¶ … religion is challenging because religion has psychological, sociological, historical, and political dimensions. Moreover, the great diversity of the world's religions warrants an expansive and flexible definition. Features that religions generally share in common include the presence of a cogent belief system that may or may not be codified in written scripture, and which usually includes an oral dimension as well. A sense of community and culture usually develops around a religion, creating shared norms, values, and worldviews that are tangentially or directly related to the core tenets of the religion itself. The presence of myths, allegories, and other stories are considered integral to the concept of religion. Myths may be cosmological in nature, explain the creation or purpose of life, or may be instructional as for instilling moral values and ethical behaviors in community members. By extension, ethical guidelines tend to be keynotes of religions worldwide. Other aspects that can define religion include more personal, subjective, or psychological dimensions such as spiritual experiences or the sense of the sacred or profane. This would be commonly called the "religious experience." Moreover, the anthropology of religion includes investigation into the ways cultures designate their space and time in terms of sacred...
For example, Molloy (2012) points out that symbolism is crucial to the religions of the world, and that each religion may have different symbols denoting similar issues, whereas some symbols are unique to their religions. Ritual and ceremony also play important roles in the religious traditions of the world, as do attitudes toward proselytization. Religions provide the basis for many rites of passage in communities, and may even influence the foods people eat or the music they listen to.
' Religion is belief in the existence of a supreme being while science is a study to explain the how. The main conflict of these two disciplines begins with the concept of life. Religion explains that God is the creator and giver of life, whereas scientists argue that life evolved from a microorganism. The debate between religion and science is highly controversial but I choose to take the stand of the
Religion and War Religion has been, and will continue to be, a cause of war. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate how religion, but more precisely faith-based thinking, has been used to foment violence and cause war. To understand the role that religion has played in sparking violence and causing nations, tribes, etc. To go to war, one must first understand what exactly war is. One of the best
Religion in the Modern World Religion Modern World Religion is something that is as old as man. It means "almost everything because religions deal with the whole of human life -- and death" (Bowker 2006). Since the beginning of mankind, individuals have searched themselves and others, contemplated the universe and all its elements, and religions are what were formed through these personal and public explorations. But what exactly are religions? What does
Learning that we all believe in one force, yet a force that is represented with different entities and faith demonstrated through various traditions and practices, I have learned to reconcile these differences by just believing in a force, without any subsistence to religious names and labels and traditions. As what I have discussed earlier, what used to be my religion was the belief I was exposed to since birth. However,
Religion is an analysis of seven works that the author, Daniel Pals, believes have shaped the understanding of religion in the past century. These theories represent seminal attempts to see religion in its social context as a system of values and beliefs, something that would be popularized by French structuralists and students of myth and semiotics in the last half of the 20th century. The theories reviewed put forth
At the church I visited, many of the parents had returned to regular church-going for the sake of their children, because they wanted their children to have a spiritual foundation. However, the manifestation of their spirituality was social, not simply individual. Many of the children were part of a youth group, and knew one another as friends. They went on retreats together, bonded at prayer meetings, as well as talked
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