Fishers of men; Oil on panel by Adriaen van de Venne (1614)

Religion—sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system—is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief. In the course of the development of religion, it has taken a huge number of forms in various cultures and individuals. Occasionally, the word "religion" is used to designate what should be more properly described as a "religious organization" – that is, an organization of people that supports the exercise of some religion, often taking the form of a legal entity (see religion-supporting organization). Download high resolution version (1600x843, 245 KB)Fishers of Men, Oil on panel by Adriaen van de Venne, 1614 Jesus Christ invited his early disciples to forget their nets; I will make you fishers of men, he said. ... Download high resolution version (1600x843, 245 KB)Fishers of Men, Oil on panel by Adriaen van de Venne, 1614 Jesus Christ invited his early disciples to forget their nets; I will make you fishers of men, he said. ... Categories: Stub | Dutch painters ... Events April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ... This article discusses faith in a religious context. ... Belief is assent to a proposition. ... The supernatural (Latin:super- exceeding+nature) comprises forces and phenomena that cannot be perceived by natural or empirical senses, and whose understanding may be said to lie with religious, magical, or otherwise mysterious explanation —yet remains firmly outside of the realm of science. ... In various religions, sacred (from Latin, sacrum, sacrifice; or simply in English, holy) objects, places or concepts are believed by followers to be intimately connected with the supernatural, or divinity, and are thus greatly revered. ... The concept of the divine or of The Divine, meaning matters relating to God, or a god, forms an important ingredient in many religious faiths (but compare Buddhism, for example, or Scientology). ... Moral codes (see Morality) are often complex statements of right and wrong. ... There are a number of models regarding the ways in which religions come into being and develop. ... A legal entity is a legal construct through which the law allows a group of natural persons to act as if they were an individual for certain purposes. ... Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. ...

The nature and content of religion

Borobudur, a Buddhist stupa built between 750 and 850

Download high resolution version (900x1034, 185 KB)The perfect Buddha at the Borobudur. ... Download high resolution version (900x1034, 185 KB)The perfect Buddha at the Borobudur. ... Borobudur from a distance Borobudur is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Indonesia. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... A stupa in Tibet A stupa (from the Sanskrit) is a type of Buddhist structure found across the Indian subcontinent and Asia. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

Etymology

The word religion is thought to derive from one of two combinations of Latin roots. The first is re + legio or "re-reading," a meaning attributed by Cicero to describe the repetition of scripture. The second interpretation, favoured by more modern scholars such as Tom Harpur, is re + ligio or "reconnection." However, some take the Latin term "ligio" (as in ligament) in the sense of "bind" rather than "connect," hence interpreting "religion" as "returning to bondage." The common notion surrounding religion is that it is a 'meaning-seeking' system Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. ... Tom Harpur (born ca. ... A ligament is a short band of tough fibrous connective tissue composed mainly of long, stringy collagen fibres. ...

Defining "religion"

Beyond the above, very broad definition of religion, there are a variety of uses and meanings for the word "religion." Some of the approaches are as follows:

• One definition, sometimes called the "function-based approach," defines religion as any set of beliefs and practices that have the function of addressing the fundamental questions of human identity, ethics, death and the existence of the divine (if any). This broad definition encompasses all systems of belief, including those that affirm the existence of one god, and those that affirm the existence of many gods.

• A second definition, sometimes called the "form-based approach," defines religion as any set of beliefs which makes claims that lie beyond the realm of scientific observation, according to some authority or personal experience with the divine. This narrower definition places "religion" in contradistinction with rationalism, secular humanism, atheism, objectivist philosophy, and agnosticism, which do not appeal to authority or personal experience in coming to their beliefs, but instead rely on epistemology.

• A third definition, sometimes called the "physical evidence approach," defines religion as the beliefs about cause and effect that Occam's Razor would remove as recognizing causes that are more than what is both true and sufficient to explain the physical evidence. By this definition then, non-religion is any set of beliefs that admits no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearance. This view is typically held by those who describe themselves as "non-religious," but also by religious people who see "faith" and "science" as totally separate means of attaining knowledge. It is typically rejected by those people, religious and non-religious, who see metaphysical claims as necessary to explain natural phenomena at a fundamental level.

