REL ATAR Unit One
Syllabus content: The nature of religious belief
The key features of one religious belief or teaching
§1—Religious belief
Focus questions for the dot-point:
The nature of religious belief
 What is meant by the concepts
‘religious belief’ and ‘religious
teaching’?
 What are some examples of reli-
gious beliefs?
The nature of religious belief
Religious beliefs offer particular in-
sights and understandings about life.
These find expression in a variety of
religious teachings and practices.
While these terms are related to each
other they also need some definition.
The following terms need to be de-
fined:
 Religious beliefs
 Religious teachings
 Religious practices
 Religious signs and symbols
 Religious rituals
 Religious celebrations
 Religious events
To do: Add the definitions to your
glossary. Give examples to illustrate.
Q. Marriage—what is it? A belief? A
teaching? A practice? A ritual? A cel-
ebration? An event? All of these?
Module Three: Religious Belief
Creeds
A creed is a profession of faith, some-
thing that lists the beliefs of a group of
people. The name comes from the
Latin word Credo meaning ‘I believe’.
Note: A creed is not one belief, rather
it is a list of beliefs.
The Apostles’ Creed and the Ni-
cene Creed
Two creeds commonly used in the
Catholic church are The Apostles’
Creed and The Nicene Creed. The
Nicene Creed is more widely accepted
by other Christian churches.
I believe in one God, the Father al-
mighty, maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible …
In response to a divisive controversy
about the nature of Jesus, Emperor
Constantine called Church leaders to a
council at Nicea (present day Iznik,
Turkey) in 325AD. The aim of this, the
first ecumenical council, was to define
essential Christian beliefs. The re-
sulting statement of these beliefs be-
came known as the Nicene Creed. It
was modified at a second ecumenical
council held in Constantinople and this
later version is the one used today.
As well as emphasising the im-
portance of the Trinity (including a
precise description of the nature of
Jesus), the Nicene Creed also de-
scribes the community of believers or
the Church in terms of four qualities:
one, holy, catholic and apostolic.
To do: Compare the Apostles’ and
the Nicene Creeds. Note similari-
ties and differences.
Select some statements you can
use as examples of religious belief.
1
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
presents the essential and fundamen-
tal elements of the Church’s faith. It is
presented in four main parts with
each part focusing upon a key element
of Catholic faith. The four parts of the
Catechism are: Creed, Sacraments,
Life in Christ and Prayer.
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church was
approved and pub-
lished in the 1990s
under the authority of
Pope John Paul II. It
was published in light
of the documents of the Second Vati-
can Council held in Rome during the
1960s. This council is counted by the
Catholic Church as the twenty-first
ecumenical council and many consider
it the most significant event in the
modern era of the Church. The Cate-
chism is intended to be a point of ref-
erence of all catholic doctrine.
To do: Access the Catechism on line
and view Part One: The Profession of
Faith. Find those paragraphs that
relate to the beliefs you selected in
the previous ‘To do’. Read what the
Church teaches about these beliefs.
Glossary of terms for the nature of
religious belief
 Nature— the qualities or character-
istics of something
 Creed— a formal statement of be-
liefs held by a religion
 Doctrine—a belief or set of beliefs
held by a religion
 (add other terms as they occur)
 §2—A religious belief
Focus questions for the dot-point:
The key features of one religious
belief or teaching
 What are the key features of a
religious belief?
 What informs this belief or where
does it come from?
 How does this belief find expres-
sion in a religion?
Important Catholic beliefs
Christianity is based upon a number
of important religious beliefs. All of
these beliefs point towards and speak
about God and God’s activity in the
world. Two important and related
areas of Christian belief concern the
nature of Revelation and Jesus. Relat-
ed to these two important areas of
Christian belief are a number of spe-
cific Catholic beliefs:
 Revelation is the continuing and
dynamic process by which God
communicates personally with
people
 Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s
self-revelation
 God is revealed to Abraham and
his descendants
 God’s self-revelation begins with
creation
 The Bible tells the story of God’s
self-revelation
 The Trinity, there are three per-
sons in the one God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit
 The Church recognises the Bible as
Christian scripture
 The Bible tells of God’s loving plan
of salvation
 Through Jesus people discover and
relate with God
 Jesus is the redeemer
 The Church recognises Mary as
Mother of Jesus the Redeemer
 The Immaculate Conception
 The Assumption of Mary
 In Jesus the nature of God and
human nature became one
 Jesus conquered the power of sin-
fulness
 Jesus redeems people from the
power of Original Sin
 Jesus shares with believers the
very nature of God
 Mary, Mother of the Church
To do: Select a belief from this
list and answer the following:
Q. What are the key features of
this belief?
Q. What informs this belief or
where does it come from?
Q. How does this belief find ex-
pression in the Church?
Repeat the steps. Use the Cate-
chism as a primary reference.
For interest: Share information you
have about the beliefs of other reli-
gions.
Important Catholic understand-
ings
Over its two-thousand year history
the Catholic Church has developed a
fuller understanding of its beliefs. The
following are brief introductions to
some important teachings that guide
and inform how people respond to
religious belief:
Relating with God
Through Jesus, God ‘makes a home’ in
people and gradually transforms the
person so that they reflect more and
more the love and goodness created
by God.
