RELIGION AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

DANILO F. MARIBAOPALIPARAN III SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

DASMARINAS CITY, CAVITE

RELIGION

– is defined as “people’s beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature and worship of a god or holy beings and divine involvement in the universe and human life” .

– It denotes the belief in, or worship of, a god, gods or the supernatural (means whatever transcends the power of nature or human agency).

–The term religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith, creed, belief or conviction.

RELIGION– Is also viewed as “ organized collection of beliefs,

cultural systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to an order of existence.

– Many religions possess holy scriptures, narratives or sacred accounts that aim to explain the origin and meaning of life and the universe.

– Many religions have clergy, rules on membership, holy places, religious rites, visual symbols, creeds, doctrines, mythology, philosophical system and organized behaviors.

– Religious practices may involve worship services, prayers, sacrifices, festivals, wedding, baptism, and other aspects of culture.

FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION1. 1. Religion helps man to bear sufferings – religion explains

and justifies human sufferings and grief. It teaches that everything happens according to the will of God.

2. It boosts self-worth and dignity – explains that a person, regardless of his social and economical status, is important in the eyes of God.

3. It serves as a foundation of societal harmony – it is a source of social unity and cohesion. By providing socially accepted values and ethical norms, it influences people to control their behavior.

FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION–4. It helps create disciplined and beneficial

citizens – because it encourages its members to live in line of teachings of religious traditions. They provide models for ideal living.

–5. It promotes social welfare and development – it also performs selfless services to humanity. It promotes literacy, education, and research by putting up academic institutions. Some religions sponsor charitable institutions for the poor like hospitals, homes for the orphans and elderly.

EVOLUTION OF RELIGION

–Some sociologists and anthropologists proposed various theories on how religion began and the stages of its development.

–One theory is that religion started with the belief in spirit ( animism), then progressed into the notion that there were numerous gods (polytheism), and ultimately developed as the ideal of a single god (monotheism)

ANIMISM– Basically means the belief in spiritual beings.

– The term comes from the Latin word anima, which means “breath” or “soul”.

– It is the belief that things in nature, example : trees, mountains and sky have souls and consciousness and that people have spirits that do exist or can exist separately from their bodies.

– It also involves the belief that beings have spiritual essence, that is souls or spirits exist, not only in humans but also in animals, plants, inanimate objects like rocks, geographical features such as mountains and rivers, phenomena of the natural environment including wind, thunder, lightning and even shadow.

ANIMISM– The anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Taylor explained

the origin of primitive beliefs and religions in terms of animism. He defined animism as the general belief in spiritual beings and regarded it as “a minimum definition of religion”.

– “all religions, from simple to complex, involve some form of animism”.

– According to Taylor, primitive people believe that spirits or souls are the cause of life in human beings; they picture souls as phantoms, resembling vapors or shadows which can transmigrate to person to person, from the dead to the living, and from and into plants, animals and lifeless objects.

POLYTHEISM– Refers to the worship of or belief in more than one god,

especially several gods usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals.

– The belief in the existence of many gods or divine beings has been prevalent in the past and present cultures and has taken forms.

– Not all polytheists worship all gods equally.

– Some of the examples of polytheistic religions are Hinduism (India), ancient Egyptian religion, Greek mythology, Roman mythology and other forms of paganism.

MONOTHEISM– Is the belief in single or one god. –Oxford dictionary of the Christian church defines

it as the “belief in one personal and transcendent God”.

–From the Greek word mono means single and theos means god

–Examples are Christianity and Islam– It is a well founded belief of Muslim and Jew

INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIONS

– Refer to organized system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine.

– They are established, longstanding, and time-honored faiths that have attained the status of being world religions.

– This term is used as opposed to tribal, primitive, and indigenous religions.

– In modern societies, an institutionalized religion, though broadly influential, is treated as a separate institution (from the state for example)

CHRISTIANITY– Is the most widely distributed of the world religions,

having substantial representation in all the populated continents

– In Christianity, Jesus Christ is the supreme preacher, model of the moral life, and the revealer of human life in its perfection.

– The Bible is the basis faith of Christianity.

– In theology, it is fundamentally monotheistic.

– It believes that God is omnipotent, just and beyond time and space and change.

– The creation of human is expression of God’s love

– Christ died and rose again to save the world and have eternal life

ISLAM–The term in the Arabic language means

“surrender” or “submission” to the will of God.–A follower is called a Muslim which in Arabic

means “one who surrenders to God”–The Arabic name for God is Allah –Islam’s central teaching is that there is only one

all-powerful, all-knowing God, and this God created the universe

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

– Is the distance in the relationship between any religion and the nation state

–Historically, in the Philippines, there was a very close ties between the Spanish government and the Catholic church during the colonial period

–The principle of separation of church and state were introduced during the American occupation and it has been preserved until today

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

– The Phil. Constitution declares, in Article II Section 6 :

“The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable” (unbreakable)

Article III Section 5

“No law shall be made respecting(in regards) an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights”