World Religion Theory and Perspectives of Religion Definition Review: Religion is belief in a God or Gods, or the Sacred.

A) Overview of World Religions B) Comparative Religion C) Problems of Religion D) 9 Views of Religion E) Final Thoughts The Six Reasons for Thinking of Religion.

Religion in Review 1) A Very Brief Review of First Day Lecture. A) A brief definition of religion: Religion is belief in God or Gods or the Sacred. 1) Some religions are monotheistic, other polytheistic. 2) Some religions do not conceive of a God. 3) Religion entails faith and reason. B) Religion is not static not easy to characterize, so we included a chemical model of religion. 1) Like oxygen, religion can have varying effects! 2) It depends upon what it combines with! 3) Dynamic model of religion. Religion in Review 2) Six Reasons to be interested in learning about religion: A) The Six Reasons: 1) Grave: Where do we go when we die? 2) Political: How does religion shape political society? War, terror? 3) Moral: How does religion reform and improve us as human beings? 4) Human: Why do we believe what we believe? What makes us tick? 5) Cosmic: What does it all mean? Is there really a God? A soul? Was the world created? 6) Comic: Why can religion be absurd? What can/should we laugh at about it? B) Which reason or reasons is your favorite? 1) Evaluate which reasons best suit your mind. 2) Continue to think about them! World Religion 3) Overview of World Religions A) Monotheistic Religions - One God 1) Three Abrahamic Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam 2) Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, (Hinduism?) B) Polytheistic Faiths - Multiple Gods / Goddesses 1) Hinduism 2) Indigenous Religious Traditions

Pantheistic

And / Or Atheistic Faiths or Philosophies - No God, but a Sense of the Sacred exists. 1) Hinduism?, Jainism, Buddhism 2) Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism

World Religion 4) Religious Studies Theology A) The lens of Religious Studies will be employed. 1) Comparative Study of Religion

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2) Used to determine their beliefs as objectively as possible. 3) Tries to set aside truth claims 4) Mostly academic - American Academy of Religion B) Differs from Theology 1) Focused (often but not always) on one religion and its meaning. 2) Used to instruct in moral & spiritual belief. 3) Truth claims strongly emphasized. 4) Mostly Seminary - Society of Biblical Literature C) Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900) 1) Early pioneer in discipline of religious studies 2) Very interested in religions of India

Comparative World Religion 5) Common Themes of World Religion A) Scholars and theologians such as Hans Kung, Huston Smith, Erik Erikson, Mohandas Gandhi and Sri Ramakrishna have suggested a universal set of moral principles can be extracted from world religions. B) One overarching principle is the golden rule: 1) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 2) Sometimes inverted as the silver rule - do not unto others what you would not like them to do to you. C) Four Basic Ethical Principles emerge: 1) Do not lie. 2) Do not kill. 3) Do not steal. 4) Do not commit adultery / unchaste acts. (see Hans Kung amongst others)

Comparative World Religion 6) Universalism? Or Disagreement? Is the glass half empty? Or half full? A) Universalists / Pluralist: Huston Smith, Karen Armstrong, Mahatma Gandhi. 1) Universal / Plural view of religion: religions are pathways up the same mountain. 2) Universal view sees a redeeming moral view in each religion, even if not fully equal to each other. B) Religions in Conflict e.g. Stephen Prothero, God Is Not One. 1) Religions are essentially in conflict. 2) They have fundamentally differing metaphysical and moral views. C) Ongoing debate in these perspectives. Religious Trilemma Three Choices 7) One might take three different basic outlooks on the truth of religion (religious trilemma): A) Theism the belief in or support of religion. 1) Exclusivism: Support of Only one religion; fringes may be militant or extreme. 2) Inclusivism: Support of more than one religion (at least two) 3) Pluralism: Support of all religions, more or less in egalitarian outlook. B) Atheism the disbelief of religious views. 1) Humanistic / Tolerant: Willing to tolerate or support religious views for their morality.

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2) Hard-line: Opposed philosophically to all religion; fringes may be militant or extreme. C) Agnosticism one cannot affirm / deny. 1) Rational Agnosticism: Reason is insufficient, argument cannot be weighed / finalized. 2) Secularism(?): Indifference or inattention to religion. Religious Trilemma 8) Why is the choice a Trilemma, why is it hard? A) Theism which religion should you choose, and why? What religious perspective? 1) Exclusive, Inclusive, Plural? All have benefits, costs. 2) All have competing truth claims? Which is best? 3) You may want to believe, but should belief be based on wishful thinking? B) Atheism what final evidence is there to rule out God? 1) Problem of evil, competing religions claims and inconsistence are good arguments. 2) But why morbidly extinguish religious hope in the absence of final evidence? 3) Are all atheistic argument really good ones or final ones? C) Agnosticism suspended or reserved judgment. 1) Reserved, suspended judgment can be greatly beneficial! 2) How long can judgment be kept in reserve? 3) As William James observed - religious faith can tend to be a momentous, forced, passionate decision!

