RELIGION The term "religion" refers both

to the personal practices related

A religion is any systematic to communal faith and to group
approach to living that involves rituals and communication
beliefs about one's origins, one's stemming from shared
place in the world, or a conviction. "Religion" is
responsibility to live and act in sometimes used
the world in particular ways. interchangeably with "faith" or
Religion is often equated with "belief system,"[2] but it is more
faith and belief in a higher socially defined than personal
power or truth, but it is more convictions, and it entails
commonly defined in religious specific behaviors, respectively.
studies as the patterns that
express that faith and reinforce The development of religion has
it in day-to-day living. One can taken many forms in various
share the philosophy of a cultures, with continental
religion, believing in its higher differences. Any case, about the
truth, without manifesting that roots, it considers psychological
faith religiously.[1] by Sigmund Freud,

Aspects of religion include

narrative, symbolism, beliefs,
and practices that are supposed philsophical by Ernesto De
to give meaning to the Martino and social by Emile
practitioner's experiences of life. Durkheim, along with origins
Whether the meaning centers and historical development.
on a deity or deities, or an
ultimate truth, religion is Religion is often described as a
commonly identified by the communal system for the
practitioner's prayer, ritual, coherence of belief focusing on
meditation, music and art, a system of thought, unseen
among other things, and is often being, person, or object, that is
interwoven with society and considered to be supernatural,
politics. It may focus on specific sacred, divine, or of the highest
supernatural, metaphysical, and truth. Moral codes, practices,
moral claims about reality (the values, institutions, tradition,
cosmos and human nature) rituals, and scriptures are often
which may yield a set of traditionally associated with the
religious laws and ethics and a core belief, and these may have
particular lifestyle. Religion also some overlap with concepts in
encompasses ancestral or secular philosophy. Religion is
cultural traditions, writings, also often described as a "way
history, and mythology, as well of life" or a life stance.
as personal faith and religious
experience. Etymology
Religion is derived from the
Latin religiō, the ultimate origins
of which are obscure. One
possibility is derivation from a
reduplicated *le-ligare, an
interpretation traced to Cicero
connecting lego "read", i.e. re
(again) + lego in the sense of
"choose", "go over again" or
"consider carefully". Modern
scholars such as Tom Harpur
and Joseph Campbell favor the
derivation from ligare "bind,
connect", probably from a
prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again)
+ ligare or "to reconnect," which
was made prominent by St.
Augustine, following the
interpretation of Lactantius.[3][4]
However, the French scholar
Daniel Dubuisson notes that
relying on this etymology "tends
to minimize or cancel out the
role of history"; he notes that
Augustine gave a lengthy
definition of religio that sets it
quite apart from the modern
word "religion".[5]
History
The word "religion" as it is used
today does not have an obvious
pre-colonial translation into non-
European languages. Daniel
Dubuisson writes that "what the
West and the history of religions
in its wake have objectified
under the name 'religion' is ...
something quite unique, which
could be appropriate only to
itself and its own history."[6] The
words used in other languages
for similar concepts, such as
dharma, bhakti, Tao, or Islam,
have vastly different histories.
The history of other cultures'
interaction with the religious
category is therefore their
interaction with an idea that first
developed in Europe under the
influence of Christianity.[7
Religion and the body politic
A good understanding of the
meaning of Christianity before
the word "religion" came into
common usage can be found in
St. Augustine's writing. For
Augustine, Christianity was a
disciplina, a "rule" just like that
of the Roman Empire.
Christianity was therefore a
power structure opposing and
superseding human institutions,
a literal Kingdom of Heaven.
Rather than calling one to self-
discipline through symbols, it
was itself the discipline taught
by one's family, school, church,
and city authorities.[8] At this
point, too, the root of the
English word "religion", the Latin
religio, was in use only to mean
"reverence for God or the gods,
careful pondering of divine
things, piety" (which Cicero
further derived to mean
"diligence"). [9][10]
Max Müller
characterized many other
cultures around the world,
including Egypt, Persia, and
