Journal 8

Today, in class, we discussed the Waco Branch Davidians and the movie The Italian Job. It was interesting to see the overlap in our discussions on the two topics. For the Branch Davidians, we talked about whether you can determine if a cult is becoming dangerous. Additionally, we talked about whether you can distinguish between a cult and an unconventional religious movement. The answer to both was that it is quite subjective and that it can be hard to make those evaluations especially when facts may support both sides. For The Italian Job, we discussed if motivation justifies a theft and if it can make you consider a thief less of a criminal. It was interesting to see how other students felt about Stella's actions and if she was as guilty as Charlie or Steve even though all of them stole things. We also brushed upon how movies often make you feel like there is a lesser criminal. They make you believe that the characters are justified in their actions, because they underwent a traumatic event or been the recipient of some wrong. On another note, in my religion class, we talked about repentance and forgiveness in the context of the Ashley Madison leak. Ashley Madison was a website for married people to meet and have affairs. We followed the journey of a Christian vlogging couple and how the wife came to forgive the husband. We talked about the different branches of Christianity and their approaches to divorce and adultery. We looked at how religious and societal pressures (such as stigmas around single mothers) could have limited the options that the wife faced.

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