malcolm x post 4- religion. (graded #1)

In Malcolm X, it is clear that chapter ten is the start of Malcolm turning his life around... thank god. After receiving letters from his religious siblings while in prison, Malcolm decided to go towards Elijah Muhammad and the Islam religion.  Malcolm, at his brother's request, starts to follow some of the Muslim religion's rules, for example not eat pork and stopping smoking. Malcolm even says "Later I would learn, when I had read and studied Islam a good deal, that, unconsciously, my first pre-Islamic submission had been manifested" (Haley 159). 

When Malcolm gets out of prison he becomes do devoted to Muhammad and his teachings that he goes out and tries to recruit as many people he can to convert into becoming a Muslim. I do not agree completely with Malcolm's actions here though. I do not think it is right for someone to go and get people to change their beliefs and convert to your religion. People should be able to believe what they want without having to be influenced by anyone else. Malcolm wants to tell the "brainwashed" black people about the white "devil". This part is sort of ironic though because Malcolm was once one of these "brainwashed blacks" and now, although he has changed, acts like he wasn't. 

The Muslim religion literally took over Malcolm's life and in fact saved him. I am very faithful when it comes to God and being a Catholic, but I do not let it control my life. I do believe that no matter what you have done or how low of a state you may happen to be in, God is always with you and can help you.  This is exactly what Allah and the Islam religion did for Malcolm. I did not think I was actually going to be able to make a personal connection to Malcolm until he showed a completely different side of himself.  This year I will receive my confirmation and about every month we have a retreat at the church to discuss a certain topic and have a series of questions to follow. One question in particular I remember from out last session was, "Do you think that faith should form the values by which you live you life?" As a response to this I said that it depends on the type of person you are, but that it should play some type of role in your life.  For me, there have been several times in which I have been faced with a hard choice to make and I turn to God for guidance.  So whether you are at the point where you have hit rock bottom, like Malcolm was, or just need some help at times, I know the one person I can always turn to is God. 

Here are two websites I found that I felt really related to Malcolm and how after really hard time he was able to pick himself up with his faith. 

The first one is a story that made headlines in March 2005. Brian Nichols, an alleged killed had shot 4 people and then held Ashley Smith hostage in her apartment for 7 hours.  Smith was able to get Nichols to surrender peacefully after talking to him about her drug addiction she battled and her faith and how it saved her. 

http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/Christian-Inspiration/2005/10/An-Angel-Sent-From-God.aspx

This second website is about scientists trying to take and make sense of faith and ethics.  How they play a tole in helping people with various issues and what effects they can have.  It was very interesting to read and see what scientists are trying to figure out and their views. 

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SNJ0252-0-393&artho=0000261230&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Scientists%20Rush%20in%20Where%20Angels%20May%20Trend&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&Ink=N&ic=N