WHAT IS RELIGION??

Common elements in definitions of Religion

• Something beyond the ordinary – it has a transcendent dimension

• Religion in helps in some way to map a course through life.

Latin roots of term ‘Religion’

• Religio (latin) = Religion

These words seem to show that religion involves reflection and that it

connects or binds us in some way. Religion connects us back to what is most central in our relationships to that

which transcends human existence.

Relegare = to gather up, re-read or reflect

Religare = to bind

Central questions of existence

• Religion attempts to answer these questions – Where do we come from – Where are we going – What we ought to live for.

Origins of religion

• The human quest for meaning – understanding our world and our experience.• The quest for purpose - the motivation to live a life which promotes human wholeness in accordance with the meaning discovered. • The quest for salvation – the search to be freed from the feeling of disharmony deep within the human person .

Religion involves finding and then living out of a commitmentTo the meaning, purpose and salvation that has been found.

Usually in the form of a religious tradition eg: -

Chritsianity

Buddhism

Islam

Judaism

How do religious adherents express their religious beliefs?

A particular World View“World View” = the way in which a society sees the world.

• Each religion promotes its own world view.

– Judaism, Christianity, Islam – Linear world view.

– Buddhism , Hinduism – Cyclical worldview.

• Transcendent - points to a divine world beyond the Earth.

• Immmanent - the presence of the divine within human existence.

Examine picture in text pg 5. and complete activity.

Two types of religious world views.

1. Belief in a divine power existing beyond the human dimension.

2. Divine power dwelling within the individual

What religious traditions would be good examples of the above religious worldviews?

• Characteristics of religions

– Beliefs and believers.– Sacred texts and writings – Ethics – Rituals and ceremonies.