Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Religion - Essay Example er eight of the text, which discusses how a group of churches banded together to do social outreach projects in the city around them in 1996, after welfare reform measures were signed into law by President Clinton. It was feared that the changes would leave many of the poor and underprivileged without necessary services. One such group was known as â€Å"the Cluster.† Its members busied themselves in activities such as litter cleanup, literacy training, and vocational guidance. While their efforts did much good and provided a visible spiritual presence, the volunteers themselves actually minimized the degree to which they used religious terms to describe their work. As one passage relates: After eighteen months of Cluster meetings, I counted a total of five instances in which Cluster members affirmed a religious basis for action – in mostly jocular or indirect terms at that. In one instance, a member quipped that the Cluster needed to â€Å"act on the Christianity that comes out of our mouths.† It appeared to the researcher that, given the fact that the workers were people of faith, there should have been more verbal expressions of the spiritual ideals that supposedly motivated their good deeds. But instead such discussions were quite rare. They acted more in line with what could be expected of representatives from a secular agency such as the Lions Club or the Boy Scouts. This finding indicates that, as religious volunteers branch out into the areas surrounding their church buildings, they adopt more of a secular outlook on things in general, including the motives for their service projects. This same sort of effect was noted in the chapter that discussed how Evangelical Christians interpret and practice their beliefs about male –dominated households. The writer mentioned how such arrangements are often thought to be very hierarchical and paternalistic. The customary mental image is of a stern, controlling husband and father handing out orders