RELIGION

What is a Religion?
a) is a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, moral, worldviews, texts,
sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural,
transcendental, or spiritual elements. (Wikipedia)
b) The pursuit of transformation guided by a sacred belief system.

Belief system or worldviews- a particular way of ordering the realities of one's world.

Spirituality- One’s integrative view of life; involves a quest for the meaning and ultimate value
of life as opposed to an instrumentalist or materialistic attitude to life.

Different Kinds of Religions

1. Judaism - is the covenant of one God with a chosen people vs. other people with many gods.

2. Christianity- is the message that a loving God sent His begotten Son in order to redeem
humankind from eternal damnation.
3. Islam - there is only one God and Muhammad is the Final and greatest messenger.

4. Hinduism- is the attainment of liberation in the identification of Atman and Brahman through
the Four Yogas.
5. Theravada Buddhism- is that life is suffering; suffering is due to craving; there is a way to
overcome craving is the Eight-fold Path, the Middle Way (between pleasure and mortification).

6. Mahayana Buddhism- is to seek complete enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings
through insight and compassion.
7. Confucianism- is to be a “gentleman” by following the moral way consisting of the virtues of
love, righteousness, wisdom, propriety and loyalty in order to promote harmony in society.

8. Taoism- is becoming one with "Tao" it was originally a system of philosophy, the greatest
exponent of which.
9. Shintoism- is to worship the ancestor and forces of nature to achieve harmony in all

dimensions. .

"One cannot therefore be simply naïve about religion. It is for this reason that we
believe that society needs to aspire to fostering religious understanding. But we
believe too that religious understanding is not simply about knowing the history
of facts of another religion. On many occasions, religious issues demand critical
reflection and the willingness to ask tough questions about people’s beliefs,
traditions, and practices
As we continue our studies we will exposed to the complexity of the religious life
apart the learning the history and facts of different religious around the world,
and we will exposed tomorrow real-life controversies upon which you will be
challenged to reflect and perhaps confront even your own biases. Monotheism is
the belief in only, one divine being who deserves recognition, reverence, and
allegiance. Each of the chapters in the unit give attention to Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam respectively. Although from each other, these three religions share
common histories and the conviction that there is one God. Their histories trace
them back to a shared ancestry in such figures as Abraham and Moses, for
example. these religions insist, too, the existence of only one God, a belief that
while unifying their members has also fostered conflict in terms of claims to truth,
origin, and message.

What is your religion or belief? Write your answer below

What do you know about it? Write your answer below

What do you want to know? Write your answer below

The elements of religion are

a) reflects an effort to elevate their whole self to a higher dimension of existence,
(b) framework of transcendent beliefs, (c) text or scriptures (d) rituals (e). sacred
spaces (e.g., church, temple, mosque, synagogue). understanding the worldview
of each of the world major religions is critical in appreciating their rituals and
practices. these worldviews are; All is one (Monistic) 1. Many Gods 2. One God
(Monotheistic) 3. No God (Atheistic) : The elements of spirituality are a) holistic
(fully integrated view to life), (b) quest for meaning (including the purpose of life),
(c) quest for the sacred (belief about God,), and (d) suggests a self-reflective
existence Brief
Overview Similar to social institutions such as a family and education, religion
pervades many aspects of our everyday lives. Many of us were born in a particular
religion such as Christianity or Islam and so participating in religious activities or
believing in a particular view of God many have become unquestioned habits.
that religion has a become part of one's identity renders it not just as a sacred
character but personal, too. Laying the foundation for the rest of this lesson, this
chapter will present a different way of approaching religion as a social
phenomenon. While religious beliefs and virtues may be deeply personal, they are
also socially constructed.