• A fourth definition, sometimes called the "organizational approach," defines religion as the formal institutions, creeds, organizations, practices, and rules of conduct, of all major, institutionalized religions. This definition places "religion" in contradistinction to "spirituality," and therefore does not include the claims "spirituality" makes to actual contact, service, or worship of the divine. In this definition, however, religion and spirituality are not mutually exclusive: a religious person may be spiritual or unspiritual, and a spiritual person may be religious or non-religious.

For a more complete discussion, see approaches to distinguishing religion from non-religion. Rationalism, also known as the rationalist movement, is a philosophical doctrine that asserts that the truth should be determined by reason and factual analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively believing in the non-existence of deities. ... Objectivism is the philosophy of Russian-born American philosopher and author Ayn Rand. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Occams Razor (also spelt Ockhams Razor), is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. ... Approaches to distinguishing religion from non-religion can be divided into two broadly defined schools of thought: function-based approaches and form-based approaches. ...

Questions that religions address

Jesus Christ, oil painting by Roland Walleij.

Religions are systems of belief which typically seek to answer questions about the following issues: Jesus Christ, oil painting by Roland Walleij. ... Jesus Christ, oil painting by Roland Walleij. ...

• Creation beliefs, which seek to explain the origin of the universe, the Earth, life, and humanity;
• Beliefs regarding the existence (or non-existence) and nature of Deity (or Deities) (cf. God), the divine, the sacred and the supernatural;
• Beliefs regarding human nature;
• Beliefs regarding right and wrong;
• Beliefs regarding the appropriate means and methods for relating to the divine, the sacred, other people, animals, the natural world around us, and ourselves;
• Beliefs regarding the nature of morality and ethics, including moral objectivism and moral relativism;
• Means to identify and celebrate the experience of supreme value;
• A sense of identity seeking to achieve completeness in relation to all wants and desires;
• Development of a purpose in life, and the identification of appropriate goals for life;
• An ethical framework, including a definition of activities which are "good" and "bad";
• Beliefs regarding other possible states of being like heaven, nirvana, Dharma Yukam, purgatory or hell, and how to prepare for them;
• Explanations for and understandings of the existence of evil and suffering, and the articulation of a theodicy;
• A set of values that drive human behavior;

Generally, the different religions and the non-religious all have different answers for the above concerns, and many religions provide a range of answers to each question. Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... Life is a multi-faceted concept. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... A deity or a god, is a postulated preternatural being, usually, but not always, of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings. ... The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... The supernatural (Latin:super- exceeding+nature) comprises forces and phenomena that cannot be perceived by natural or empirical senses, and whose understanding may be said to lie with religious, magical, or otherwise mysterious explanation —yet remains firmly outside of the realm of science. ... Human nature is the fundamental nature and substance of humans, as well as the range of human behavior that is believed to be invariant over long periods of time and across very different cultural contexts. ... Morality is a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong. ... Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. ... Moral objectivism is the position that certain acts are objectively right or wrong, independent of human opinion. ... Moral relativism is the position that moral propositions do not reflect absolute or universal truths. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... nirvana is also the best grunge band ever you idiots ... The Dharma Yukam or Satya Yuga is the eighth or final yukam (aeon or age), according to Ayyavazhi mythology. ... In Roman Catholic theology, Purgatory is a process of purification after the particular judgment and before entry into Heaven. ... Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is a place or state of painful suffering. ... Theodicy is a branch of theology that studies how the existence of a good or benevolent God is reconciled with the existence of evil. ...

