As we can see the biggest group of Catholics is located in Northeast of the US. The number of Catholics in the country has been decreasing over the years. The variety of religions nowadays is one of the points that have contributed to this decrease. One aspect that I think would be interesting to be analyzed is how immigration affects the number of Catholics in the U.S. The number of Catholics in Texas and California has increased in the past few years due to the immigration of Latinos.
71% of U.S.
population absolutely believes in God.
23.9% of the
US is Catholic
Arkansas has
the lesser percent of population affiliated with Catholic Tradition (0- 2%),
while Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Massachusetts have the highest percent
(41-50%)
Most of
Catholics, 29%, live in the Northeast
41% of Catholics are between the ages of 30-49
54% Females
and 46% Males
65%
White (non-Hispanic)
2%
Black (non-Hispanic)
2%
Asian (non-Hispanic)
2%
Other/Mixed
(non-Hispanic)
29%
Hispanic
31%
Less than $30,000
20%
$30,000-$49,999
16%
$50,000-$74,999
14%
$75,000-$99,999
19%
$100,000+
17%
Less than high school
36%
High school graduate
21%
Some college
16%
College graduate
10%
Post-graduate
58%
Married
7%
Living with partner
10%
Divorced or separated
8%
Widowed
17%
Never married
How many children at
home do Catholics have?
61%
No children
13%
One child
15%
Two children
7%
Three children
4%
Four or more children
Similarities between a Super mall and a Church.
In a mall in this society,
there are large buildings, much like the size of large churches with large
amount of followers, which are filled with hallways that are lines with
multiple shops inset to the walls. Typically there is much lighting in these
building either from artificial lighting or large windows in the ceiling.
Classically in the center of these building there will be a large open space,
with anything from, a sculpture, fountain, to a large stair case, as seen in
this photo, for seating or for people to converse or eat the food they had
bought in the food court. Sitting is arrangements are by plants. 
A food court
is where a person can go up to a display of food, order someone to put place it
on the plate so then they can pay for it. The food court is similar to the idea of there being food served at a place of religious service after the pray or religious act is before. Though that food is brought by the people, it is similar to the fact that it is eaten after the activity is finished and is over. Many of the actives that are begin put together or many of the essential functions of a church are maintained by the elderly or the older folk in the religious community. An example is money donations on Sunday Mass in a catholic community it is typically the older women doing the counting. As seen in the photo an older women is working an important function of a Mall, being Guest Services.
All ethnic groups are welcome to this place including disable and transgender. Malls is where many families of all sizes, couples young and old, friends, all come to shop for clothing, and other materialistic products. These people are similar to those that would be found in a church, women, men, families, elderly, and all ethnic groups, people of all sorts. Parents are teaching children how to shop and what to buy, either by how much the item costs or how the product looks on the body, this is part of the consumerism culture. The clothing that people ware to the mall ranges from well dressed, expensive clothing to sleep ware.
Much of the mall is quite assessable by everyone, even those
with strollers such as families and those who are disable and need assistance
walking and moving around with things such as wheelchairs.
Similarities between sports and religion in contemporary America?
Religion and sports are two
important fields in our society. We can
say that religion is a system of practices and beliefs where a group of people
try to deal with the most important problems of human life seeking the general
welfare. If we think about sports as organized institutions, with disciplines
and liturgies we can say that it has a religious sense. Sports have their practices as rituals with
specific vestments such as organized and structured religions. If we talk about
“saints” and “gods” we can say that as in religions, sports also have its
saints and gods; the fans are devoted to the superstar athletes who use their
charisma to reach large groups of people. We can also observe symbols of faith
in sports, such as game balls, trophies, bats and things used by a winning team
during a game.
The characteristics
of Pentecostal Christianity and how they are either similar or different from other spiritual
experiences with or outside Christianity
Pentecostal Christianity is based
on a more personal relation to God, they don’t have a person that they see as a
leader and that speaks for God, differing from Catholicism where there is an
hierarchy where popes are the most important people and they are the voice from
God. In a Catholic church confessions of sins to a priest are important since
the priest tells what to do to achieve forgiveness and mercy. The worship in in
a Catholic church is very structured and formal, different from the Pentecostal
church with an informal worship. Today’s
society is characterized by cultural and social pluralism. Differing from
Catholicism, which is a monolithic religion, the rise of alternative religions
such as Pentecostal Christianity is the result of the emergence of a free
social space.
