Cultural Immersion Project
Cultural Immersion Project DB Pt 2
Betty Finney
My cultural immersion focus is on the religious war in Nigeria. One of the interesting things I found in my research was that, in Nigeria the Christian faith and the Muslim faith represents the greatest percentage of religions. I also learned that the Christians and Muslims pray every day several times a day. With that being said, I wondered if they believed in a higher entity prayed every day, who they are praying to? And what is their belief system based on? (question 1) Since their Christian faith seems to be divided into Catholic, Protestant or some other, I decided to attend a typical Catholic Church service and a Friday mid-day Muslim prayer service. Maybe I should not have used the word typical to describe a Catholic Church service. Me, being from a culturally full Baptist background, it was anything but typical. First let me begin by saying, St Joseph Catholic Church is Macon Georgia, is one beautiful church on the inside, but the service its self was extremely long and somewhat boring. Coming from a Baptist background, I definitely had a culture shock. To get the feel of the church, I arrived very early. Because I was a visitor, they welcomed me, I filled out a visitor’s info card and I was lead to a seat. The choir is singing as I’m being lead to a seat, so I’m assuming this is the Praise & Worship part of the order of service. Again I say, “Coming from a Baptist background in an African American church, our Praise & Worship time is much different. After the song, the priest came out with the opening prayer with repeated verses. The priest would say the verse first and then instantly, the congregation would repeat the verse. I think they refer to this part of the service as the Kyrie. Then another priest said another pray and began to tell somewhat of a story. I didn’t quite get it, but it looked as if the rest of the congregation received it well. After the story telling, we hugged everybody around us
Betty Finney
My cultural immersion focus is on the religious war in Nigeria. One of the interesting things I found in my research was that, in Nigeria the Christian faith and the Muslim faith represents the greatest percentage of religions. I also learned that the Christians and Muslims pray every day several times a day. With that being said, I wondered if they believed in a higher entity prayed every day, who they are praying to? And what is their belief system based on? (question 1) Since their Christian faith seems to be divided into Catholic, Protestant or some other, I decided to attend a typical Catholic Church service and a Friday mid-day Muslim prayer service. Maybe I should not have used the word typical to describe a Catholic Church service. Me, being from a culturally full Baptist background, it was anything but typical. First let me begin by saying, St Joseph Catholic Church is Macon Georgia, is one beautiful church on the inside, but the service its self was extremely long and somewhat boring. Coming from a Baptist background, I definitely had a culture shock. To get the feel of the church, I arrived very early. Because I was a visitor, they welcomed me, I filled out a visitor’s info card and I was lead to a seat. The choir is singing as I’m being lead to a seat, so I’m assuming this is the Praise & Worship part of the order of service. Again I say, “Coming from a Baptist background in an African American church, our Praise & Worship time is much different. After the song, the priest came out with the opening prayer with repeated verses. The priest would say the verse first and then instantly, the congregation would repeat the verse. I think they refer to this part of the service as the Kyrie. Then another priest said another pray and began to tell somewhat of a story. I didn’t quite get it, but it looked as if the rest of the congregation received it well. After the story telling, we hugged everybody around us
References: Chukuwemaka, O. O., Eze, R. C., (2012). Ethnic-religious conflicts and the travails of national integration in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Canadian Social Science, 8 (2), 79-85. DOI:10.3968/j.css.1923669720120802.2220 Ojo, M Adogame, A, (2010). How God became a Nigerian: Religious impulse and the unfolding of a nation Dokubo, C., Oluwadare, A. J., (2011). Nigeria’s role in conflict resolution: A new Paradigm