In God We Trust: Observational Study

In the United States, religion is an important aspect of daily life. “In God We Trust” is stamped on our money, and presidential candidates compete to see who believes in God the most. If you are from a white middle class neighborhood like I am, religion seems to be your identity; it decides if you are a good, moral person or not. In the Cristian religions there is a hierarchy of religions based on how strict their interpretation of the bible is. On one end you have Southern Baptists that believe that every word written in the bible is true, and on the other hand you have Methodists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians who believe that the bible should be used in a way that teaches people lessons on morality and kindness towards others. For my observational study I chose to attend two churches; St. Colette Catholic Church and Newburg United Methodist Church both in Livonia. When I walked into the entrance of the St. Colette Church, the narthex had warm beige walls and tile floors. The narthex seemed to have been redone recently; it was freshly painted and had more modern furnishings than expected from the
It’s a relatively pale brick color and there are not any features that stick out. When you walk through the front doors there is a hallway that takes out into the main area of the church. If you were to walk past the main area of the church and take a right there is an activities center and auditorium where they hold banquets and activities for the community. When I walked into the main area of the church there were about fifteen pews on either side of the main walkway. The room was bright and had lots of windows, but could only accommodate around two hundred people. Some people were already in their seats when I arrived. They were dressed pretty casually, wearing jeans and nice tops. Some people had chosen to write out a name tag for themselves so that new church members could know their