Religion And Cinema Horror, By Russell T. Mccutcheon

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When I was younger, my parents gave me some advice: “When talking in public, avoid discussing religion.” I took this advice because I didn’t want to offend anyone or cause drama. Overtime, I’ve grown and realize this “controversial” topic can bring about the best conversations. Talking about religion has allowed me to explore my faith, along with other peoples’ faith. Signing up for Religion and Popular Culture this semester allows me to understand a common query: What is religion? Shortly after the first week, I learned there isn’t a set definition, along with comprehending other elements of religion in different points of view.
One of the first class assignments involved reading Russell T. McCutcheon’s essay, What is the Academic Study of …show more content…

One reason is because people are scared of ideas they think are realistic. In movies about possession, those who believe in such are terrified because it could happen to them. They believe anyone has the ability to be evil, but good (or God) triumphs. Fear put onto us based on societal views, or sociophobes have a significance in this chapter. There three main ones: invasion, inversion, and irrelevance. Invasion is the fear of order falling apart, and connects with cosmology. Even if people are told the truth about a new discovery, they could still fall back into the lie because it’s safer to them. Inversion depicts sacred places as unsafe or unholy places to be. Irrelevance is the ide God isn’t around or can see us suffering but just watches us suffer. This ties with theodicy, where evil exists, and people question how a God (or good) also exist. (UPRC 65-67). Within all these sociophobes, we show understanding about certain people’s ideas, but it doesn’t throw away morals or …show more content…

The series, Maus explores the unjust consequences of a group of people just because they are Jewish. Theodicy is also explicit throughout both comics because all the torture and suffering shown, and most people don’t acknowledged God except when the main character is kidnapped and meets a priest. The priest talks about Parsha’s Truma (Maus 56-57), where good fortune should occur in a matter of time due to God’s blessing. While there’s not a whole idea about what religion is and isn’t, religious identity is a main theme in the stories (class

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