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Stephen Nomura
Prof. Sawyer
RS/Soc 377
3 December 2009

FIELD EXPERIENCES IN RELIGION

I attended four religious events over anksgiving break to better my understanding of the concepts

learned and discussed in class. e four events were: a Bahá’í devotional, a contemporary Protestant

service, a mainline Catholic mass, and a Latino/a Catholic mass. e amount of class material that I

found relevant during these experiences was startling; seldom is the relevance of coursework to daily

life so immediately salient.

THE EXPERIENCES

Bahá'í Faith

On November 22nd, Sunday, from 10AM till about 11AM, I attended a “devotional” at the Bahá’í

Center of Minneapolis. e building was about the size of a small barn or a larger than average house

in Ames. Both the exterior and interior were fairly plain in comparison to most Christian churches;

there was no stained glass, pipe organ, altar, elaborate decoration, or blatant iconography. I became

interested in and found the Bahá’í Faith through a close friend of mine. Before the devotional, I had

breakfast with him and his mother, who gave me a quick overview of the Bahá’í Faith.

Bahá’ís believe that most major world religions are actually different manifestations or

reflections of the same universal truth. ey believe that Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and

Zoroaster (to name a few) were all messengers from the same God. ey believe Bahá'u'lláh is the

most recent of these messengers, but not necessarily the last. Bahá’ís believe the diversity of religion

in the world is intentional; that is, God created Buddhism in certain parts of the world because that

is what that part of the world needed to hear and believe at that time to move humanity forward.

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is concept reminds me of the readings on universalism versus particularism. e Bahá’í

Faith is almost like the polar type of particularization of the universal, which is the idea that most

belief systems are just different paths to the same destination.

e devotional felt like a small meeting or conference because there were only nine of us and

no clear leader. We sat in a circle around a coffee table and discussed several passages from scripture

that were relevant to the anksgiving holiday. ere was amazing diversity; of the nine attendees,

one was African American, one was Asian American, one was Middle Eastern, two of us were not

members of the faith, and ages ranged from 18 to about 50. I was one of two men. When asked, the

regular members confirmed that the turnout was both fairly normal in terms of numbers and

diversity. ey mentioned, however, that normally the ratio of men to women is more balanced. I

was also struck by the lack of hierarchy; we were sitting in a circle, no one was wearing anything that

would signify rank, and everything appeared open for discussion. is contrasts sharply with my

experiences at Christian events where either one person or a small group are leaders and wear some

sort of rank-signifying garment. Along the same line, women and men are considered equal and,

more importantly, they are actually treated as equal. is means the Bahá’í Faith is not patriarchal,

which is unlike most Abrahamic religions. As we learned, many NRM’s treat women more equally

because they are in opposition to tradition. e Bahá’í Faith was founded in the 1800’s, so

depending on your timeline, you may or may not consider the Bahá’í Faith “new.” However, it is

certainly a marginal religious movement, which shares many of the same characteristics.

Protestant - Wooddale

On November 28th, Saturday, from 5:15PM to 6:15PM, I attended a contemporary service at

Wooddale Church, a nondenominational church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. e church is very

large; the main hall can seat 2000 people, putting it right on the edge of megachurch status. It has a

two-story pipe organ and a clean modern style of interior decoration. e service I attended,

however, was conducted in a separate and smaller hall. I would estimate the attendance that evening

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to be about 200 people. Most of the attendees appeared 25-45 years old and were dressed in what I

would dub "family formal" (sweaters, polos, khakis, fleece jackets). Members appeared to be wealthy;

there was no shortage of nice cars in the parking lot and the church itself was outfitted with multiple

large projectors, a large flat panel teleprompter, and a dedicated sound man. I chose a this event for

several reasons: I had no idea what to expect, a close friend of mine is a former member, and I

wanted to experience a contemporary service.

e service began with rock music. Guitar, bass, and drums accompanied a combination of

male and female vocals. e style was light pop rock, which is typical of the Christian sub-genre of

rock. In the readings, we learned that many religious organizations are turning towards

contemporary services to pull more young people in. ese generally feature modern music and late

afternoon to evening meeting times. e service I attended felt like a sort of hybrid; there was rock

music and it was held in the late afternoon, but the turnout was still mostly adults.

Following the musical appetizer was the main dish, a lecture titled "Who is Jesus?" e

speaker was male and wore nice clothes, but no robes or anything to make him seem more holy than

anyone else. e lecture began with chastising Christians who have constructed a "personal Jesus"

and was punctuated with playful jokes about how people who claim to be open minded are actually

hypocrites. In spite of this, I tried to keep an open mind (irony intended). e chastising of other

Christians fits right in with the readings, which mention that a great deal of conflict exists between

members of the same religion or class of religions (e.g. protestants) who don’t agree on details within

the religion, as opposed to concentrating on conflicts with non-members.