Grey’s
anatomy communicates the moral messages of how Americans are
supposed to behave, what they value.
The American TV series Grey’s
anatomy shows how doctors with different beliefs abdicate these beliefs in
order to better treat their patients. It shows how important is to consider the
patient’s values and morals in order to succeed with the treatment. It also
shows how difficult is for the doctors to deal with this situation because
sometimes it may seem not the right thing to do and they have to convince the
patient that what they believe is not right for that situation. Some patients’
beliefs and morals are very extreme and the doctors face themselves in a
situation that they don’t really know how to react.
Another common aspect in the
series is the trivialization of sex. A lot of sex scenes can be seen through
the seasons and it shows the characters having sex with who they want, whenever
they want just because they want. It is a reflex of the modern society that day
by day leaves behind the moral value that expects sex with love and within the
marriage.
The series is a reflex of our
society that value achievements, career and individualism. In one episode one
of the characters, Mark Sloan, had just found out that he had a daughter and
that his daughter is going to give up her baby for adoption. He then decides to
adopt this baby. In this episode we can see how the configuration of a family
changed from the traditional kind with a father, mother and children to a kind
where a single parent is enough to form a family.
The media
texts and images cover the Pan American Games or Olympic Games and the American athletes.
Hosting the Olympic Games is a
huge step for every country. A nation that hosts the games receives a lot of
investments in different fields, such as infrastructure, and is vastly seen
around the world. During the Olympic Games we can observe a domesticated
coverage by the media texts and images trying to promote the nation’s
perspective. National contexts are highlighted and start to be known worldwide.
The media emphasizes what is relevant and favorable to the host nation
audience. The Olympic host broadcaster provides rights holding broadcasters with
an “international signal”. The home broadcaster edits the images the way they
want focusing on the nation. International journalists try to show a
perspective of the relation between the host nation and their own country. The
sports reports, sports telecasters, and sports broadcasters are also an
important source to record the history of sports. All sports have its councils
that are influenced by patriarchs who make the rules. An interesting way the
media reports the results is presenting it by the number of medals each nation
achieved. The 2012 Olympics Games shows the U.S. with the highest number of
medals counting 104. It shows the hierarchy above and beyond sports categories.
Nations want to show their power in all sports. The number of medals achieved
is more important than the beauty of the games. It is visible the influence on
sports in American society by the Protestant ethic, which emphasizes rational
labor, goal-directed behavior and competitive achievement.
“Olympics 2012: Michaels Phelps
ends his career with his 18th gold medal after leading U.S. to another relay
win” (August 4, 2012, Kevin Armstrong, New York Daily News). We can observe how
the media highlights the Nations power. Even though swimming is generally an
individual sport the victory is not focused only on the athlete, but also on
the country he is competing from.
History Africa to America religion in 1734
Africa is a vast continent with
different ethnicities, languages and cultures. Even though most Africans came
from societies with traditional African religious backgrounds some of them are
also Muslims or Christians. As whole African religion traditions there is not a
word for God as it can be anything sacred. Many African religions have common
tenets and they believe that their ancestors are the way they communicate with
God. They communicate among themselves, God and nature through rituals and
magic.
Even though a lot of traditional
religions in Africa share common aspects is their diversity that helps us get
the real sense of how vast this continent is. The Supreme Being is different
among these religions and this different background with different languages,
myths, magic and beliefs made it more difficult for African religion to survive
the slavery system. These diverse African people then mixed their faiths trying
to hold them in common in order to remain in the New World.
Africans sons and daughters
carried their African religions even when Christians started to impose them
their religion. Africans did it in a smart way, carrying some important aspects
of their religion such as the power of human voice and dance. Dance for them
was like a prayer which in the New World started to be known as the “ring
shout”. The dance was before directed to their ancestors and their gods, but as
Christianity started to be established it became part of the Christian worship.
