Chapter: 1

Summary:

The article “ Religion and Homosexuality” by Frank Tridico, Jacob Armstrong, and David Barry, illustrates how religious beliefs contradict the acceptance of homosexuality. Discrimination against homosexuals is strongly fueled by beliefs, faiths, and acceptance of specific rules of a particular religion. The mass society of America believes in Christianity, and therefore as a result follows the guidelines and faiths that set for Christians, even if they discriminate against individuals based on their sexual orientation. Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world, and therefore it influences many people. Also, the article mentions that one of the reasons many individuals are against homosexuality might be because it may offend the customs, and beliefs of many religious people. Furthermore, the article shows that Christianity as a religion has firm roots, since it’s an extremely old religion, as it was founded in the fourth century, and as a result protests and actions of the homosexual community might have little influence on changing the beliefs of Christianity. Also, it is extremely hard to create new “religious identify”(pg. 2), due to the fact that religions like Christianity have immense power in politics and have a large amount of followers, who only believe in what the bible says, which is that a marriage is between a man and a woman, and anything otherwise is considered sinful and wrong. Moreover, many changes in Christianity have occurred such as there are religions’ that have branched from it, for example catholic or Methodists,  but it still has experienced no changes in areas of abortion or homosexuality. In conclusion, the article raises issues about how Christianity has been a powerful religion for a long period of time, and therefore is set in it’s way in terms of faith and beliefs and as a result is reluctant to change. Even though homosexual have tried to change the views of people, it will take a long time before homosexuality is fully accepted.

Paraphrase:

“Christian doctrines and beliefs have been one of the most powerful and pervasive forces in defining, transmitting, and reinforcing heternormative conceptions of gender, morality, and sexuality. Homosexuality has been stigmatized within christian ideology for centuries, and some scholars argue that christian doctrine continues to function as one of the primary means through which heterosexism is maintained in contemporary society”. (pg. 13, Issues in social justice)

According to Christianity, heterosexuality is defined as correct and the proper way of life, whereas homosexuality is defined as sinful and, therefore is not accepted. Furthermore, these beliefs have been carried out upon centuries, and therefore even in present day many people view homosexuality as unholy. Scholars believe that Christianity is one of the forces that has maintained to idealize heterosexuality over the years, and till Christianity remains in power, it will manage to portray heterosexuality as favorable.

I selected this particular segment to paraphrase because it sums up the article as a whole. Since it shows that Christianity is a powerful religion, and therefore is sustainable to little change in it’s beliefs and faiths.

 

Group Discussion

Is it possible to get rid of ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism is defined as ” the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (W.G.Summer).  I believe it’s not possible to get rid of ethnocentrism, since most individuals have beliefs that are ethnocentric; this could be contributed by the community they are raised in or by their personal beliefs (which are structured by their religion). If we believe in an idea, we tend to think that particular idea is right and above the rest. For example I think that Canada is a better country than America, this result of ethnocentrism. Therefore, there is some sort of ethnocentrism in every individual, may it towards the school they go to or , towards their culture, or even towards their country they live in. .

 

Getting Started..

Hi! My name is jagdeep and I’m a second year student at kwantlen.  I’m planning to 
finish the associates of sciences program, which takes about two years. I’m a 2010 graduate of Delview secondary, a small school most people have never heard of.  I found university to be extremely different from high school, since there is much more independence and freedom. I was born at the Grace Hospital in Vancouver on November 8th, 1992.  One of my favorite experiences is the time I spent in boarding school from grades 6 to 7. It was strange living with people I had never met before, yet it was those same individuals that became some of my closest friends. Even though i was in boarding school for only 2 years, it was an amazing time and I wish i could have experienced it for longer.

I was intrigued to take sociology since, it examines human behavior and how society functions.  In my opinion, sociology is a course that looks at the different groups of people, cultures, communities and how “social structure” works as a whole. I think it is quite interesting how human behavior is so unpredictable, as it will always surprises us the things people do or how they react to a particular situation they are faced with, but I believe that’s what makes each and every one of us different and unique. It will be interesting to learn about the different issues around the world and to carry out class discussions about them. Sociology allows us to evaluate events that occur in our society and relate them to patterns of human behavior. Also, it allows us to analyze how different groups of people interact amongst themselves.  I look forward to learning what this course actually consists of, and to be made aware of the different issues in our society and how they might affect us.