Blog 2 (1-31-12)

Reflection on reading that we haven't talked about in class yet:

I think that diffusion is the idea of one group of being people influenced by another group of people, and the fact that countless bodies in society develop ideas based off of others. Historical or cultural diffusion is like the butterfly effect, meaning that one’s actions impact numerous people, continuously and rapidly. Historical diffusion in this case began with the Jews under the rule of Egypt. Those people were exposed to some of the beliefs of Akhenaton, and when the Jews wrote their Holy Books, they formed their beliefs and opinions based off of Egypt, Akhenaton, and people around them. Those books by the Jews then influenced Christians, who then influenced Muslims. The environmental and social factors are significant in this diffusion as well. It was nearly impossible for people to escape Akhenaton’s ideas, and escape influences from others. To me it seems like while people did have their own ideas, most theories and general values were based off of previous authority and already existing morals. Just like new cells come from already existing cells, and that is the only possible way they are formed; Well ideas come from already existing facts and conclusions. While it is good to be independent, I also think that diffusion is beneficial and effective, and certainly inevitable. When you have communities physically living close together, and with a lot of the same ideas, you are bound to spread ideas and thoughts to one another like wild fire. Diffusion is something that seems to be unavoidable in history, and is something that will continue get even more apparent in the future. Diffusion is impossible to ignore and I think that diffusion occurs because of the patterns in history and the fact that the environment, the social scene, and a form of religion/leaders will always exist. With those everlasting surroundings, people ought to come up with the same ideas and have the desire to work with others. Things from the past will always inform the future because there are constantly better ways to do things. From the reading a line that stood out to me was, “No one consciously sat down and said lets plagiarize that Egyptian guy.” This struck me because that does happen today. One example of diffusion that is not in the reading has to do with technology. Technology is an example of diffusion, and even though technology is something way more recent than religion, the roots and the initial ideas regarding technology have been exposed to the world, and influenced by generations and multitudes of people. Religion and technology are both popular and common issues, yet they differ in one obvious way. As said in the reading people did not simply sit down and take ones ideas about religion or about a country. However, today with technology people certainly do that because businesses try to make money and people are always competing to get the next best idea. Technology is a definite example of diffusion because individuals and businesses are constantly influencing people’s ideas. Some similarities between Zoroastrianism and Akhenaton’s monotheism is that they both started monotheistic, they both were influenced by other objectives and theories, they both were the base and root of several religions, and they both were more popular a long time ago than they are today. They are different because Zoroastrianism especially influenced Iran and most of the monotheistic religions that have been adapted and developed. Akhenaton leveraged and impacted more of Egypt and early Jews. Although neither of these are major religions today, they are extremely important and vital because they were the core of many religions, and religion is the base of so many major aspects in society today.

Blog 1 (1-30-12)

Completely Random!!!! Thoughts on article from Yahoo! News:

Today I read an article about a teenager who was suspended from school for growing out his hair. The Madison Academy in Burton has a policy that boys hair must be neat and clean, and the school claims to have suspended him for the style, and not the length. This seventeen year old boy, J.T, was growing out his hair for Lox of Love. Lox of Love is an organization that requires someone to have at least ten inches of hair, and that hair is then donated to people who have lost hair or don't have hair for various reasons. J.T has suffered with cancer since he was just one years old, and he has recently watched his best friend's sister be diagnosed with cancer. J.T. is only at two inches of hair right now, and despite his suspension and ignoring people who disagree with him, he is still growing his hair. He feels that he was lucky to survive cancer and now has the ability to grow hair, and he now wants to give back to others. Instead of fighting back against the schools rules, J.T. created a petition that requested for the school to be able to alter the policies and let kids grow their hair for Lox of Love. He was not suggesting to completely abolish the rules, rather he promoted an idea that would only have positive affects. J.T. goes on to say that, ""I'm fine with all of their rules," Gaskins said. "I just think that with this, they could try to make a compromise." With the support of his family, J.T. has continued to battle both physically and emotionally. While J.T. got suspended from school, the Lox of Love association told J.T. that they appreciate his efforts, but they think school is more important. So, J.T's instinct is to help the association and grow his hair despite what his school is telling him, meanwhile the association is telling him to go back to school. Luckily J.T. has a supporting and loving family, because J.T. is definitely going through some hardships and is being told several different things. I think we need more people like J.T. in the world; people who suffer from something so hard, and then are selfless and benevolent and work to give back to others. Many adolescents in J.T's situation would get suspended from school, their parents would make them cut their hair so they could immediately return to school, and then they would be back in school and do nothing further about it. On the other hand, J.T. kept his hair, had support and believers, proposed a compromise for his school and suggested a brilliant idea in order to make the change he wanted to see, and ultimately he voiced his opinion. We need more up-standers than bystanders, and we need more people who do good just for the sake of doing something good and not expecting anything in return. J.T. was doing what he was doing for himself and in order to help others, and he was not wanting money or attention in return. Like people say that when you do something bad, karma will happen, something bad will happen to you in return. Well, I believe that when you do something good, the positive affects the vibes you are giving off will spread/influence the world to do more good.

Blog 3 (1-26-12)

Response to HW reading that we did NOT discuss in class:

Believers are an essential part to understanding the history of a religion. Just like a leader can't lead without followers, a religion cannot sustain itself without believers. Believers are the ones who alter  a religion, practice the religion, and pass it to the next generations. Throughout history religions have been changed, completely forgotten, and also strengthened. This is why religion now is so drastically different from religion many years ago. I feel that the idea of religion being a safe haven, and an ever-belonging community is something that has always been around and will continue to stay that way. I believe that the actual practices and rituals in religions have changed, and the ways that religion affects people's lives have changed. The rituals and routines within a religion have changed over the years probably because the society around us has changed so much. The ways and to what extent religion influences our decisions and ideas has shifted as well. With all of the technology, social communicating, and media, religion has now been a big part of all of that, which is something that was not possible a few decades ago. Because of the power of the media, people have gotten more defensive about their religions. As everything around us in society changes and advances, I feel that the way religion affects one's life will change as well.

