DR. FILEMON C.

AGUILAR MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF LAS PIÑAS

Golden Gate Subd., Talon III, Las Piñas City
Tel No. 403-1985, 478-8671, 519-1960

Course Code: GE 110

COURSE TITLE: Religions, Religious Experiences, and Spirituality
Professors:
Prof. Senen Vergel Villanueva

Prof. Esther J. Villar

Prof. Soledad S. Escritor J.D.

Module 4 - Religion: How did It Begin?

Introduction:
The history of religion is as old as the history of man himself. That is what archeologists and
anthropologists tell us. Even among the most ‘primitive, undeveloped civilizations, there is found evidence of
worship of some form. In fact, The New Encyclopedia Britannica says that “as far as scholars have
discovered, there has never existed any people anywhere, at any time, who were not in some sense religious.
Besides its antiquity, religion also exists in great variety. The headhunters in the jungles of Borneo, the
Eskimos in the frozen Arctic, the nomads in the Sahara Desert, the urban dwellers in the great metropolises of
the world------every people and every nation on earth has its god or gods and its way of worship. The
diversity in religion is truly staggering. Logically, questions come to mind. From where did all these religions
come? Since there are marked differences as well as similarities among them, did they start independently, or
could they have developed from one source? Why did religion begin at all and how? Answers are important
to all who are interested in finding the truth about religious beliefs.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
1. Decipher what has been observed by archeologists and anthropologists regarding antiquity and
variety in religion.
2. Answer questions about world religions that need to be considered.
3. Explore reasons why man is religious.
Lesson Presentation:

QUESTION OF ORIGIN

When it comes to the question of origin, people of different religions think of names such as
Muhammad, the Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus. In almost every religion, we can find a central figure to
whom credit is given for establishing the ‘true faith.’ Some of these were iconoclastic reformers. Others were
moralistic philosophers. Still, others were selfless folk heroes. Many of them have left behind writings or
sayings that formed the basis of a new religion. In time what they said and did was elaborated, embellished,
and given a mystic aura. Some of these leaders were even deified. Even though these individuals are
considered founders of the major religions that we are familiar with, it must be noted that they did not
actually originate from religion. In most cases, their teachings grew out of existing religious ideas, even
though most of these founders claimed divine inspiration as their source. Or they changed and modified
existing religious systems that had become unsatisfactory in one way or another.
For example, the Buddha had been a prince who was appalled by the suffering and deplorable conditions he
found surrounding him in a society dominated by Hinduism. Buddhism was the result of his search for a
solution to life’s agonizing problems. Similarly, Muhammad was highly disturbed by the idolatry and
immorality he saw in the religious practices around him. He later claimed to have received special revelations
from God, which formed the Qu’ran and became the basis of a new religious movement, Islam. Protestantism
grew out of Catholicism as a result of the Reformation that began in the early 16 th century when Martin
Luther protested the sale of indulgences by the Catholic church at that time. Thus, as far as the religions now
 DR. FILEMON C. AGUILAR MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF LAS PIÑAS
Golden Gate Subd., Talon III, Las Piñas City
Tel No. 403-1985, 478-8671, 519-1960

in existence are concerned, there is no lack of information regarding their origin and development, their
founders, their sacred writings, and so on. But what about the religions that existed before them? And the
ones even before those? If we go back far enough in history, we will sooner or later be confronted with the
question: How did religion begin? Clearly, to find the answer to that question, we must look beyond the
confines of individual religions.

MANY THEORIES:

For centuries, people more or less accepted the religious tradition into which they were born and in
which they were brought up or handed down to them by their forefathers, feeling that their religion was the
truth. There was seldom any reason to question anything, nor the need to investigate how, when or why things
got started. With limited means of travel and communication, few people were even aware of other religious
systems. In the 19th century, things began to change when the theory of evolution was sweeping through
intellectual circles along with the advent of scientific inquiry. Many started to question the established
systems, including religion. Scholars turned to the remains of early civilizations or to the remote corners of
the world where people still lived in primitive societies. They tried to apply to these the methods of
psychology, sociology, anthropology, and so forth, hoping to discover a clue as to how religion began and
why. It is both educational and enlightening to get a glimpse of the results of their research. Same shall help
us gain a better understanding of the religious attitudes among people we meet.