India, as having a similar power
structure at this point in history.
What is called ancient religion
today, they would have only
called "law".[11]
At this point, Western Europe
and the rest of the world
diverged. As Christianity
became commonplace, the
charismatic authority identified
by Augustine, a quality we
might today call "religiousness",
had a commanding influence at
the local level. This system
persisted in the Byzantine
Empire following the East-West
Schism, but Western Europe
regulated unpredictable
expressions of charisma through
the Roman Catholic Church. As
the Church lost its dominance
during the Protestant
Reformation and Christianity
became closely tied to political
structures, religion was recast
as the basis of national
sovereignty, and religious
identity gradually became a less
universal sense of spirituality
and more divisive, locally
defined, and tied to nationality.
[12]
It was at this point that
"religion" was dissociated with
universal beliefs and moved
closer to dogma in both
meaning and practice. However
there was not yet the idea of
dogma as personal choice, only
of established churches.
Religious freedom
In the Age of Enlightenment, the
idea of Christianity as the purest
expression of spirituality was
supplanted by the concept of
"religion" as a worldwide
practice. [13]
This caused such
ideas as religious freedom, a
reexamination of classical
philosophy as an alternative to
Christian thought, and more
radically Deism among
intellectuals such as Voltaire.
Much like Christianity, the idea
of "religious freedom" was
exported around the world as a
civilizing technique, even to
regions such as India that had
never treated spirituality as a
matter of political identity.[14] In
Japan, where Buddhism was still
seen as a philosophy of natural
law,[15] the concept of "religion"
and "religious freedom" as
separate from other power
structures was unnecessary
until Christian missionaries
demanded free access to
conversion, and when Japanese
Christians refused to engage in
patriotic events.[16]
With the Enlightenment, religion
lost its attachment to
nationality, but rather than
being a universal social attitude,
it was now a personal feeling or
emotion.[17] Friedrich
Schleiermacher in the late 18th
century defined religion as das
schlechthinnige
Abhängigkeitsgefühl, commonly
translated as "a feeling of
absolute dependence".[18] His
contemporary Hegel disagreed
thoroughly, defining religion as
"the Divine Spirit becoming
conscious of Himself through
the finite spirit."[19] William
James is an especially notable
19th century subscriber to the
theory of religion as feeling.
Religious belief
Religious belief usually relates
to the existence, nature and
worship of a deity or deities and
divine involvement in the
universe and human life. • Abrahamic religions are
Alternately, it may also relate to practiced throughout the
values and practices world. They share in
transmitted by a spiritual leader. common the Jewish
Unlike other belief systems, patriarch Abraham and
which may be passed on orally, the Torah as an initial
religious belief tends to be sacred text, although the
codified in literate societies degree to which the Torah
(religion in non-literate societies is incorporated into
is still largely passed on religious beliefs varies
orally[27]). In some religions, like between traditions.
the Abrahamic religions, it is o Judaism accepts
held that most of the core only the prophets of
beliefs have been divinely the Torah, but also
revealed. relies on the
authority of rabbis.
Specific religious It is practiced by the
movements Jewish people, an
ethnic group
In the 19th and 20th centuries, currently centered
the academic practice of in Israel but also
comparative religion divided scattered
religious belief into throughout the
philosophically-defined Jewish diaspora.
categories called "world Today, Jews are
religions." However, some outnumbered by
recent scholarship has argued Christians and
that not all types of religion are Muslims.
necessarily separated by o Christianity is
mutually exclusive philosophies, centered on the life
and furthermore that the utility and teachings of
of ascribing a practice to a Jesus of Nazareth as
certain philosophy, or even presented in the
calling a given practice Gospels and the
religious, rather than cultural, writings of the
political, or social in nature, is apostle Paul (1st
limited.[14][28][29] The list of century CE). The
religious movements given here Christian faith is
is an attempt to summarize the essentially faith in
most important regional and Jesus as the Christ,
philosophical influences, but it is the Son of God, and
by no means a complete as Savior and Lord.
description of every religious As the religion of
community. Western Europe
during the time of
colonization,
