B I B L I C A L L Y
B(I) A S E D:
A Miniature Ethnography of Sunday Worship Services Held By:
By Ashraf Kamel
Matthew Gulbranson
Introduction:
In North America, religion is a topic that carries a significant amount of baggage. Christianity in particular is interesting in the sense that it is so varied in the ways that it is divided. When one comes to consider the Christian Theology in terms of its origins, it is hard to conceive that one could be considered “better” or “truer” than any other, when they are based on what is essentially the same volume oftext. The book we have come to know as the holy bible is a culmination of subjective translations that are derived from any one of a number of languages that the original scriptures were written in over the span of the centuries that they took to write. The emphasis placed on different passages varies from church to church, and many meanings are often disputed. That such variability is derived from the same body of scripture is significant to us. With this idea, we sought to investigate the Sunday Worship Services of Fargo Baptist Church.
Our study begins with our research objective, followed by a reflexivity statement that clarifies our biases We then go on to discuss our methods and ethical concerns before continuing with our observations themselves. Observations begin with a brief description of the setting and environment, which lead into a description of the service itself, and the events that occurred during a Campus Bible Study meeting affiliated with the church. We then include a brief discussion & limitations section, and conclude with our suggestions regarding the possible course of further study.
Research Objective:
Our objective was to visit an unfamiliar religious service and observe- then attempt to use a grounded theory approach to analyze and interpret our limited ethnographic observations.
Reflexivity:
Since religion is a topic people are rarely neutral about, we feel that it is important that we disclose a few details about ourselves we consider to be relevant to mention before we continue. First, and foremost- we believe it should be noted that neither of us currently consider religious sentiment to be a central feature of our identities. Much to the contrary, we often find ourselves curious when we try to consider the unseen internal characteristics of those that do. Our individual stances on the topic of religion have much to do with how we have personally related to it, and we agree that our perspectives are similar. Our attitudes stem from the preference we share for secular explanations of phenomena over those that rely upon the supernatural interpretation of events. We consider such supernatural reasoning to be an illusory paradigm that was developed at a time when there were no other ways to explain the world and the processes that appear beyond the narrow scope of human perception. In light of the advances made by scientific reasoning, we just have a hard time accepting religious superstition.
As a consequence we both have come to regard excessive religiosity and fundamentalism with a significant degree of cynicism, especially as it relates to Christianity in American society. While we cant get over the apparent contradictions in the Bible,such details don’t seem to deter others who have successfully made the proverbial “leap of faith”. That said, neither of us felt that the ideological differences between ourselves and the subjects of this study would impede us. Since this limited ethnography was conducted primarily as an academic exercise, we focused on using it as an opportunity to develop our ability to conduct our observations and analysis in a manner that objectively relates the events that unfold. In the end we found it to be a useful exercise and feel that the resulting ethnography achieved our objective.
The other piece of relevant information clarify the nature of our experiences is a brief description of our external appearances as they were on the morning of our observations. These characteristics had an influence on how those that we encountered responded to us. While we wouldn’t be likely to be identified as similar to each other in most situations, in this case we were similar in the sense that we were distinctly identifiable as non-members of the congregation since we did not fit the norms that members adhered to. In fact we would admit that, in terms of common stereotypes, we don’t fit the commonly held conception most would have of a pair of prototypical “Christian” young men.
To illustrate, Ashraf’s appearance during our observations was every bit the long-haired-bearded Arab he is on a regular basis, and while such an appearance wouldn’t be unusual in a mosque it seemed out of place in a Baptist church nestled in suburban South Fargo. Matthew’s appearance tends to display a mish-mash of features that are commonly considered to be “deviant” relative to cultural norms. While he can be considered Caucasian, the combination of visible piercings and tattoos with a style of dress blending punk and urban influences, often prevents him from being mistaken as a member of the so-called majority. He describes his outward appearance on the date of observations as “basically, an oddball of sorts- composed of one part mad professor, and two parts eccentric anomaly.”