A theory called animism was proposed by the English anthropologist Edward Tylor (1832-1917). He
suggested that experiences such as dreams, visions, hallucinations and the lifelessness of the corpse caused
primitive people to conclude that the body is inhabited by a soul (Latin-anima). According to this theory,
since they frequently dreamed about their deceased loved ones, they assumed that a soul continued living
after death, that it left the body and dwelt in trees, rocks, rivers, and so on. Eventually, the dead and the
objects the soul were said to inhabit came to be worshipped as gods. And thus, said Tylor, religion was born.
An English anthropologist, R.R. Marett (1866-1943) proposed a refinement of animism, which he
called animatism. Marett concluded that instead of having the notion of a personal soul, primitive people
believed there was an impersonal force or supernatural power that animated everything: that belief evoked
emotions of awe and fear in man which became the basis for his primitive religion. To Marett, religion was
merely a man’s emotional response to the unknown. His favorite statement was that religion was “not so
much thought out as danced out.”
In 1890, a Scottish expert in ancient folklore, James Frazer (1854-1941) published the influential
book The Golden Bough, in which he argued that religion grew out of magic. According to him, man first
tried to control his own life and his environment by imitating what he saw happening in nature.

For example, he thought that he could invoke rain by sprinkling water on the ground to the accompaniment of
thunder-like drumbeats or that he could cause his enemy harm by sticking pins in an effigy. This led to the
use of rituals, spells, and magical objects in many areas of life. When these did not work as expected, he then
turned to placating and beseeching the help of supernatural powers instead of trying to control them. The
rituals and incantations became sacrifices and prayers, and thus religion began. In Frazer’s words, religion is
a” propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man.

The noted Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), in his book Totem and Taboo, tried to
explain the origin of religion. He explained that the earliest religion grew out of what he called a father-figure
neurosis. In Freud’s theory, the father figure became God, the rites and rituals became the earliest religion,
and the eating of the slain father became the tradition of communion practiced in many religions. Other
theories to explain the origin of religion have been forgotten because none of them seem more credible or
acceptable than the others. Most of their theories lack historical evidence and were products of some
 DR. FILEMON C. AGUILAR MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF LAS PIÑAS
Golden Gate Subd., Talon III, Las Piñas City
Tel No. 403-1985, 478-8671, 519-1960

investigator’s imagination or conjecture.

A FAULTY FOUNDATION

After years of struggling with the issue of finding the origin of religion and failed, they concluded that
first of all, this is because bones and remains of ancient people do not tell us how those people thought, what
they feared, or why they worshipped. Second, the religious practices of today’s so-called primitive people are
not really a reliable gauge for measuring what people of ancient times did or thought. Because of all the
uncertainties, the book World Religions—From Ancient History to the Present concludes that “the modern
historian of religions knows that it is impossible to reach the origins of religion.” Logic tells us that a correct
conclusion can be deduced only from a correct premise. If one starts off with a faulty premise, it is unlikely
that one will reach a sound conclusion. By following their preconceived notion, in their efforts to ‘explain
religion away’ they have attempted to explain God away. The situation can be compared to the many ways
past astronomers tried to explain the movement of the planets and failed. It is because their theories were
based on the assumption that the earth was the center of the universe around which the stars and planets
revolved. Real progress was not made until scientists and the Catholic church were willing to accept the fact
that the earth was not the center of the universe but revolved around the sun, the center of the solar system.

Likewise, the investigation of the origin of religion failed because of the rise of atheism and the
widespread acceptance of the theory of evolution. Many people have taken for granted that God exist. Based
on this assumption, they feel that the explanation for the existence of religion is to be found in man himself—
in his thought processes, his needs, his ‘neuroses.’ Voltaire stated, “If God did not exist, it would be
necessary to invent him”, so they argue that man has invented God.