Religious practices

Practices based upon religious beliefs typically include:

• Prayer
• Worship
• Regular assembly with other believers
• Fasting
• Pilgrimage to a holy place / region
• A priesthood or clergy or some other religious functionary to lead and/or help the adherents of the religion
• Ceremonies and/or traditions unique to the set of beliefs
• A means of preserving adherence to the canonical beliefs and practice of that religion
• Codes for behaviour in other aspects of life to ensure consistency with the set of beliefs, i.e., a moral code, like the ten yamas (restraints) of Hinduism or the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, flowing from the beliefs rather than being defined by the beliefs, with the moral code often being elevated to the status of a legal code that is enforced by followers of that religion
• Maintenance and study of scripture, or texts they hold as sacred uniquely different from other writings, and which records or is the basis of the fundamental beliefs of that religion

Adherents of a particular religion typically gather together to celebrate holy days, to recite or chant scripture, to pray, to worship, and provide spiritual assistance to each other. However, solitary practice of prayer and meditation is often seen to be just as important, as is living out religious convictions in secular activities when in the company of people who are not necessarily adherents to that religion. This is often a function of the religion in question. Prayer is an effort to communicate with God, or to some deity or deities, or another form of spiritual entity, or otherwise, either to offer praise, to make a request, or simply to express ones thoughts and emotions. ... Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as a god or goddess. ... An official is, in the primary sense, someone who holds an office in an organisation, of any kind. ... Moral codes (see Morality) are often complex statements of right and wrong. ... Ten Traditional Yamas or Codes of Conduct The Yamas are codified as the restraints in numerous scriptures including the Shandilya and Varuha Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Gorakshanatha, the Tirumantiram of Tirumular and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. ... The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that feature prominently in Judaism and Christianity. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ... A legal code is a moral code enforced by the law of a state. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ... Prayer is an effort to communicate with a God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express ones thoughts and emotions to the deity. ... Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. ...

Contrasts among religions

Religions diverge widely with regard in the answers they provide to the questions listed above, and the practices of the religious faithful. For example:

Number of gods

The syllable Aum or ॐ is the primordial mantra in Vedic tradition.

• Monotheistic religions assert that there is one god, distinct and separate from Nature as we understand it. Examples include Judaism, Darraghism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and the dualistic schools of Hinduism, including the Dvaita school of Vaishnavism, and the dualist Saiva Siddhanta school of Shaivism. The more prevalent form of monotheism present in Hinduism which differs from the monotheism prevalent in Semitic religions is monistic theism .
  • Many Christians believe in trinitarianism, which asserts that there is one god with three persons. (The majority of Christian denominations hold this, with some exceptions, e.g. Oneness Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Montanism, Sabellianism, Unitarian Christians.)
  • Henotheistic religions assert that there are many gods and/or deities of varying attributes, but one god is ultimately supreme. Examples include Zoroastrianism and Hinduism (especially Shaivism and Vaishnavism), that acknowledge angels, demons, devas, asuras, or other gods of whom the one god is greatest, as well as many animistic traditions, particularly in Africa.
  • Some Deists believe that there was a god at the beginning of the universe, but either that god has ceased to exist (see The Second Coming (TV) for an example of this applied to Christianity), or has ceased to interact with the material world;
• Polytheistic religions such as Greco-Roman religion and certain aspects of Mormonism assert that there are many gods;
• Most Hindus, following Smartism, believe in the existence of God with multiple aspects.
• Pantheistic and Panentheistic, or "natural" religions believe that god and everything in nature are aspects of a continuous spiritual plane, and are thus essentially inseparable. Pantheistic religions equate all of existence with the divine (the creator and the created are one), whereas panentheistic religions hold that the created universe is within the creator. Examples include (to various degrees): the pantheistic and panentheistic schools of Shaivism and Vaishnavism in Hinduism, Ayyavazhi, Shintoism, and some animistic traditions.
• Non-theistic religions (such as Buddhism) make no claim as to the existence or non-existence of a god or gods;
• Atheistic religions (such as Jainism and Secular Humanism) do not believe in a god, gods or goddesses.;
• Out of point of interest agnostics will often talk in terms of not knowing the number of gods, whether it be thousands, one, or zero.

