Chapter 1: Beliefs

System
 Introduction
 The need to study religion is important as it
concerns to look for common themes in the
religious traditions of the different religions.
 Seeking knowledge of other religions may come to
an understanding of them without falling into a
quagmire of the details of each religion.
 It addresses the existential and social concerns of
each religion as it deals with in its own distinct way
in the view of their common manifestation i.e.
rituals, devotions ethics etc.
 Objectives
 The study of the different religions helps
learners to :
– Understand the historical contents of the nine
religions, appreciate the uniqueness and
similarities and promote mutual
understanding among believers of different
faiths.
– Demonstrate understanding and appreciation
of one’s faith and that of others.
In studying the different religions, we may
be able to answer the following
questions:
1. How might one approach the religious
phenomenon today?
2. What is religion and how is it
manifested?
3. How does religion relate to life?
The study of religion is important in
3 ways
1. They are important as it is the vital
ingredient in the varied history of human
kind’s various experiments in living.
2. The fact that in order to grasp the
meanings and values of the plural
cultures of today’s world, we need to
know something of the worldviews which
underlie them.
3. As individuals we try to form our own
coherent and emotionally satisfying
picture of reality and it is always relevant
to see the great ideas and practices of
various important cultures and civilization,
such ideologies permeating those cultures
are not to be neglected.
 What is religion?
Religion are combinations of the grassroots
practices and cultural norms of the lay
believers.
The grassroots of religion are combinations
of beliefs and practices from multiple
historical sources; magical thinking, rituals
and habits, and other popular beliefs tend
to survive in a culture even its official
religion may change.
The formal and scholarly religion of clerics
and religious professionals is complex,
more complete and resilient to change.
Theology is difficult and complicated to
study because the religion’s scholar
debate the weak spots and difficult spots
of the doctrine and work out complex
philosophies to circumvent them.
Hence, the more difficult the intellectual
aspect of religion the more the masses or
common people will fail to comprehend or
understand and implement it; the bigger the
divide will be between the cultural and
scholarly versions of religion.
Crabtree 2013, a religion is always a
contradictory mix of both what the leaders
say the religion is, and what the group of
the actual followers do and believe.
 WHAT IS RELIGION?
 Religion is an institution established by
man for various reasons:
– TO EXERT CONTROL – direct people, to have
power over
– INSTILL MORALITY – ethics, values or
goodness of an act
– STROKE EGOS – tap your sense of self or
personality
 WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
 Spirituality (holiness, Godliness) is born in a
person and develops in the person. It extends to
all facets of a person life.
 Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times
forced. Thus people would say “ being spiritual
is more important than being religious.
 True spirituality is something that is found deep
within oneself; way of loving, accepting and
relating to the world, environment and people
around him or her.
 Distinction between Religion vs
Spirituality
 Religion is saddled with everything negative.
 Spirituality is exalted with everything positive
 Many of the negative things which people attribute
to religions are features of some forms of some
religions; Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
 Religion is spiritual and spirituality can also be
considered religious.
 Religion tends to incorporate public rituals and
organized doctrines
 Spirituality tends to be more personal and private
 Distinction of Religion vs
Theology?
 Religion and theology are two forms that are
often confused when it comes to their study.
 Religion is based on faiths and beliefs to the
acceptance of superhuman powers in the form
of God or Gods.
 Theology is the study of theistic thoughts; i.e.
true Christianity: Theism - the acceptance of the
presence of God or a superhuman power
 Theology works on religion. Religious facts
and thoughts have been established for the
subject of theology to develop.
 Theology is based on religion, a system of
theistic beliefs especially Christian religion.
 Religion does not deal on rational analysis.
Religious leaders work on the idea of
establishing concepts and truths about the
existence God and superhuman powers.
 Theology deals with the rational analysis
of a religious faith. Theologians work with
the idea of establishing proofs rationally
and analyzing religious truths already
established by religious leaders.
 Religion deals with the customs and
manners followed by a certain community
when it comes to practicing any particular
belief or faith.
 Theology does not deal with the customs
and manners followed by a certain society
but it only tries to examine and critically
analyze the principles laid in any given
religion.
 Religious leaders establish religious truths
whereas theological leaders establish
analytical truths.
 Elements of Religion
1. Belief in the Supernatural powers – which
influence every aspect of human life. It varies
from one religion to another, i. e. Hindus
believe in the existence of gods and goddesses
– polytheists, some people believe in one God
– monotheists
2. Belief in the Holy or Sacred- the heart of
every religion, are mental constructs, these are
symbols that are both unseen and tangible. i.e.
Hindus – Cow is sacred for them
4. Systems of rituals – they are the practical
side of religion. These arte behaviors performed
by individuals or group of individuals with
reference a supernatural being.
5. Sinful acts – these are acts a sacred or
righteous and other acts as profane or sinful..
Acting in accordance with the religious principles
is believed to reaped good results while sinful
acts result in suffering.
5. The method of salvation – almost all
religion consider salvation as the
ultimate of life. Buddhist: Nirvana, be
with God, Hinduism: Mukti – free form
the chain of life cycle.
6. Mode of worship – each religion has a
specific way of worshipping the supernatural
power in the form of a statue, or formless
manner – Hindus; worship idols with folded
hands, Muslims worship with unfolded hands.
7.
7. Liturgy and ideology – every religion
practice public relations rites and
rituals in fixed forms either in oral
tradition of written tradition
8. Place of worship – each religion has
a definite place of worship. Hindu;
temple Muslims; mosque, Christians
; church
Worldviews of the World’s
Major Religions
1. Naturalism ( Atheism, Agnoticism,
Existentialism
a. Reality – the material universe is all that
exists. Reality is “one dimensional”.
There is no such thing as a soul or a
spirit. Everything can be explained on
the basis of natural law.
b. Man: man is the product of a biological
process of evolution. Man is entirely
material and that one day the human
species will pass out of existence.
c. Truth: truth is usually understood as a
scientific proof; only that which can be
observed with the five senses is
accepted as real or true.
d. Values: No objective values or moral
exist. Morals are individual preferences
or socially useful behaviors. Even social
morals are subject to evolution and
change.
 2. Pantheism (Hinduism, Taoism,
Buddhism; much new age
consciousness

a. Reality: only the spiritual dimension exist.