The Origin of World Religions

By Anita Ravi
As people created more efficient systems of communication and more complex governments in early
agrarian civilizations, they also developed what we now call religion.
Having done some research on the common features of early agrarian cities, I’m interested in finding out why
all civilizations adopted some sort of religion and how these religions spread over vast regions. I know that by
1200 BCE, there were developed cities in most parts of the world. Having examined some early writing from
the city of Sumer in Mesopotamia, I know that people had already conceived of gods that looked out for them
and the welfare of their crops and cities. But the world religions I know of — Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism,
Christianity, and Islam — were bigger than a single city or even a single region of the world. In fact, these
religions have survived for thousands of years, and all of them seem to have developed around the same time.
Since people do not appear to have lacked for religious life on a local scale from very early times, why did
several large-scale belief systems emerge between 1200 BCE and 700 CE? In fact, why did all the major
world religions appear in that era?
Why religions became global
 DR. FILEMON C. AGUILAR MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF LAS PIÑAS
Golden Gate Subd., Talon III, Las Piñas City
Tel No. 403-1985, 478-8671, 519-1960

One possibility is that by about 100 BCE, the population in Afro-Eurasia had climbed to over a million. As a
result of increasing commercial and cultural interaction between people across this large area, religions were
shared. The new religious systems provided foundations of cultural communication, moral expectation, and
personal trust among people who were meeting, sharing ideas, and doing business with one another far
beyond their local neighborhoods. The historians J.R. and William McNeil call this the development of
“portable, congregational religions.” Common features of these religions are the following: there is usually a
founding man who receives the word of God; there is a key text or set of texts that defines man’s relationship
with God; there are recommended ways of living and worshipping; people come together regularly to have
God’s word interpreted for them by an authority; and there is a path to self-trans-formation and eternal
salvation in one way or another. In The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History, the McNeills
argue that religion took hold during this time period for the following reasons:
In subsequent centuries, urban dwellers, and particularly poor, marginal persons, found that authoritative
religious guidance, shared faith, and mutual support among congregations of believers could substitute for
the tight-knit custom of village existence (within which the rural majority continued to live) and give meaning
and value to ordinary lives, despite daily contact with uncaring strangers. Such religious congregations, in
turn, helped to stabilize urban society by making its inherent inequality and insecurity more tolerable. (61)
So what they’re saying is that religion provided structure and meaning for large groups of people in ways that
small, tight-knit village communities used to do. Religion, especially faiths that were shared by large groups
of people, actually provided stability in cities. These religions were accepted by thousands of followers
because they appealed to many different people from all social classes and occupations. If the texts and tenets
of these faiths spoke to such a wide variety of people then the religious beliefs were more likely to spread
along trade routes, unlike the earlier village-based religions.
Approximate start Approximate number of followers
Faith date Place of origin (2014)
Hinduism c. 2000 BCE Northern India 979 million
Judaism c. 2000 BCE Middle East 15.6 million
Buddhism c. 500 BCE Northern India 480 million
Confucianism c. 500 BCE Northern China 6.5 million
Daoism (Taoism) c. 550 BCE Northern China 3 million
Christianity c. 100 CE Middle East 2.3 billion
Islam c. 622 CE Middle East 1.6 billion
While many people were drawn to these early religions, they are not all the same. Each faith has its own
answers to questions about humanity and each one has different practices. All faiths, apart from
Confucianism, which some scholars classify as an ethical system rather than a religion, offer eternal salvation
in one form or another. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all monotheistic, with one omnipotent and
omniscient deity. Hinduism allows for the worship of numerous, powerful gods and goddesses. Buddhism
and Daoism also accept the existence of multiple divine beings in various forms and incarnations. All of these
religions teach that human relations should be guided by kindness, selflessness, and decency. Confucianism,
in particular, emphasizes public moral behavior, good government, and social responsibility.
 DR. FILEMON C. AGUILAR MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF LAS PIÑAS
Golden Gate Subd., Talon III, Las Piñas City
Tel No. 403-1985, 478-8671, 519-1960

Reinforcement\Assignment:

Different yet Similar! Answer the following questions in three to five sentences.
1. Is the Bible God’s Word or Man’s?
2. Why have many investigators failed to explain the origin of religion?
3. What similarities do you see between Roman Catholicism and Buddhism, other religions?

References:
 Bible, any translation Reasoning from the Scriptures, Religion p. 322 Copyright (c) 1985 by
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York,
USA The Bible God’s Word or Man’s, 1989, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.,
Brooklyn, New York, USA Mankinds Search for God, 1990, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of
Pennsylvania, All rights reserved
 Enjoy Life Forever, p.49, Reasoning from the Scriptures, pp.3 -330