In 1734 Religion in America was
in crises, the intellectual sermons were failing to inspire congregations and
keep people, so churches started to lose their members. “The Great Awakening”
changed radically the way America’s national identity was shaped. George Whitefield, one of the leaders of the
Great Awakening, went to many colonies preaching a message of spiritual
equality. This called the attention of the poor and oppressed who were before
rebuffed by traditional Christian sects. Many other leaders did the same as
George and so churches gathered more people.
The Great Awakening was basically
a humanitarian movement, seeking religious, class and racial tolerance. The
Great Awakening is considered a threat to traditional clerical authority. For
black people this period marked the first time they encountered a Christianity
they could completely embrace. This reconfiguration of Christianity shows their
victory, from that time on people could not justify slavery because black
people were not Christian. White people would have to explain why black people
were still being slaved even after being Christianized. They explained the
slavery using the bible.
Quakers were one of the biggest
slave traders in the beginning but later they were also one of the firsts who
protested against slavery. The Quakers had many achievements among them was the
production of the first gradual emancipation statue in North America in 1780,
and they also prohibited their members from slaveholding. It was the beginning of a Revolution.
Founding of America religion beliefs and practices
The Republic of America was
founded on an atmosphere that values liberty and individual rights. America was
before dependent from Britain and the founders of the nation wanted to become
independent, so they created a government that promoted common good and refused
the monarchy, or the inherited political power.
Americans were seeking for a freer society, free of corruption where
each citizen could be able to perform his civic duties. Liberty then is one of the foundations of the
American Republic. Under these foundations each person is equal and should have
the same rights, without racial discrimination. It guarantees the same rights
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It states that every human being
was created free by the creator and should have the right to remain remain
free. The government should look for an
agreement through the democratic process instead of just imposes its rules on
people. The Founders of the American Republic wanted all citizens to own, sell
and use private property. This rule of property rights contributed to American
Revolution and the beginning of the Republic. Under the foundation of the
American republic a religion cannot be imposed on any one. Everyone have the
right to have their own beliefs. Even though America was very religious during
its foundation the government didn’t have the right to impose its religious
beliefs, this fact attracted many settlers who were being persecuted for their
religious beliefs from Europe. With so many rules the government could only act
in areas designated by the constitution, this could guarantee more freedom.
College similarities to Learning and experiencing Church
Colleges in America are much like the experience a person has
with religion. Colleges in the American society it the highest level education
you can get to get a higher status in your life or higher importance. Such as
the higher you get in the Catholic Church the closer you get to possibly
becoming the pope. In many colleges they accept students from all over the
world, as do many churches. It doesn’t not practically matter where you from as
long as you believe in the values of that religion. There are colleges that are
privately paid for, they are either religion based colleges or universities.
Some Churches are more put more thought into how much money is spent on the
construction of the building. When students attend these private colleges they
tend to be more expensive. Foreign exchange students also face higher cost when
going to a college here in the United States. By having these higher pay in
tuitions fees, and larger schools, is an effect globally. The colleges here and
in other countries to compare with one another, to ensure they are offering the
best education to get more students attendance. This is comparable to churches
because the better the minister or revern the larger the fellowship that church
has. So churches compare to one another and look at each other techniques to
see how they could make improvements.
American Film “The Blind Side" religious aspects
The American Film “The Blind Side” has great examples of
morals, and actions which are highly valued in many religions, especially
Christian based. In a nut shell, the movie features a poor, homeless
adolescence, Michael. Coming from a rough, troubles background Michael
struggles to get any sort of education, while facing the difficulties of
homelessness. However his fate is saved when a rich, southern, suburban wife,
Leigh Ann and her husband Sean. Together they house, and eventually adopt Michael
giving him the ability to grow, be educated, and win a huge football
scholarship. The religious aspect of the film start with the concept of the
film, taking in and feeding the poor and less fortunate, is a common teaching
in the Bible based Religions. The idea being looking after your fellowmen, even
without repayment is a fundamental part of practicing--. Besides the main plot,
there were also many other themes threaded throughout the movie which held
religious aspects; respect, standing up for what one believes, unconditional
love, acceptance, even a biblical parallel of searching for the “lost sheep.”
One could even argue that the set up of main characters was a representation of
a Christian family.
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