 Christianity has multitude of
been propagated traditions which are
throughout the generally
world. Christianity is categorized as Sunni
practiced not as a and Shia, although
single orthodoxy but there are other
as a mixture of minor groups as
Catholicism, Eastern well. Wahhabi Islam
Orthodoxy, Oriental is the established
Orthodoxy, and religion of the
many forms of Kingdom of Saudi
Protestantism. In the Arabia. There are
United States, for also several Islamic
example, African- republics, including
Americans[30] and Iran, which is run by
Korean-Americans[31] a Shia Supreme
usually attend Leader.
separate churches o The Bahá'í Faith was
from Americans of founded in the 19th
European descent. century in Iran and
Many European since then has
countries as well as spread worldwide. It
Argentina have teaches unity of all
established a religious
specific church as philosophies and
the state religion, accepts all of the
but this is not the prophets of Judaism,
case in the United Christianity, and
States nor in many Islam as well as
other majority additional prophets
Christian areas. including its founder
o Islam refers to the Bahá'u'lláh.
religion taught by o Smaller Abrahamic
the Islamic prophet groups that are not
Muhammad, a major heterodox versions
political and of the four major
religious figure of groupings include
the 7th century CE. Mandaeism,
Islam is the Samaritanism, the
dominant religion of Druze, and the
northern Africa, the Rastafari
Middle East, and movement.
South Asia. As with • Indian religions are
Christianity, there is practiced or were founded
no single orthodoxy in the Indian subcontinent.
in Islam but a Concepts most of them
share in common include are Theravada,
karma, caste, Mahayana, and
reincarnation, mantras, Vajrayana.
yantras, and darśana. o Sikhism is a
Islam in India has also monotheistic
been influenced by Indian religion founded on
religious practices. the teachings of
o Hinduism is a Guru Nanak and ten
synechdoche successive Sikh
describing the Gurus in 15th
similar Indian century Punjab.
religious Sikhs are found
philosophies of mostly in India.
Vaishnavism, o Jainism, taught
Shaivism, and primarily by Parsva
related groups, and (9th century BCE)
is the predominant and Mahavira (6th
religion of the Indian century BCE), is an
subcontinent[32] ancient Indian
Hinduism is not a religion that
monolithic religion prescribes a path of
in the Romannic non-violence for all
sense but a religious forms of living
category containing beings in this world.
dozens of separate Jains are found
philosophies mostly in India.
amalgamated as o There are dozens of
Sanātana Dharma. new Indian religions
o Buddhism was and Hindu reform
founded by movements, such as
Siddhattha Gotama Ayyavazhi and
in the 6th century Swaminarayan
BCE. Buddhists Faith.
generally agree that • Yazdânism is a non-
Gotama aimed to Abrahamic monotheistic
help sentient beings category including the
end their suffering traditional beliefs of the
by understanding Yazidi, Alevi, and Ahl-e
the true nature of Haqq.
phenomena, thereby • Religious movements
escaping the cycle centered in the United
of suffering and States are often derived
rebirth (saṃsāra), from Christian tradition.
that is, achieving They include the Latter
Nirvana. The main Day Saint movement,
schools of Buddhism Christian evangelicalism,
 and Unitarian religion, and modern
Universalism among Catholic beliefs such
hundreds of smaller as the Virgin of
groups. Guadalupe. Native
• Folk religion is a term American religion is
applied loosely and practiced across the
vaguely to disorganized continent of North
local practices. It is also America.
called paganism, o Australian Aboriginal
shamanism, animism, culture contains a
ancestor worship, and mythology and
totemism, although not all sacred practices
of these elements are characteristic of folk
necessarily present in religion.
local belief systems. The o Chinese folk
category of "folk religion" religion, practiced
can generally include by Chinese people
anything that is not part of around the world, is
an organization. The a primarily social
modern neopagan practice including
movement draws on folk popular elements of
religion for inspiration. Confucianism and
o African traditional Taoism, with some
religion is a remnants of
category including Mahayana
any type of religion Buddhism. Most
practiced in Africa Chinese do not
before the arrival of identify as religious
Islam and due to the strong
Christianity, such as Maoist influence on
Yoruba religion or the country in
San religion. There recent history, but
are many varieties adherence to
of religions religious ceremonies
developed by remains common.
Africans in the New religious
Americas derived movements include
from African beliefs, Falun Gong and I-
including Santería, Kuan Tao.
