My first project is about miracles and how science cant always explain the unexplainable. In this project I researched and studied about why people believe in miracles. Why do people with impossible medical situations like cancer, magically heal? Overall I wanted to know why do people believe in miracles? I wanted to know if peoples religious backgrounds influenced miracles.
English For my English portion of the project I put together a survey. I put the link to my survey on social media for anyone to anonymously complete. I ended up getting thirty six responses within a few days. I then took the answers from my survey and I contextualized them to create reason to why said person believes in miracles.
questions- 1) What religion do you practice? 2) Why do you believe or not believe in religion? 3) Do you believe in an higher power? explain. 4) Have you ever had any family members pass within the past few years? 5) Do you rely on faith in a higher power to help you get through a death of relative or close friend? 6) Do you rely on that faith to help you throughout an ordinary day? 7) Have you ever experienced divine intervention (God takes over to help resolve a problem)? 8) Do you believe your attitude dictates your success? 9) Do you believe in miracles? 10) Have you ever experienced or witnessed a miracle? Explain.
Responses-
Respondent 2 Respondent 2 identifies themselves as an atheist. They were raised Catholic but does not follow the religion anymore because of non specified issues with catholic beliefs. Based off of the information I collected, respondent 2’s religious background reflects on their beliefs today. There is reason to believe that they may still believe in religion, they just don't want to be as involved with religion anymore. Respondent 2 does believe that our world was not just randomly created, they believe there is a higher power but just can't specify who. Based off of the information I collected, respondent 2 religious background reflects on their beliefs today, and why they still have faith in miracles. This leads me to believe, there is reason that they may still rely on religion, they just don't want to be as involved with religion anymore. They have most likely had to have come to this conclusion because as a child they previously followed the catholic religion, but as grew older, now formed a different opinion about religion. Respondent 6 Respondent 6 was raised without religion in their life, and has never practiced religion. They do find interest in religion and believes it is powerful, but does not know what or who to believe in. Respondent 6 does not believe in miracles because they have never witnessed a miracle or have never been exposed to a religious background that could have had influenced their beliefs. Respondent 13 Respondent 13 grew up and still identifies as a Presbyterian Christian. They strongly believe that the universe was not just randomly created. They believe god created our world and then decides what happens to us when we die. Respondent 13 believes they witnessed in what they consider a miracle first hand. They’re dad was an electrician for the pentagon in 2001 and got laid off a few days before 9/11. Their dad getting laid off was possibly divine intervention, the family is obviously very religious and took their dad getting laid off as a sign from god. With 9/11 being such a traumatic event they were probably grateful and glad they wouldn't have had to experience the death of their dad so early in life. Respondent 15 Respondent 15 believes in miracles after they witnessed their stepdad miraculously recover from a brain tumor causing him to be paralyzed. Respondent 15 follows christianity and says praying gave them answers in a time in need. I can infer that religion is a big part in this person's life and that they fell back on religion to help their stepdad heal. “It has nothing but helped me in life and I think why not believe in something that focused on bringing good and kindness to the world.” After respondent 15 tell me in my survey that they believe in miracles, I have no doubt in my mind that this event changed their life. It is very rare that scans are ever wrong, but in this case it seems he just miraculously recovered. I have no information if he ever received surgery for the tumor or not. It is proven though that if anyone is ever diagnosed permanently paralyzed, a person usually can't bounce back from that. The brain tumor affected the function and movement of the body, so I know the tumor was located in the cerebellum. Brain tumors in general are known to spread, and to have one that could potentially be hurting the tissue and nerves in your brain controlling your everyday basic movements, is very dangerous. The tumor could have had permanently damaged his brain. I am sure the doctors had a scientific explanation to how all this happened but in the end there dad recovering seems pretty unexplainable. Respondent 33 Even though respondent 33 once negatively experienced the unexplainable she still believes what happened to them was a miracles. They once had a dream all about hummingbirds, their grandma loved hummingbirds. They woke up the next morning after having this dream and their grandma had actually passed the same night. Even though their grandma had died, I think that they considered this a miracle because it can be considered a message from god. In my survey they tell me the dream was peaceful and comforting. I think this could have helped them with the passing of their grandma because it was her saying goodbye one last time. Usually when loved ones pass suddenly people constantly wish they could have had said goodbye one more time. Maybe this was there grandma saying goodbye so that respondent 33 wouldn’t have that small feeling of guilt or regret. Or maybe they knew their grandma was not doing so well and she was in the hospital. Maybe respondent 33 was worrying a lot about their grandma, and this was god's way of saying you don't need to worry anymore and your grandmas in a better place. Respondent 33 was not religious though. They grew up in an environment that they just never had been exposed to much religion. They said after their experience, they believe there's something out there they just don't know what. This dream was definitely unexplainable after respondent 33 had no religious foundation to back up this unforgettable dream. Respondent 21 Based on information from my survey respondent 21 is highly religious. They identify as Roman Catholic, and believe with the amount of complexity in the world they are positive there is a higher power looking over us. Their mother told them that cardinals can be perceived as the dead watching over us. And when their grandfather died, they see cardinals all the time. Respondent 21 Believes that this is a miracle, their grandfather looking over them. A scientific explanation would be most people don't see things until they are looking for them. For example when I got my first car I have never seen it on the road before. Now all the time I see other versions of my car everywhere. Was I just not seeing them or was I not noticing them. Maybe respondent 21 didn't even know what a cardinal looked like until they were told this information. I learned though that Roman Catholics believe in reincarnation. Maybe this one cardinal is looking over them, their grandfather in a new life. Cardinals are common in PA and maybe they just have had never gone close to respondent 21. Maybe not until it her grandfather is now watching from the trees above.
