Lesson 3

Religion and the Search for Ultimate Meaning

NATURE OF RELIGION AND ITS MEANING

The English word religion is from Latin verb religare which means “to tie” or “to bind fast.”

Religion is a powerful institution that connects human beings, both as individuals and collectively, to a
transcendent reality.

 An organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a God or group of
Gods

(IN ITS ORIGINAL SENSE, THE WORD REFERS TO THE EXPRESSION OF PROPER RESPECT, THAT IS,
BINDING TO GOD)

KINDS OF BELIEF SYSTEM

KINDS DESCRIPTION
Monism There is no real distinction between God and the universe
Polytheism The beliefs and worship of many Gods
Monotheism The doctrine or belief in one supreme God
Atheism Disbelief or in denial of the existence of a personal God
Agnosticism God cannot be known

 Theism- is a belief in the existence of one God viewed as the creative source of the human
race and the world who transcends yet is immanent in the world.
 Monotheistic religions claim that there is only one God who could have designed and
created the universe or may have directed all events that led to the creation of everything.
There is one supreme God who is both personal and moral, and who seeks a total and
unqualified response from humans. (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
 Polytheistic religions that were common among early people recognize many principal Gods
among whom no one is supreme. These include the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece, and
Rome wherein people worship a multitude of personal Gods.
 Agnostics deny the possibility for man to acquire knowledge of the existence of God.
 Monism asserts that there is no genuine distinction between God and the universe. Two
implications arise from this belief:
1. That God is dwelling in the universe as part of it
2. The universe does not exist at all as a reality but only as manifestation of God
 Atheists deny the existence of God.
ELEMENTS OF RELIGION

The 4 C’s
1. Cult Belief in Deity (how we worship)
2. Creed A Doctrine of Salvation (what we believe)
3. Code A Code of Conduct (how we live)
4. Community The believers

(1. BELIEF IN DEITY. THREE PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS: 1. AETHEIST BELIEVE THAT NO DEITY OR GOD
EXISTS. 2. THEISTS BELIEVE IN DEITY OR DEITIES. 3. AGNOSTICS SAY THAT THE EXISTENCE OF
DEITY CANNOT BE PROVED OR DISPROVED)
(2. A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION. IT IS BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT PEOPLE ARE IN SOME DANGER
FROM WHICH THEY MUST BE SAVED. MAJOR RELIGIONS LIKE CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM,
BUDDHISM, AND HINDUISM TRESS THAT SALVATION IS THE HIGHEST GOAL OF THE FAITHFUL
AND ONE THAT ALL FOLLOWERS SHOULD TRY TO ACHIEVE.)
(3. A CODE OF CONDUCT. IS A SET OF MORAL TECHNIQUES AND VALUES THAT ALL RELIGIONS
HAVE IN SOME FORM. SUCH A CODE OR ETHICS TELLS BELIEVERS HOW TO CONDUCT THEIR
LIVES. IT INSTRUCTS THEM HOW TO ACT TOWARD THE DEITY AND TOWARD ONE ANOTHER.)
(4. RELIGIOUS RITUALS. THESE INCLUDE THE ACTS AND CEREMONIES BY WHICH BELIEVERS
APPEAL TO AND SERVE GOD, DEITIES AND OTHER SACRED POWERS. THE PERFORMANCE OF A
RITUAL IS OFTEN CALLED A SERVICE. THE MOST COMMON RITUAL IS PRAYER OR FOR SOME
ASIAN RELIGIONS, MEDITATION. )

(CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS OFFER US MANY DEFINITIONS OF RELIGION, BUT THESE DEFINITIONS

TEND TO BE TWO TYPES, THESE ARE: )

Substantive definition. That is, a definition that tells us what kind of thing religion is by pointing to its
distinguishing characteristics – usually its beliefs and/or practices.

- According to Edward Tylor, religion is “a belief in spiritual beings”

(N DEFINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGION WHERE SUBSTANTIVE DEFINITION DEPENDS OFTEN

REVEALS PREJUDICE. IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING TOO NARROW AND TOO RIGID, MANY SCHOLARS
PREFER A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DEFINITION KNOWN AS A: )

Functional Definition. This definition concentrates not on what religion is (its beliefs and practices) but
on what these beliefs and practices do for the individual and the social group – on the needs they fulfill
(for example, in providing or contributing to bonding, identity, comfort, and security). One well known
example of this kind of definition refers to religion as ‘a system of beliefs and practices by means of
which a group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of human life’ (Yinger, 1970, p.7)

(ON THE OTHER HAND, SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAS ALSO THEIR OWN VIEWS ABOUT RELIGION)
NATURE OF RELIGION