This is the Devanagari symbol for the Hindu sacred syllable Aum. ... This is the Devanagari symbol for the Hindu sacred syllable Aum. ... Aum (also Om, ॐ) is the most sacred syllable in Hinduism, in which Vedic tradition it originated. ... The Vedas (also referred to as Vedam) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Seat of the Universal House of Justice The Baháí Faith is an emerging global religion founded by Baháulláh, a nineteenth-century Iranian exile. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Dvaita, a school of Vedanta (the most widespread Hindu theology), founded by Shri Madhvacharya, stresses strict distinction between God (expressed as Vishnu) and souls. ... Vaishnavism is the branch of Hinduism in which Vishnu or one of his avatars (Catursana, Narad, Varaha, Matsya, Yajna, Nara-Narayana, Kapila, Dattatreya, Hayasirsa, Hamsa, Prsnigarbha, Rsabha, Prithu, Narasimha , Kurma, Dhanvantari, Mohini, Vamana, Parasurama, Raghavendra, Vyasa, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki) is worshipped as the supreme God and is a monotheistic... This article needs cleanup. ... Shaivism, also Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ... Monism is the metaphysical position that all is of one essential essence, substance or energy. ... A Christian is a follower and believer in Jesus of Nazareth and the religion of Christianity. ... Trinitarianism is the Christian doctrine that God, although one being, exists in three distinct persons (hypostases) known collectively as the Holy Trinity. ... An offshoot of the Pentecostal branch of Christianity, Oneness Pentecostals believe that there is one God with no essential divisions in His nature (such as a trinity) . He is not a plurality of persons, but He does have a plurality of manifestations, roles, titles, attributes, or relationships to man. ... Montanism was an early Christian sectarian movement of the mid-2nd century A.D., named after its founder Montanus. ... In Christianity, Sabellianism (also known as modalism) is the second-century belief that the three persons of the Trinity are merely different modes or aspects of God, rather than three distinct persons. ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ... In religion and philosophy, henotheism is a term coined by Max Müller, meaning devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. ... Shaivism, also Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ... Vaishnavism is the branch of Hinduism in which Vishnu or one of his avatars (Catursana, Narad, Varaha, Matsya, Yajna, Nara-Narayana, Kapila, Dattatreya, Hayasirsa, Hamsa, Prsnigarbha, Rsabha, Prithu, Narasimha , Kurma, Dhanvantari, Mohini, Vamana, Parasurama, Raghavendra, Vyasa, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki) is worshipped as the supreme God and is a monotheistic... For other uses, see Angel (disambiguation). ... The demon Satan In folklore, mythology, and religion, a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as an evil spirit, but is also depicted to be good in some instances. ... A Deva, in Hinduism, is a deity, controlling forces of nature such as fire, air, etc. ... In Hindu mythology, the Asura are a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes misleadingly referred to as demons. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and 3rd most populous. ... Deism is belief in a God or first cause based on reason, rather than on faith or revelation, and thus a form of theism in opposition to fideism. ... The Second Coming was a two-part British television drama screened on ITV1 in the UK in February 2003. ... Greco-Roman religion is the collective name given to Greek and Roman pre-Christian religions due to the similarity between them. ... Mormonism (also called Latter Day Saint theology or Mormon theology and Latter Day Saint culture or Mormon culture) is a religion, ideology, movement, and subculture originating in the early 1800s as a product of the Latter Day Saint movement. ... See also the Smartha page Smartism is a denomination of the religion of Hinduism and is closely affiliated with the Advaita tradition. ... Pantheism literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Panentheism (Greek words: pan=all and Theos=God) is the view that God is immanent within all creation and that the universe is part of God or that God is the animating force behind the universe. ... Shaivism, also Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ... Vaishnavism is the branch of Hinduism in which Vishnu or one of his avatars (Catursana, Narad, Varaha, Matsya, Yajna, Nara-Narayana, Kapila, Dattatreya, Hayasirsa, Hamsa, Prsnigarbha, Rsabha, Prithu, Narasimha , Kurma, Dhanvantari, Mohini, Vamana, Parasurama, Raghavendra, Vyasa, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki) is worshipped as the supreme God and is a monotheistic... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... Shintō (Japanese: 神道) is the native religion of Japan. ... Animism is the belief that personalized supernatural beings (or souls) inhabit all objects and govern their existence. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... The holiest Jain symbol is the right facing swastika, or svastika, shown above. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ...

