Assignment 1: Connecting Religion to Culture and Society
Purpose:
The goal of this project is to relate religion to our culture and society by investigating how religion affects many aspects of life such as family, politics, education, media, and government.
Background:
Religion has a wide range of effects on society. Religion, and more especially religious organizations, act as socializing agents, guiding people’s lifestyle choices and opinion formation. Prior study has demonstrated that religious lifestyles have a significant impact on different parts of people’s lives, which supports this notion. Religious influences occur across society and influence our actions, attitudes, families, and education, to mention a few.
Grading and Directions:
For this assignment, you will investigate the influence of religion on several elements of your life as well as society as a whole. You will cover each needed element in your paper and demonstrate the influence of religion, or lack thereof, on many aspects of social life. For each portion of the paper, you will first discuss the influence of religion on your personal life, if any, and then discuss how religion affects society in general. You must complete all of the following sections:
Introduction – In your introduction section, present a synopsis of what you will address in your paper as well as a solid thesis statement.
Individual Beliefs and Behaviors – How does religion influence your own beliefs and behaviors? Did you have religious or non-religious peers? Did these peers change or reinforce your opinions or behaviors at all? How do you see religion impacting the opinions and behaviors of others in our society?
Family – What effect does religion have on your family life? Was religion a significant part of your childhood as you grew up in your family? How do you think religion affects the function of the family in society? What is the role of religion in marriage, family kinds, and/or family size?
Education – What, if any, role has religion played in your educational journey? How does religion influence education in our culture as a whole?
Politics/Government –
In what ways do you believe religion should have a role in politics? Do you feel religion has an influence on politics today? What effect does religion have on government laws and policies? What effect does religion have on elections?
Media – Has the media influenced your religious beliefs throughout your life? Did the entertainment choices you or your family made as children support the lessons you heard from your religious institution? In contemporary culture, does the media confirm or contradict religious institutions’ messages?
Conclusion – This section will be divided into two sections. Part One will highlight any additional aspects of life or institutions where you perceive religion playing a role in our society. Part Two will be a concise summary of the entire article and the arguments you utilized throughout the paper.
The paper should be double-spaced and 5-8 pages length, excluding the title and reference pages. You must also add at least three references in your paper.
General requirements:
Submissions should be typed, double-spaced, 1″ margins, Times New Roman or Calibri 12 pt font, and saved as .doc, .docx, .pdf.
Use APA format for citations and references