Name of Social Scientist Background View on Religion

Edward Burnett Tylor English anthropologist;
(1832-1917) founding figure of the science of
social anthropology
James George Frazer Scottish social anthropologist;
(1854-1941) one of the founding figures of
modern anthropology
Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski An eminent 20th century Polish
(1884-1942) anthropologist
David Emile Durkheim French sociologist; Father of
(1858-1917) sociology
the belief in spiritual beings
A propitiation or conciliation of
powers superior to man which
are believed to control and
direct the course of nature and
human life
A body of self-contained acts
being themselves the fulfillment
of their purpose; an affair of all,
which everyone takes an active
and equivalent part
A unified system of beliefs and
practices relative to sacred
things

(HOWEVER, MANY SCHOLARS SEEMS FORGOTTEN THE RELIGION BECAUSE OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF
THE TECHNOLOGIES AS PEOPLE RELY MORE AND MORE ON SCIENTIFIC REASON AND METHOD TO
EXPLAIN NATURAL EVENTS AND SO-CALLED MIRACLES, SUPERNATURAL OCCURENCES, AND
MYSTERIES, MANY CRITICS OF RELIGION SUCH AS:)

 Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and Karl Marx, the father of scientific socialism,
believed that religion will gradually disappear. This view is called secularization (from the Latin
word saeculum, which means “worldly”)

TYPES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

Religious organizations is groupings of religious individuals that have a variety of different goals
and purposes. These are the following:

CHURCH
The church is a religious organization that claims to possess the truth about salvation
exclusively. The church includes everybody or virtually everybody in a society. Membership is by
childbirth: new generations are born into the church and are formally inducted through baptism. Unlike
the sect, the church tends to be oriented toward compromises with the prevailing culture and the
political sphere.
SECT
The sect also perceives itself as a unique owner of the truth. a group with distinctive religious,
political, or philosophical beliefs. Although in the past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it
has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger
one to follow a different set of rules and principles. Life as a sect member constitutes a major contrast to
the lives of people in society.

(WHY? BECAUSE ONCE YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THIS, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED WITH HIGH LEVEL OF
COMMITMENT AND ACTIVITY, THE LEADERS WILL BE MORE STRICT AND ASCETIC. ALSO HERE,
RECRUITMENT TAKES PLACE IN HERE, ONE EXAMPLE IS THE “BORN AGAIN” IN WHICH THEY RECRUIT
PEOPLE TO EXPAND ITS MEMBERSHIP.)

DENOMINATION
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name,
tradition and identity. The term describes various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern
Orthodox, Anglicanism, and the many varieties of Protestantism). The term also describes the four
branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist), and describes the two
main branches of Islam (Sunni and Shia). Denominationalism is the division of one religion into separate
groups, sects, schools of thought, or denomination.

CULT
The word “cult” in current popular usage usually refers to a new religious movement or other
group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. Cults are often considered as
deviant groups within society. They were considered as “brainwashed” by their religious organizations.
“Brainwashing” means that cult members were forced to believe in the doctrine of the group by force.

-originally denoting a system of ritual practices, the word was introduced into sociological
classification in 1932 by American sociologist Howard P. Becker.

-English-speaker originally used the word “cult” not to describe a group of religionists, but to
refer to the act of worship or to a religious ceremony.

NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND INDIGENOUS RELIGIOUS GROUPS

The term “new religious movements” came into use among social scientists in the 1960s. it was
an alternative label for cults that have been negatively portrayed by mass media and some social
scientists. New Age Groups are considered part of these new religious movements.

The word indigenous refers to anything that is native to a particular geographical region.
This includes people, cultures, languages, or species of plants or animals. In the Philippines, most of the
population are Christians. Given below are the religions with the corresponding population rate involved
with it:
ROMAN CATHOLIC: (insert bar w/ color) 81%

MUSLIM: (insert bar w/ color gihapon EMMAN hup!) 5.6%

CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS: (mao gihapon EMMAN) 11%

RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM
With the rapid and accelerated movement of people, culture, and information across national
borders, religious ideas also rapidly transfer from one place to another. Globalization promotes
syncretism or the mixing of different religious and cultural beliefs and practices. Syncretism promotes
the growth of popular religion or folk religion that is different from the original parent religion or
mainstream orthodoxy.

EXAMPLE:

1. Various colorful fiestas in the Philippines. While the images of the Sto. Niňo, Black Nazarene,
and other cult of the saints are hardly found in the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, nevertheless,
Filipinos have creatively blended these images and ritual with local cultural practices.