Religion and Religious Issues
Protestant Christianity:
Catalyst
Bibliography:
Anderson, L. (2003). Catalyst. New York: Speak Publishing.
Kate is a senior in high school and is the daughter of a preacher She is a runner and very smart and has her future set on attending MIT like her mother. Kate is a perfectionist who manages her family to keep things moving forward. One day their neighbors have a fire and they can't stay in their house, so Kate's father asks them to stay with the family. Kate now has to share her room with a girl she really does not like because she is a troublemaker, Terri and her two year old brother. Kate feels like her life is spiraling out of control since she now can't sleep or have any privacy and she is still waiting for her acceptance letter from MIT. When Kate finally receives her letter, she has been declined entrance and she is devastated by the news. She goes into a depression and begins to isolate herself from her friends. As the neighbors are helping to rebuild Terri's house, Kate begins to help also, reluctantly. One evening, while everyone was on the porch and relaxing after a long hard day, the power to the house goes out and the group discovers that little Mikey is missing. Terri finds Mikey on the floor with his firetruck and burn marks above the electrical socket. Mikey is dead and Terri reels out of control and Kate finds herself in a strangely unfamiliar situation. Kate tried to help and understand Terri and uncovers the fact that Mikey was her son, not her little brother. The aftershock of the accident brings Kate and Terri closer together and Kate makes a huge decision to postpone college and help Terri rebuild her house.
Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature
Bibliography:
Brande, R.. (2007). Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Mena has been asked to not attend the church she and her family attend. She is the target at school from all of the youth that attend that church and the reader doesn't know why. As the reader witnesses the events of anger and rage towards Mena, it is established that a teen from their school attempted suicide because of harassment from the church youth. Mena was one of those youth. Looking back, Mena discovers that she was part of the reason that a teen tried to kill himself and that realization shocks and angers Mena. While the teen boy was recovering in the hospital, Mena wrote him a letter explaining that she was sorry for her part in the harassment and tried to explain what the other youth's thoughts were. Due to the letter that Mena wrote, several of the families of these youth are getting sued by the boys family, including the preacher, since his daughter was the one who spearheaded the events. Mena now has to deal with what her actions have caused and her parents anger towards her for her actions. When she is paired with Casey for a school project, she begins to see that families outside of her church community function well and have good lives, something she has been told doesn't exist. As she spends more time with Casey and his family, Mena can now begin to reflect on the actions that caused the attempted suicide and her part in it.
Other Religious Groups and Denominations:
Hush
Bibliography:
Chayil, E. (2010). Hush. New York: Walker Publishing.
This is the story of Gittel, who lives in Brooklyn and is part of the Chassidim sect of the Jewish religion which has very strict rules of how to live. Gittel witnesses an appalling act that goes against everything that her religion believes in and causes her to question her beliefs and the people around her. Devory, hung herself in Gittel's bathroom because she could no longer handle her situation As she grows older, Gittel is overwhelmed with guilt over what she saw happen to her best friend and her inability to help her and her suicide. Her community has forced her to keep silent about the situation and she is now getting married and will be an adult. After Gittel gets married, the past comes to haunt her even more as she tries to deal with the physical relationship she must now have with her husband. Her family wants her to forget the past, her husband doesn't understand and the religious leaders tell her that rape within the community is something that happens frequently but is not discussed. Gittel has to find a way to gain peace because she is haunted by Devory and must let her finally have peace.
Deliver us from Normal
Charles Harrisong is a typical sixth grader who feels that he and his family are incredible un-normal while they live in a town called NORMAL, Illinois. For his sanity, he keeps a list of things that make his family un-normal which he then breaks down into sub genres. Charles has a sister who is running for class president and a very mean prank causes his family to pick up and move from Normal, Ohio in the middle of the night and head to Florida where they are going to buy a houseboat. This idea is so utterly not his family, but what Charles begins to understand is that even though his family does things that he can't understand, even though this trip provides more instances fro him to add to his list of things about his un-normal family, this trip and working on the houseboat brings them all together and provides a better understanding of what is right and what the power of staying together as a family can become.
The books this week are about characters that have a deep religious relationship. Each of these books discuss the religion that the character is in and how the rules and traditions of those religions have caused difficulties in choosing the right decision. In reading these books, there was not a negative design on any specific religion, but they each showed how religious groups can make bad choices that affect many people. While reflecting on each of these books, there was not a moment when one religion stood out as being bad. Each of these books demonstrated how people can use the religion to do things that are unacceptable and then hide behind the religious beliefs to limit the consequences of those actions. These stories read could be changed to different religious groups and the stories would still apply, because anyone can do things that are wrong and then hide behind their religious beliefs to justify what was done.
