Pilgrimage, Evan Moog

In Turner's book, he goes over how the idea of pilgrimage is throughout our religious culture as Christians and even in other religions as well. Pilgrimage and pilgrims are a very interesting topic to discuss especially in the United States because there is definitely not as many sacred pilgrimage sites in America than there are in Europe and the Middle East. The commercialism and capitalism that surrounds the American culture has shaped how instead of people traveling on pilgrimages they travel as tourists to only visit the sites instead of interact with them. This unique characteristic of the American culture has almost separated us from the rest of the world and there connection of the landscape when they travel. I have visited Europe several times and there is a distinct connection to walking and even the land that one lives on that is different than Americans have with the ground and environment around them as they travel. I hope that someday I can realize that America does actually have a culture somewhere that is focused on pilgrimage and the intimate relationship with the place.