Why the different perspectives? 9) People respond differently to the major challenges of religion, some of which are: A) The Problem of Evil 1) How can God allow evil to happen? 2) Theodicy - is a religious defense and explanation of this problem B) Religious Pluralism & Contradictions 1) How can all religions be true? 2) Is religion the problem or the solution? C) Science and Religion 1) Is the religious view compatible with modern scientific views? 2) Is it compatible with political modernity? I.e. democracy? The Problem of Evil 10) The Problem of Evil suggests that in framing this question, there are four significant, and irreconcilable propositions. 1) God Exists 2) God is Good 3) God is All-Powerful 4) Evil exits. A) Taken together, those critical of religion would suggest, - something doesnt add up. B) Theists would counter that Free Will is essential and opposites good & evil necessary for meaningful life. C) These propositions also assume that God or the Sacred is Anthropomorphic based on or like human beings; thinking like humanity. D) What Answers Best Fit your understanding of the World explaining life, meaning & everything?

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The Problem of Evil 11) We may look at the problem of evil from the weight of experience as well: A) The Holocaust - how could God let this be? 1) A question from many Jews and non-Jews 2 Elie Wiesels book Night illuminates it well. B) What of hurricanes, tornadoes, diseases? 1) Why would God allow seemingly arbitrary death? 2) Could God have made the world a less hard place to live? C) Above two describe two types of evil: 1) Moral Evil - of humanitys inhumanity towards one another. 2) Natural Evil - created by our difficult relationship with the environment. Religious Pluralism & Contradiction 12) Another difficulty present to religious consideration is that of pluralism contradictions. A) Religions maintain differing conceptions of a single truth: 1) Is there One God, Many Gods & Goddesses, or No God? 2) Was Christ Divine? Or Just a Prophet? 3) Do we survive death? Is there a soul? Does it reincarnate? B) Competing Truth Claims 1) Which tradition is true? If they all claim to be true? 2) What text is infallible? The Bible? Tanakh? Koran? The Vedas? Buddhism? 3) Are they all partial truths? C) How shall we resolve these questions?

Science and Religion 13) Scientific Questions for Religion A) How were we created? 1) Divine Creation? 2) Or Evolution? B) How was the world created? 1) Six thousand years ago - by Divine Will? - or older? 2) Or by natural forces following the Big Bang? C) How do we reconcile science and religion? 1) Incompatible? - science will replace religion. 2) Compatible? - not threatening or interacting spheres of interest. 3) Confirming? Will science confirm what we know of religion? E.g. the Anthropic Principle. Pause, Break for Questions . 14) Questions? 1) What are your favorite reasons / interests in religion? Grave, Political, Moral, Human, Cosmic, and Comic? 2) Has religion changed much? Has humanity changed with it? 3) Has religion shaped our humanity for the better? Three or Four Basic Views of Religious Truth 15) In addition to religious trilemma, we can posit 3 (or 4) basic views of religion: A) Theism - affirming God or the Sacred with faith and reason. B) Deism (a type of theism) - affirming God or the Sacred more with more emphasis on reason than faith. C) Agnosticism - neither affirming nor denying religious faith. D) Atheism - Denying or rejecting the idea of God(s) or the Sacred.

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E) However - religion & belief is complex / chemical, remember? 15a) A more nuanced nine views will be described: A) Theism - 4 views 1) Militant Theism 2) Traditional, Conservative 3) Traditional, Liberal 4) Progressive B) Deism 1 view, some variety. C) Agnosticism - 1 basic view D) Atheism - 3 basic views 1) Tolerant Atheism / Humanism 2) Hard Atheism 3) Militant Atheism 9 Views of Religion 16) Militant Theism: Adamant belief in God(s) or the Sacred with fixed moral certainty and militant opposition to others. A) One might call this Fanaticism / Religious Extremism 1) Unfortunately most religious traditions have been marred by it 2) Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and even Buddhist have had extremists. 3) Militant theism doesnt compromise. B) Radical Islam is only one example (Osama Bin Laden, Muhammad Atta) 1) Jewish Baruch Goldstein - 1994 murder of 29 Arabs at Cave of Patriarchs 2) Christian Crusaders - beginning 1096 3) Paul Hill - 1994 murder of abortion doctor 4) Jim Jones - Nov 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 people 5) Nathuram Vinayak Godse - assassinated Gandhi, Jan. 30, 1948

