Jesus Shaves Bio

Humankind and the Assignment of Meaning

Humankind would be incomplete if individuals stopped attributing meaning to phenomena and diverse elements across the universe. This practice allows people to overcome the difficulties of language and effectively communicate with one another. Assigning meaning to phenomena is a typical practice in comprehending religion, owing to the fact that religion demands some degree of universality, which requires people from all over the world to believe in something in common. Religion, for example, brings together people with diverse personalities, cultural practices, and language orientations through a shared understanding of the meaning attributed to a supernatural being or deity. This discussion analyses David Sedaris’ fictional story “Jesus Saves” in a bid to try and understand how assigning meaning to deity helps in promoting belief systems among the people, and help them unite in religion.

An Analogy of Religion in David Sedaris' “Jesus Saves”

In his story “Jesus Saves,” David Sedaris uses an analogy of a classroom argument to bring out how people assign different meaning to religion. The story tells of a class setting where students are caught in a conundrum of explaining the meaning of Easter to one of their own who seems to be out of touch with the word. When the students fail to relate Easter to Jesus, they descend to explain the kind of food eaten during Easter celebrations. The English-speaking student argues that a rabbit from Rome usually drops chocolate eaten on the day; while the teacher holds that the bell usually delivers the chocolate (Sedaris pp. 428). An argument ensues but no agreement is reached at eventually.

Assigning Meaning to Deity in Religion

From the argument, it is apparent that both the English-speaking student and the teacher acknowledge the fact that chocolate is always delivered from Rome during Easter. However, there is a disagreement on who does the delivery. The teacher holds that it is the bell that delivers the chocolate while Sedaris believes that it is the Rabbit who delivers the chocolate. This is a common encounter with religion since time immemorial. People have always believed in the existence of a higher being who guides their daily lives and provides for their daily needs just like is the case with chocolate delivery in the story. However, the problem arises when it comes to understanding who this deity is, or what it is. This has prompted some people to assign deity to some invisible supernatural powers or beings while some assign deity to visible elements such as totems. The understanding is that people assign meaning to different elements to help them understand religion best. While the meaning may be different, they point to the same thing such as the belief in some supreme being.

The Concept of Faith in Religion

The main point put across by the author is the concept of faith. That even as people may have different understanding of religion; their difference is unified by faith and believing in the existence of something greater than themselves. People’s different understanding of religion should not therefore act as a variant point for starting to doubt the existence of God, but rather, it should affirm their faith in Him.

Work Cited

David, Sedaris. “Jesus Saves.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th Ed. New York” WW (2014). 426-429. Print