Introduction to World

Religions and Belief

Systems religion
t h e n a t u r e o f
Chapte r 1 :
 Lesson 1: understanding religion

ETYMOLOGY
There are at least closely related accounts on
the etymology of the term religion. According
to the first account, the term comes from a
Latin word that means "to tie or bind." Some
identify this word as religare (Palmer 2004)
while some identify it as religio (Saucier and
Skrzypiska 2006).
 Lesson 1: understanding religion

ETYMOLOGY
In any case, this etymological meaning of
religion, to tie or bind, indicates the two
objectives of religion: first, to bind humanity
and the divine together; and second, to bind
humans into a community that is bound with
the divine.
 Lesson 1: understanding religion

ETYMOLOGY

The second account states that the term religion

consists of two Latin words, namely, re, which means
“again,” and lig-, which means to “join” or “connect”
(Molloy 2010). Religion, based on the combination of
these two Latin words, therefore means “to join again” or
“to reconnect.” And what is being joined again or being
reconnected, in this context, is humanity and the divine, or
the human world and the sacred world.
 Lesson 1: understanding religion

ETYMOLOGY

According to the third account, the word religion

derives from the Latin word relegare which literally
means “to tread carefully” and which indicates “respect
and care for both the natural and supernatural worlds”
(Palmer 2004). This further suggests that a primary
concern of religion is to provide guidance on how humans
ought to live.
 DEFINITIONS FROM SOME SCHOLARS

Scholars from different disciplines have defined

religion in varying ways, though some similarities and
intersections can easily be observed in these definitions.
These definitions resulted from their studies of religions
using the lens or perspectives of their own respective
disciplines, which include sociology, anthropology,
philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Examining
these definitions will give us an idea of the different
aspects of religion, as well as of what is essential in a
religion.
 DEFINITIONS FROM SOME SCHOLARS

Here are some of these definitions (as quoted in House

2006):
1. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834): “The essence of
religion consists in the feeling of absolute dependence.”
2. James Martineau (1805-1900): “Religion is the belief in … a
Divine mind and will, ruling the universe and holding moral
relations with mankind.”
3. C. P. Tiele (1830-1902): “Religion is . . . that pure and
reverential disposition or frame of mind which we call piety.”
 DEFINITIONS FROM SOME SCHOLARS

Here are some of these definitions (as quoted in House

2006, 15):
4. F. H. Bradley (1846-1924): “Religion is … the attempt to
express the complete reality of goodness through every aspect of
our being.”
5. James Frazier (1854-1941): “[Religion is] . . . a propitiation
or conciliation of powers superior to man.”
6. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917): “[Religion is]… a unified
system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things . . . which
unite into one single moral community.”
7. Rudolf Otto (1869-1937): “Religion is that which grows out of,
and gives expression to, experience of the holy in its various
aspects.”
8. Paul Tillich (1886-1965): “Religion is the state of being
grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other
concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the
question of the meaning of our life.”
9. J. Milton Yinger (1916-2011): “Religion is a system of beliefs
and practices by means of which a group of people struggle with
the ultimate problem of human life.”
10. John Hick (1922-2012): “Religion constitutes our varied
human response to transcendent reality.”
 The Key Elements of Religion
• Worldview
• Spiritual World
• Sacredness
• Community
• Central Stories
• Rituals
• Ethical Codes
• Artistic Expression
 Worldview

Religion contains a worldview. A worldview

refers to a set of beliefs that is both
coherent and comprehensive. As a coherent set
of beliefs forms a belief system, another way
of saying the same is that a worldview refers
to a comprehensive belief system. First,
religion consists of beliefs. Beliefs generally
refer to assertions, claims, or thoughts about
things that are held to be true.
 Worldview

Second, a set of beliefs forms a system

when these beliefs are coherent; and they are
coherent when they are consistently
interrelated. Being interrelated, the beliefs
in a system influence or affect one another.
 Worldview

Lastly, a belief system is comprehensive

when it accounts for a wide range of phenomena
(or events in the world) or when it deals with
a wide range of human concerns. Religious
belief systems are comprehensive in this light
for they address a wide range of human
concerns.
 Spiritual World