In terms of delivery, the language used during the lecture was very absolute; the words

"never" and "always" came up a lot. Furthermore, they emphasized that this was not even an

interpretation of scripture; it was simply "fact," or "the way it is." ose who disagree are plain

wrong and it is our duty to "enlighten" them. In contrast to the beliefs of the Bahá’í, this is

universalization of the particular; "Wooddalers" believe that their understanding is the only correct

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understanding of the scripture. It appears that these two religious organizations stand in near polar

opposition on this specific topic.

e service ended with a "faith story" sandwiched between two additional three song sets

from the band. e faith story was a church member's personal story with the faith and how they

practice it in their lives. It included several stories that encouraged aggressive missionary work—

cultural imperialism. Unlike the Catholic events I attended, there was no taking of the Eucharist.

Catholic - Mercy Medical

On November 26th, anksgiving Day, from 11:15AM to 11:45AM, I attended a Catholic church

service held in Mercy Medical Center, a hospital in Mason City, Iowa. e hospital has a small

chapel, complete with confessional booths. e interior was decorated with several crucifixes, as

opposed to bare crosses. e priest wore a white robe and stood on a podium behind an altar. e

lighting on him was excellent and definitely promoted an image of holiness. Most attendees appeared

to be over 50 years old and were dressed nicely, but not "business-formal" nice. e service was only

30 minutes long and no indication was given as to why the service was abbreviated. Most people

took the Eucharist; my mother, sister, and I did not. We did, however, contribute to the collection.

ere was no talking during the service by anyone but the man in robes behind the altar, which

contrasts sharply from my experience at Our Lady of Guadalupe, where there was constant chatter

among the lay.

Catholic - Our Lady of Guadalupe

On November 29th, Sunday, from 9:00AM to 10:10AM, I attended mass at Our Lady of

Guadalupe, a Latina/o Catholic parish in St. Paul, Minnesota. e church was very plainly decorated

and the interior walls were painted dull white. A visible landfill sits on an adjacent plot of land,

which suggests a low-income bracket. Like Mercy Medical’s chapel, there were many crucifixes on

the walls. Attendees were of all ethnicities, ages, and genders. e chapter in e Church on the

Margins on Hispanic religion in the United States was incredibly relevant; I’m glad I read that

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chapter before attending this event. e three things that I found most relevant from the readings

were the description of who “Our Lady of Guadalupe” refers to, the emphasis on community found

in Latino/a churches, and the churches’ concentration on the “everyday issues and needs of the

people,”1 which was a product of liberation theology and the Second Vatican Council.

I saw examples of the increased emphasis on community that is characteristic of Hispanic

and African American churches. e first was that during one of the prayers, everyone held hands for

it. e second is that after another prayer everyone shook the hands of everyone around them and

said “peace be with you.” Although I could not relate on a spiritual level, the tactile connection made

with the people around me was surprisingly bonding. And finally, the priest mentioned a lot of

community events that they would be hosting and referred to the families hosting them by their

name. I sensed that the church was a fairly close community. I did not get the same feeling from

Wooddale. While various church events were announced at the end of the Wooddale service, the way

they were described somehow made them sound mechanical and bureaucratized.

As far as a concentration on everyday problems, the priest used a lot of very explicit,

pragmatic, and immediately applicable examples of how to live a moral life right now. For example,

he spoke of how to deal with the added stresses of the holidays and the economic recession by

providing low-cost gift ideas and ways to keep family gatherings peaceful events. Most of the

methods/solutions he provided were based on taking time out each day to read scripture or pray.

Regardless of whether that is an effective way to deal with problems, the problems he is providing

solutions for are immediate problems, which is the relevant point. Furthermore, he assured us that

our good deeds would be recognized, even if not by our human peers, which reminded me of the

other-worldly asceticism that is common among low-income religious communities. e concept is

that people seek validation of their status in life; those with wealth believe wealth is a sign of being in

God’s good favor and those in poverty believe their rewards will come in the afterlife.

1 Sawyer 138

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REFLECTION

I found this project to be academically rewarding, socially bonding, and just straight up fun—a

rarity. Although awkward at times, attending these events helped break down some assumptions I

had been holding; I had been wrongly assuming many negative things about Catholicism and giving

Wooddale too much benefit of the doubt. I feel I have a slightly better grip on my bias towards these

religions.

I liked that we were forced to attend events from a variety of religious organizations; seeing

the diversity we’ve discussed in class out in the wild was great. However, since we were only required

to attend one event from each category of religion and only required to attend that specific event

once, scientific comparison was impossible; there was no control. However, this sort of

conglomeration of experiences provides a good starting point. As is often the case, taking the first

step is the hardest part, whether it be getting out of bed in the morning or exploring the world’s

religions. is project has really helped me take that first step.

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