All else is illusion. Spiritual reality,
Brahmans, is eternal, impersonal and
unknowable. It is possible to say that
everything is a part of God or that God is
in everything and in everyone.
b. Man: man is one with ultimate reality. Thus man
is spiritual, eternal and impersonal. Man’s belief
that he is an individual illusion.
c. Truth: Truth is an experience of unity with “the
oneness” of the universe . Truth is beyond all
rational description. Rational thought as it is
understood in the West cannot show us reality.
d. Values: Because ultimate reality is impersonal
many pan- atheistic thinkers believe that there is
no real distinction between good and evil.
Instead “un-enlightened” behavior is that which
fails to understand essential unity.
 3. Theism; Christianity, Islam and
Judaism
a. Reality: An infinite personal God exist. He
created a finite material world. Reality is
both material and spiritual, the universe
as we know had a beginning and will have
and end.
b. Man: Humankind is the unique creation of
God. People were created “in the image of
God” which means that we are personal,
eternal, spiritual and biological.
c. Truth: truth about God is known
through revelation. Truth about the
material world is gained via revelation
an the five senses in conjunction with
rational thoughts.
d. Values: Moral values are the
objective expression of an absolute
moral being.
 4. Spiritism and Polytheism
a. Reality: the world is populated with spirit
beings who govern what goes on. Gods
and demons are the real reason behind
natural events. Material things are real
but they have spirits associated with
them and therefore can be interpreted
spirituality.
b. Man: Man is a creation of the gods like
the rest of the creatures on earth. Often,
tribes or races have a special relationship
with some gods who protect them and can
punish them.
c. Truth: truth about the natural world is
discovered through the shaman figure
who have visions telling him what the
gods and demons are doing and how they
feel.
d. Values: moral values take the form of
taboos which are things that irate or anger
various spirits. These taboos are different
from the idea of good and evil because its
just as important to avoid irritating evil
spirits as it is good ones.
 5. Postmodernism
a. Reality: reality must be interpreted
though our language and cultural
paradigm. Therefore reality is socially
constructed.
b. Man: Human are nodes in a cultural
reality – they are a product of their social
setting. The idea that people are free
and autonomous and free is a myth.
c. Truth: Truths are mental constructs
meaningful to individuals within a
particular cultural paradigm. They do not
apply to other cultural paradigm. Truths is
relative to ones culture.
d. Values: Values are part of our social
paradigms as well. Tolerance, freedom of
expression, inclusion and refusal to claim
to have the answers are the only universal
truths.
 Chapter 2: How World Religion Began
Date Near East India China/Japan

1000+BCE Judaism Moses 1500 Hinduism

– 3500 BCE 2000BCE
600 BCE Zoroasrtianism Jainism Taoism(Lao Tse)580-
Zoroaster Mahavira 500BCE
628 – 527 BCE 599 – 527 BCE Confucianism
Confucius – 551-
479BCE
100CE Christianity Shinto 100CE
Jesus 1-33CE
600 CE Islam, Mohammad
570-632 CE
1500 CE Sikhism, Guru
Nanak 1469-1538
CE
1900CE Baha’I – Baha’u’llah
1817-1892 CE
Different Cultures that gave rise to
specific Religion
 Chinese Philosophy
– Most of the social values were derived from
the Confucianism and Taoism.
– Reincarnation and other rebirth concepts is a
reminder of the connection between real life
and the after life.
– The concept of guanxi, indicating the primacy
of relations over rules has been well
documanted.
– Confucianism was the official philosophy
throughout most of the Imperial China’s
history and the mastery of Confucian text was
the primary criterion for entry into imperial
bureaucracy.
 Hinduism
 The worlds third largest religion and was
originated in the Indian subcontinent
 It is a big religion that does not have a
single founder, does not have a religious
organization, nor specific theological
system and does not have a system of
morality.
 India was a land of diverse cultures,
religions, races and ethnicities.
 Hinduism can be traced back in the Indus
Valley of Civilalization in the 4000BC to
2200BC
 It has a diverse body of cultural and
philosophical practices - beliefs and traditions
i. e. karma, dharma, samsara and moshka.
 Hindu people do not believe in violence but
hey do believe in prayers, honesty, truth,
austerity, celibacy, and penance.
 The Hindu scriptures are collectively referred
to as the Shashtras which were orally passed
from generation to generation until ancient
scholars wrote them mainly in the Sankrit
language.
 Some of the Hindu scriptures are the:
– Shruti – refers to the Vedas which represents
eternal truths revealed to ancient sages but
some Hindu individuals associate the Vedas
with a God or a powerful person
– Smritis – the most known of the Smritis, are
the Mahabbarata ad the Ramayana.
– The Hindus worship a large pantheon of Gods
na Goddesses, they believed in the one
Supreme Power that manifests itself in many
forms.