EMA EMITS COLLEGE PHILIPPINES

(Formerly: Eastern Mindoro Institute of Technology & Sciences)

Del Pilar St.; Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro
Telefax No. (043) 284-3974

World Religions and Belief Systems

The Elements Of Religion, Belief System And Spirituality

Quarter 1 - Module 1:
How to use this module?
Telefax No. (043) 284-3974
Before starting this module, I want you to set aside other task/s that may disturb by while enjoying the
lessons. Read the simple instructions below to successfully enjoy the objectives of this kit. Have fun!

1. Follow carefully all the contents and instructions indicated in every page of this module.
2. Write on your notebook the concept about the lessons.
Write enhances learning that is important to develop and keep in mind.
3. Perform all the provided activities in the module.
4. Let your facilitator / guardian assess your answers using the key card.
5. Analyse conceptually the post test and apply what you have learned.
6. Enjoy studying!

LET’S BEGIN!

Belief is a state of mind when we consider something true even though we are not 100% sure or able to
prove it. Everybody has beliefs about life and the world they experience. Mutually supportive beliefs may form
belief systems, which may be religious, philosophical or ideological. Religions are belief systems that relate
humanity to spirituality.
All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations is directed towards ennobling
man`s life lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. – Albert
Einstein.

This module was written by your instructor/teacher as a guide in understanding religions and beliefs that
shaped Man`s spirituality, ethical standards, values, norms and history.
The scope of this module covers different learning situations where the students could relate different
beliefs all around the world and his personal thoughts and belief and its significance on his/her everyday life. Are
you ready for your learning journey? Be ready and accomplish the task ahead.

LET’S SET OUR GOALS!

(Target)

In this module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the significance of religion and beliefs in every aspects of human`s life.
2. Differentiate between religion as humans’ way to God, theology as a study of God’s way to humans and
philosophy as a reflection of humans’ lived experience of God
3. Discuss the elements of religion, belief systems and spirituality.
Note: Please be faithful on the above goals and objective. These will serve as your guide on what to learn on this
module. BE HONEST! You need to strive hard in order to reap your rewards. Hardship won’t betray you!

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

PRE-TEST. Read and answer each statement carefully then write the letter of the best answer on a separate sheet of
paper. Please answer honestly. Use your mind and not your data connection! Ang mandaya, habangbuhay walang
jowa!

1. This is the pursuit of transformation guided by a scared belief system.

a. Philosophy c. Theology
b. Religion d. Political Science
2. This is one`s integrative view of life. It involves a quest for the meaning and ultimate value of life as
opposed to an instrumentalist or materialistic attitude to life.
a. Philosophy c. Theology
b. Religion d. Spirituality
3. This is a religious belief in only one God?
a. Polygamy c. Monotheism
b. Polytheism d. Polygyny
4. This is a religious belief in many Gods, as many as thousands?
a. Polytheism c. Monogamy
b. Polygyny d. Monotheism
5. This is the world`s largest religion in terms of followers.
a. Islam c. Christianity
b. Buddhism d. Hinduism

So! How was it? It’s easy right? Well, ready yourself because the journey is just starting. It will get more
interesting and more challenging. Keep your patience and your smile because this is going to be interesting.
INHALE. EXHALE. Good luck!

LESSON 1:
Religion is a very broad topic to discuss with. It is not just like any other subjects, in the sense that it has a
sensitive side. Understanding and respect is what we need when we are in an academic discussion about it. This
lesson explores the main tenets and practices of major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism. It aims to help learners
understand the historical contexts of nine religions, appreciate their uniqueness and similarities and promote mutual
understanding among believers of different faiths. They are expected to demonstrate understanding and appreciation
of one’s faith and that of others.

Hey look! There’s an activity below. I know you can do it! I believe in you because you are smart and
strong.
 LET’S DO THIS!

LET US HAVE SOME FUN!

Assemble these jumbled letters.

