One paragraph summary of the key idea summarizing the major idea of the section.
The main idea of the section is the challenges to our Faith in the world. Such challenges include, but are not limited to, atheism, nihilism, radicalism, materialism, scientism, and the dehumanization caused by advertising and the media. Atheism, the belief that there is no God, is a primary challenge to our Faith. The belief that there is no God greatly contradicts one's Faith, which is based on God. Two influential Atheist philosophers, Nietzche and Hobbes, have challenged Faith in different ways. Nietzche was the "father" of nihilism, the belief in no reason. Nietzche thought that belief in God was dead and that people are guided by their will, not reason. He also believed that values are relative, and depend on a person's perspective. Nietzche believed that God can not exist with rlative values. Furthermore, he believed in relative morality, which is morality based on personal judgement. Finally, Nietche believed that people are weak, but some are powerful and have strong wills and will rise to the top as Supermen. This belief opposed the morality of Jews and Christianity, which Nietzche saw as weak. The other influential philosopher was Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes believed in materialism, the belief that only physical matter exists, and there is nothing spiritual. He believed that free will is nonexistant, and all humans live according to a certain fate. Therefore, people live based on their instincts. However, unlike Nietche, Hobbes believed in reason, which led to truth. Nonetheless, Hobbes and Nietzche both believed in relative vaules and morality. The beliefs of St. Ignatius, however, offer a counter to the Atheist beliefs of Nietache and Hobbes. Ignatius was a theist, and believed in in God. This God, he said, created all people, and gave all people everything they need to be with Him. The meaning of human life is to be with God, but humans abuse what God has given us and sin, which hinders us on our journey. God also gave us reason to find out truth, which brings us closer to Him, but this reason is also hindered by sin. Contrary to Hobbes and Nietzche, Ignatius believed in objective morality, meaning that there are set rights and set wrongs for everybody. Everybody abides by the same moral code, despite differences in experience or perspective.
Scientism is also a major challenge to Faith. In an age of reason and many technological advances, it is common for people to believe that science is the key to finding out the unknown. Catholics see science as a postive gift from God, that helps humans to grow in understanding and do not condemn science altogether. In fact, history between the church and science much resembles that of a growing child with its parents. At first, there existed unreflected unity, where the Church and science were united because people believed everything the Church said. However, at the Renaissance, the Church and science experienced reflective disunity. People began to question the Church and its restrictions, and people realized the Church was not the head of science. This period peaked during the Enlightenment, Finally, existing to the present day, there is reflective unity between the Church and science. Science can answer many of the questions people have, but it is incapable of answering the deepest and unknown questions of our existence. Science does have its faults, like the laws of nature, empircal knowledge, and lack of certainty, and thus is not the answer to everything.
People also face challenges from themsleves and society that challenge one's Faith. People sin and therefore challenge their Faith by lying, laziness, selfishness, pride, and jgnorance. People are further challenged by societal pressures to succeed, use drugs, have sex, peer pressure, materialism, and predjudice.
Finally, dehumanization greatly challenges human Faith. The word, "dehumanization" simple means that we lose our humanity, our values, and virtues. Thus, a flaw of our culture is that the media, ads, and capitalism ultimately dehumanize people. The media, in ads, television, music, and movies, tells us how to act, what is cool, and what we must do to become cool. The media guides us, essentially taking away our ability to be independant. We are drawn to not be ourselves and to sin through the illusion that image is everything. However, to face this challenge, we must be aware of the influence and effects the media's dehumanization has on us. Furhtermore, we must reach out to others, build relationships, and reverse the culture to persevere in our Faith.
List and explain three of the most important ideas you want to remember from this week.
How to Overcome Dehumanization-Overcoming dehumanization helps us to overcome a challenge that we encounter on a daily basis, which furthers our growth in Faith. To overcome dehumanization, one must first be aware of the negative effects that the dehumanization in the media has upon us. Once we are aware of the consequences, we must reach out to those around us and educate them about dehumanization. We must reconnect with the "interior world" and focus on building and maintaining personal relationships, and avoid focusing on the external appearances. Thus, we must "surrender" to ourselves and resist all external forces and temptations that drive us to consume and conform, and eventually dehumanize us. Realizing what I can and must do to overcome and avoid dehumanization is essential for my Faith and personal sense of self.
St. Ignatius' First Principle and Foundation-St. Ignatius' First Principle and Foundation sought to explain life, and thus I find it important to remember his views on life to help me live a better, fuller life. Ignatius believed God created us to praise and serve Him, and by doing so we achieve salvation. Furthermore, God created the things in this world for us to use to achieve salvation. However, we must not allow these instruments to work against our goal. Therefore, we must be "indifferent" to every created thing, maintaining free will. With this in mind, our one and only desire should be to attain Heaven after this life is over. I must realize that God created me and wants me to be with Him in order for me to live correctly. Furthermore, I want to remember that I shouldn't abuse or incorrectly use what is created for me, because doing so brings me away from God. Remembering the First Principle and Salvation can serve as an outline on how to live properly and achieve salvation.
The Merchants of Cool Video-I would like to remember the Merchants of Cool video because it perfectly portrayed the influence the media has on teenagers, and helped me to realize what forces I'm against, and such realization helps me to counter these forces. The video showed that teens are the largest consumer market, and that teens are bombarded by an average of 3000 ads per day. Advertisers and marketers latch onto trends and sell the trends to make money, until the trend dies out to a newer trend. Therefore, kids are influenced by the media, while simultaneoudly the media is influenced by kids. Advertisers use the imagery of "coolness" as well as sex to sell products, and this advertising causes kids to become prematurely adult. This video made me aware of the dehumanization in advertising and how much the media influences kids, which helps me to avoid being controlled by ads, the media, and consumerism, and thus helping me to grow in Faith.
One or two good images that remind you of key ideas.