Candomblé, o Traditional Korean
Umbanda, Vodou, religion was a
and Oyotunji. syncretic mixture of
o Folk religions of the Mahayana Buddhism
Americas include and Korean
Aztec religion, Inca shamanism. Unlike
religion, Maya Japanese Shinto,
 Korean shamanism founding. The
was never codified largest religious
and Buddhism was movements
never made a social centered in Japan
necessity. In some include Soka Gakkai,
areas these Tenrikyo, and
traditions remain Seicho-No-Ie among
prevalent, but hundreds of smaller
Korean-influenced groups.
Christianity is far
more influential in Sociological classifications of
society and politics. religious movements suggest
o Traditional Japanese that within any given religious
religion is a mixture group, a community can
of Mahayana resemble various types of
Buddhism and structures, including "churches",
ancient indigenous "denominations", "sects",
practices which "cults", and "institutions".
were codified as
Shinto in the 19th Religion and superstition
century. Japanese
people retain While superstitions and magical
nominal attachment thinking refer to nonscientific
to both Buddhism causal reasoning, applied to
and Shinto through specific things or actions, a
social ceremonies, religion is a more complex
but irreligion is system about general or
common. ultimate things, involving
• A variety of new religious morality, history and
movements still practiced community. Because religions
today have been founded may include and exploit certain
in many other countries superstitions or make use of
besides the United States magical thinking, while mixing
and Japan, including Cao them with broader
Đài in Vietnam. considerations, the division
o Shinshūkyō is a between superstition and
general category for religious faith is subjective and
a wide variety of hard to specify. Religious
religious believers have often seen other
movements founded religions as superstition.[33][34]
in Japan since the Likewise, some atheists,
19th century. These agnostics, deists, and skeptics
movements share regard religious belief as
almost nothing in superstition. Religious practices
common except the are most likely to be labeled
place of their "superstitious" by outsiders
when they include belief in one attributes an importance in
extraordinary events (miracles), some way magical to certain
an afterlife, supernatural practices otherwise lawful or
interventions, apparitions or the necessary. To attribute the
efficacy of prayer, charms, efficacy of prayers or of
incantations, the sacramental signs to their mere
meaningfulness of omens, and external performance, apart
prognostications. from the interior dispositions
that they demand is to fall into
Greek and Roman pagans, who superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16-
modeled their relations with the 22 (para. #2111)
gods on political and social
terms, scorned the man who Religion and science
constantly trembled with fear at
the thought of the gods as a Religious knowledge, according
slave feared a cruel and to religious practitioners, may
capricious master. Such fear of be gained from religious
the gods (deisidaimonia) was leaders, sacred texts
what the Romans meant by (scriptures), and/or personal
superstitio (Veyne 1987, p 211). revelation. Some religions view
Early Christianity was outlawed such knowledge as unlimited in
as a superstitio Iudaica, a scope and suitable to answer
"Jewish superstition", by any question; others see
Domitian in the 80s AD, and by religious knowledge as playing a
AD 425, Theodosius II outlawed more restricted role, often as a
pagan traditions as complement to knowledge
superstitious. gained through physical
observation. Some religious
The Roman Catholic Church people maintain that religious
considers superstition to be knowledge obtained in this way
sinful in the sense that it is absolute and infallible
denotes a lack of trust in the (religious cosmology).
divine providence of God and,
as such, is a violation of the first The scientific method gains
of the Ten Commandments. The knowledge by testing
Catechism of the Catholic hypotheses to develop theories
Church states that superstition through elucidation of facts or
"in some sense represents a evaluation by experiments and
perverse excess of religion" thus only answers cosmological
(para. #2110). questions about the physical
universe. It develops theories of
Superstition is a deviation of the world which best fit
religious feeling and of the physically observed evidence.
practices this feeling imposes. It All scientific knowledge is
can even affect the worship we subject to later refinement in
offer the true God, e.g., when the face of additional evidence.
Scientific theories that have an
overwhelming preponderance of
favorable evidence are often
