Field Journal One: Reflections on So Help Me God: Examining the Religious Experience
This Field Journal reflects on the film So Help Me God: Examining the Religious Experience. By turns a
humorous, provocative, and ethnocentric film, it illustrates the continued expression of religion in
American ‘secular’ society and the spiritual yearning that exists in the midst of consumer society, and it
is a good ‘survey’ of the range of religions in the contemporary West. The film nicely illustrates some of
the reasons why anthropologists who study religion are more interested in religious behaviour than
religious belief. For those of you who have grown up in a Christian tradition, you will recognize some of
your religion in this film; for those of you who did not grow up with Christianity, then you will learn
something about the tradition here (although please note that some of what is presented is a
misrepresentation, partially relating to the point the protagonist is trying to make).
Find and view the film So Help Me God via UFV’s Kanopy Collection. If you are unable to access it via one
of the following links, do a title search within the UFV Library catalogue and access the film that way.
Please note that you will need an active library account. (The film may also be available via FVRL if you
have a local library account, however, you are only entitled to view a limited number of films via this
means).
https://ufvca.kanopy.com/node/114532
https://ufvca.kanopy.com/video/so-help-me-god-0
As you watch the film, think about:
– what the film demonstrates about the ways in which people are similar across religions, and/or
about how they are different?
– what does the film communicate about the contemporary American weltanschauung
(worldview, a term used by the Jewish interviewee)?
– in what ways is the man on the quest like
– or unlike – an anthropologist (using the Metcalf
article and the first week’s lecture as reference points)?
– in your opinion, what is Simon Cole (the narrator) really seeking?
– why does the film have the title it does?
Write and upload a Field Journal entry in response.
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