Intimacy with God
Many people from different nations
and cultures recognise the human
need for God, but for Christians there
is more to God than just a need for
God.
Christians also believe that God, as
Creator, seeks a deeply personal rela-
tionship, oneness or communion with
all people.
2
They recognise that God continues to
support their existence and makes it
possible for them to live, breathe and
move (Acts 17:28). They also know
that God loves every human being,
be they religious or not, totally and
unconditionally.
Feeling discontented and discon-
nected with God
Many today suffer a number of con-
sequences from not relating closely
with God. People who disconnect
themselves from God find that they
become subject to human weakness,
lacking an inner strength to deal with
life’s challenges.
Covenant: God’s relationship with
all people
To achieve intimacy with humanity
God breaks through the barriers and
obstacles that prevent intimacy. The
Bible describes how, over roughly
two thousand years, God entered
into successive covenants with peo-
ple. Three are particularly significant
here, the covenants of Abraham, Mt
Sinai and Jesus Christ.
Christians call all to be God’s People
Christians believe that they are
obliged to live as God wishes. This
means two things:
 being willing to enter into the
intimacy with God that Jesus
made possible
 calling others also to accept inti-
macy with God, and to teach
them how to find it.
Participation as People of God
means living as God calls
As the people of Israel were called by
God to ‘obey me and keep my cove-
nant’, so members of his Church ex-
perience the blessings it offers —
especially re-creation by the Holy
Spirit — if, like Jesus, they obey God.
The important Catholic understand-
ings listed above and over the page
are supported by Scripture and
Tradition. An in-depth investigation
of any one of these teachings will
require time and study.
The Ten Commandments summa-
rise the Law
The Ten Commandments were given
by God to the people of Israel at
Mount Sinai around 1250BC after
they had been freed from slavery in
Egypt.
The Ten Commandments were rhyth-
mic sayings in Hebrew. They were
handed down orally among the tribal
people. The Ten Commandments are:
1. I am the Lord your God: you shall
not have strange gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the
Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s
Day.
4. Honour your father and your
mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbour.
9. You shall not covet your neigh-
bour’s wife.
10. You shall not covet your neigh-
bour’s goods.
The Ten Commandments were like
summary statements or category
headings for a whole set of laws. For
example, the Fourth Commandment
related to all God’s laws about the
responsibilities of parents, children
and families.
The Sixth Commandment is about
forbidding a married person having a
sexual relationship with anyone other
than his wife or her husband. Its con-
cern is to protect God’s purpose for
sexual intercourse. It served also as a
summary for all God’s Old Testament
laws about sexuality such as, sex out-
side marriage, divorce and rape.
The Old Testament laws were record-
ed in the first five books of the Bible:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy.
When Jesus said that he had come to
complete the Law, these are the
books he was referring to. Today,
Jewish people still refer to them as
the Law or the Torah.
God’s law helps people relate
with God and care for justice
The Ten Commandments have the
authority of God. God gave them for
several purposes. Two are of particu-
lar importance.
The first was to help the people of
Israel relate with God. God is good-
ness and love and people cannot re-
late with God when their lives are
dominated by evil and selfishness.
Another important purpose of God’s
Ten Commandments and other laws
is to protect the principles of justice
and rights.
Commandments: Guidance for
daily living
Only as people relate with God can
they find God’s guidance for their
daily lives and decisions. When they
sin, it is more difficult for them to
recognise how God is seeking to help
them through their problems and
times of confusion.
The first three commandments
protect relationship with God
The first three commandments focus
upon preventing human behaviour
that leads to deterioration in the rela-
tionship with God.
Restoring the original relation-
ship with God
Sin makes impossible full restoration
of the original relationship God in-
tended between people and their
Creator in this life. However, Chris-
tians who keep the first three Com-
mandments are on the path to the
restoration of this relationship be-
cause they:
 Relate with their creator
 Respect God’s name and sacred-
ness
 Are able to accept the salvation
The First Commandment pro-
motes a love for God
The calling of the Christian is to pro-
mote awareness of the intimacy God
wants with all people. This includes
showing others how to enter into that
intimacy. Jesus was asked which was
the greatest of the commandments of
the law. He replied that the first and
greatest commandment was to love
God (Matthew 22:37):
You must love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind. This is the greatest
and first Commandment.
I am the Lord your God
From their covenant with God the
Israelites learned many things about
God. Most of all, they learned that
God is a God of love and faithfulness.
However, to relate with God, Chris-
tians need to love and to be faithful
to God in return. Only then can a rela-
tionship with God develop.
To relate with God, requires faith,
hope, charity and religious devotion.
The Second Commandment pro-
motes a respect for God
Speaking about someone respectfully
is a sign of love in a relationship. The
Second Commandment requires peo-
ple to speak respectfully of God
(Exodus 20:7):
You shall not misuse the name of
Yahweh your God...
The Third Commandment pro-
motes a relationship with God
The Third Commandment specifies
the minimum needed to develop a
personally transforming relationship
with God. Its meaning is explained in
the Bible, especially in the Books of
Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
To do: Review this module by out-
lining the relationship between one
religious belief and a teaching that
comes from it.