The general assumptions made by others (whom are most often Christians themselves) are frequently that we are most likely not Christians. This reaction is familiar to us both. Each of us has been confronted by such judgments firsthand on a number of occasions; These situations typically involved some concerned Christian in a public space informing us that our souls needed saving. It is undeniable that such experiences have jaded our perceptions of Christians and Christianity, along with religion in general. We are in agreement that this is especially the case when we consider the roots of our cynicism and skeptic discourse that we often respond with when discussing such matters- however such biases are not likely to compromise the integrity of our observations.
Methodology:
We chose our subject, Fargo Baptist Church, at the suggestion of a colleague and felt it to be a desirable setting for our purposes since it was unfamiliar to both of us, yet still known to us both through their fairly consistent presence in various forms of local advertizing. After we knew where we were to observe, we set out to attend one of their Sunday services. We had no preconceived methods other than to attend the service and observe what we could within reason considering the limited scope of our study. However it should be noted that prior to the service we determined that it was important we did not explicitly appear as “researchers” to those we encountered, and at the same time we were ethically bound to ensure that we did not misrepresent ourselves, or lie in order to do so. We resolved this issue by remaining as ambiguous as we could within reason in our responses when asked why we were there and how we heard about the church. We offered answers to the effect of, “We came to check it out because we heard from a friend that it was an interesting place.” We intentionally worded it so that the statement possessed the necessary features of truth, without explicitly disclosing our purposes. We felt that we already stood out enough in the church; there was no need to call greater attention to ourselves by presenting ourselves as “researchers”.
In order to adhere to the terms of the assignment and as a gesture of respect to the sanctity of the ceremony, no notes were taken during the duration of our time spent at the Fargo Baptist Church. As a result our recollections had to serve as our primary source of data regarding our observations and experiences. However, we did notice upon closer examination of the sermon materials that a space was provided on the back of the program for the expressed purpose of taking notes during the service.
Ethical Concerns:
We believe the nature of the unobtrusive observations that were made during the course of this ethnographic study to have been conducted in a manner that did not raise any significant ethical concerns. We were conscious of our own personal biases within the context of this situation and sought to maintain a dispassionate orientation as we conducted the resulting ethnographic analysis from the events. While we opted to be as vague as possible when questioned about our reasons for attending the Sunday services we believe that, if we were pressed to explain any further, we would have been ethically bound to fully disclose the exact nature of our visit.
Setting/Environment:
Fargo Baptist Church is nestled just south of Interstate 94 at 3303 23rd Avenue South, in Fargo, North Dakota. When we pulled into the lot we found a fairly large campus, consisting of three large and interconnected buildings, and a large parking lot surrounded by a prototypical, ticky-tacky suburban neighborhood. The vehicles found in the parking lot consisted almost entirely of newer models, all of which were well maintained, and conspicuously free of dirt or visible damage. There were an unusually large number of SUV’s and mini vans among the vehicles in the parking lot, which indicated two things. First, there were likely a similar proportion of people with families in attendance and second, the members of the congregation could afford these large family vehicles. This observation illustrates that many members are able to afford (or at least able to finance) such expensive cars, and are likely to identify themselves as members of the upper-middle class. To find such a degree of apparent wealth was not surprising to either of us considering the size of the church and the scale of the advertising space frequently seen on billboards and benches throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area. Neither of these features would likely be possible in a church without having a congregation that has the funds to fill the donation plate.
Observations:
The Service- When we entered the church we found a large entry room with wide spacious hallways extending off to either side. The décor consisted of various plants and pots arranged around a central seating area that is positioned between the entrance to the church, and the entrance to the main room. Through the door ahead of us was the space where services are held. The features of the worship area such as the vaulted ceiling and wide, open space made it feel like a chapel, but it is clear that such a term doesn’t quite fit in this case. and even though this room has features that make it seem like a chapel, we would resist using such Overall, the room lacks the standard décor one expects to find in the main worship area of such a large church. The most significant observation (and one that was made almost immediately) was that the room has no crosses. In fact, we could not find Christian symbols of any sort within the room’s composition. Aside from an ornate stained-glass landscape that portrayed a tree in a field, there were very few visual clues that would identify this room as a sacred space, other than the pews and the altar/stage area. While seemingly insignificant, such physical features are quite intentional. The primary reason that we hypothesized for such sparse iconography and religious symbolism is the high degree of emphasis that is placed by this church on the importance of separating itself and its values from those found in other churches. This is an attitude expressed within the sermon itself, as the absence of such symbols is clearly part of the Fargo Baptist theology.
