Lesson 3 Origin of Religion

3.1 Origin and Development

 The history of Religion is closely related to the origin of Philosophy. Man

thought and felt about the world around him. Limited knowledge and skills
to control the forces of nature, man became as superstitious animal. To
man, things which could not explained or controlled by his savage
strength were easily associated with “the mysterious”, or numinous, or
sinister, as a result man is living in fear, awe and insecurity. Man’s
helplessness to face the unknown compelled him to establish some forms
of communion with the unseen. Because sometimes nature appeared
cruel, sometimes benign, there arose in man such emotions as fear and
awe, which, when articulated, became acts of propitiation and adoration.
Through those acts, man sought to bind himself to the undefined forces
behind the fluctuating phenomena of nature as a sort of some support and
alleviation
 Religion, then, in its origin, can be said to have evolved out of man’s
desire to cope with the demands of physical survival. Such desire slowly
became personified in some sort of power over than man upon which
early man tried to rely and find support.

3.2 Stages of Religion

 The Animistic Stage of Religion

 The earliest expression of man’s religious outlook was that of
“Animism”. From the Latin word anima which signifies soul or
spirit. To the primitive man, everything around him breathed
with life and intention so that every phenomenon of nature was
believed to possess a soul. And because his arrows and
spears proved futile against the power of nature. Man resorted
to magic and other forms of incantation to ward off its attack to
his life.
 However nature did not always appear cruel but sometimes
appeared simply indifferent to man. Primitive man thought that
the spirits which inhabited this world were of two kinds: the bad
and the good or friendly spirit. The bad spirits are to be averted
while the friendly spirits are to be courted.
 In driving away the malignant powers or spirits, primitive man
resorted to Shamanism. In biblical sense the shaman is the
possessed. In others, shaman is the clever doctor whose
ability is to ward off the sickness of primitive man. And
because shaman was believed to have a power to manipulate
those spirits so as to bring diseases, defeat and death to
enemies, shaman became the leader of the tribe.
 Primitive man resorted to another technique known as
fetishism. From the Portuguese word feiticio means a saint
medallion or relic worn as a good luck charm. With those
 amulets primitive man thought to be in better position to ward
off accidents and other hazards in life.
 Fetishism had survived even today in terms of crucifix, medals
and other religious habits. Religious people believed that with
their scapulars and other blessed emblems the bad spirits
which harass the living could be averted.
 The Emergence of Tribal Gods
 After passing the animistic stage, primitive man speculates that
a vague power controlled his destiny. This belief in power more
than human was slowly translated into being crudely human in
temper. Many of the sentiments found in human beings, such
as love, anger, hatred, etc., have been attributed to this god-
idea.
 Primitive man thought that there were different gods which
controlled the various seasons of the year, thus, there arose
the god of rain, god of sunshine, harvest, and even fertility.
Everything was being associated with god or goddesses.
 Primitive man was dependent on the mercy of nature thus,
man invented the idea of sacrifices, liturgies and other
formulas, which in mind, might win the favor of gods. In this
atmosphere, the idea of gods to be worshipped by the tribe
emerged.
 Every tribe developed their own concept of god or goddesses
based on their lifestyle. The hunters attribute the qualities of
their god most likely similar to them. Fisherman does also
create their god similar to the qualities of a fisherman, as to
the famers would create the god of the farmers and so on.
 The One Personal God in Religion
 The development of man’s belief in one personal god is a
product of long evolution. Polytheistic was man’s religion in the
beginning, and it must have taken man a long time to purify
and redefine his religious experience before man arrived at the
idea of one supreme God over and above the other gods and
goddesses.
 The oneness of a supreme God thus attained, man took it a
serious matter or doctrine to be handed down from one
generation to another until it had become woven in the fabric of
a universal tradition and in the consciousness of mankind
down the ages.
 Why Zeus became supreme among the Greek gods, Jupiter
among the Roman gods, Jesus Christ among Christians, Allah
among Muslims and many other supreme gods in every
religion? Could it be that they were really supreme over other
gods and goddesses or could it be that they were legalized
and officially imposed by those who wanted to dominate other
people? Or, could it be that the concept of one supreme god is
a convenient tool for unifying and domesticating the people of
society? Could it be that religion has something to offer, or
could it be that man always needs “divine power” to overcome
life’s daily challenges?

Lesson 4 God’s Existence

 School of Theism
 According to Theists, God exist. God is either immanent on
indwelling in the world or God is transcendent, being apart
from the world.
 Pantheistic point of view, God is neither immanent nor transcendent
but that the world is God or God is the world.
o Baruch Spinoza – taught that God is the ultimate substance of
the universe or nature. God for him is both the natura naturans
(creative nature) and the natura naturata (created nature).
Hence, if God is the creative nature and at the same time the
created nature, then God is both the creator and the created.
 For the Deism, God is simply apart from the world. God is a
watchmaker. God created the world, but after creating it, God leaves
the world on its own. God no longer intervenes in the affairs of the
world.
o Voltaire

Figure 5

It would not be 9 ave marias which can cure a wounded

sparrow, but medicine; it is not holy water which can render a
barren field productive, but the application of fertilizer and
irrigation.
 For the Hebrew-Christian, God is both immanent and transcendent.
God is the creator of the universe, the conserver of all things and the
source of all values.
o Cosmological Argument – is based on the principle of sufficient
cause. The world is an effect; therefore, it must have a cause,
outside itself, sufficient to account for its existence. This
argument was first advanced by Aristotle and later on
systematized by St. Aquinas. It implies that, whatever comes
into existence is caused by something which actually exists.
 This existing thing must be caused by another thing, so that by
going further, we are led to an ultimate cause – which is God.
o Ontological Argument – this argument was authored by St.
Anselm. That God exist is not due to what we can infer from
the world of experience, but through the mere fact that we can
think of the most perfect and most sublime. Through thinking,
we can have the concept of the most perfect; surely this object
of our concept exists. But, the most perfect, the most sublime
cannot be applied to things or to human beings. This most
sublime or which none greater that can be conceived is God.
 School of Agnosticism
 The underlying principle of Agnosticism is what lies beyond the
human sense, or what cannot be proved by experience is
simply unknowable. For them, God is beyond human
comprehension or that no one knows whether God exist or not.
Agnosticism is the safest position – the mean between
affirmation and negation of God.
o Immanuel Kant – claimed that knowledge comes from
experience. Since God transcend experience therefore
God cannot be known or proved philosophically.
 School of Theism
 Atheism is a belief that denies the existence of God.
o Democritus

Figure 6
The basic structure of the universe is composed of
atom. Everything is made up of atoms, which is eternal,
indestructible, infinite in number and dynamic. for him,
the universe came into existence not because God
created it, but because the atoms, by their own motions
happens to collide and combine into one whole, the
cosmos.
o Epicurus

Figure 7
There is no life beyond the grave, no other life than
this; hence let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
we die.

o Ludwig Feuerbach

Figure 8
Assert that it was not God who created man according
to his image and likeness, but rather the other way
around. Man created God according to his image and
likeness.
o Xenophanes

Figure 9
If a lion could paint its own God, it
would look like a lion.
 Theism, Agnosticism and Atheism have always existed side by
side since man began speculating on gods or God. To some,
God is indispensable value without which their life is meaningless.
To others, God is beyond human cognition, hence it is a waste of
time to inquire whether God exist or not. And still to some, God is
of no importance because, even without God, man can live
happily and morally.