treated as facts (such as the
theories of gravity or evolution).
Many scientists have held strong
religious beliefs (see List of
Christian thinkers in science)
and have worked to harmonize
science and religion. Isaac
Newton, for example, believed
that gravity caused the planets
to revolve about the Sun, and
credited God with the design. In
the concluding General
Scholium to the Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica,
he wrote: "This most beautiful
System of the Sun, Planets and
Comets, could only proceed
from the counsel and dominion
of an intelligent and powerful
being." Nevertheless, conflict
has repeatedly arisen between
religious organizations and
individuals who propagated
scientific theories that were
deemed unacceptable by the
organizations. The Roman
Catholic Church, for example,
has in the past[37] reserved to
itself the right to decide which
scientific theories were
acceptable and which were
unacceptable. In the 17th
century, Galileo was tried and
forced to recant the heliocentric
theory based on the church's
stance that the Greek Hellenistic
system of astronomy was the
correct one.[38][39] Today,
however, only 7% of the
members of the National
Academy of Sciences believe in
a god.[40
Epistemology
Many theories exist as to why
religions sometimes seem to
conflict with scientific
knowledge. In the case of
Christianity, a relevant factor
may be that it was among
Christians that science in the
modern sense was developed.
Unlike other religious groups, as
early as the 17th century the
Christian churches had to deal
directly with this new way to
investigate nature and seek
truth.
The perceived conflict between
science and Christianity may
also be partially explained by a
literal interpretation of the Bible
adhered to by many Christians,
both currently and historically.
The Catholic Church has always
held with Augustine of Hippo
who explicitly opposed a literal
interpretation of the Bible
whenever the Bible conflicted
with Science. The literal way to
read the sacred texts became
especially prevalent after the
rise of the Protestant
reformation, with its emphasis
on the Bible as the only
authoritative source concerning
the ultimate reality.[41] This view
is often shunned by both
religious leaders (who regard
literally believing it as petty and
look for greater meaning
instead) and scientists who
regard it as an impossibility.
Some Christians have disagreed
or are still disagreeing with
scientists in areas such as the
validity of Keplerian astronomy,
the theory of evolution, the
method of creation of the
universe and the Earth, and the
origins of life. On the other
hand, scholars such as Stanley
Jaki have suggested that
Christianity and its particular
worldview was a crucial factor
for the emergence of modern
science. In fact, most of today's
historians are moving away
from the view of the relationship
between Christianity and
science as one of "conflict" — a
perspective commonly called
the conflict thesis.[42][43] Gary
Ferngren in his historical volume
about Science & Religion states:
In the Bahá'í Faith, the harmony
of science and religion is a
central tenet.[47] The principle
states that that truth is one, and
therefore true science and true
religion must be in harmony,
thus rejecting the view that
science and religion are in
conflict.[47] `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son
of the founder of the religion,
asserted that science and
religion cannot be opposed
because they are aspects of the
same truth; he also affirmed
that reasoning powers are
required to understand the
truths of religion and that
religious teachings which are at
variance with science should not
be accepted; he explained that
religion has to be reasonable
since God endowed humankind
with reason so that they can
discover truth.[48] Shoghi Effendi,
the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith,
described science and religion
as "the two most potent forces
in human life."[49]
Proponents of Hinduism claim
that Hinduism is not afraid of
scientific explorations, nor of the
technological progress of
mankind. According to them,
there is a comprehensive scope
and opportunity for Hinduism to
mold itself according to the
demands and aspirations of the
modern world; it has the ability
to align itself with both science
and spiritualism. This religion
uses some modern examples to
explain its ancient theories and
reinforce its own beliefs. For
example, some Hindu thinkers
have used the terminology of
quantum physics to explain
some basic concepts of
Hinduism such as Maya or the
illusory and impermanent
nature of our
Mysticism and esotericism
Mysticism focuses on methods
other than logic, but (in the case
of esoteric mysticism) not
necessarily excluding it, for
gaining enlightenment. Rather,
meditative and contemplative
