WORSHIP AS A GROUP CELEBRATION: AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
WORSHIP AS A GROUP CELEBRATION: AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Summary/Abstract: This rather short paper is based upon some of my recent experiences of the relationship between religion and public life in America. Namely, I spent the last six months as a visiting researcher at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Religious Studies, observing both academic and practical aspects of a number of religious issues at close quarters, within the multi-faceted pluralism of American society. In my academic experience, professors of Religious Studies are not, for the most part, believers. They are usually doctors of philosophy, with backgrounds in the social or human sciences. They are seldom doctors of theology and (or) believers and often express very open scepticism toward religious systems of thought and practice. In a certain way, this is a form of diminishing the importance of the subject they teach. These religious studies scholars’ thoughts are very controversial. Some are against rigid and strict religious belief and practice (especially in Judaism, Christianity and Islam) that serve as defenders of sacrifice. On the other hand, some oppose the ongoing, massive, rapid, social and moral liberalization that is at the root of so many social disorders. [...]

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