separation of church and state has developed through several supreme court rulings that declared that situations that demand students to say prayers or read the bible are unconstitutional.
  • The numerous misconceptions that individuals have about different religions.
I love learning about different religions and what people believe. The following two websites have valuable information to learn more:
  1. http://www.typesofreligion.com/
  2. http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm

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