Gender of gods

Main article: God and gender. This entry contains a discussion of how monotheistic religions deal with God and gender, and how modern feminism has influenced the theology of many religions. ...

• Some religious individuals describe their gods as being without gender, and embodying both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine attributes;
• Some religious individuals describe their gods as being without gender, but having many traditionally masculine characteristics.
• Other religious individuals describe their gods as being without gender, but having many traditionally feminine characteristics.
• Other religions describe gods as being tangibly masculine or feminine. Examples include traditional mythological religions.

Sources of authority

12th century Andalusian Qur'an

• Sacred Texts provide authority to believers who regard the text as authoritative, divinely dictated, divinely inspired, and/or inerrant. Examples include the Qur'an, the Vedas, the Akilattirattu Ammanai, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Bible; in a wider sense, sacred imagery, sacred music etc. also belong to this category.
• Prophets/Messengers provide authority to believers who regard the prophet/messenger as having either spectacular personal insight, or direct personal communication with the divine. Examples include Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Ayya Vaikundar, Bahá'u'lláh, and Muhammad;
• Science and Reason provide authority to non-believers who regard science and reason as providing answers to many of the fundamental questions asked and answered by religion. Examples include Secular Humanism, and some atheists;
• Tradition provides authority to believers who regard the customs of their ancestors to be particularly important and a source of Divine Truth; examples include Shamanism and some aspects of Shintoism;
• Personal experience provides authority to believers who believe they have had personal contact with a deity or deities, or some other event of particular religious significance to them.

Download high resolution version (576x672, 265 KB)12th century Quran page, from http://faculty. ... Download high resolution version (576x672, 265 KB)12th century Quran page, from http://faculty. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 2nd  87 268 km²  17,2% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 1st  7 478 432  17,9%  85,70... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... The Vedas (also referred to as Vedam) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... The Kitáb-i-Aqdas is the central book of the Baháí Faith, written by Baháulláh, the founder of the religion. ... The holy Jewish scripture: The Torah. ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ... A stone image of the Buddha. ... Moses or Móshe (מֹשֶׁה, Standard Hebrew Móše, Tiberian Hebrew Mōšeh, Arabic موسى), son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Mírzá Husayn-Alí (Persian: میرزا حسینعلی ) (b:1817-d:1892), who later took the title of Baháulláh (The Glory of God in Arabic) was the founder-prophet of the Baháí Faith. ... Muhammad is a common male name for Muslims. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively believing in the non-existence of deities. ... Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause human suffering by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. ... Shintō (Japanese: 神道) is the native religion of Japan. ...

Organizational structure

• Centralized religions develop a highly structured organization intended to develop and assure doctrinal purity, and aid believers in their efforts to life by that faith. Examples include Roman Catholicism, early Islam, and Hasidic Judaism;
• Decentralized religions develop independent of any centralizing force, and therefore demonstrate a great deal of variety with regard to belief and practice. Examples include Hinduism, the mythologies of ancient Greece and Egypt, and modern Pagan revivals such as Wicca or Ásatrú (see also Neopaganism).

The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and that feature a specific religious or belief system. ... Within a European Christian context, paganism is a catch-all term which has come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion (as opposed to a revealed religion of a text). ... A Neo-Pagan pentagram: a symbol used by many Wiccans. ... Ásatrú describes a variety of efforts to revive the indigenous, pre-Christian religions of the Teutonic tribes of Northern Europe. ... Neopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism, meaning New Paganism) describes a heterogeneous group of modern religions, many of which attempt to revive ancient, mainly European pre-Christian religions. ...