When we entered the main worship space about 20 people were milling about, most of them seemed to know one another and exchanges that were observed appeared friendly in nature. Immediately we were recognized as new visitors to the church (this was unsurprising given that we looked out of place in both appearance and dress) and were enthusiastically greeted by a woman with a wide smile that displayed a set of near-perfect teeth. She approached us with a bundle of pamphlets extended in each hand, which she offered to us- explaining that they were welcome packages for people new to the church that contained information about Fargo Baptist and their belief system. She seemed quite excited that we were there and asked us how we heard about the church- a question that was we were to hear frequently over the next couple of hours to which we replied with our intentionally vague predetermined responses. Upon her apparent acceptance of our answer she then ushered us into the main worship area and encouraged us to find a seat before the service began.
We selected a pew near the back of the Church, as it seemed to be a good vantage point to observe events. By the time that the service began, there appeared to be about 130-150 people in attendance. At this point, a couple of things immediately stood out about the demographic composition of the congregation. First, we noticed is that individuals clustered at the front of the congregation were gender segregated, as women sat to the right and men to the left. We didn’t identify any explicit rule for this, however the program indicated that prayer meetings take place an hour before the service that are gender specific. The significance of the norm that promotes gender segregation is likely a result of a belief common among Christian denominations that regards men and women as separate and mutually exclusive categories that carry certain expectations concerning the place that each has in relation to god and the church. The rest of the congregation did not appear gender segregated, as they were primarily composed of solitary individuals, couples and families.
The next thing that stood out about the congregation at was that black people made up about a quarter of the total number of individuals in attendance. This was striking to see when one considers the ethnic composition of the city of Fargo- specifically that they comprise a much smaller proportion of the city’s total population (only 2.9% according to the most recent census). In light of these statistics, we feel it is significant to note that despite the higher proportion of black people in the congregation, none appeared on stage during the service, none were observed among the volunteers working at the church, and none can be found in pictures found on the church’s official web page. Our awareness of such stark contrasts between the image promoted by the church and our observations raised a lot of questions, mostly surrounding the possible presence of implicit racial prejudice among the church’s leadership.
After a few minutes, the choir began to sing a soothing and melodic hymn, signaling that the service was about to begin. The choir was led by led by a conductor, and upon finishing the first song, asked the congregation to join him in another. This sort of collective worship through music is a common feature of Sunday worship services found in other churches, and engagement in such activities likely functions as means of symbolic affirmation of a shared sense of unity between members, and to uphold a common sense of community at the start of the services. After the hymn was completed, the choir leader then asked the congregation to be seated. At this point, the pastor entered from a side door and took his place behind the central altar.
The offering plates (one for each pew) were then sent around the church. The high degree of visibility during the “offering” portion of the service lends itself to the possibility for wealthier members to use this function to flaunt their “devotion” through conspicuous displays. This visible donation likely lends itself to the protestant ethic, Weber’s ([1930] 1976) notion of the role of economic success in churches as a sign of devotion. The protestant work ethic is the notion that success is proof of God’s favor; here we see a subtle manifestation, generosity towards the church is viewed as doing the right thing and economic success allows that generosity.
The pastor first introduced himself as Pastor Sheving, and offered a welcome to all that came to join them for their Sunday worship services. He began by making sure that the means of delivering the sermon were in working order, which included a live radio broadcast, and web-based link to listeners in Africa. We found this interesting as it provided us an indication of the lengths that this church was willing to go to find alternate means to increase their ability to proselytize and spread the word about their faith in order to bring others with them into the proverbial fold. Prior to this experience, our ideas about Fargo Baptist were limited to what we had seen from their ads, neither of us had realized that they were broadcasting their beliefs over the airwaves, and putting forth a real effort to preach well outside the boundaries of the immediate geographical area. What made this especially surprising to us was the fact that Fargo Baptist promotes itself as an independent church; free from the “ecclesiastical hierarchies” that run other denominations. Since we often associate “independent” with smaller churches with limited capabilities, we did not expect that they would be undertaking such large endeavors.