Religion believes or assumes that there is

a spiritual world or a transcendent reality, in
addition to the physical, natural world that we
live in. By spiritual. we simply mean
nonphysical or non-natural. As such, the
spiritual world refers to what is sometimes
also called the transcendental world or
supernatural world. Being nonphysical, the
spiritual world is known or accessed not by
means of scientific methods.
 Spiritual World

Religion believes or assumes that there is

a spiritual world or a transcendent reality, in
addition to the physical, natural world that we
live in. By spiritual. we simply mean
nonphysical or non-natural. As such, the
spiritual world refers to what is sometimes
also called the transcendental world or
supernatural world. Being nonphysical, the
spiritual world is known or accessed not by
means of scientific methods.
 Spiritual World
Moreover, the acceptance of its reality or truth
is not a matter of having some objective evidence or
method of verification; rather, it is a matter of
having faith. Religion is therefore opposed to
materialism, which is the belief that reality is
just physical and nothing more, or that the only
real world is the world that is known through the
methods of the sciences. Depending on the particular
religions being considered, the spiritual world of
religion usually includes a God, gods, souls,
angels, principles (like the law of karma), and
values, among others.
 Sacredness
Religion regards certain things as sacred. The
sacred is contrasted with the ordinary, secular, or
profane. While ordinary things can be used as mere
instruments to satisfy human interests, sacred
things are treated with respect or reverence. Also,
the value of an ordinary thing depends on human
interests, while the value of a sacred thing does
not. A sacred thing either has its own value or it
derives its value from association with a sacred
thing which has value on its own.
 Sacredness
In this consideration, we can distinguish
between two kinds of sacredness, which we shall call
inherent sacredness and derived sacredness.
Something has inherent sacredness if it has value on
its own (or it is valuable by itself), while
something has derived sacredness if its value is
derived from something that has inherent sacredness.
Accordingly, we respect the inherently sacred
because it is worth respecting on its own; and we
also respect the derivatively sacred because we
respect the inherently sacred that is associated
with it.
 Ethical Codes
Religions have ethical or moral codes, referring
to guidelines concerning how humans ought to relate
to the divine, treat one another, or behave towards
one another, God, gods, and revered teachers. In
some cases, these codes also include rules about
what types of food not to eat, what type of clothes
to wear on specific occasions, and others. Some of
these ethical codes are revealed by a God to chosen
messengers; while some are realized through a
heightened form of spiritual activity like
meditation.
 Community
Religions have communities. A religious belief
system is shared and practiced by a community of
believers. The community of believers usually
involves an organization consisting of a hierarchy
of authorities. Each level in the hierarchy has
designated rights and duties. How people get to
occupy the higher positions vary in different
religions. The ways include revelations,
reincarnations, blood relations, and election by
revered members of the religious community.
 Sacred Writings
Religions have sacred writings, which contain
their main teachings or doctrines, central stories,
ethical codes, and prophecies. Sacred writings are
divinely inspired. Their contents are usually
revealed by a God or gods through chosen messengers.
In some cases, they are arrived at by revered
teachers as realizations during spiritual activities
like meditation. Sometimes the mere recitation of
passages in the sacred writings can already produce
religious effects like blessings, forgiveness,
spiritual calmness, and power to sin and fear or to
exorcise evil spirits.
 Central Stories
Religions have central stories. Some scholars
refer to these stories as "myths," but due to a
connotation of the term "myth" as being a story that
is purely imaginary or that is historically untrue,
we shall use the neutral term "story."
 Rituals

Religions have rituals, which include ceremonies

that reenact sacred stories, and various activities,
such as songs and dances that express praise or
thanksgiving to God, gods, or a revered teacher or
prophet.
 Artistic Expressions

Religions engage in various artistic expressions

for their beliefs. These artistic expressions can be
in the form of music, dance, architectural design,
sculpture, poetry, drama, and others. In fact, many
of the world-renowned artistic works were
religiously inspired.
Answer the following questions:

1. In your own opinion, how would you define religion?

2. What do you think is the value of studying the different

religions in the world?