Religion in the US

Culture and religion are always evolving and going through changes all around the world. America alone has received countless make-overs in regards to religion. It seems that there is always something new to learn and something to improve. Religious freedom is an important element in American religion. People feel better about their beliefs when they feel it is something they chose for themselves. Immigration to the United States was and still is one of the driving forces that has transformed the way Americans see religion; the individualization of foreign beliefs has inspired denominations and new religious movements.

When people modify religions to make it better suited for themselves, they are individualizing their beliefs. In doing so, they created religious denominations, which are basically subgroups of a religion. An example of individualization and religious freedom in culture and religion is the case of Unsynagogued Jews. Unsynagogued Jews are people who do not affiliate themselves with synagogues nor practice the religion instead they apply cultural aspects of Judaism into their daily lives. (1) Achieved identities (identities a person takes on by choice) and ascribed identities (identities that people are born with) are sociological concepts that Lynn Davidman analyzes while making a connection to religion. (2) Unsynagogued Jews having the choice to “not to practice their religion in a traditional way” is a great feat for American religion. They still identify as Jewish people, because that is how they grew up. 

We also see personalization of religion in the New Age movement. People of this movement turned to Asian and Native American teachers, because they believed that they held special wisdom and holiness. Asian Americans are even referred to as a “model minority” according to Joshi. (3) After the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, more people of Asian descent were able to come to the United States. Some people assimilated into Protestant denominations, while others joined others in their same religion. They had an influence on both. Prior to the 1965 Immigration act, some Asian Americans faced discrimination by the American population as well as the government. Japanese American Internment camps were established to segregate people of Japanese heritage. They lived their lives within the camps like any ordinary American. They practiced their culture and religion normally in the face of racialization.

Although they were racialized, Asian American religion was popularized in the sixties in part because of Andy Griffith’s film “Broken Blossom.”(4) In this movie, an Asian man tried saving a Caucasian girl from her abusive father. Although he was unsuccessful, the movie represented how the White man could not save himself and needed the wisdom of a foreigner to truly save themselves. We can also see this type of relationship in yoga. Yoga was originally a strictly physical practice in India. When it was brought to the US, people were eager to add meaning to it and added religious elements to the mix which is why there is now debate on whether or not yoga is a religious practice or not. Cathy, a woman practicing Reiki to find her religious identity, found Jesus instead when participating in a Japanese Buddhist practice. Here we see Protestantism and Buddhism interact. (5)

Immigration has had a significant influence on American religion. Of course Protestant religions are the basis of religion in America. When people emigrated to the States, they usually brought their own traditions with them and incorporated them into the religions available to them. Because of the religious freedom they had in America, they were able to believe in anything they wanted and practice it however they wanted or. Today, there are a countless number of religious denominations. Denominationalism is an important aspect of religious freedom. Without it, people would have been forced to worship in secrecy, or give up religion all together. 

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1. Davidman, Lynn. "The New Voluntarism and the Case of Unsynagogued Jews."

2. Davidman (p. 52)

3. Joshi, Khyati Y. "The Racialization of Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism in the United States."

4. Iwamura, Jane. "The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture"

5. Bender, Courtney J. "Touching the Transcendent: Rethinking Religious Experience in the Sociological Study of Religion.

Yoga: A Cultural Practice or A Physical Practice?

The NPR article is about a family trying to sue an elementary school for teaching their kids yoga in school. The parents believed that practicing yoga has religious undertones. The judge of the case said that although yoga is a religious practice, it wasn’t being taught that way at school so it should be fine. Yoga language was even changed for the elementary schoolers to avoid making cultural references such as the Sanskrit language. A mother of another student believed that yoga’s poses and meditation can’t be separated from their Hindu roots. This same mother thinks that yoga will change her kid’s views on the world and on themselves.

In “Yoga’s Greatest Truth”, Mark Singleton, a yoga instructor, finds out that yoga does not have Hindu roots when he opens up a Danish Primitive Gymnastics book which contains pictures of people in poses almost identical to the poses seen in Yoga. He goes on to learn more about the history of yoga. One of the first things he learns is that Scandinavian gymnastics influenced the way Europeans exercised, and this influence eventually found its way to India. Yoga has many components to it some including asana (body postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), dharana (concentration and cultivation of inner perceptual awareness), and nada (sound). The first wave of yoga was headed by Swami Vivekananda. He ignored asana and focused more on pranayama, meditation, and positive thinking. This rejection was due in part to Vivekananda belonging to a high-caste in India and him having prejudices against low-case mendicants who performed postures for money. Singleton spent 3 years in India in search for yoga asana instruction only to find instructors with highly Westernized teachings of yoga.