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Conclusion- religious background- 74% Believes in miracles-85% Not believe in miracles- 14% Yes religious background does not believe-5% Yes a religious background and believes in miracles-68% No religious background does not believe-8% No religious background and believes in miracles-17%
Based on my information on my survey I first found out that 85% of the people who took my survey believe in miracles and 14% do not. I found that mostly people with a religious background believe in miracles. 68% of the people who confirmed to have a religious background and believe in miracles. My second biggest common answer would be that 17% of the people who completed my survey have no religious background but believe in miracles. 8% had no religious background and does not believe in miracles. And only 5% of survey takers have a religious background and don't believe in miracles. Overall 85% of people believe in miracles, and 68% of those people have a religious background. The biggest common theme in the survey was mostly people with a religious background believe that miracles are given to us by those higher power or a god. People who had no religious background and didn't believe in miracles had a lower percentage than I thought, Actually people with no religious background who happen to believe miracles is 9% higher. What surprised me the most was the group of people with a religious background who do not believe in miracles. I thought this percentage would have had been lower because based on research I found most people associate miracles with a higher power.
Social Studies- For my history portion of my project I started with a timeline of events from1840-1860 . I then narrowed it down to three specific events. The compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, the election of Lincoln. I then used these three events and re wrote history. I made it as if the Compromise of 1850 never happened and then I inferred what life would be like without the compromise.
They could never come to an agreement between the North and South, and the compromise of 1850 never took pace. The South wanted slavery to be the way of life. So when California wanted to become a free state the south were threatened by the north and didn't want the balance between slave and non slave states destroyed. Their main jobs in the south were agriculture related, and some families needed some extra help. Most southern households only owned 1 or 2 slaves at the most to help alongside them with their farms. Overall the south didn’t want to lose their cheap labor for their plantations, and feared they were going to lose their slaves. Without the compromise the slavery was no longer able to be pushed back any further, Southern states were getting worried, frightened but mostly fed up with the north. South Carolina finally pulled away from the union, causing an outbreak of war 10 years early in 1850. Because the republican party wasn't created until mid 1850’s originally, with the outcome of war starting 10 years early, the republican party most likely was not created, and Lincoln would most likely not have had become president. Constitutionally they could not just end slavery without the civil war, but Lincoln did, he was able to bring up slavery and turn around the meaning of the civil war, but Lincoln was not elected or not even president at the time so the current president, Zachary Taylor, wouldn't have had addressed the issue of ending slavery during war because was not republican. He would tell the states that they would individually have to decide whether or not they themselves were going to be slave or free states. This way he looks good in either situation because he's not saying he disagrees with slavery but he's not saying he approves. If the North wins they would probably have a similar outcome to how it originally happened. Slavery would most likely be over, and the union would probably be whole again. If Lincoln were to become president he wouldn't have the effect on us that he has today. He wouldn't be known for ending slavery and he would not be president during war. If the south won, slavery would be a thing today unless ended later in history. The split between Nebraska and Kansas would have not happened because they probably would have had both been claimed by the south along with California. The confederate side would be their own country and not join back with the union and there would be no reunion between the north and the south.
Art For my art project I created a piece based on Odysseus. In the story of the Odyssey, Odysseus experiences divine intervention from the gods. He was my focus point of the piece, and the drawing was inspired from a sculpture I found online created by a woman named Marusia Nita. She told me her piece was not even originally suppose to be Odysseus, but a model who inspired her to think of Odysseus. 'His other passion was swimming and that is reflected in his physical strength. He was happy and in love with his girlfriend whom was posing for me at the same time. The stories about his life revealed loyalty towards his family, a natural intelligence and creativity. Because of his qualities as a person and his commitment in the project I felt at ease and able to focus on and render a sense of strength. The idea came gradually as I was discovering his character."