1. NGRELIOI- __________________
2. RCSADE - ___________________
3. LHOY - _____________________
4. STMSIRIAHCIN - _____________
5. ALMIS - _____________________

KEEP THIS IN MIND

Religion defined as human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or
worthy of especial reverence. It is also commonly regarded as consisting of the way people deal with ultimate
concerns about their lives and their fate after death. In many traditions, this relation and these concerns are
expressed in terms of one’s relationship with or attitude toward gods or spirits; in
more humanistic or naturalistic forms of religion, they are expressed in terms of one’s relationship with or attitudes
toward the broader human community or the natural world. In many religions, texts are deemed to have scriptural
status, and people are esteemed to be invested with spiritual or moral authority. Believers and worshippers
participate in and are often enjoined to perform devotional or contemplative practices such as prayer, meditation, or
particular rituals. Worship, moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religious institutions are among
the constituent elements of the religious life.

Charles Sprague Pearce: ReligionDetail of Religion, mural in lunette from the Family and Education series by
Charles Sprague Pearce, 1897; in the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.Carol M.
Highsmith/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: LC-DIG-highsm-02028)

The subject of religion is discussed in a number of articles. For treatment of major and historical religious
traditions, see African religion; Anatolian religion; ancient Iranian religion; Arabian religion; Baltic
religion; Buddhism; Calvinism; Celtic religion; Christianity; Confucianism; Daoism; Eastern Orthodoxy; Eastern
rite church; Egyptian religion; Finno-Ugric religion; Germanic religion and mythology; Greek religion; Hellenistic
religion; Hinduism; Islam; Jainism; Judaism; Mesopotamian religion; Middle Eastern religion; Mormon; mystery
religion; Native American religions; Neo-Paganism; new religious movement; Old Catholic church; Orphic
religion; prehistoric religion; Protestantism; Protestant Heritage, The; Roman Catholicism; Roman
religion; Shintō; Sikhism; Slavic religion; Syrian and Palestinian religion; Vedic religion; Wicca; Zoroastrianism.
For discussion of perspectives on the existence or role within human life of a supreme God or
gods, see agnosticism; atheism; humanism; monotheism; pantheism; polytheism; theism. For cross-cultural
discussion of religious beliefs, phenomena, and practices, see angel and demon; ceremonial
object; covenant; creed; dietary law; doctrine and dogma; dualism, religious; eschatology; ethics; evil, problem
of; feast; Five Ways, the; heaven; hell; Last Judgment; meditation; millennialism; miracle; monasticism; Moon
worship; mysticism; myth; nature worship; prayer; priest; priesthood; prophecy; Providence; purgatory; purification
rite; reincarnation; religious dress; religious symbolism and iconography; rite of
passage; ritual; sacrament; sacrifice; sacred; sacred kingship; saint; salvation; scripture; shamanism; sin; soul; Sun
worship; theology; worship. For a review of the efforts to systematically study the nature and classify the forms of
religious behaviour, experience, and phenomena, see religion, phenomenology of; religion, philosophy of; religion,
study of; religions, classification of; religious experience.

The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This
period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,220 years ago (3200 BC).[1] The prehistory
of religion involves the study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records. One can also
study comparative religious chronology through a timeline of religion. Writing played a major role in standardizing
religious texts regardless of time or location, and making easier the memorization of prayers and divine rules. A
small part of the Bible involves the collation of oral texts handed down over the centuries. [2]
The concept of "religion" was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries, [3][4] despite the fact that ancient sacred
texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages
and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written. [5][6]
The word religion as used in the 21st century does not have an obvious pre-colonial translation into non-European
languages. The anthropologist 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". 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.

