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Religion and Politics

Politics and religion have been intertwined for a long; we typically associate the Republican Party with conservative faiths while associating the Democratic Party with a wider array of people. The article The Death of Community and the Rise of Trump the author states both political parties are struggling with their demographic futures; the Republicans depend on the shrinking generation of aging religious white Americans. Green states that the that working-class white Americans do not affiliate with a religion. This lower affiliation with religion will force both the Republican and Democratic parties to change how they approach political campaigns.

Donald Trump mirrors the charismatic, winning nature of leaders of megachurches such as Joel Osteen, which is what appealed to those who voted for him; people who believe prosperity like winners. Much of the voters who turned out for Trump had little affiliation with a church. It was seen that the less likely someone was to go to church, the more likely they were to vote for Trump. Additionally, it was seen that voters who would have usually turned out for Democratic parties actually voted for Trump. On the other hand, there are religious groups that oppose what the Trump administration is doing and support the rights of minorities, immigrants, and LGBTQ* communities. They believe that faith has a critical role to play in shaping policies and decision making; they state that their moral values speak to the just laws that we ought to have.

It is important to realize that religion does not necessarily mean that one is conservative in all aspects of life. “To me, Jesus talked about reaching out to the poor, reaching out to the marginalized, reaching out to the oppressed,” said a member of the religious left. While religious groups are viewed as conservative, many others who do not have as large as a voice believe that religion is about spreading good and do not agree with the Trump administration actions against immigrants and other groups.

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Religion and Sexuality

Sexuality has been a long debated conflict within religious communities that has become a dividing line for many Christians according to R. Albert Mohler. In the article Why is sexuality such a big deal for the church Mohler says, “the topic of same-sex marriage and transgender people has become a powerful symbol of the ways in which our society no longer adheres to traditional Christian norms and teachings on that important topic, and it is an issue that uniquely undermines the moral authority of church leaders.” Additionally, the article states religion teaches that sex is reserved for one man and one woman within marriage, but people no longer live by these rules, even the leaders who preach these words such as pastor of Fort Worth Church who was ousted for sleeping with prostitutes, marijuana possession, and gambling.

The ousting and resignation of Pastor Donnie Romero is a prime example of the way church leaders have read the Bible to benefit their own agendas. The Pastor previously bashed the LGBTQ* community calling victims of the Pulse shooting in Orlando, “the scum of the earth,” while he was out sleeping out of wedlock with prostitutes, possessing marijuana, and gambling all of which are sins stated in the Bible. An important step forward being taken is the ban of gay conversion therapy on minors within several states. Techniques previously used to attempt to change sexual orientation have included nausea and vomiting, medication, hypnosis, and electroshock therapy, all of which are associated with future depression, suicidality, substance abuse, etc. LGBTQ youth have been subjected to these treatments by either religious leaders or spiritual advisors.

Laws being set in place to protect those apart of the LGBTQ community set a great precedent for the future treatment of those in minority groups. Additionally, it is important to expose the double standard being used by those in leadership roles. For many years, the church and its leaders have been able to cover up sexual misconduct as well as conversion therapy but no longer can. It is important to show the youth in these communities that political leaders and society has their back. I believe more people will be comfortable with their sexual orientation if they are no longer afraid of backlash; I hope that in the future society will be even more accepting of minorities.

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Religion and Gender

Gender roles in society define how men and women should think and act by assigning them qualities: men are supposed to be strong and aggressive while women are supposed to be nurturing and kind. In early society, these complimentary skills or characteristics played an essential role in having a family; men being the breadwinners while women stay home and care for the home and the family. These roles have been reinforced by religions such as in the scripture of the Bible which puts the males at the head of the household, while females are to mentor the children and submit to the husband; the bible does, however, give men and women an equal relationship with Christ, just not with each other. These traditional roles are being challenged as more women are entering the workforce and people choose whether they identify with their biological sex.

Although women have been elected heads of national governments, flown into space, served in elite combat units, and won Nobel Prizes, they have yet to hold important roles in religion. In several faiths, women are still barred from ordination, praying alongside men, and some are even forbidden from entering certain houses of worship; attire of women from head to toe is often restricted by religions as well. Around the world recently, women have been challenging their assigned roles in male-dominated traditions and barriers. In India, women entered a temple, which had been off-limits to women and girls between the ages of 10 and 50 for centuries; they created a chain to protect the women entering from conservative protestors who were against the women entering. This is just one example of women challenging the gender roles socially constructed by their religion.

Challenging constructed gender roles in religion is an important step for women to achieve their potential and not just how well they can raise a family and keep a house orderly. Several movements such as #MeToo have created solidarity among women of faith to seek more equality; this movement, as well as the Women's March, have given women a voice about what they want to do for themselves and their bodies. For women my age and younger, it is important because it gives us the right to fight for what we want to do in our life; it allows us more freedom to decide what we want rather than what has been set up for us.

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Religion and Class

Class is a system of ordering a society in which people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status. Sociologist Max Weber believed that religion promoted a good work ethic; during his lifetime countries such as the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Germany were all highly developed capitalist societies with their most successful business and other leaders being Protestant. This work ethic was reflected in the United States during the labor movement as observed by Matthew Pehl in his book The Making of Working-Class Religion; white, ethnic Catholic workers came together under the belief of Christ-the-worker while black Protestants came together under the symbols that reflected a connection between agricultural work and Southern religion. Other groups have gathered together under the prosperity gospel which equates Christian faith with financial success. These differences in viewing religion equate with differences in socioeconomic classes.