practices such as Vipassanā and
yoga, physical disciplines such
as stringent fasting and whirling
(in the case of the Sufi
dervishes), or the use of
psychoactive drugs such as LSD,
lead to altered states of
consciousness that logic can
never hope to grasp. However,
regarding the latter topic,
mysticism prevalent in the
'great' religions (monotheisms,
henotheisms, which are perhaps
relatively recent, and which the
word 'mysticism' is more recent
than,) includes systems of
discipline that forbid drugs that
can damage the body, including
the nervous system.
Mysticism (to initiate) is the
pursuit of communion with, or
conscious awareness of ultimate
reality, the divine, spiritual
truth, or Deity through direct,
personal experience (intuition or
insight) rather than rational
thought. Mystics speak of the
existence of realities behind
external perception or
intellectual apprehension that
are central to being and directly
accessible through personal
experience. They say that such
experience is a genuine and
important source of knowledge.
Esotericism is often spiritual
(thus religious) but can be non-
religious/-spiritual, and it uses
intellectual understanding and
reasoning, intuition and
inspiration (higher noetic and
spiritual reasoning,) but not
necessarily faith (except often
as a virtue,) and it is
philosophical in its emphasis on
techniques of psycho-spiritual
transformation (esoteric
cosmology). Esotericism refers
to "hidden" knowledge available
only to the advanced,
privileged, or initiated, as
opposed to exoteric knowledge,
which is public. All religions are
probably somewhat exoteric,
but most ones of ancient
civilizations such as Yoga of
India, and the mystery religions
of ancient Egypt, Israel
(Kabbalah,) and Greece are
examples of ones that are also
esoteric.
Spirituality
A sadhu performing namaste in
Madurai, India
Members of an organized
religion may not see any
significant difference between
religion and spirituality. Or they
may see a distinction between
the mundane, earthly aspects of
their religion and its spiritual
dimension.
Some individuals draw a strong
distinction between religion and
spirituality. They may see
spirituality as a belief in ideas of
religious significance (such as
God, the Soul, or Heaven), but
not feel bound to the
bureaucratic structure and
creeds of a particular organized
religion. They choose the term
spirituality rather than religion
to describe their form of belief,
perhaps reflecting a
disillusionment with organized
religion (see Major religious
groups), and a movement
towards a more "modern" —
more tolerant, and more
intuitive — form of religion.
These individuals may reject
organized religion because of
historical acts by religious
organizations, such as Christian
Crusades and Islamic Jihad, the
marginalisation and persecution
of various minorities or the
Spanish Inquisition. The basic
precept of the ancient spiritual
tradition of India, the Vedas, is
the inner reality of existence,
which is essentially a spiritual
approach to being.
Myth
The word myth has several
meanings.
1. A traditional story of
ostensibly historical
events that serves to
unfold part of the world
view of a people or
explain a practice, belief,
or natural phenomenon;
2. A person or thing having
only an imaginary or
unverifiable existence; or
3. A metaphor for the
spiritual potentiality in the
human being.[50]
Ancient polytheistic religions,
such as those of Greece, Rome,
and Scandinavia, are usually
categorized under the heading
of mythology. Religions of pre-
industrial peoples, or cultures in
development, are similarly
called "myths" in the
anthropology of religion. The
term "myth" can be used
pejoratively by both religious
and non-religious people. By
defining another person's
religious stories and beliefs as
mythology, one implies that
they are less real or true than
one's own religious stories and
beliefs. Joseph Campbell
remarked, "Mythology is often
thought of as other people's
religions, and religion can be
defined as mis-interpreted
mythology."[51]
In sociology, however, the term
myth has a non-pejorative
meaning. There, myth is defined
as a story that is important for
the group whether or not it is
objectively or provably true.
Examples include the death and
resurrection of Jesus, which, to
Christians, explains the means
by which they are freed from sin
and is also ostensibly a
historical event. But from a
mythological outlook, whether
or not the event actually
occurred is unimportant.

Republic of the Philippines

Province of Marinduque

Marinduque State College

Tanza, Boac, Marinduque

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES

WRITTEN REPORT

IN

SOCIOLOGY

Submitted by:

REDEN P. MANIQUEZ

BS INFO.TECH – 3B

Submitted to:

MS. ALMA TERESA DEL MUNDO

Instructor

March 12, 2010