Field Experiences in Religion: Participant Observation
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Stephen NomuraProf. SawyerRS/Soc 3773 December 2009
F IELD 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
re#ections 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 con$rmed that the turnout was both fairly normal in terms of numbers and
diversity. ey mentioned, however, that normally the ratio of men to women is more balanced. I
was also struck by the lack of hierarchy; we were sitting in a circle, no one was wearing anything that
would signify rank, and everything appeared open for discussion. is contrasts sharply with my
experiences at Christian events where either one person or a small group are leaders and wear some
sort of rank-signifying garment. Along the same line, women and men are considered equal and,
more importantly, they are actually treated as equal. is means the Bahá’í Faith is not patriarchal,
which is unlike most Abrahamic religions. As we learned, many NRM’s treat women more equally
because they are in opposition to tradition. e Bahá’í Faith was founded in the 1800’s, so
depending on your timeline, you may or may not consider the Bahá’í Faith “new.” However, it is
certainly a marginal religious movement, which shares many of the same characteristics.
Protestant - Wooddale
On November 28th, Saturday, from 5:15PM to 6:15PM, I attended a contemporary service at
Wooddale Church, a nondenominational church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. e church is very
large; the main hall can seat 2000 people, putting it right on the edge of megachurch status. It has a
two-story pipe organ and a clean modern style of interior decoration. e service I attended,
however, was conducted in a separate and smaller hall. I would estimate the attendance that evening
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to be about 200 people. Most of the attendees appeared 25-45 years old and were dressed in what I
would dub "family formal" (sweaters, polos, khakis, #eece jackets). Members appeared to be wealthy;
there was no shortage of nice cars in the parking lot and the church itself was out$tted with multiple
large projectors, a large #at 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 $ts right in with the readings, which mention that a great deal of con#ict exists between
members of the same religion or class of religions (e.g. protestants) who don’t agree on details within
the religion, as opposed to concentrating on con#icts with non-members.
In terms of delivery, the language used during the lecture was very absolute; the words
"never" and "always" came up a lot. Furthermore, they emphasized that this was not even an
interpretation of scripture; it was simply "fact," or "the way it is." ose who disagree are plain
wrong and it is our duty to "enlighten" them. In contrast to the beliefs of the Bahá’í, this is
universalization of the particular; "Wooddalers" believe that their understanding is the only correct
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understanding of the scripture. It appears that these two religious organizations stand in near polar
opposition on this speci$c 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 cruci$xes, as
opposed to bare crosses. e priest wore a white robe and stood on a podium behind an altar. e
lighting on him was excellent and de$nitely 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 land$ll sits on an adjacent plot of land,
which suggests a low-income bracket. Like Mercy Medical’s chapel, there were many cruci$xes 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 $rst 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 $nally, the priest mentioned a lot of
community events that they would be hosting and referred to the families hosting them by their
name. I sensed that the church was a fairly close community. I did not get the same feeling from
Wooddale. While various church events were announced at the end of the Wooddale service, the way
they were described somehow made them sound mechanical and bureaucratized.
As far as a concentration on everyday problems, the priest used a lot of very explicit,
pragmatic, and immediately applicable examples of how to live a moral life right now. For example,
he spoke of how to deal with the added stresses of the holidays and the economic recession by
providing low-cost gift ideas and ways to keep family gatherings peaceful events. Most of the
methods/solutions he provided were based on taking time out each day to read scripture or pray.
Regardless of whether that is an effective way to deal with problems, the problems he is providing
solutions for are immediate problems, which is the relevant point. Furthermore, he assured us that
our good deeds would be recognized, even if not by our human peers, which reminded me of the
other-worldly asceticism that is common among low-income religious communities. e concept is
that people seek validation of their status in life; those with wealth believe wealth is a sign of being in
God’s good favor and those in poverty believe their rewards will come in the afterlife.
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REFLECTION
I found this project to be academically rewarding, socially bonding, and just straight up fun—a
rarity. Although awkward at times, attending these events helped break down some assumptions I
had been holding; I had been wrongly assuming many negative things about Catholicism and giving
Wooddale too much bene$t 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 speci$c event
once, scienti$c 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 $rst
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 $rst step.
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