Origin
The earliest archeological evidence of religious ideas dates back several hundred thousand years to
the Middle and Lower Paleolithic periods. Archaeologists take apparent intentional burials of early Homo
sapiens from as early as 300,000 years ago as evidence of religious ideas. Other evidence of religious ideas includes
symbolic artifacts from Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. However, the interpretation of early paleolithic artifacts,
with regard to how they relate to religious ideas, remains controversial. Archeological evidence from more recent
periods is less controversial. Scientists generally interpret a number of artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic (50,000-
13,000 BCE) as representing religious ideas. Examples of Upper Paleolithic remains associated with religious
beliefs include the lion man, the Venus figurines, cave paintings from Chauvet Cave and the elaborate ritual burial
from Sungir.
In the 19th century researchers proposed various theories regarding the origin of religion, challenging
earlier claims of a Christianity-like urreligion. Early theorists Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) and Herbert
Spencer (1820-1903) emphasised the concept of animism, while archaeologist John Lubbock (1834-1913) used the
term "fetishism". Meanwhile, religious scholar Max Müller (1823-1900) theorized that religion began
in hedonism and folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831-1880) suggested that religion began in "naturalism" – by
which he meant mythological explanation of natural events. All of these theories have since been widely criticized;
there is no broad consensus regarding the origin of religion. Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Göbekli Tepe, the
oldest religious site yet discovered anywhere [10] includes circles of erected massive T-shaped stone pillars, the
world's oldest known megaliths[11] decorated with abstract, enigmatic pictograms and carved-animal reliefs. The site,
near the home place of original wild wheat, was built before the so-called  Neolithic Revolution, i.e., the beginning
of agriculture and animal husbandry around 9000 BCE. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organization
of an advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic, PPNA, or PPNB societies. The site, abandoned around
the time the first agricultural societies started, is still being excavated and analyzed, and thus might shed light on the
significance it had had for the religions of older, foraging communities, as well as for the general history of
religions.
The Pyramid Texts from ancient Egypt, the oldest known religious texts in the world, date to between
2400-2300 BCE. Surviving early copies of religious texts include: The Upanishads, some of which date to the mid-
first millennium BCE. The Dead Sea Scrolls, representing fragmentary texts of the Hebrew Tanakh these scrolls
were copied approximately 2000 years ago. Complete Hebrew texts, also of the Tanakh, but translated into
the Greek language (Septuagint 300-200 BC), were in wide use by the early 1st century CE.
Historians have labelled the period from 900 to 200 BCE as the "axial age", a term coined by German-
Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969). According to Jaspers, in this era of history "the spiritual foundations of
humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still
subsists today." Intellectual historian Peter Watson has summarized this period as the foundation time of many of
humanity's most influential philosophical traditions, including monotheism in Persia and Canaan, Platonism in
Greece, Buddhism and Jainism in India, and Confucianism and Taoism in China. These ideas would become
institutionalized in time – note for example Ashoka's role in the spread of Buddhism, or the role of platonic
philosophy in Christianity at its foundation.
The historical roots of Jainism in India date back to the 9th-century BCE with the rise of Parshvanatha and his non-
violent philosophy.
Middle Ages

Medieval world religions

World religions of the present day established themselves throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages by:
Christianization of the Western world, Buddhist missions to East Asia, the decline of Buddhism in the Indian
subcontinent, the spread of Islam throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and parts of Europe and
India. During the Middle Ages, Muslims came into conflict with Zoroastrians during the Islamic conquest of
Persia (633-654); 
Christians fought against Muslims during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (7th to 11th centuries),
the Crusades (1095 onward), the Reconquista (718-1492), the Ottoman wars in Europe (13th century onwards) and
the Inquisition; Shamanism was in conflict with Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims and Christians during the Mongol
invasions (1206-1337); and Muslims clashed with Hindus and Sikhs during the Muslim conquest of the Indian
subcontinent (8th to 16th centuries).
Many medieval religious movements emphasized mysticism, such as the Cathars and related movements in the
West, the Jews in Spain (see Zohar), the Bhakti movement in India and Sufism in Islam. Monotheism reached
definite forms in Christian Christology and in Islamic Tawhid. Hindu monotheist notions of Brahman likewise
reached their classical form with the teaching of Adi Shankara (788-820).

