Anthro

Marvin Harris As I observed my friend Victor Turner observation of the Catholic Church I noticed that it is not just having blind faith of this God that they believed in. I want my friend Victor Turner to be clear that I am not emerging myself into the culture, but rather just being completely objective. I believe it is a fact that the people attending the Catholic Mass believe the Catholic rituals is beneficial to the productive and reproductive capabilities of society or else they would not exist (Harris 1996: 227). Therefore the people of the Catholic Church believe their faith to be true and have total belief in their faith. They see these rituals reaching their biological needs for them in their society. I believe the people of the Catholic mass are going to Church, and worshiping this God they call Jesus Christ is something that they believe helps them through life and shows the right ways on how to live their life. They believe by believing the God they call “Jesus Christ” that they will be rich in spirit, happy in life, set on the right paths to a good life, and ultimately be sent to heaven where they believe is the best place you could possibly go after death. I know for a fact that the religious rituals of the Catholic mass were not instances of the irrational sway of religious ideology, but a way of listening and believing in this faith will give the path of a good life and ultimately be sent to heaven instead of hell. Heaven is something the Catholic’s see as life after death. They are told there are no other place better then Heaven. The Catholic believes this is where their God lives and this is where he wants them to be. However, the Catholics know you just cannot just get into heaven just by living live to the fullest here on earth. There is a religious commitment you have to put forth in order to get to heaven. It seems that if the Catholics keep God first and follow his laws of the Ten Commandments that there is always a spot in heaven for any individual here on earth. That is why the Catholic’s I guess take their religion so seriously and goes through the different sacrifices and rituals that make them Catholic’s (Harris 1996: 227). They are told as Christians of God that the opposite of Heaven is Hell. They are warned that Hell is the worst place you can possibly go. Hell is to be believed where the Devil lives. The Catholics are knowledge that if they reject God don’t keep him first in their life and refuse to listen to his commandments then “Hell” is where you would be. The Christian faith and the Catholic faith are almost what I see are feared of God. The fear of God is ultimately what keeps these Catholics people of God and intake in the rituals that they go through by being Catholic. By rejecting God, in the Catholics minds would be the worst thing you could possibly do. Therefore, their rituals are their way to a better life. The sacrament of the Eucharist that my friend Turner talks about is something that Catholics believe there is nothing else that can bring you more connected to Jesus Christ then tasting the body and blood of Christ. By receiving this sacrament I feel the Catholics feel they are closer to God. They feel is very beneficial for their life to be closer to God, especially when things are going wrong. What I see and observe from the day in age is people are in a lot of trouble financially with this whole economy being so bad. As I know the economy had to effect at less a few people of the Catholic Church and therefore they see their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a savior for help and keep their life together. They believe full heartedly in this rituals and faith because it will bring them fortune in the future.