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<\/p>\nEach religion has the ability to shape, pressure, and influence the culture and lives of its’ followers, as well as comfort, motivate, and inspire self-sacrificing acts and generous gestures. It governs morality and gives purpose, meaning, and direction for individuals and societies. More importantly, it provides a way back to “God” and gives people the ability to spiritually and emotionally regulate. If “Catholic Guilt” describes the ethos of Catholicism, then the “Protestant Work Ethic” is a fair descriptive of the Protestant ethos. Guilt is commonly associated with Catholics and has been used to govern morality and produce sacrificial acts. Protestantism has had a profound impact on shaping capitalism and the work ethic within society. Working and pursuing your calling were admirable pursuits if it did not produce wealth purely for personal gain. Although this value is still lived out today among some protestants in capitalistic countries, the prevailing spirit appears to have strayed significantly from the rules of gaining wealth. In capitalistic cultures, it is often admired to see celebrities, athletes, and wealthy individuals earn capital purely for their personal gain, then flaunt it on social media for all the world to see.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, I learned Buddhism and Hinduism had a significant impact on the culture of the Thai people. Everywhere you looked there were “Spirit Houses” near homes, offices, and malls, built for housing spirits and providing blessings for the nearby residents. They gave people a feeling that they were blessed and protected in their homes and daily activities since they provided a home for the spirits. Shrines were everywhere, even in the downtown sex industry. The juxtaposition of a sacred shrine in such a carnal place was a shocking sight to see. Even more shocking was how I watched a young girl stop to pray in front of the shrine for protection before she went off to service a man. After she prayed earnestly, I wondered what he thought as he watched her pray to her god, then escorted her to a nearby room. This spirit house gave her hope and comfort in a dark world, and despite my religious beliefs, I found myself responding with mixed emotions of sadness and relief for the religion that supported her spirit.<\/p>\n
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The impact Protestantism has had on shaping the values and work ethic of capitalistic countries is a new thought to me. I’ve considered how Protestantism has shaped our culture, relationships, emotional and mental well-being, but it has been an interesting concept to consider the impact Protestantism has had in partnering with capitalistic societies. It’s values and beliefs are discreetly intertwined in the foundation and bedrock of our country, and it has given me pause to wonder what we would be like as a culture without its’ influence. What would Thailand be like without the influence of their religions? In America, our forefathers worked hard to create separation between church and state, but I am now of the understanding this is an impossible task to purely achieve. For as long as there are people, there will be religions, and religion plays a powerful role in shaping and influencing our societies, cultures, and laws, as well as the lives of its’ followers, despite our attempts to keep them separate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Each religion has the ability to shape, pressure, and influence the culture and lives of its’ followers, as well as comfort, motivate, and inspire self-sacrificing acts and generous gestures. It governs morality and gives purpose, meaning, and direction for individuals and societies. More importantly, it provides a way back to “God” and gives people the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-11506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-weber","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}