9 Views of Religion 17) Conservative Traditional Theism: Confident in belief of God(s) or the sacred, with firm, literal or fairly fixed views of morality. A) Conservative Traditional Theism 1) Affirms one true religion. 2) Affirms limited range of moral options 3) Analogous to religious exclusivism. B) Conservative Traditional Theism supports: 1) Institutionalized Church, certain dogmas. 2) An Infallible (or at least highly reliable) Text - the Bible, Tanakh, Koran, Vedas, etc. 3) Firm attachments to tradition, and ritual. C) Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Pope, Orthodox or Conservative Jews; Hasan al-Banna (Islamist; founder Muslim Brothers) 9 Views of Religion 18) Liberal Traditional Theism: Belief in God(s) or the Sacred, blended with modern scientific and philosophical criticism. A) Liberal Theism 1) Affirms one religion as true or most true, but accept one or two others as close to religious truth. 2) Remains committed to overarching principles, more than specific ethical norms. 3) May include also Inclusive Theism.

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B) Liberal Religious Theism 1) Denies Biblical Infallibility 2) Text - whether Bible, Tanakh, Koran, or Vedas - is strongly inspired by God, but not the literal word of God. 3) Incorporates some modern philosophy and scientific views. C) Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Heschel, & Reform Judaism as examples.

9 Views of Religion 19) Progressive Theism: Belief that a universal God(s) or Sacred conception that may be fully or partially expressed in all religious traditions. A) Progressive Theism 1) Accept all religions as true or partially true. 2) By logical necessity steers away from claims of absolutism of infallibility. 3) Analogous to religious pluralism. B) Some examples of Progressive Theists: 1) Mohandas K. Gandhi (Hindu) 2) Rammohun Roy (Hindu) 3) Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Muslim) 4) Sri Ramakrishna (Hindu) 5) Universal Religions - such as Bahai 9 Views of Religion 20) Deism: Affirm belief or hope in God(s) or the Sacred, but significantly filtered or guarded by reason, philosophical criticism. A) Deists affirm religion, however: 1) They give more emphasis to reason rather than emotional faith. 2) They try to fit religion in modern philosophical and scientific framework B) Deism emerged from Enlightenment View of Religion 1) Saw God as Divine clockmaker and the world as his watch. 2) God made the world, then let it unfold according to physical laws. 3) De-emphasizes Miracles and the Miraculous C) Examples: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Immanuel Kant, probably also Thomas Paine

9 Views of Religion 21) Agnosticism: Maintains that beliefs in God(s) or the Sacred cannot be supported by reason, nor refuted by reason. A) Agnostics literally are a-gnostic, without knowledge of God. 1) Metaphysics is beyond us, and just speculation. 2) God(s) / The Divine cannot be proven or disproved. B) T.H. Huxley (1825-1895) first coined the term Agnostic 1) Believed he could neither affirm nor disavow religion. 2) Looked critically upon theists & atheists. 3) Known as Darwins bullog, defender of Evolutionary theory C) Charles Darwin (1809-1882) also made a spiritual journey from theism to agnosticism.

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9 Views of Religion 22) Tolerant Atheism / Humanism: Not believing in the ultimate Truth of religion, but not ultimately hostile to it. A) Humanist / Tolerant Atheist 1) Willing to co-exist with religious believers. 2) Not interested in the belief in God; religious values may be useful. 3) See the moral importance of religion, but dont affirm its metaphysical truth. B) Tolerant Atheists / Humanists 1) Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) - wrote the Essence of Christianity; sees religion as projection of humanity. 2) John Dewey (1859-1952 ) American Educator, emphasized moral education & values religion had no monopoly on values. 3) Isaac Asimov: (1920-1992): On rationalism: I prefer rationalism to atheism The word atheist, meaning no God is negative and defeatist. It says that you dont believe and puts you in an eternal position of defense. Rationalism on the other hand states that you DO believe. (Its Been A good Life, 21) 9 Views of Religion 23) Hard Atheism: Rejection of the belief in God(s) or the Sacred, and willingness to argue philosophically against religion. A) Hard Atheism: 1) Sees religion as false, and harmful. 2) Religion may have had primitive roots, but we have essentially outgrown it. B) Karl Marx (1818-1883) 1) Religion was an opiate of the masses 2) Distracted proletariat from oppressive reality. C) Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) 1) Saw religion as primitive illusion. 2) Best to outgrow it. D) Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) 1) Author - Why I am Not a Christian - saw religion as false, harmful. 2) Moral and metaphysical belief as dysfunctional. E) Richard Dawkins (1941-) author of The God Delusion.

