HUMSS: INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS ANDBELIEF SYSTEMSLEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET
UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF RELIGION
Prepared by:MARICHEL M. DELA PEÑA
Senior High School Teacher I
Ramon T. Diaz Natonal High School
Gandara, Samar
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HUMSS: INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS AND BELIEF SYSTEMS
Name of Learner: ____________________________________ Grade/Secton:____________School: ____________________________________________ Dae: ___________________
Undersanding he Naure of ReligionI.Inroducton
To be able o communicae undersanding of religion by giving an example of a belief sysem and worldview. The learner demonsraes undersanding of belief sysem orworldview*, Religion, Spiriualiy, Philosophy of Religion and Theology and be able odiscuss he elemens of religion, belief sysem and spiriualiy.
II.MLEC (wih Code)
The learner prepares characer skeches of a person who is spiriual bu no religiousand a person who is religious bu no spiriual.
(HUMSS_WRB12-I/IIIa-1.1; HUMSS_WRB12=I/IIIa-1.2; HUMSS_WRB12=I/IIIa-1.2)III. SraegyA.Explore
Let’s Remember!
Do you pray? Hopefully you are. Bu if you don’ pray, I believe you know how opray. Maybe you have seen i in a movie or you have seen ohers praying. As you haveseen in he picures below, i is a clear depicton of an ac of prayer. Ohers pray wihclosed or open eyes, liing heir heads above while pressing heir hands closed orcrossing heir arms while bowing heir heads or praying silenly while ohers are prayingloudly. Sometmes, prayer may come wih chans, manras, or creed. Those are dierenways on how we usually pray. When we are praying, we are actvely seeking an inniedivine being or supernaural enty ha is no of his naural world. I could be a deiy,god or goddesses. The nex queston is, why do we pray? When we pray, are we religious or spiriual?Wha does i mean o be religious and spiriual? Why is religion linked o humankind’sques o search for he real meaning of life and deah? Wheher we pray or no, you mayhave winessed he inuental roles being played by religions all over he world.
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Let’s Connect!
In conex of religion, lis down ve (5) hings ha you believe in by completng hefollowing saemens. Wha have you observed in your own belief sysem?1.I believe in/ha _______________________________________________________.2.I believe in/ha _______________________________________________________.3.I believe in/ha _______________________________________________________.4.I believe in/ha _______________________________________________________.5.I believe in/ha _______________________________________________________.
B.Learn
Let’s Believe!
As mentoned earlier ha here are dieren ways on how o pray. Since here aredieren ways on how o communicae wih a deiy or god, here are also dierenperspectves and inerpreatons ha are linked o our dieren beliefs.
Undersanding Beliefs and Worldviews
Every individual sees and inerpres he world quie dierenly from one anoher.This overall perspectve is also ermed
worldview
which is a collecton of beliefs aboulife and he universe being held by people (The Free Dictonary 2014). There are cerainfacors ha can aec he kind of belief sysem an individual can follow all hroughouhis life. These are he social environmen and he upbringing which are critcal in hedevelopmen of a religious life. Obviously, if an individual grew up wihin a communiy,for example, a Muslim or Caholic communiy, here is a high possibiliy ha his belief and way of life will be correlaed wih wha a Muslim or Caholic believe. This is also ruewih he dominan belief in one’s counry. Like in he Philippines, Christaniy isdominan wherein Filipinos believe in Jesus Chris. In a conrary, oher counries havedominan beliefs like Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, ec. All hese facors have an eec onhow people organize heir beliefs and ideas while evenually creatng a comprehensivenarratve hrough which hey look a he world and inerrelae wih i.Belief in god or gods is found in almos all religions. There are religions ha believeonly in one god while ohers believe ha here are many gods and here are alsoreligions ha do no believe in god. There is a good reason o presuppose ha religionhad exised during prehisoric tmes and his has contnued o he modern day. Humanlife may have produced hundreds of religions and belief sysems. There could be moreunknown han known religions since recorded hisory covers only several housand of years of human exisence. Likewise, many may have lived and died wihin jus a periodof tme.The concep map below shows he kinds of belief sysems or worldviews.
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RELIGION
MonoheistcPolyheistcAgnostcAheistcMonistc
Theism
, oen used as a synonym o monoheism, is dened as “a belief in heexisence of one god viewed as he creatve source of he human race and he worldwho ranscends ye is immanen in he world” (Merriam-Webser Dictonary 2014).
Monotheisc religions
claim ha here is only one God who could have designed andcreaed he universe or may have direced all evens ha led o he creaton of everyhing. There is one supreme God who is boh personal and moral, and who seeks aoal and unqualied response from humans (Hick 1990). Modern-day examples of monoheistc religions include Judaism, Christaniy, and Islam. On he oher hand,
polytheisc religions
ha are common among early people recognize many principalgods among whom no one is supreme. These include he ancien religions of Egyp,Greece, and Rome wherein people worship multude of personal gods.Meanwhile,
monism
assers ha here is no genuine distncton beween God andhe universe. Two implicatons arise from his belief. Firsly, i conends ha God isdwelling in he universe as par of i. Secondly, he universe does no exis a all as arealiy bu only as a manifesaton of God.Furhermore, while
atheists
deny he exisence of God,
agnoscs
deny he possibiliyfor man o acquire knowledge of he exisence of God.
Table 1.1
Kinds of Belief System
KindsDescripton
MonismThere is no real distncton beween god and he universeMonoheismThe docrine or belief in one supreme beingPolyheismThe belief and worship of many godsAgnostcismGod canno be knownAheismDisbelief in or denial he exisence of a personal god
Religiosiy vs. Spiriualiy
Are you a religious person or a spiriual person? I may be synonymous o hear buhey are dieren from one anoher.When we say, religiosiy, le us rs ake he roo word which is religion. Religion maybe dened as “an organized sysem of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used o worship agod or a group of gods” (Merriam-Webser Dictonary 2014). The Latn word
religio
refers o “somehing done wih overanxious or scrupulous aenton o deail” (Bowker1997). This erm may have probably been derived from he Latn verb
religare
whichmeans “o te ogeher, o bind fas.” In oher words, religion is an organizaton of agroup of people who share he same belief or practce of beliefs. I is more like aninstuton. Religion is he pursui of ransformaton guided by a sacred belief sysem.
Figure 1
below illusraes he common characeristcs o mos major religions.
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RELIGION
belief in adeiy’srelatonshipwih he worldplaces andpeople believedo be holy andsacredrulesfollowed asa resul of beliefsways oworshipa deiybelief ina deiy