Late Post: Week 4, Jan 29

In this chapter, we learned about religion. The Protestant Reformation was when people started to break away from the Catholic church and start their own movement. The Protestants believed in a monastic life, which gave women the opportunity to be nuns, instead of marrying. Reading the bible by yourself was another thing the Protestants believed in, which gave the opportunity for women to become literate. This was important because women didn't have a lot of opportunity for education outside of the family. Protestant ways were taken to North America by the New England Puritans. Their emphasis was mostly on education, moral purity, personal conversion, civic responsibility and little tolerance for competing expressions of the faith. Christianity was spread nearly everywhere around the world, including Spain, China, and Africa. I think it is interesting that so many people from different parts of the world can come together and share the same faith. I myself am not super religious, but if and when I do go to church, I feel a sense of community. I think it's important that something, anything, should bring people together as a common set of interests, and religion was and is one that will always be around for people to share with others around the world.