Evangelicalism And Religion

The word culture in colloquial terms can have various meanings, from a hierarchy of culture to an acquired trait. This can lead to an ethnocentric view of different demographics, where culture is selected as a standard to compare other cultures to. However, a more accurate definition of culture is “… [a learned set] of ideas and behaviors that are acquired by people as members of society” (Lavenda and Schulz, p.16). Using this definition, one can develop a cultural relativism attitude towards different cultures, where “…specific beliefs and practices [are interpreted] in the context of the culture to which they belong” (Lavenda and Schulz, p.23). This is important when trying to understand different social groups’ culture, such as the Evangelicals …show more content…
In the film, the influential members of the religion expressed opinions of the country heading to ruin and wanting to have a stronger relationship between religion and government. This represents their anti-secular attitudes and nationalistic values because believe their country would be better if religion played a bigger role in the public government. Specifically, they have a nostalgic view of religion being part of public education from the past. Although Hindus that have immigrated to America do not necessarily believe religion should play a big role in the government, they share a nostalgic view of how their religion should function in their daily lives. According to Waghorne, Hindus wanted to continue practicing their religion with as much authenticity as possible overseas, leading to the creation of the Sri Siva-Vishnu Temple. Although the Hindu followers overseas could take a pilgrimage to visit a guru, there is nothing that offered a home, or desh, in America until the temple was built. This temple is important for the Hindus because it offered an authentic, physical place overseas for which their religion could be practiced and celebrated. This desire for a nostalgic version of their religion stems from the ecological dissonance these groups experience. Both groups find that there is a tension between the environment and the religion they …show more content…
By having a different mindset, specifically a cultural relativistic perspective, one can see that the social groups behaviors and beliefs are not limited to just this one group. Under this new mindset, the film appears to be less about a first hand experience from within an extremist group, but of an experienced while being part of different social group. In addition, this mindset allows one to connect the similarities between evangelical religion and other religions, making their practices and beliefs as customary as those of other groups. Therefore, by using a deeper understanding of culture, one can view the Evangelicals in the film with less bias and recognize that their behaviors are not of any lesser