Before the arrival of yoga pioneers, the West had already been developing gymnastic posture practices which were also spiritual traditions. People often tie Hindu and yoga together, because it is the culture that is easiest to come to mind. In reality, a lot of countries had yoga type practices before Indian influence.

Questions:

Do you think that yoga would affect a child’s attendance, behavior, and student achievement? Would it affect them negatively or positively?

In what ways is yoga a religious/spiritual practice and in which ways is yoga a physical practice? 

Media:

Another opinion on whether or not the same topic. Here a Christian blogger defends that yoga should be allowed in school and so should Christian prayer groups.

click me

Can We All Just Get Along?

    In my past two blogs, I discussed my mother’s religious upbringing and the history behind it. My mom grew up being a Catholic, and she recently converted to a Baptist. A common theme in my mother’s religious history is denominationalism. Both religions are Christian denominations. A denomination is a branch of a larger religion that share some creeds, codes, or cultuses with its precursor including the centrality of the Bible, Jesus Christ and his saving grace, and the importance of religious freedom. (1) Denominations have often “denounced each other’s teachings” even though they share roots. (2) The Catholic and Baptist churches are a perfect example of denominations denouncing each other even though they are fairly similar. 

   My grandmother was disapproving of my mother’s and aunts’ decision to convert to the Baptist Church and even threatened to miss my aunt Gladys’ wedding earlier this year. She said that she would not attend a marriage lead by someone preaching the wrong beliefs. The animosity that exists between these two denominations is present all over the world. In 2006, Catholics vandalized a newly built Baptist church in the Middle East, because they claimed the Baptist church was trying to steal their members on top of refusing to join the Middle East Council of Churches. (3) The negative opinions for each other seem mutual. In early 20th century Texas, Latino Baptists maintained anti-Catholic attitudes for decades even having conferences dedicated to shaming Catholicism for their different beliefs. (4) The Middle East Catholic church is the most conservative of these two examples. But, they are in the Middle East; they have different creeds and codes. The Baptists who had anti-Catholic views were completely absurd. One of the main codes as mentioned before is the importance of religious freedom. They are violating this code when they express their anti-Catholicism. It is ironic that this specific code isn’t being complied with. The first Baptist Church in the US was established by Roger Williams, a man who fled from England to America “in search of religious freedom.” (5) According to both the Catholic and Baptist belief systems, everyone should be getting along. If children in these religions are going to grow up and be hateful toward people because they hold a different belief than them, the Catholics and Baptists should just shut down their churches and call it a day. Of course, not all Catholics and Baptists are unwelcoming of each other. In fact, the Anti-Catholicism among Latino Baptist in Texas settled down enormously after the Civil Rights movement in the sixties due in part to cultural integration in the region and the Vatican Council II. (6) These denominations are flexible to change, but their teachings have other consequences.

  Catholic and Baptist attitudes towards each other are not the only attitude being affected by their creeds and codes. A study conducted in 2010 examined how religious creeds affected the way a person would seek help. In the study, two groups of either Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist were asked to imagine having a gambling problem or a depression problem; the study concluded that although they had different belief systems individuals in both denominations “[viewed] gambling as a moral problem, and that the church will be seen as a treatment resource.” (7) The study also found that compared to Catholics the Baptists expected more forgiveness, which reminded me of my mom. I’ve noticed that when she thinks she’s done something bad she stresses how sorry she is about what she’s done even if it’s something small like losing her temper or something that happened in the past. But this is new to me, because my mother never used to do this. She started doing this recently after converting to a Baptist denomination. I found this study interesting, because it showed how two denominations could be so alike yet so different. Their reactions and approaches to events such as gambling or emotional dilemmas based on their creeds and codes is fascinating. My mom was never a person to talk to us about religion or make us pray at night when she was a non-practicing Catholic. Now, I can see how her religion affects her judgment. 

The Catholic Church and the Baptist church are two denominations who have denounced each other in the past. There are still a few groups who actively denounce each other, but if they are true to their religion, the communities of these denominations should get along or at least try. These groups although having different ways of working are similar in that when they are having problems they turn to their church. At the end of day, for both groups, God is all that matters. (Oh yeah, even my grandma realized this. She ended up going to the wedding!)

