In my reflection on Ernst, I brought up a lot of questions of my own that carry on throughout the rest of my portfolio such as “Can religions and religious people co-exist?” and “Should the role of religion be a private or public affair?” For my first question, I’ve definitely thought a lot about how myself and others make assumptions that different religions and sects of religions are inherently in opposition to each other, especially in the West. Of course, this sort of antagonistic religious dogma can be and is pushed by certain leaders, often for some type of personal gain, but I think overall, there are many examples of different religions coexisting together now and historically. I think contact between these groups is the most important, so that misunderstandings and fear disintegrate. Particularly, I have changed my views on this because of Palestine and the article we read on Palestine–how it is not a religious conflict and that it is largely dominated by political ideology and land. As well as the fact that Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-existed there historically. Of course, the power structures are an important part of the equation, and I don’t think you can separate them from religion either. For my second question about the role of religion as a public or private affair, there’s obviously also precedent for governmental bodies as being religious or formed by their religion, though there are also examples of lots of sectarianism because of this, and discrimination against certain groups. To me, religion restricted to private life is probably the most beneficial for society as a whole, although the lines between culture, practice, and religion blur this.
Two other main ideas I took away from Ernst that show up in my writing multiple times is the fact that religions are ever-changing and the role of belief vs. practice in religion. An idea that has been reinforced for me over this semester is the fact that the religions people form or wish to partake in are a direct result of people’s environment. I thought about this a lot from the film on Malcom X, the Nation of Islam reading, and Jackson’s “Black American Religion”. It became clear that white supremacy played a ginormous role in the formation of Black Christianity and Islam in America, and that the way these religions preached, performed, and practiced often maintained an activist element of anti-racism and anti-white supremacy. In my reflection on the Malcom X film, I wrote “Like Malcom said, they had been stripped of their religious and cultural heritage in Africa, and were made to feel inferior, and sometimes worship the white man. It makes sense they would want to see themselves reflected in their religion and in history.” The beliefs and practices of the Nation of Islam were a bit challenging for me to understand within this framework, because they can be seen as upholding white supremacy. Though that is why it is important to look at the root cause of these movements and how they form. Just as Zionism is contradictory to Jewish safety, Nation of Islam’s ideology might be contradictory to Black Liberation.
I also thought about the role of belief vs. practice in religion, as many tend to assume that Christianity places more importance on belief than Islam, Judaism, or Buddhism. Personally, I think both play an important role for all religions. I critiqued neo-liberalism and modern DEI efforts from the readings of Karim and Alsultany, as they pose no opposition to fascist ideologies and the reality of wealth inequalities. A theme that comes up a lot is what the place of Islam in America is specifically with regards to racism, Islamophobia, immigration, and assimilation. It’s impossible to talk about these things without mentioning the rise overtaking of fascism in the U.S., largely backed by White Christian Nationalists, and I mention this at the end of most of my writings, as virtually everything we have discussed can be connected to it.
For my writing, I think I have learned that it’s important to get my ideas on a page, and perfect the words later. The content and substance matters a lot more than any add-on words. I think I can improve on writing more simply and concisely. I think my essay writing is a lot cleaner than my reflections, which tend to just be my immediate thoughts. I think I could’ve added more quotes from the readings to then directly analyze, as that would have made my thoughts and connections clearer. My reflection on Jackson does the best at this. I would like to re-write my piece on Zionism: A Settler-Colonial Ideology, because it’s the most important subject we’ve talked about in this class to me, and I think I can make my points and stances better even though it is an emotionally charged topic, as it is an ongoing genocide. I would expand upon the disconnect between the media/governmental institutions and the people of the U.S., how public opinion has changed of Israel since October 7th and what that means, as well as the inherent antisemitism of Zionism, and how the true rise of Islamophobia and antisemitism are connected both through white supremacy, American Imperialism, and Jewish supremacy in Israel.
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