Religion and Popular Culture Can Exist Separately

Religion and Popular Culture Can Exist Separately
Part 1 Response
Religion and culture are often conceptualized as two distinct but closely related constructs. A person professing a given religion demonstrates the culture traditionally associated with such belief system. From this understanding emanates a crude generalization that belonging to a given religion implies professing a particular culture. Although such a crude conception suggests that religion and popular culture cannot be separated, a critical reflection on the two concepts points to the argument that even when religion and popular culture are interrelated, it is feasible to distinguish a religion or belief system from a particular a wave of worldview overriding a given cultural community (Beyers, 2017). In this way, religion and popular culture can exist separately. Contributing to science is a life aspect that does not incorporate religion. Science and religion are fundamentally distinct and incompatible aspects. Science does not include religion because it entails research findings and reasoning from such results to make inferences. This is contrary to religion, which calls for a deeper level of knowledge based on faith rather than reason and observation. Religion, apart from popular culture, is relevant because it creates the belief system and an ethical framework that regulates values in everyday life. In other words, there is more to religion than the representation of the community in rituals, symbols, and artifacts of ordinary life.
Part 2 Response
Figure 1: An image of stained-glass windows illustrating athletics.
The image above depicts how deeply entrenched religious ideologies are within popular culture. The stained glass makes this image religious because it is...