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1. George, Timothy. 2013. "Catholics and Baptists together: the recent synod of bishops sounded notes Protestants can sing." Christianity Today 57, no. 1: 73-318. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed September 7, 2013).
2. Albanese, Catherine. America Religions and Religions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1981. p 278.
3. Lamprecht, Peter. 2006. "Clash of churches: Catholic villagers attack Baptists, vandalize church." Christianity Today 50, no. 11: 21-318. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed September 8, 2013).
4. Barton, Paul. Hispanic Methodists Presbyterians and Baptists in Texas. Austin: University of Texas, 2006. p. 121-122
5. Weber, Nicholas, eds. Baptists. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Last modified September 7, 2013. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02278a.htm
6. Barton, 126
7. Yorgason, Donald, et. al. “Perceived religious support for problem gambling: does church doctrine influence help-seeking?” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Vol. 15, Iss. 1 (2012): 87-102.

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Related to this: A bunch of religious jokes about Catholics, Baptists, and Methodists in the comments of a Christian blog: click here

Catholicism and Christianity

The church my mom belongs to now is called the Iglesia Bautista Shalom which translates as the Baptist Church Shalom. It is a denomination of the Baptist religion, which is a denomination of Christianity. My mom’s church is based in my hometown of Highland Park in LA. Los Angeles, CA is one of the most diverse cities in the state. It is diverse culturally and religiously. Being so, I wondered what made my mom choose a Christian church to give her faith and loyalty to than to stick with her original Catholic roots.  By dividing up the Christian religion, denominationalism helped my mom find her religious identity in this specific Latino denomination.

I was baptized when I was a baby. My mom had her doubts about her Catholic identity, but her traditional beliefs still said that I would go to hell if I died without being baptized. As a baby, you do not have any real thoughts nor beliefs. I did not believe in God when I was 8 months old. In fact, there would be many years to come before I actually believed in a God. Why was my mom baptizing me into a religion she didn’t believe in herself? In Catholicism, anyone can receive a baptism (1). It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from or how old you are. In United States history, we can see that Catholicism has always been a leading force. The religion has evolved over the centuries to accommodate more people by making it easier to understand. During the 20th century, many Latino peoples immigrated to the United States and joined the Catholic communities. Today, the Latino peoples make up 30% of Catholics in America. The main reason that Latino people joined the Catholic church after they immigrated here was because it was “the church of their ancestors.” (2) However, it was also “an institution whose leadership failed to address their needs adequately.” Perhaps it was because the Catholic church was not as involved in their follower’s lives. The Vatican Council II made some reforms to the religion during the years 1962-1965. One of the major changes it made was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which allowed people to worship in the vernacular. (3) This change in the Catholic religion helped Latinos feel more at home and less discriminated against by their Anglo & European American predecessors. However, there were still a number of Latinos converting to Christianity.

Christian denominations such as the Pentecostals and the Baptists started their mission work in the Spanish-speaking world in the beginning of the 20th century. (4) Their theology was different of the Catholic’s in that they had a believer’s church viewpoint, which basically meant that their community was completely voluntary. Unlike the Catholic church, these denominations have a concept of “priesthood of all believers” which means that church members have a roles in their church. (5) In these denominations, people have an “opportunity to find a space to serve, contribute, develop skills, and take leadership responsibilities. (6) Most Latino Protestant churches are small with less than one hundred regular members. (7) These smaller Christian denominations were much more intimate with their followers than the Catholic church, which is one of the reasons my mom was so compelled to join her current church. Latino congregations hold several bible studies and prayer meetings during the week, which lets the pastors get to know their followers on a personal level. (8) Before the 1960s in states like Texas, there was a strong sense of anti-Catholicism. (9) This anti-Catholicism stemmed from Martin Luther, and other Protestant leaders, who spread “histories of the Catholic church that portrayed the papal office as a seedbed of corruption, blasphemy, and violence.” (10) The Christian Church did not like that they were influencing people with the pope. Some Protestants would walk around with their Bible ready to pull out a verse to Catholics. The tension between the two churches waned during and after the sixties in part due to the Vatican Council II. The Christian church liked that the Council increased the importance of the Bible in the Catholic Church. (11) Protestant churches also adopted some Catholic worship practices such as the sacramental and symbolic nature of worship. (12) The Civil Rights movement and farmworker strikes also brought Latino Protestants and Latino Catholics together. They faced the same discrimination similar to the Jewish people having a common suffering. After the 1960s, events like quinceñeras, which were seen as Catholic rituals, became a part of the Mexican-American Protestantism. (13)

My mom can be seen at bible studies and Sunday service every week. She said her pastor knows when she is not there, unlike Catholic priests who probably don’t know your name. A reason that this Christian denomination could have compelled her is that her old Catholic views had similarities with the early Christian way of doing things. (14) The main reason my mom joined this new church is that is has a stronger sense of community. Denominationalism helped her find her religious identity.

