Patheos Party

While perusing Facebook, which I've been timidly doing lately in an attempt to reintegrate myself into the social network that the vast majority of my relations use the vast majority of the time, I stumbled upon a post by a friend linking to Patheos article listing 10 reasons we should kill Christian music. While I doubt his seriousness or the degree to which he wants to "kill" Christian music (since he didn't recommend using fire), it nonetheless peaked my interest.

Two hours later, I found myself on the same site, reading article after article. While I didn't find a few of the articles as riveting or well thought out as the first, they were nonetheless well written by obviously informed people. Something that I have appreciated about the posts that I have read is their successful attempts to relate current events and patterns into larger movements of culture and religion (something that I've also admired about Peter Berger's blog, which can be found here).

With hints of philosophy, sociology, theology, and anecdotology (it will be a thing), these articles are both informative and entertaining to read, and you may even feel more educated when you come out the other side.

So without further ado, click here and begin. The blogs section is probably the best.

If you go to Covenant, you should look for the "J.G. & the Turabians" poster circulating around campus, if you haven't seen it already. It gets funnier the more you look at it. Like magic. Funny, funny magic. On a more serious note, send article ideas to sociologyws@gmail.com. Muchas gracias.

The Vos Strikes Back

Dear readers,

Our own Dr. Vos recently wrote an article about the Super Bowl. Yes I know it's over now, and you've probably forgotten most everything about it except for a few of the commercials. But the article isn't about the Super Bowl, per se. Rather, it is more a critique about women and sports, and what the Super Bowl can tell us about the consumerism and our theology of women.

You can find the article here in its original form. If you're in South Africa, the Saturday Dispatch newspaper is supposedly running an edited version of the article this coming Saturday.

Enjoy!

If you have a suggestion for an article, please feel free to send them to sociologyws@gmail.com. In the meantime I'll consume myself with Angry Birds: Star Wars.

Key, Peele, and Humorous Social Commentary

Because I am currently experiencing a lapse in interesting things to write about, I will instead make this post a plug for something probably worth your time to check out.

If you watch television at all, you may have come across a comedy duo that goes by the name of Key & Peele. This duo, composed of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, produce a sketch comedy show that airs on Comedy Central. One of their most famous skits, incredibly relevant in today's political climate, is President Barack Obama's "anger translator" Luther.

I'll let you guess who's who.

As Obama is famous for his seeming inability to show strong emotion in most situations, he hires Luther to explain to the American public what he would really like to say to his opponents.

While the primary purpose of these skits is of course to be humorous, it is interesting to note the social commentary undertones of many of their skits. For example, this video (if swearing affects you at all, be warned):

Provides a scenario in which a substitute teacher is frustrated by how children say their names "incorrectly," according to him. However, the situation is reversed in that the teacher is pronouncing their names "incorrectly" according to most, and the students "correctly." This kind of dilemma has surely affected many, though perhaps not in this way.

So that's about it. If you're interested in the show, you can Youtube the majority of their skits, or go to their website.

If you have a suggestion for an article, please feel free to send them to sociologyws@gmail.com. In the meantime, I'll be listening to "I Just Want To" by Reggie Watts on repeat.

Is Atheism a Religion?

Just this morning, I stumbled upon an article in the New York Times. Actually, it is less of an article and more of an ongoing discussion, that will at one time be ongoing. At the moment, it's really just a bunch of short opinion pieces by eight or nine different authors from a variety of backgrounds.

While that may sound confusing at best, the topic of discussion is rather interesting: atheism. That's right, they're talking about atheism. Not atheists attacking one religion or another or trying to debunk religion, but rather talking about atheism itself. Specifically, the overarching question being posed on the discussion is "Is Atheism a religion?"

The logic and higher reasoning displayed here
is sure to convert the masses to your cause.

This is interesting, because for all the news headlines that atheists get, usually it is in reference to what they say about other religions, or about conflict between theists and atheists. But these authors, several of whom are atheists themselves, attempt to explain their lack of faith and flesh out their reasons for denying theism. A few criticisms have even been offered, by both theists and atheists themselves, about their religion (or lack thereof).

If anything, this article does show you the sometimes fractured nature of the atheist community, and that they are not all the militant God-haters theists sometimes portray them as.

So anyways, you should check the article/debate out.

If you have a suggestion for an article, please feel free to send them to sociologyws@gmail.com. But please, no more pictures of puppies in cups. We're not getting anything done.

SIP Orals

Greetings all!

As Christmas approaches, it means a lot of things. For Covenant students, it means final exams and (eventually) Christmas break. For Covenant sociology seniors, it also means SIP Orals.

At Covenant, seniors are required to research and write a Senior Integration Paper, which is essentially an undergraduate thesis. Though nowhere near as long and detailed as a graduate thesis, it still gives the student a chance to practice researching and writing a formal research paper in their chosen field(s) of study. At Covenant, it is also the culmination of your studies here.

In addition to the paper, students are also required to give an oral presentation of their topic paper. While the format for these orals varies from major to major, in the sociology department it consists of a short presentation and a question-and-answer session with the presenter.

As a sociology senior myself, I am happy to report that our SIP orals are officially over! Presentations covered a wide variety of topics, including how introverts use technology, serial killers, and the institutions surrounding care for orphans in Africa.

Here are some pictures from the first group of presenters! The others went just this morning, so hopefully pictures of them will be uploaded soon.

Stay Safe for Thanksgiving!

The Covenant College Sociology Department hopes you all have a good Thanksgiving. If you're into that kinda thing, try not to get too stressed out finding the best deals on Black Friday.

We will return after Thanksgiving with more sociological nourishment for you! Until then, stay safe while traveling.

New Website!

!أهلا و سهلا

Welcome! (in Arabic)

Today's post is to inform you that the Covenant College Sociology Department has a new website! Created using Weebly, we hope to eventually use this template as our permanent online base of operations!

You can check out the new website here. On it you'll find pages about our full-time professors, information about the college and department in general, and tons of links to helpful resources. These include blogs, websites, and research tools for the aspiring sociologist.

Check it out!

If you have an idea for an article, please for the love of all that is holy send it to sociologyws@gmail.com. You can find Austin, the author of this post on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and even Pinterest. He might be busy chasing a chicken off his porch with a tennis racket, but he'll answer.