Religious Beliefs and Battles: Investigating how Faith Functions in the Contemporary World
My spring senior semester was originally going to be relaxed. I wanted to have minimal commitments in order to enjoy my last semester of high school. My plans were interrupted when Mr. Tayloe found me one weekend and asked if I would like to join his class on religion. I immediately knew that this class sounded like something I would gain a lot of value from taking. My Global Scholars Diploma project is looking specifically at The Holocaust (a religious genocide), so understanding the thought process behind religion would give me valuable context to understand the events of The Holocaust.. The class is mainly looking at monotheistic religions, specifically Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. As a class we break down misconceptions about each religion, mistranslations of text, and how the teachings of the religion have been misconstrued to benefit the agenda of extremists.
At the beginning of our first class Ms. Steele asked us the question, “Why do we feel religion is important or not important?” Religion has been a building block within human existence for (I would argue) the entirety of human history. Religion allows people to find an explanation for the unexplainable. In order to answer the question “What is religion?” I decided to Google the technical definition. Merriam-Webster describes religion as a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Merriam-Webster also has a second definition that mentions belief/worship of the supernatural. It’s hard to argue with a definition of religion from an official and reputable source, but I think the definition can be expanded on. There are a lot of patterns when looking at separate religions and one of the most notable is the comfort and community that religion provides. I also think religion at its core is used as a system of navigation through our complex world. Understanding the complexities of injustice is frustrating. Religion (in general) presents a structured set of rules highlighting rights and wrongs. Religion provides a solution.