|
Comparative Religion
Worship Religious Studies
Recently added to the site |
Some thoughts about religion, religions and the religiousInformation: This article looks at the nature of religion and religious belief, and why people are religious. A version of this article was originally published on the website www.faithnet.org.uk. Introduction Wherever we find humans, we find religion. Evidence of religious activity has been found in numerous cultures, and almost everywhere in the world. Even in the dimmest moments of recorded history we find that people at least buried their dead, and from which we may assume that they more than likely held some belief in what happened to a person, once they died. In some religions the dead are not buried. For instance, Zoroastrians have traditionally left the bodies of their dead to be consumed by vultures in special places called Towers of Silence. This is because they believe burying or cremating dead bodies will defile the earth (and the elements). The oldest religion still practiced by large numbers of people today is Hinduism. This began around 5,000 years ago in India. Sikhism is youngest religion, having also begun in India less than 500 years old. Although all religions contain in them the idea that they alone are the true path, many of them are actually directly related to each other. For example, although Jesus is said to be the founder of Christianity, he was also a Jew and a follower of Judaism. For example, Jesus never worshipped in a church, but worshipped in the temple. Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha (and the founder of Buddhism), and Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism) were both born and raised as Hindus. Finally, in the Qur'an (Islamic Scriptures), Islam is said to be a direct descendent of both Judaism and Christianity as each of these can be traced back to Abraham (the father of Isaac (Jews) and Ishmael (Arabs)). We also find that religions have tended to develop very different ways of understanding the nature of life and reality, according to their geographical location. For example, religious which have their origins in the Middle Eastern countries (such as Israel, Saudi Arabia), tend to view God as a personal deity, and each person as distinct from God and each other. On the other hand, religions which have come from Asia have tended to emphasis the idea that people have a divine soul, and are directly related to God and other people (who also have divine souls). As you are reading this article you will notice that God is never referred to as a 'He' or a 'She'. Rather, the view is taken by the author of this website that God is neither a he or she. As such, the terms 'God' and 'Godself' are preferred so as to avoid using any gender-biased language. What religion is (or types of religion) Sociologists (or those who study and explore theories about why human behaviour is as it is) see religion as that which can provide an agreed way of looking at the world. It can also give people a sense of purpose and meaning in their life. However, one problem sociologists face with regard to the study of religion, is defining exactly what a religion is. In other words, what make a 'religion', a religion? Religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism are grounded in the idea that there is one God. So we might say that a 'religion' is a belief system which has as a central belief the idea that there is one God. The problem with this is that Hinduism is also considered to be a religion, but it promotes the belief that there are many gods. Furthermore, Buddhism is also considered to be a religion, but this promotes the belief that there is no God. So, either we have to say that Hinduism and Buddhism are not religions, or redefine the nature of 'religion' so as to include them (and many others). The matter of defining the nature of 'religion' shows us that people often define what they believe to be 'true' about God, according to what they have been brought up to believe. For example, if someone was raised to believe that there was no God, then they would probably hold the idea that God exists as something which was wrong. Of course, if this person had been raised to believe in God, then they would no doubt believe God did exist. Many scholars have attempted to define what makes a 'religion', a religion. Disagreements about definitions may lead us to assume that either not enough study on the subject has been done, or that the subject matter is too vast to be categorised under a single heading. However, despite the problems associated with finding one definition, common features of 'religions' are said to be:
Something to think about: How much does this description of 'religion' describe other aspects of human activity? For example, how much does it describe the activity of those who support a football team, or follow the careers of pop or film stars? Advertisement Why people are religious At some stage in life we are all faced with answering what the Buddha called Ultimate Questions (E.g. ‘Where did the world come from?’, ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘Where am I going?’). Many people believe we can find satisfactory answers to these questions through religion. This means that for many people religion gives them a purpose to life, and answers to questions non-religious people cannot give them. Of course, if a person believes their religion gives them satisfactory answers to questions about life, then they will naturally believe it to be true. Of course, problems arise when people of different religions claim that their beliefs (or religion) is true. It might be tempting to conclude that fighting between people of different faiths is proof that religion is a bad thing, or even that these particular religions are not true. However, the problem might not be with these religions per se, but with the way people understand and practice it their faith. It needs to be remembered that the religious point-of-view is only one amongst many ways of understanding the world. For example, some people believe they can see 'the hand of God' in history. Yet it needs to be kept in mind that the same historical event can be interpreted both as an act-of-God, or as a coincidence and just a part of everyday life. For instance, is someone being healed an answer to prayers, or because of medicine (or even both)? Before science became a significant force in the world for explaining the way things are, people had a more superstitious view of the world. Heaven was believed to literally exist above the clouds, with earth in the middle and hell beneath the crust of the earth. Spirits (angels and demons) were also believed to live in the world, and people relied on the gods for food (i.e. sun and rain). Also, because people believed life in all its fullness was dependent on the gods, people were concerned to keep them happy through sacrifices or living in a certain way. Of course, in the modern world science seems to have eroded the place where the gods (or God) once dwelt. Something to think about: In what way does this commercial represent what some people believe about God?
Yet we need to keep in mind that often 'science' and 'religion' are asking and answering two very different sets of questions about the nature of the world we live in. Science tends to ask and answers how? questions, whilst religions tend to ask and answer why? questions. So science might tell us how the world was made, but religion might tell us why it was. Clashes between these two worldviews tend to occur when they try to do what they other does (E.g. If science tells us that the world is here simply as a natural occurrence, and that our purpose in life is solely for genetic reproduction). The Alistair Hardy Research Centre (UK) conducted a large amount research into contemporary religious experience. In answer to a question, 'How religious are British people in the latter half of the twentieth century?', studies by the centre found that nearly half the adult population of Britain would respond positively to the question by claiming they have had a religious experience, or 'other-worldly' (transcendental) experience of some kind. Out of these, some do not want to call this an experience of God, whilst others do. Half of the positive respondents had never attended a place of worship, and many had never told anyone about their experience. One interesting find was that people reporting these experiences are better educated, happier and better balanced mentally than those who did not report them. This therefore challenges the generally accepted notion that people claiming to have had a religious experience are odd and mentally unbalanced. This may be because science has generally discarded and tabooed the spiritual dimension of human experience. However, if spiritual experience is not due to error or sickness, and has a positive function for individuals and society, then these taboos will ultimately be challenged. Some of the positive aspects of religion:
Some of the negative aspects of religion
|
That Religious Studies Website
| Home | Religious Studies | Ethics | Philosophy |  |
- Share:
- Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Advertisement
This website and its content is protected by international copyright laws