Ethical focus

• Behavior-based religions emphasize the importance of a believer participating in certain customs, rituals, and behaviors. Examples include Hasidic Judaism, and many animistic traditions;
• Spiritual Philosophy religions emphasize extensive practical teachings for achieving human happiness or equanimity in the natural world with a lesser focus on the supernatural. Examples: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Others like Hinduism emphasize such beliefs but still do believe in a personal, supreme god which can be expressed in a variety of ways.
• Relationship-based religions emphasize the maintenance of a proper relationship with the divine, either by Personal Relationship (in the case of Evangelical Christianity), by obedience and submission to god's (allah's) will (in the case of Islam), or repentance and forgiveness for sin (in the case of traditional Christianity).
• Ideologically-based religions emphasize the achievement of some earthly ideological goal. Some, such as Communism, developed the traditionally "religious" attributes of "sacred" texts, rituals, and the near-deification of certain leaders.

(It should be noted that, to one degree or another, most religions draw from all types of ethics; however, most traditionally emphasize one over the others) Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā, literally The School of the Scholars; or less correctly: 孔教 kŏng jiào The Religion of Kong), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a popular movement. ...

Afterlife

The Holy Symbol of Ayyavazhi Tradition

• The afterlife is a fundamental belief in Judaism. It is written explicitly in the Torah, "And the Almighty formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the SOUL of life" (Genesis 2:7). King Solomon refers to the afterlife when he says, "The dust will return to the ground as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:17)
• Hinduism asserts that humans are continually reborn, until they reach Moksha, a state of union with god or Saguna Brahman expressed as Vishnu or Shiva or as what followers of the Advaita school believe, union with the Impersonal Absolute and that one's good or evil behavior in this life determines the course of one's next life; accordingly, Hinduism does not believe in eternal damnation as god gives us many chances through subsequent reincarnations until we reach moksha. However, many Hindus believe there is a purgatory-like state analogous to Christianity where Yama, the Hindu deva, or Lord of Death, punishes humans before they reincarnate again.
• Ayyavazhi like Hinduism asserts that humans are continually reborn, until they reach Dharma Yukam, the union with god as one.There are also claims that Ayyavazhi tells about hell, in the background of some quotes from Akilattirattu Ammanai.However it accepts the ultimate oneness, particularly in Thiruvasakam - 2, and therefore indirectly contrast the concept of hell.
• Theravada Buddhism asserts that a person's Kamma is continually reborn until they attain Nirvana, and that rebirth is undesirable; Mahayana Buddhism is more in line with Hinduism with regard to certain beliefs on reincarnation. However, Buddhism's state of nirvana is not analogous to the Hindu concept of Moksha as Nirvana is a state of non-being or voidness and does not focus on the concept of a personal, supreme being that is allowed in Advaita and is mandated in the strict theistic schools such as that of Ramanuja and Madhva.
• Christianity and Islam have a Heaven and Hell, and god as judge to decide our eternal fate. Beyond that common ground, however, belief varies widely within the religions.
  • Catholicism asserts that individuals are saved by declaring faith in god, but are still subject to punishment for unrepented sin at death, which is purified in purgatory;
  • Traditional Protestantism asserts that individuals are saved purely by declaring their belief in the saving power of Jesus's death and resurrection;
  • Some other Christians believe that individuals choose their own heaven or hell: if a person chooses to live in a self-created "Hell on Earth," they continue to choose that after death, and god ultimately gives them what they wish: distance from god and joy. On the other hand, people that seek "Heaven on Earth" continue to seek heaven after death, and god gives them what they desire: nearness of god, and Joy. See, for example, "The Great Divorce," by C.S. Lewis.
  • Under most traditional Islamic belief, god judges us on the basis of our adherence to the five pillars of Islam, including acknowledgement of god (Allah), Muhammad, and living according to god's laws of 'Justice', 'Faith', and 'Mercy', and rewards us according to our acts on earth.
• The Bahá'í Faith asserts that a person's soul continues to progress in the spiritual worlds of god after death until it reaches god. The purpose of this world is for the soul to acquire spiritual qualities (or virtues) so that it is closer to god once physical death occurs.
• Rastafarians believe in Physical Immortality. Once their God Haile Selassie calls the 'Day of Judgement' and takes them home to Africa and Zion they will live with him forever in their current physical bodies and on this current physical plane.
• Jehovah's_Witnesses believe that until 'Armageddon', the dead are in a sleeping state, unable to hear prayers or intervene in the physical world. 144,000 "anointed" ones ascend to heaven to rule beside Jesus Christ after Satan is defeated in Armageddon, and subsequently abyssed. The dead who had not come to know Jehovah are resurrected and are gradually granted perfection on a paradise earth. After 1000 years, Satan is unsealed and allowed to tempt mankind once more. Those who sin then die forever with Satan, and Jehovah takes over rulership from Jesus.