In my opinion, not saying that this is correct, but I believe that in order to be religious you should be open minded. I think that a huge, huge part of being a in a religious group or a religious individual means  accepting others and not being close minded. By definition, nobody has to tolerate or even listen to other people's opinions, they can just believe that everything they think and have grown up around is right. However, a GOOD religious person in my view would be willing to talk with other people about religion. People of various religions have so much to offer each other, that I think talking and being willing to listen to other peoples opinions and ideas would strengthen one's religion. Just like there is the difference between a good leader and an effective leader, there is the different between someone who is born into a religion and strictly follows that because it is easy and thats what you are "supposed" to do, but then there are those who are born into a religion but are willing to have an open mind and discuss what that religion means to them and how it affects them as they live in the world. People are allowed to think whatever they want, but just being able to listen to other people, which is something so easy to do, can really help someone out.

Blog 2 (1-25-12)

Response to article I found that had to do with religion:

First of all, I think that talking about leadership and talking about religion are slightly similar. I feel that most people have their own definitions of leaders, just like people have their own definitions of religion. People can create various definitions of a leader, and people can take their religion and interpret their religion however they want. When we talk about leadership and government in class there are of course controversies because everyone has their own opinions. However, the government isn't particularly personal to people and an individual won't get offended as easily. When talking about religion, it is significantly more personal because everyone has their own religion which is a part of them, and there is more opportunity and room for offense and contradictions. 

Egypt’s first democratically elected parliament and the chaos that came along with it, partly had to do with religion. The Muslim Brotherhood is a group which is identified as “the fountainhead of Islamist ideologies around the world.” (New York Times) In that group a man by the name of Saad El Katatni was elected as a speaker/president for the election. Katatni’s victory was extremely important and admired in the history of the Muslim Brotherhood because it was a major accomplishment and an extremely exciting victory for the community. In Katatni’s speech he uses “we” instead of “I” because the Muslim Brotherhood is one unified group. Their way of governing will be affected and influenced by their religion because they are a religious group with Islamic motivations and ideas, and their entire community is Islamic meaning that is something they each have in common, so when tough decisions arise, they can always turn to their religion for an answers. When celebrating success and triumphs, or when challenges or difficulties in leading arise, the Muslim Brotherhood can again rely on religion. I feel that this Islamist group partly had a victory because they are so strong and so united by their religion. Whereas a group with mixed religion and mixed diversity would be ideal in some situations and beneficial, in this case an all Muslim derived and rooted group resulted in positive outcomes. I think that from a perspective of NOT the Muslim Brotherhood itself, there will definitely be some problems and questions about their authority and power. I think that people will often ponder authority versus religion and how the two are supposed to be integrated. I think that an all Muslim group will lead to protestors who believe that they are governing way too much depending and influenced by religion. But there will also be those who agree with all their beliefs, and even some people in between.  These Islamists promise to focus on the real goal of reaching democracy in Egypt and not just a battle of religion, but lets see how that plays out… As much as we want religion to link each and everyone of us, because there are so many different religions, people have become enemies. During revolts regarding this election, people and families were killed by extremists. There will always be people who believe something different than you, and that is something everyone needs to accept, which is not easy. The election of the Parliament's new president did not goes as smoothly as hoped and anticipated, due to religion and how that shapes our existence in the world, however Katatni, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected! 

Blog 1 (1-24-12)

How does religion shape the way people understand and respond to the world around them?


Not regarding anyone specifically, but I think that in general religion shapes a person greatly. Even though someone may not be necessarily religious or conservative, at the end of the day everyone belongs to a religion. Because every person was born into some religion, I feel that people think of religion as almost a safe haven because it is a community/group that they are assured to always be a part of. A religious group is somewhere you can go where you know the people around you have same beliefs, and are similar to you in at least one way. Therefore I think that people are affected by religion and maneuver through the world differently with religion because it is a piece of everybody, and it somewhat builds an identity. I think that when one views government, they respond to it differently because of religion. I think this because one might not chose to elect for someone just because of their religion. Also, one's leadership style, ways of governing can be affected by religion, and same with people's views on those leaders. Religion can also completely shape the life of an extremist. In other words, a fanatic or an extremist is someone who takes the core beliefs of their religion and basically exaggerates everything and plays everything up to be a bigger deal than it is, and then roots/blames their actions on religion. One could protest, or wear a lot of religious things such as jewelry and apparel, or even go so far as to kill someone just because of religious beliefs. Sometimes you can tell just by looking at a person, what religion they come from or believe in. Just like citizens often blame the government for lots of their issues, people understand things and blame religion for certain situations in their lives. Even though there are stereotypes about all religions, and people may be separated because of religion, I feel that people view the world differently because of religion. Religion is something we will have for as long as we can see, and different stories about different characters/significant figures in a religion, beliefs on the creation and existence of the world, and views on a g-d or a leader can certainly shape one's life whether intended or not. For me specifically, religion has shaped the way I understand the world in a positive way. After going to an all Jewish school for 11 years and traveling to Israel, one of the most religious places in the world, I understand the world better. I further understand how the world was first created, and I seem to slowly begin to understand myself more. Religion has been a great part of my life whether it is holidays or just spending time with my family, my Jewish identity and religion has shaped me and how I comprehend things, and I think will definitely continue to do so.