Victoria Sheridan: Essay 3 Topic Questions and Thesis Statement

After much brainstorming and formulating questions that offer depth and critical analysis for a research paper, I have concluded to focus my essay on the topic of religion.  The following ten questions were the result of brainstorming processes:

1) Is religion in the world losing authenticity?
2) Is the popularity of religious practices waning?
3) Do the majority of religious participants practice religion to conform with their respective peers and community?
4) Does religion simply exist as a source of hope for people when times are bad?
5) Are faith and passion still common elements in practicing dogmatic pursuits within religious institutions?
6) Is Hal truly connected spiritually with God or is religion simply an outlet to blame his problems on?
7) Is there ever a truly genuine connection with God that is prevalent throughout Friendswood?
8) Has religion evolved into an obsolete practice that clings too heavily on ancient concepts?
9) Has religion in today's society become superficial?
10) Does genuine faith still exist in the multitude that used to prevail in the past?

After reviewing the questions, I created a more refined question that encapsulates the topics of the questions above in which I plan to focus my essay on.  The following is the refined question that will guide the direction of my essay:

Is religion losing authenticity and becoming a dogmatic restraint that people follow simply to conform to familial and communal expectations?

After arriving at a question suitable for my essay, the following thesis statement was created:

Because religious pursuits are evolving to become dogmatic restraints that people follow to conform to familial and communal expectations, a loss in the spiritual authenticity is waning.  Therefore, the superficiality that now develops within religious communities impedes on true pursuance of spiritual connections with God.


The following video captures some of the issues I may touch upon in my essay.