1. "Catechism of the Catholic Church" Catechism of the Catholic Church. Line 1246. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
2. Barton, Paul. "The Relationship Between Los Protestants and Catholicism." Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas. Austin: University of Texas, 2006. 115-36. Print.
3. Barton, 128-130
4. Martínez, Juan F. "Church: A Latino/a Protestant Prospective." Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. Ed. Edwin D. Aponte. St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2006. 50-57. Print.
5. Martínez, 54
6. Martínez, 53
7. Martínez, 53
8. Martínez, 54
9. Barton, 119
10. Barton, 119
11. Barton, 126
12. Barton, 126
13. Barton, 126
14. Rodríguez, Jeanette. "Church: A Roman Catholic Prospective." Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. Ed. Edwin D. Aponte. St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2006. 40-49. Print.

My Mom's Religious Journey

Religion has always been a very important thing in my family. I never really understood why myself. My parents enrolled my little brothers and I in Saturday school at St. Ignatius Catholic Church. We were supposed to be completing our First Communion. Although Saturday school was just another way to goof around in class with friends, it did raise certain questions. A significant moment in my childhood was asking my mom if she believed in heaven. Her answer was too real for a ten year old; she didn’t believe in heaven. She said that when a person dies, that’s it. Your existence is gone forever after death. Of course I overreacted at the thought that I would not get to see my mom again in heaven. In school, we were taught that if we believed in heaven, we would go there after we died. However, if you didn’t believe in heaven, you wouldn’t. I started to cry. My mom did not even try to make me feel better or sugarcoat it with anything. She just kept looking at her Sunday coupons. So, why did she enroll my brothers and I into Catechism classes? For this blog, I interviewed my mom about her beliefs and views on religion. 

My mom, Cecilia, was born and raised in a small town in Chalatenango, El Salvador. She is the third eldest of eight children. My mom and her family went through tough times during the civil war. My mom’s youngest brother died of a stomach illness, and my grandfather was killed shortly after by guerillas. Everyone was distraught over these events but still went on with life normally. My mom, along with the rest of her family, was raised Catholic. Some of the Catholic cultuses that believers practiced were going to church every Sunday and not forgetting to say prayers before going to bed. Some of the prayers my mom did every night were the same ones I use to recite night after night in the sixth grade. They included Our Father, Apostle’s Creed, and Hail Mary. I never learned them in English, and I don’t think my mom did either. Codes set by prior Catholics were pretty typical: always listen to your parents/elders, no sex outside of marriage, and no swearing. I asked my mom why she practiced this religion, and she said her parents told her to be Catholic. My mom was obedient and always did what she was told, so she would not get in trouble. She didn’t question them either. I also asked my mom if she ever had a connection with her religion. She did not. She never felt a thing when praying to God and said she only did it because it was part of the routine before going to bed. These Catholic creeds, codes, and cultuses forced her into a community that she didn’t really care about.

When my mom arrived in the United States at the age of twenty years old, she was still a practicing Catholic. She still went to church on Sundays with her siblings, because she thought it was her duty as a Catholic to go to church and thank God for her life and health. Although she did not feel a connection with her religion, she has always believed in God. She believes that God created the universe & Earth and because of this she owes it to him to believe. My mom stopped going to church when she became too busy taking care of me and brothers on top of working. A lot of misfortunate events have happened to us over the years. My mom began to question the existence of God at some point. She started going out on walks to different churches in the area, because she had not found her religious identity yet. My mom used to think that a person could only seriously pray inside a church because of the creeds and cultuses of her past.
My mom has since found her religious identity in Christianity. Although there are similarities between the two religions, Christianity and Catholicism have different creeds, codes and cultuses. She says, with the help of her new creeds, she is barely finding her peace and tranquility in life and that she owes it to her religion and community. Before she joined this Christian church, my mom did not really have any sort of friends. In her current church, members of this community gather on several occasions during the week to pray, talk about God, and discuss life events. This type of pattern is a characteristic of restorative religion. People in this community help each other bounce back whether it be with prayer or a plate of food. My mom’s experiences with religion show the manyness and oneness of it. That is that she acknowledges that there are other beliefs/faiths in the world but still finds a sense of religious unity in her group. I support whatever my mom does as long as she’s happy.