Religious Diversity (SumBlog 3)

Religious diversity can lead to controversy in the United States of America. Religious diversity is the belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions, and denominational conflicts within the same religion. For most religious traditions, religious diversity is essentially based on a non-literal view of one's religious traditions, hence allowing for respect between different traditions on core principles rather than more marginal issues. It is perhaps summarized as an attitude which rejects focus on immaterial differences, and instead gives respect to those beliefs held in common. However, the existence of religious diversity depends greatly on religious freedom; where some other denominations or religions are prohibited in some areas.

First off, what is religion? As we learned in class, religion is a social institution involving beliefs and practices based on the sacred (Berger). Just because someone is part of a religion also does not mean they have a high level of religiosity.  Religiosity can be complicated. This can be how someone is affected by the religion and how it influences their behavior. Some examples of this could be how often they practice their religion or how much of their religion they believe. The three “B’s” of religiosity are belonging, believing, and behavior. This means that an individual’s level of religiosity greatly depend on how much they feel like they belong in that religion, how much of the particular religion they believe or simply what they believe, and their behavior towards the religion. Behavior towards the religion could include how they feel about it and how much they practice it.

When someone has these views based on religion, it can cause controversy. Examples of this include whether or not people should consider the United States of America a Christian nation, whether or not people should be able to incorporate their religion in public facilities, or even whether people should say “Merry Christmas.” Religion is and has been a very important part of our society.

Poverty Threshold (SumBlog 1)

The poverty threshold is something that is brought up frequently in today’s society which may be the reason why I found it so intriguing in the lecture. The poverty threshold could also be known as the poverty line. It is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. It is determined by the minimum amount of food needed for a family to survive. This is about income and not wealth. It is based on how much money you bring in instead of what you currently have. The threshold is determined by many factors. One factor that can influence what the threshold is at would be the number of people in each family. If there are more people, the threshold will be higher and if there are less people, the threshold will be lower.  These numbers can also change as time goes on. The rate will changed based on the level of inflation at the time. However I can see how this system has a few flaws.

 

One main issue I see is that it does not consider the differences in housing. It may not be the cost of food that are causing debt, it could greatly be due to today’s cost of housing. Housing these days is more expensive than it was in the 60s and unless they calculate the differences in inflation that will continue to cause problems. Another problem is how people view “families.” The families today do not resemble what they use to in the 60s. Families that are blended can run into different complications with this system. Also, in some states, same-sex couples are not considered married or families. This can prevent them from receiving some of these rights that other families do. 

While I believe that this system is very helpful to society, I also believe that it would not hurt to do some updating and consider more factors that are relevant in today’s society.