Reflection

Key Point: What do I now know about religious diversity? How does this affect me?

Reflective writing gives you the chance think about what you are doing more deeply and to learn from
your experience. You have the opportunity to discover how what you are taught in class helps you with
your real-world or academic tasks. Writing your thoughts down makes it easier for you to think about
them and make connections between what you are thinking, what you are being taught and what you
are doing. Now that you have nearly completed the course, reflect back on the curriculum and answer
the following questions. Some will be familiar to you from the preflection. Answer them again with your
new perspective and comment on how your views may have changed. Be sure to use evidence from the
class to support your ideas.

After completing the course:

1. Do you believe America is more of a secular or a religious country? Why?

I believe that America is more religious than secular. America was created with the large
purpose to bring religious freedom where every individual would be valued and able to
respectfully practice whatever religion they decide to not believe or to believe in. The
constitution was largely centered around the concept of America being a religiously free country
and I believe that throughout all of these years that nothing has changed. I believe that America
is very diverse in religious practices. Rarely have I heard or learned about a religion being shut
down or ridiculed unless it was because of unsafe or unhuman practices. Americans are very
vocal on their opinions and views on religion and with the increase of social media in
technology, it has become even easier for Americans to share their opinions to the public. I
believe that with this technological advantage it has made America even more religious. I
believe this because religions are able to get more publicity and attention by being able to
create Facebook pages and social media accounts where people can go to get more information
and find out about community events. I believe that having those places to go to has made
Americans more eager to learn about new religions. Religions are protected from being under-
attack and/or shut down because of the first amendment and Americans have taken advantage
of that.

2. What do you believe is a responsible relationship between religion and American culture?
Explain.

I believe that it is a tricky situation to have a responsible relationship between religion and
American culture. I believe this is because the first amendment protects Americans rights to
express and practice religion in the way that they choose but that also makes it hard when they
want to practice it in ways that are against the law. For example, there is a separation in church
and state because of how problematic it was for schools to hold prayer every day in classes
when there were students in attendance who did not believe and practice that way. American
culture to me has a lot to do with being able to express yourself if constitutional and doing
things that are beneficial to you. I say this in regards to what job and career you want to take,
how much education you choose to do, where you want to live, etc. Religion gets tricky when it
 tries to maintain a responsible relationship with American Culture because many Americans
believe, and they have the right to believe, that their feelings, practices, and beliefs are the only
correct way. Most American’s do not decide to go attend other churches outside of their beliefs
because they do not believe it to be true. Since a lot of Americans feel this way it makes it
extremely difficult to try and gain understanding between different religious practices and
causes contention within the country and culture because respect is lost and nothing is done to
change that.

3. How have you become more aware of your religious landscape?

Recently I have become exceedingly more aware of my religious landscape. Growing up my
family only ever attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we never even
entertained the idea of going somewhere else. Our only religious conversations were centered
around our beliefs of Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost. I never even thought
about how other religions and faith practiced and could never imagine myself relating to
another faith, especially another Christian religion. Taking this class really opened my horizons
and got me out of my comfort zone. It is incredible to me that I never gave other religions a
second thought and never gave them a chance to help me understand where they stand on
religion. Going to different religions and choosing to have an open mind has helped me see
people in another light. I believe that I have gained a lot of knowledge and self-growth by going
to witness these other faiths. I have noticed a lot more efforts from religion to get the public
involved. I have noticed ads on my social media accounts that are religions inviting the public to
attend their meetings and activities. I had never noticed or taken a second thought to that
before. I have become more aware of how people speak about religion and try to understand
why they feel and believe that way instead of just writing them off.

4. In what ways do you believe our religious minorities are impacting the “public square”?

Now that I have become more aware with religion in my community, I have noticed how much
religious minorities are attempting to do. I never realized that some Buddhist practices go out
into the public multiple times in the week to talk to people. They do not just go and try to recruit
or convert people, they never try to do that really, but instead they go out into the public
multiple times a week to listen to people. They take time out of their busy lives to listen to other
people! That was mind boggling to me because I had never even noticed Buddhist before and if I
ever did I would shut them down or avoid them because I assumed they were trying to get me
to join their religion or shamefully I assumed they wanted my donations. I believe that religious
minorities are trying to do more things to involve the public and get them to understand where
they stand and where their religion is coming from. I think that religious minorities are working
hard to be more noticed and to be taken more seriously compared to the large religious
majorities. They are doing more community service to reach the local population as well as
trying to grow their social media to get more attention and to gain more understanding.

5. How is this course connected to other courses you have taken and/or to your everyday life?

I truly believe that everyone should take a religious diversity class in their lifetime. It has
changed my life for the better, and I would definitely recommend this to all my friends and
 loved ones. This class has changed my life because I have become a more inviting, welcoming,
and respectful person. I have felt more peace in my life because of taking this course. Not only
has it made me take a look at what I practice and believe and figure out what I feel is right but I
have also met some amazing people from other faiths and have found common ground and
have created connections with them. Although I did not convert to any other religions and I will
continue to stay at my church, I believe that I have learned to be more open, less opiniated, and
that everyone deserves to be heard and understood. I will forever be more aware of my
religious surroundings because there is no way I can go back to being one minded and only
focusing on my religious views. Taking this course really made me go out of my comfort zone
and learn so much more about myself, my city, and even my state.

Each question should receive serious attention, none should be answered with merely a "yes" or "no".
Thoughtful reflection on the entire course, readings, discussions, and personal research should be
taken into consideration. A good rule of thumb would be a minimum of 200 words per question.