9 Views of Religion 24) Militant Atheists: Opposed to religious truth and morality by use of physical and philosophical force. A) Militant Atheism: 1) Views religion as harmful threat. 2) Religion is so bad & dysfunctional, force must be used to destroy its influence. B) Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) / Communist Russia. 1) Presided over forced dismantling of religious powers. 2) Clergy marginalized, oppressed, or killed. C) Mao Zedong (1893-1976) 1) Bitterly opposed to religion as competing influence / ideology 2) Cultural Revolution (1966-76) dismantled, oppressed religious & ideological opponents 3) Forced annexation of Tibet, 1949-1959.

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Review 25) What outlook A) Atheism: Tolerant, Hard, or Militant perspectives. B) Theism: Exclusive, Inclusive, Pluralist. C) Agnosticism: Secular, or Rational. or perspective Theism / Atheism 1) Militant Theism 2) Traditional, Conservative 3) Traditional, Liberal Theism 4) Progressive Theism 5) Deism - reason-centered theism. 6) Agnosticism 7) Humanism / Tolerant Atheism 8) Hard Atheism 9) Militant Atheism which do you find most plausible? What religious perspective most attracts or alienates you?

The Discipline of Learning World Religion 26) Introduction to World Religions something akin to anatomy classes. (or learning a language!) A) Doctors cannot master knowledge of the human body without knowing it parts! 1) Study the parts bones, organs, tissues, etc.! 2) Know them independently. 3) Know how they work together 4) Could apply to language too learn words before you can speak the whole! B) Similarly in religion. 1) Study the parts prophets, founders, principles, beliefs. 2) Know what they say. 3) Balance them against each other. C) Then you begin to get the big picture. The Six Reasons 27) Dont forget the big picture, and remember the Six Reasons: A) The Six Reasons: 1) Grave: Where do we go when we die? 2) Political: How does religion shape political society? War, terror? 3) Moral: How does religion reform and improve human beings? 4) Human: Why do we believe what we believe? What makes us tick? 5) Cosmic: What does it all mean? Is there really a God? A soul? Was world created? 6) Comic: Why can religion be absurd? What can we laugh at? B) Continue to think about these issues. 1) Know the ideas, parts, and principles of religion. 2) Try to assemble the bigger puzzle.

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Six Reasons Six Questions 28) Think about the Six Reason, and these questions: A) The Six Reasons and Six Questions: 1) Grave: Is religion just a good consolation for facing death? Is it something more? Why does God allow for evil things to happen? 2) Political: Has religion been a resource for making the world a better place? Or has it impeded that progress? 3) Moral: Does religion make us better as moral individuals? Can all religions do this equally well? Why or why not? 4) Human: Why do we believe religion? What makes us tick? Does religion come more from reason or from emotion? 5) Cosmic: What is the great metaphysical explanation for everything? In terms of religion, are moral beliefs more important, or equally important to metaphysical beliefs? 6) Comic: Why can religion be absurd? Is religion a laughing matter? And what things are not laughing matters? What things are sacred? B) Choose your favorite question or questions think about them! The Optional Essay Question Extra Credit 29) Think about your question begin to formulate an answer, or hypothesis, supported by some scholarship in response to it. A) Write an essay of 4-6 pages, which is 1200 to 1800 words. 1) Have a hypothesis, argument, footnotes, etc. 2) Think it through. 3) Assignment is optional: extra credit if done. B) Due Date: 1) May be submitted any time before the last day of classes, i.e. the final day before finals begin. 2) Finals period is too late. Get it done before that. 3) Feel free to ask questions. C) Good luck. Pause, Break for Questions . 30) Questions? 1) What is your biggest question about or problem with religion? 2) Are there other good reasons, beside the six I mentioned, for being interested in religion? 3) How has religion affected you personally? Recommended Readings / Bibliography Readings / Bibliography - some introductory books in World Religions: Asimov, Isaac, edited by Janet Jeppson, Isaac Asimov: Its Been a Good Life, (Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books, 1992) Aslan, Reza, No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, New York, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006. Armstrong, Karen, Buddha, New York, Penguin Book, 2004. Boulton, Wayne G., Thomas D. Kennedy, and Allen Verhey, From Christ to the World: Introductory Readings in Christian Ethics, Grand Rapid Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994. Fischer, Louis, Gandhi, His Life and Message for the World, Mentor Books/ New American Library, New York, 1982 Ehrman, Bart D., Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Change the Bible and Why, New York, HarperOne, Date. 2005. Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity, translated by George Eliot, Prometheus Books,

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Amherst, New York, 1989 Fisher, Mary Pat, Living Religions, Seventh Edition, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 2008. Partridge, Christopher, Introduction to World Religions, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2005 Prothero, Stephen, God Is Not One, (New York, HarperCollins, 2011) Rodrigues, Hillary P., Introducing Hinduism, (New York, Routledge, 2006) Smith, Huston, The Worlds Religions, Harpercollins Books, New York, 1991. Wylen, Stephen, Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism, (New York/New Jersey, Paulist Press, 2000)

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