Each of the books listed below were enlightening and I am glad that I read them. The situations in each of these books are not defined by one religious group but are part of society as a whole and the religion part is what makes things complicated.
Protestant Christianity:
Catalyst
Bibliography:
Anderson, L. (2003). Catalyst. New York: Speak Publishing.
Kate is a senior in high school and is the daughter of a preacher She is a runner and very smart and has her future set on attending MIT like her mother. Kate is a perfectionist who manages her family to keep things moving forward. One day their neighbors have a fire and they can't stay in their house, so Kate's father asks them to stay with the family. Kate now has to share her room with a girl she really does not like because she is a troublemaker, Terri and her two year old brother. Kate feels like her life is spiraling out of control since she now can't sleep or have any privacy and she is still waiting for her acceptance letter from MIT. When Kate finally receives her letter, she has been declined entrance and she is devastated by the news. She goes into a depression and begins to isolate herself from her friends. As the neighbors are helping to rebuild Terri's house, Kate begins to help also, reluctantly. One evening, while everyone was on the porch and relaxing after a long hard day, the power to the house goes out and the group discovers that little Mikey is missing. Terri finds Mikey on the floor with his firetruck and burn marks above the electrical socket. Mikey is dead and Terri reels out of control and Kate finds herself in a strangely unfamiliar situation. Kate tried to help and understand Terri and uncovers the fact that Mikey was her son, not her little brother. The aftershock of the accident brings Kate and Terri closer together and Kate makes a huge decision to postpone college and help Terri rebuild her house.
Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature
Bibliography:
Brande, R.. (2007). Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Mena has been asked to not attend the church she and her family attend. She is the target at school from all of the youth that attend that church and the reader doesn't know why. As the reader witnesses the events of anger and rage towards Mena, it is established that a teen from their school attempted suicide because of harassment from the church youth. Mena was one of those youth. Looking back, Mena discovers that she was part of the reason that a teen tried to kill himself and that realization shocks and angers Mena. While the teen boy was recovering in the hospital, Mena wrote him a letter explaining that she was sorry for her part in the harassment and tried to explain what the other youth's thoughts were. Due to the letter that Mena wrote, several of the families of these youth are getting sued by the boys family, including the preacher, since his daughter was the one who spearheaded the events. Mena now has to deal with what her actions have caused and her parents anger towards her for her actions. When she is paired with Casey for a school project, she begins to see that families outside of her church community function well and have good lives, something she has been told doesn't exist. As she spends more time with Casey and his family, Mena can now begin to reflect on the actions that caused the attempted suicide and her part in it.
Other Religious Groups and Denominations:
Hush
Bibliography:
Chayil, E. (2010). Hush. New York: Walker Publishing.
This is the story of Gittel, who lives in Brooklyn and is part of the Chassidim sect of the Jewish religion which has very strict rules of how to live. Gittel witnesses an appalling act that goes against everything that her religion believes in and causes her to question her beliefs and the people around her. Devory, hung herself in Gittel's bathroom because she could no longer handle her situation As she grows older, Gittel is overwhelmed with guilt over what she saw happen to her best friend and her inability to help her and her suicide. Her community has forced her to keep silent about the situation and she is now getting married and will be an adult. After Gittel gets married, the past comes to haunt her even more as she tries to deal with the physical relationship she must now have with her husband. Her family wants her to forget the past, her husband doesn't understand and the religious leaders tell her that rape within the community is something that happens frequently but is not discussed. Gittel has to find a way to gain peace because she is haunted by Devory and must let her finally have peace.
Deliver us from Normal
Bibliography:
Klise,
K. (2005). Deliver us from Normal. New York: Scholastic. Charles Harrisong is a typical sixth grader who feels that he and his family are incredible un-normal while they live in a town called NORMAL, Illinois. For his sanity, he keeps a list of things that make his family un-normal which he then breaks down into sub genres. Charles has a sister who is running for class president and a very mean prank causes his family to pick up and move from Normal, Ohio in the middle of the night and head to Florida where they are going to buy a houseboat. This idea is so utterly not his family, but what Charles begins to understand is that even though his family does things that he can't understand, even though this trip provides more instances fro him to add to his list of things about his un-normal family, this trip and working on the houseboat brings them all together and provides a better understanding of what is right and what the power of staying together as a family can become.