Modern Period
European colonisation during the 15th to 19th centuries resulted in the spread of Christianity in Sub-
Saharan Africa, and to the Americas, Australia and the Philippines. The invention of the printing press in the 15th
century played a major role in the rapid spread of the Protestant Reformation under leaders such as Martin
Luther (1483-1546) and John Calvin (1509-1564). Wars of religion broke out, culminating in the Thirty Years
War which ravaged central Europe between 1618 and 1648. The 18th century saw the beginning of secularisation in
Europe, gaining momentum after the French Revolution of 1789 and following. By the late 20th century religion had
declined in most of Europe.
By 2001 people began to use the internet to discover or adhere to their religious beliefs. In January 2000
the website belief.net was established, and the following year, every month it had over 1.7 million visitors.

EIGHT ELEMENTS OF RELIGIONS

1. BELIEF SYSTEM or WORLDVIEW: Many beliefs that fit together in a system to make sense of the
universe and our place in it.
2. COMMUNITY: The belief system is shared, and its ideals are practiced by a group.
3. CENTRAL STORIES/MYTHS: Stories that help explain the beliefs of a group; these are told over and
over again and sometimes performed by members of the group. They may or may not be factual.
4. RITUALS: Beliefs are explained, taught, and made real through ceremonies.
5. ETHICS: Rules about how to behave; these rules are often thought to have come from a deity or
supernatural place, but they might also be seen as guidelines created by the group over time.
6. CHARACTERISTIC EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES: Most religions share emotions such as awe,
mystery, guilt, joy, devotion, conversion, inner peace, etc.
7. MATERIAL EXPRESSION: Religions use things to perform rituals or to express or represent beliefs,
such as: statues, paintings, music, flowers, incense, clothes, architecture, and specific sacred locations.
8. SACREDNESS: Religions see some things as sacred and some not sacred (or profane). Some objects,
actions, people and places may share in the sacredness or express it.
 LET’S EXPLORE!

Answer the following questions in a separate sheet of paper. Use your own choice of words and not just
copy what’s given in the discussion above. Be unique! You’re not born to be someone’s photocopy!
Flourish and express your unique ideas without getting out of context. Answer on a separate paper.
1. How can you apply your religion in your own way of living?
2. If you were given a chance to choose what you think is the most important element of religion. What is it
and why? Explain.

KEEP IN MIND
(Never forget!)
Religion defined as human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual,
divine, or worthy of especial reverence. It is also commonly regarded as consisting of the way people deal with
ultimate concerns about their lives and their fate after death. It also has eight most important elements namely; belief
system or worldview, community, central stories/myth, ritual, ethics, characteristic emotional experiences, material
expression and sacredness. Religion and beliefs cannot be removed by most of us humans. It serves as a guide in
our every move. It creates rules on what can be the proper way of living.

APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Now that you have been learning and crunching your way towards here, let us see if you can apply these
concepts in a real life situation.

Direction: Answer the following questions

1. Differentiate religion from, spirituality, theology, philosophy of religion.

2. Enlist at least three (3) doctrines on your religion that you are familiar with. Tell something about this
doctrine.

REFLECTION

Congratulations on almost finishing the module! You have just had an amazing learning journey
and for sure, you will also do the same in the succeeding modules. Great job!

Share your final insights by completing the following sentences. Do this in a separate paper.
 1. I have learned
that___________________________________________________________________.
2. Studying this lesson or topic is important
because__________________________________________.
3. I have a question about something that needs more explain, this question
is______________________?

QUIZ TIME!

POST-TEST.

1. In five sentences, describe/discuss religion according to your own understanding.

2. How important religion is to the lives of every individual?

REFERENCES
www.google.com.ph. Eight elements of religion. Accessed on August 24,2020.
https://college.holycross.edu/projects/himalayan_cultures/2011_plans/sshmitt/images/Elements.pdf

YOU DID GREAT!