Overview:

With this project, I analyzed the Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church through research,
attending one of their religious services and evaluating their views through the Kluckhohn and
Strodtbeck’s Value Orientation Theory. From this I was able to have a greater understanding of
their beliefs and values, and better understand the beliefs and values of my own religion.

Religion:
The Cornerstone Church is a Christian denomination that believes very strongly in following the
teachings of the bible. Because of this, they greatly value education and study to become
greater acquainted with the will of God and the teachings found within the bible. This value has
led them to hold weekly religious meetings where a religious leader looks at different passages
from the scriptures and expounds upon them or helps better explain them. They even have
services made especially for children so that they can learn along with their parents.

Another value that they hold close is that of being humble. This is brought by their belief that
everyone is imperfect and that the only way to become perfect is through Christ. This value is
made manifest in their attempt to include all kinds of people in their services and activities, not
believing that one person is above another. This value is also shown in the service that they
perform to those who stand in need.

Religious Function:
In order to better understand their values and beliefs, I attended one of their weekly religious
meetings, which are currently being broadcasted to accommodate the current pandemic. In this
meeting, they had someone take a passage from the bible and explain what it meant in simpler
language and provided further insight on the topic. Besides learn about the bible, they also sang
songs, similar to Christian rock, and prayed. Their upbeat songs and their manner of praying
that seemed like an ode to God was a little strange to me, as I am accustomed to a more
reverent atmosphere in my religious meetings. I also noticed that they would stand as they
prayed and read from the scriptures. Had I been physically there, I would have been caught off
guard to see everyone stand up.

Value Theory:
The value theory that I used to evaluate this religion was the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value
Orientation Theory. The main idea of this theory is that “each society has one, or possibly two,
preferred responses to [a set of questions] that reflect the predominant values of that society.”
(Martin, 2017, p. 97) These questions include the following:
• What is human nature? (Are people inherently good or evil?)
• What is the relationship between humans and nature? (Do we dominate nature, or does
it dominate us?)
• What is the relationship between humans? (Are we individualistic, or do we work
together?)
• What is the preferred personality? (Is a person better if they act, become something, or
grow spiritually?)
• What is the orientation toward time? (Are we more focused the past, present or
future?)

Analysis:
Human Nature: According to the Cornerstone Church’s website, “All humans are estranged
from God and condemned by their sinfulness,” and are therefore considered to be naturally
evil; but despite this belief in the natural tendency of humans to do/be evil, they also believe
that we can become good through Christ. This creates a duality in the view on whether humans
are evil or good. You can partially see this view by the existence of their weekly services. If they
believed that humans are inherently bad and couldn’t change, there would be no point in trying
to teach people to become like someone who they consider to be perfect and pure. Besides
this, they also try to encourage all to come to learn so they can change from their polluted state
to an improved state.
Humans and Nature: I couldn’t find any direct information on what their viewpoint is on the
relationship between humans and nature, but if I am to make an assumption based on their
belief in the bible, I would say that they believe that humans dominate nature. According to
Genesis 1:28 (King James Version), “God…said unto them [man]… replenish the earth, and
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over
every living thing…” This points to the idea that they believe that we as humans have a literal
God-given right to rule over the Earth and the creatures that live thereon. It is quite possible,
however, that those who are a part of this religion have very differentiating viewpoints on this
topic, as it is not a critical belief of the Cornerstone Church and was never mentioned as far as I
could tell.

Between Humans: The Cornerstone Church seems to have a very group-oriented view on the
relationship between humans. One of their core beliefs is that people can, and should, strive to
be “united together in the body of Christ.” This likely means that we should be united in our
desire to follow and be like Christ and that as we do so, we will become more unified. This
belief is further manifested in the way that they stand as one as they pray and read together
from the bible. Even their songs promote unity in the way they sing together along with the
message found in the lyrics.

Preferred Personality: This one was a little less explicit, as they did promote doing through
service, becoming as they learn how to become a disciple of Christ, and growing spiritually.
Overall, I think they emphasize the need to become as they strive to learn the gospel and
embody the teachings therein.

Time: I found that the Cornerstone Church is heavily oriented on the past as they look back to
the teachings of Christ and the prophets found in the bible. The very essence of their beliefs are
based on these ancient teachings, and without them they wouldn’t exist as they try to model
their lives around them.
Reflection
Overall, I thought that this was a good, enlightening project. It was a good way for me to see
how people analyze different cultures and religions that are different from theirs. As I began my
research, I found myself trying to find differences almost as a critic searches for flaws to
criticize. The more I looked into their beliefs, however, the more I found that we believed
nearly the same things and the main difference was simply how we manifested our beliefs. I
think that this experience will be beneficial for me when I try to help explain my own beliefs to
others and have more compassion and understanding if they find my beliefs or practices a little
strange.

Citations:
Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church (2020) About Us. Retrieved from:
https://cornerstoneforlife.com/about-us/

Martin, Judith N., and Nakayama, Thomas K. Intercultural Communication in Contexts (7th Ed.).
Boston: McGraw Hill, 2017.