Megan Phelps-Roper's Applicability To Religious Knowledge System

Applicability to Religious Knowledge Systems Religious knowledge systems are deeply influenced by our faith in the intangible and emotions interconnected with personal experience, prompting the dilemma that questions whether knowledge is quantifiable if it is sourced from varying perspectives. In her TED Talk, Megan Phelps-Roper shares her experiences growing up in the Westboro Baptist Church, perceived by the American public as one of the country’s most controversial churches, and how conversations on social media were crucial to expanding her perspective—which eventually motivated her decision to leave Westboro (Phelps-Roper). Instigated by her conversations with the online community, Phelps-Roper’s doubt forced her to transcend what she

Therefore, once she participated in genuine dialogue with people holding contradicting beliefs based on alternate approaches of reason, Phelps-Roper thrived off the opportunity to look beyond her reliance on her knowledge derived from memories with the church and faith in its convictions (Phelps-Roper). As she learned about the experiences of others, she felt increasingly compelled to leave the church for her own wellbeing—exemplifying the significance of language as a catalyst for newfound knowledge. Language inflicted her doubt, which manifested into an outcome she ultimately perceived as positive. Thus, this first knowledge issue may be addressed through the approach that if ignorance exists yet lacks permanence due to our potential of obtaining different perspectives, then knowledge is quantifiable. Although more knowledge results in doubt of what we know, curiosity is rooted in doubt and provides the motivation for further exploration of the unknown; rather than negative, in some situations such as Megan’s, doubt acts as a positive step towards acquiring new knowledge through the

For instance, I have been raised in a Catholic family, and therefore my primary understanding of religious knowledge systems has been shaped by my emotional attachment to memory and reliance on faith as a means to interpret abstract ideas such as the purpose of life, understanding of the self, and moral attitudes. Since my parents served as an authoritative figure of guidance since I was born, I placed a sense of confident trust into the validity of their beliefs in that the Catholic belief system was the reality of our world, the sole correct explanation for all that cannot be explained through modern or scientific evidence. However, as I have grown up and met more people, I have begun to recognize the breadth of religious beliefs present in our world and consequently perceive the contradictions within my religious knowledge. Since religious knowledge systems rely primarily on non-tangible ways of knowing such as intuition and faith, doubt was an inevitable sentiment once I acknowledged that others believed just as deeply in their distinct knowledge systems. Therefore, a distinction must be made between the concept of quantification of knowledge versus varying perspectives;