The material world is when you can touch thing and and they are part of your basic needs. The non-material is just like a feeling or a thought that you can not feel. Mesopotamia religion connects to the non-material is when they have the thought of what to do and how to do it regarding the afterworld.

During our study of Mesopotamia we were shocked at how different from us they are. They were frightened of their gods while we look up and ask our God for advice. The Mesopotamians were polytheistic, they believed in many gods and worshiped them. Nowadays we have many religions. In Mesopotamia, they had many gods, each one has a job. Here are the gods!, Anu was the father of the gods and controlled the sky, Enlil was the god of the air, Utu was the sun god and lord of truth and justice, Ninhursag was the goddess of the earth, Nanna was the moon god, Inanna was the goddess of love and war, Enki was the god of fresh water as well as lord of wisdom and magic. There were also personal gods. Three fourths of the students at Graded are Christian, and the other students are Jewish, Buddhist or don’t have any religion. The majority of the students celebrate religious holidays, parties and important dates. We don’t have many gods, but we have a main god that not every religion or person believes in, although we do have a lot of saints.

Religion was and is important!  Here are some interesting facts that contrast the Mesopotamian and the Catholic religion. In the catholic religion, there is a god and various saints. People think that our God protects us and helps us through life. God is always helping people. We believe in heaven and hell. We think that heaven is a wonderful place where we watch after our loved ones. This idea is different for the Mesopotamian’s because they were scared of their gods. The gods were like humans.  They felt anger, sadness, happiness, and other emotions. Because of this they made the Mesopotamian people suffer. They believed that when someone died they would just disappear. They also thought that humans were born to serve the gods. Strangely, even though the gods were cruel, the Mesopotamian’s buildt magnificent structures to honor them. Ziggurats were usually built in the middle of the city and were normally seven platforms high. It was considered disrespectful to enter the top level. But in our religion, the temples are churches. Anyone can enter the church at any time to pray or to attend the mass.  It is a place for everyone-- a place of peace.   

Overall, the six graders are confident about their lives and they think that their future is bright and full of wonderful adventures. The Mesopotamians overall had a dark world view of their religion because they thought that they were sent to earth only to be slaves and not to be allowed to follow their own dreams. The Neo Babylonians made ziggurats 300 feet or 90 meters in the air to honor these gods. They would line up every spring to see a procession to please the god. Although both views are completely different, we have to respect their decisions and worldviews because they were not ours to make. 

by L.M and M.J. G                  

Pictures: "Map 37" Klein, Ralph. 2002. The Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/images/babemmap.jpg April 25, 2008