Module 3- Effects of Religion

Five Major Aspects of Human Life Where Religion Plays an Important Role

A. Moral Life

Religions affect the moral behaviour and character of a person. Positively, religions teach us how to
conduct ourselves- to become persons of moral and virtuous character. Negatively, when members of a
certain religion fail to fully understand the moral teachings of their religion, religion then become
oppressive, controlling, and manipulating.

One of the things that help individuals make moral decisions is religion. Many people based their
judgement whether a certain act is morally good on religious teachings. The problem, however, when
our moral standards are based on religious teachings and authorities with the intention only to please
and conform in order to belong to the group, is that we may have the tendency to be less sensitive to
the needs of others who are outside Our circle. Religious morals, being Limited and diverse, can cause
disagreements or conflict among moral agents.

B. Aesthetic Life

Religions tend to teach its adherents the value of beauty.

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism are religions that teach how appreciate life, nature and
others. Living a good life implies living a beautiful life. Seeing life as beautiful is quite different from
knowing life should be lived meaningfully or beautifully. That is why if you think that life is in itself
beautiful, then you ought to live it. However, some may think that life Is In itself has no value, but living
well as. Then, you ought to know how you should live your life your life meaningfully- a positive outlook
in life. However, the negative effect lies in the idea that when human effort is not enough to make
things possible, one can Just wait for miracles to happen and not exert any effort at all.

The pessimistic view of life, which says that it is not true that life has meaning in itself and that what
makes life meaningful is how you live with it, is brought about by factors that contributed to the
suffering, exploitation and abuse of people who were victims of religious intolerance and racial
prejudice.

C. Social Life

Religions make people think they are not alone- that they belong to a group. They give people a sense
of belongingness, help them realize the value of family, and provide guidelines for social interactions.
Moreover, religions may foster positive social values such as collaboration, unity solidarity,
belongingness, and social mobility.
 On a negative note, although religions create social cohesion among social groups for the purpose of
achieving good ends, religions may also cause social differential and isolation. Since different religions
have different belief systems and practices, they create apathy or Indifferent forward other religious
groups or community

D. Psychological Life

Religions have a psychological effect. They have been an important vehicle for shaping and
conditioning people's behavior. One's Internalizing of religious teachings will unconsciously or
consciously affect his or her behavior by the conditioning and stimuli- response mechanism.

E. Transcendental Life

Not all things are what are in store for Us. Many think that there are things that humans do not have
access to or are incapable of knowing. Religions, most especially Western religions, fill out the space that
separates the gap between the divine or supernatural and natural or physical. Positively, religions teach
human how to transcend themselves by believing that there is another realm that can only be accessed
after death. This realm is known to be transcendental and Inaccessible to the Iiving but must be yearned
and desired while alive.

Module 4-JUDAISM
Judaism

•originated in the Middle East over 3500 years ago and was founded by Moses, although Jews trace
their history back to Abraham.

•Jews believe that there is only one God with whom they have a covenant.

•In exchange for all the good that God has done for the Jewish people,

Jewish people keep God's laws and try to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives.

•Judaism has a rich history of religious text, but the central and most important religious document is
the Torah.

Torah- is the Pentateuch - the five books of Moses

• Genesis (Bereshit) - Contains stories of creation, records the establishment of the covenant between
God and the Jewish people, tells of the lives of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

•Exodus (Sh'mot) - account of Israelites enslaved in Egypt. The exodus from Egypt receiving of the 10
Commandments at Mt. Sinai

•Leviticus (Vayikra)- gives God's ethical and ritual laws and specific instructions to priests o how to
perform their duties.

•Numbers (Bamidbar)- recounts of the lsraelites through the desert and gives more of Gods ethical and
ritual laws

•Deuteronomy (Devarim) -Moses reviews the laws and the people prepare to enter the Promised Land.

The Bible

The Jewish Bible is known in Hebrew as the Tanakh, an acronym of the three sets of books which
comprise it:

1. Pentateuch (Torah)

2. Prophets (Nevi’im)

3. Writings (Ketuvim).

Prophets (Nevi'im)

•2nd section of the Hebrew Bible, prophets

•Not a soothsayer but rather a messenger of God to the people

•Prophets admonished the Jewish people for forgetting and forsaking God's commands

• They called on the people to examine their lives and their conduct

• Nevi'im is divided in two sections: early and latter prophets

Numbers (Ketuvim)

•3rd section of Hebrew Bible, writings

•Contains wisdom literature, poetry, songs, narrative, history, religious philosophy, and love hymns... 12
books in total

• Books include: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nechemiah, Chronicles, Job Songs,
Ruth, and Lamentations.

Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:1-20:23)

1. I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

2. You shall have no other god’s beside me. You shall not make for yourself any carved idol, or any
likeness of anything... you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work; but the
seventh day Is a Sabbath to God.. For in six days God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, God blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honor your father and your mother...

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9 You shall not bear false witness against your fellow.

10. You shall not covet...anything that is your fellow's.

Orthodox Judaism

•Tries to observe the traditional practices and beliefs of Biblical Judaism.

•They are strict in the implementation of such laws, and are hesitant to revise any practices.

•They observe the traditional dietary practices.

•They eat only ritually clean foods, and they honor the Sabbath day.

•They believe that God gave the Torah, both written (the Tanakh) and oral.

•They keep the law as God-given.

Reform Judaism

•Aims to modernize Judaism, by integrating themselves in European culture. Some of their ideas are
"progressive revelation, a religion without dogmas and subject to the criteria of reason, the
predominance of moralism, a liberal humanism, hostile to all particularism."

• They reject practices that seem out-dated, such as kosher laws. In short, they emphasize change.

• They consider Torah as a statement of eternal principles with a particular historicity and believe that it
can be changed to respond new conditions

• They abandon much of the original Torah as no longer relevant.

Conservative Judaism

•"Recognizes that change has always been part of the religion," but they discern carefully which changes
must be accepted.

• They try to reconcile the traditional orthodoxy and the liberal reform of Judaism.

• The practices are conservative Jews are similar to those Orthodox

• But they claim that they do it less mechanically, or less routine.

• They affirm the God-given standing of the Torah, but accommodate change.

ISSUES

• Antisemitism (also spelled anti-Semitism or anti- Semitism) is hostility, Prejudice, or discrimination

directed against Jews as a group. A person who holds such positions is called an anti-Semite.
Antisemitism is generally considered to be a form of racism.

• Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to
the historical land of Israel, and thus support for the modern state of Israel. Anti-Zionism opposes that.

• Holocaust -was the systematic persecution and murder of a approximately six million Jews by the Nazi
regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.

“Ang Pogi Ko”