Conclusions

The semester is just about over! This process of learning to blog has been very interesting. I didn't think I would ever make a blog or write in one, but it was pretty cool being able to publicly share what information I learned over the semester on various topics of my choosing. Here are some things I've learned from this process:

• Blogging takes a lot of time
• But it's fun! (for the most part)
• Most of the time taken is citing sources
• Sociology is sometimes difficult to study
• Sociologists will probably never run out of things to study
• There are so many topics a sociologist would love to study
• A LOT more than before about Deviance, Family Violence, and Religious Disaffiliation, such as:
• Family Violence is one of the most frequently occurring crimes but one of the least reported ones
• More and more people are becoming disaffiliated with any religion

(Source: Tarleton State University)

Current Event: Religious Disaffiliation

Topic: Why more and more people are becoming disaffiliated with religion

1. Why I Chose This Topic

I chose this topic because:
a. I think any sociologist would love to study this and find reasons why more and more people are choosing to not be affiliated with any religion.
b. It's interesting and relevant to me since I, personally, used to be religious but am getting away from that the older I get. I would also like to know what reasons are pushing people away from religion since I know many people who have been also.

2. Link to a Scholarly Journal

http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/200.short
I chose this article because it is from the Sociology of Religion in the Oxford Journals so I thought it was a very credible source. There are many statistics and relevant info to my post as well. For example, this article states that between 15 and 18 percent of Americans are now religiously unaffiliated, up 7 percent from 1991.

3. Visual Illustration



(Source: My America)
I chose this chart just to show the comparison of religions in the US. It's interesting that the Unaffiliated portion is almost as large as the Mainland Protestants portion.


4. Video Clip

http://youtu.be/YS38PaO-cHw
This video tells many statistics of religious disaffiliation between now and the past and why people have been becoming disaffiliated with religion. I like the fact that she mentioned serious issues being a reason that makes people become disaffiliated, such as gay marriage. I also enjoy at the end how she mentioned that there is a link to different religious facts in case a person watching is confused on what they believe  The girl hosting is fun and upbeat and puts things in a way that's easy to understand. I really enjoyed this clip and thought it was extremely relevant to this post.

5. Links to Scholarly Websites

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/disbelief/
This article I chose because it was very long and has a lot of statistics and reliable information on this topic. For example, the article states that in the last five years alone, those who claim they are unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all US adults. More than 13 million claim to be atheists and agnostics, which is nearly 6% of the US public, and 33 million say they have no particular religious affiliation, which is 14% of the US public. It is crazy how drastically these numbers are rising, especially recently. It makes me wonder how many people will be religious in another five, ten, or 15 years from now. This article also has many charts and graphs that show the statistics really easily.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1
This is the article I fount that inspired me to do this entry on this topic. It is from USA Today so I knew it was credible information and a recent topic that has been discussed and studied. The article states that 19% of Americans, nearly 1 in 5, have no religious affiliation. This includes atheists, agnostics, and people who state they believe in "nothing in particular." Barry Kosmin states that he believes this is because young people are resistant to the authority of institutional religion and older people are turned off by the politicization of religion and people are simply less into theology than ever before. I think Barry's reason's are accurate, but I'm sure there is a lot more to it that sociologists would love to study. The article also says that 99% of Americans used to believe in God and now only about 90% do.

6. Quote

"Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief, or ignorance." -W. Clement Stone

I chose this quote because people will still believe what they want to believe is the truth and what anyone else believes shouldn't affect their choices, whether they are religious or not.




References:
Grossman, Cathy Lynn. (20 July 2012) Survey Finds 19% Without Religious Affiliation. Retrieved on April 24, 2013 from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1.

"None's" on the Rise. (October 9, 2012) Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx.

Religious Affiliation in the United States. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.1website.be/myamerica/php/americain.php?aID=21.

Stone, Clement W. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/disbelief/.

U.S. Religion Statistics: We Of Little Faith. [Video] Retrieved April 28 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS38PaO-cHw.
Vargas, Nicholas. Retrospective Accounts of Religious Disaffiliation in the United States: Stressors, Skepticism, and Political Factors. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/200.short.

Family Violence

Topic: Family Violence

1. Why I Chose This Topic

I chose this topic because it is a very common occurrence in families today and is something that should be recognized and worked towards stopped. It's terrifying thinking about not being safe in your own household and it's sad to think that so many people don't feel safe whether it's because they are being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused or have to witness another family member being abused. It's not something that should be tolerated ever and I definitely think people should gain more awareness for this problem and do whatever possible to stop it. I know it is a global problem, but I am choosing to narrow it down to just family violence in the United States.

2. Link to Scholarly Journal

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2083298
I chose this article because I felt like it was very relevant and informative. The article views family violence as a social and sociological problem. This short excerpt discussed things we've talked about in class this semester as well as a whole section on the Sociologist Perspective of family violence.

3. Visual Illustration



















(Source: Vantage Pro Ed)
This chart is similar to the one that was in the Chapter 12 PowerPoint. It shows the potential negative effects on children who live in violent homes. Obviously none of these are good things and a child who lives in a negative home is definitely more likely to develop problems like these.

4. Video Clip

http://youtu.be/HxfN5iN6lj8
I chose this clip because I felt like it was a well made video that shows how tragic it is that women usually don't report being domestically abused. I realize this video only focuses on women,  but I still thought it was well made and brought the situation to reality more.

5. Links to scholarly websites

https://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/summary.html
This link is to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service so it seemed like a reliable source for a lot of the information. This site informed me that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. That statistic is so much higher than I originally thought and made this issue seem much more important in my head. I also chose this website because it has many links at the bottom of the page to explore more information about family violence such as facts and figures, legislation, publications, programs, etc.

http://www.nacoa.net/famviol.htm
This link is to the National Association for Children of Alcoholics which also seemed like a reliable/scholarly site since this association would know a lot of information about family violence. I liked this site also because it has a section titled "How to help woman and children coping with violence" which I thought is a great thing to put on the site just in case someone who is being abused needs to know how to cope or deal with what is happening. One statistic from this section said that Divorced and separated women, who compose only 10% of all women, account for 75% of all battered women and report being battered 14 times as often as women still living with their partners. This is so shocking that even woman who leave their partners who abuse them still experience the violence. Another section is titled "Family Violence Always Leaves the Home" which explains that children who were raised in violent homes are much more likely to become violent with others in life. This shows yet another reason why this is such a big issue. The pattern will keep on continuing until it is stopped at the root. If a child who was raised in a violent home grows up to be violent with his/her spouse, then their child will be likely to be violent when he grows up to. It really seems like a vicious/never-ending cycle that needs to be stopped or else it will keep on continuing.

6. Quote

"If the numbers we see in domestic violence were applied to terrorism or gang violence, the entire country would be up in arms, and it would be the lead story on the news every night." -Rep. Mark Green


References:

Domestic Violence. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://vantageproed.com/viol/viol.htm.
Domestic Violence Awareness Video (Best Video). [video] Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxfN5iN6lj8.
Gelles, Richard J. Family Violence. Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083298?seq=3.
Green, Mark. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thelaststraw.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/quotes-about-domestic-violence/.
Reddin, Geri. Violence in the Family. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.nacoa.net/famviol.htm.