In the article Former Christian Rockstar Warns Today’s Generation Not to Be Deceived by ‘Popularity Gospel singer Mattie Montgomery compares the prosperity gospel and social media popularity. The prosperity gospel teaches that as your faith increases God rewards you with more wealth and better health; this thought process captivated many people and has become the basis of many Mega Churches throughout the United States. He explains that we have been taught in our social media age that the most important thing one can be is popular: being defined by how many followers one has, how many retweets one gets, and how many likes on gets on a post or photo. It is almost as if people are selling themselves as commodities through social media and feel like failures if they do not receive a positive or large response on something they put online. This new type of prosperity gospel is being called the popularity gospel.

This new popularity gospel is another way of creating a new class system: if one has a large media presence and following it makes them higher up than another group or person. I have seen people compare their follower count and like count like it is a competition. I think it can benefit some classes because it gives them a larger voice; social media can be a catalyst for underserved groups to bring attention to issues they are facing. Additionally, it allows for those with a large media presence or following to raise awareness for these groups. The dynamic between religion and class is constantly shifting as society changes; the popularity gospel seems to be the new way religion and class are shifting to benefit many different groups rather than benefiting only those in the upper classes.

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Race and Religion

The article Race and Religion in America by Emily Suzanne Clark describes the complex relationship between religion and race throughout American history regarding the use of religion and political power to shape how a race was viewed. Racial categories emerged as a means to classify people; meaning “natural” differences between races have been socially constructed. Colonists of the United States used their initial definitions of religion to create a hierarchy between the different races; if the way the race practiced religion did not look similar to Christianity they were deemed primitive and undeveloped. The colonists used this scale to defeat and relocate the Native Americans and as a justification for the slave trade market. Race still plays an important role in the United States society today; when applying for a job one must put down their race and the census form survey as well. The conflict perspective explains that in this situation the settlers have the power and benefit from the social arrangement of the low status of Native Americans and black people.

Over past two weeks, there has been a controversy regarding a short video tweeted that exhibited a confrontation between a Native American drumming and a white boy from Covington Catholic in a MAGA hat. Twitter exploded about how disrespectful the white boy was because he felt privileged because of his race, which they associated because of the MAGA hat. Many prominent leaders in society, as well as the administration from his school, bashed the boy for his racist actions and his display of his white privilege. It was later revealed in several articles and videos that what appears to be an act of blatant racism was actually an attempt of the Native American to diffuse a confrontation between the group from Covington Catholic and a group of Black Israelites who were saying things such as ‘you’re a bunch of babies made out of incest.’ Those who bashed the boy later deleted tweets and apologized for jumping the gun.

This conflict is a perfect example of how social media can turn an unimportant confrontation into headline news; if someone had posted the two-hour video instead of the two-minute clip, which showed the face-off between the Native American and one of the boys from Covington Catholic, this would have not been blown up as it is. Additionally, it is important to note that MAGA and Trump are associated with white supremacy and privilege. Everyone makes quick assumptions and associates racism with white people for a hierarchy that was created over three hundred years ago. Not all white people are the same, yes some of them may have gotten an easier start, others may not have; they may have come from a family of immigrants and face their own hardships.

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Introduction to Religion

According to Émile Durkheim, religion is a system of beliefs, values, and practices concerning what a person holds sacred or considers to be spiritually significant; religion provides different degrees of “social cement” such as community, rules, and norms. Other sociologists believed religion was at the center of social change such as Max Weber and Karl Marx; while Weber believed religion benefited economy by encouraging a good work ethic, Marx believed religion maintained inequality. Although these sociologists had different views on religion’s role in society, they all agreed on the central role it plays in the development of societies.

One of the important ideas in Durkheim’s work is the idea of secularization, the decline of traditional religion, with the rise of modernity; he argued that even if traditional religion disappeared, society wouldn’t necessarily dissolve. His argument is reflected in the article Why Are Americans Turning Away From Religion? which notes the rise of “nones”, people who check the box “none” on surveys of religious affiliation, from 16% in 2007 to 34-36% in 2016. Some of the reasons as to why the decline in religious belief and practice reported in the article are: people simply don’t believe in religion, political reasons, the growth of wealth, living separate lives, change in family structure, and the normalization of being a “none” in society. The growth of “nones” is because the “nones” are growing; previous generations stayed in organized religion because it was what was expected of them, while now it is acceptable to not be affiliated with any religion. This article was interesting because it contradicted what Dr. Peter Berger has argued in this video that the world is not secularized, excluding Europe and other outliers, but rather living in a pluralistic society, in other words, different religions coexisting.

Dr. Peter Berger spoke about the theory of secularization not holding true in regards to modernity, he stated that most of the world is as religious as it ever was except for Europe and other outliers; I found his argument interesting because there has been an increase in religion, specifically Islam as he stated, but I also have seen a decline as the article states. The article stated that a high GDP leads to a decrease in religious affiliation; the United States has a high GDP, but has always had a high religious affiliation; the rising number of “nones” can be a sign of advancing secularization. In my own personal life, I have seen family and friends embrace their religion more strongly, while others have completely cast it aside, which leaves me confused as to which of these arguments hold true.