Today, I'd like to touch on something that was brought up in Wednesday's class, and that is the defining line between culture and religion. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to try and tease the two apart, and yet, there is a very distinct, almost tangible difference between the two.
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Conversely, all cultures in the world developed entwined with religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. The ancient Egyptians would not have been the extremely powerful and influential culture that they were, without their religion, and modern Egypt would be at all what it is today without that sort of history. The same story goes for all cultures, races, and peoples across the world. Many cultures today are intricately enmeshed with their religion, for instance the Hindus of India; everything is somehow related to their religious and spiritual beliefs. Ultimately, I think that it is impossible to historically separate the evolution of culture and religion, and when it comes to the current era, specifically in Western culture, I think the only thing that really separates religiosity and culture are spiritual beliefs, or the lack thereof.
I feel like I could go on further about this, but I'm afraid it would end up being too long, and then no one would read it. :p
I was very intrigued when you stated that it's likely impossible to historically separate the evolution of culture and religion. To a certain extent, I agree with this because many cultural principles are intertwined with those of religion. All in all, religion and culture feed off of each other. So, the evolution of both must had to have been based off of each other. However, I do think that as they each continue to evolve it's becoming easier to separate them from one another.
ReplyDeleteOliver - I agree with you on the point that the evolution of culture and religion are inseparable, especially since religion seems to be hard wired into our brains. You say religion without spirituality is essentially culture, and that makes sense when you think about how we adapt to the area we live in which is seen in culture. And then it would seem likely that our spirituality would revolve around the area we live in too. for example, living by the ocean there might be god of the sea, or living in a desert there might be a goddess of water, or living near the Packers stadium you might believe the packers are gods (except hopefully not for real).
ReplyDeleteThis was a very enjoyable post Oliver. I strongly agree that historically it is impossible to tease apart culture and religion. I have a different way of seeing the Packer question though. As modern individuals we are marked by multiple identities (Americans, Jews, African-American, gay, midwesterner.. Etc.). Ancient Egyptians had a much simpler group of identities. All of these identities carry symbolic markers and narratives that differentiate them from others, and could be thought of as groups similar to religions.. And they have shrines and rituals and what have you. So what makes 'religion' different than the Packers? In my view it has to do with ultimate concern. So when an event like 9/11 happens no one flocks to Packers stadium, but they do go to church. It happens to be on top omf our layers of identity. This is an extremely condensed sketch.. But you are raising questions here that interest me..
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