This is the symbol of Ayyavazhi religion File links The following pages link to this file: Ayyavazhi mythology ... This is the symbol of Ayyavazhi religion File links The following pages link to this file: Ayyavazhi mythology ... The Symbol of Ayyavazhi The symbol of Ayyavazhi consist of a Lotusof 1008 petals carrying a Flame, in which the lotus represents the Sahasrathalam and the Flame represents Atman or Aanma. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Moksha (Sanskrit: liberation) or Mukti (Sanskrit: release) refers, in general, to liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. ... Saguna Brahma, in Hindu philosophy, is God or Supreme Consciousness with gunas (qualities or attributes). ... For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... Lord Shiva. ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Tibetan Dharmapala at the Field Museum in Chicago Yama is the lord of death whose first recorded appearance is in the Vedas. ... Deva a Hindu deity Deva is also a type of supernatural being in traditional Buddhist cosmology. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... The Dharma Yukam or Satya Yuga is the eighth or final yukam (aeon or age), according to Ayyavazhi mythology. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... Thiruvasakam in Tamil means The Holy Text. ... Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikāya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Basic definition: Karma is a sanskrit word and a concept of eastern religions. ... nirvana is also the best grunge band ever you idiots ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Guan Yin (Avalokitesvara) from Mt. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Past Lives redirects here. ... nirvana is also the best grunge band ever you idiots ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Sri Ramanuja Acharya (1017 - 1137 AD) was an Indian philosopher and is recognized as the most important saint of Sri Vaishnavism. ... Madhva can refer to: Shri Madhvacharya, Vaishnavite saint and founder of Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi a person belonging to the Dvaita school of thought This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is a place or state of painful suffering. ... This article considers Catholicism in the broadest ecclesiastical sense. ... In Roman Catholic theology, Purgatory is a process of purification after the particular judgment and before entry into Heaven. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity. ... Seat of the Universal House of Justice The Baháí Faith is an emerging global religion founded by Baháulláh, a nineteenth-century Iranian exile. ... Haile Selassie I Rasta, or the Rastafari movement of Jah people, is a religious movement that reveres Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Lion of Judah. ... Immortality is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite or indeterminate length of time. ... The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... Haile Selassie Haile Selassie (Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930–1936; 1941–1974) of Ethiopia, and is a religious symbol in the Rastafarian movement. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and 3rd most populous. ... See also the biblical and historical Zion of Israel. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Ethnic religion and universal religion compared

Religions can be of a universal or ethnic nature, although not all religions fall into either of these categories.

• A universal religion is one in which participation in the religion is seen as open to people of all ethnicities, and thus not tied to any particular ethnicity. Religions of this type tend to be active in missionary activities and sometimes tend toward exclusivism because, it is believed, the beliefs of the religion in question are available and applicable to all people. However, other members of universal religions may ascribe to pluralism or inclusivism, seeing their religion as free from ethnic identity, but not necessarily the "only path." Examples of universal religions include Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.

• An ethnic religion is a religion that is closely related to a specific ethnic group or groups. The religion is part of the ethnic identity and the two may be considered inseparable. Often ethnic religions will not accept converts from outside the ethnic group. Members of an ethnic religion may believe themselves to be a chosen people. Generally, ethnic religions have smaller number of adherents, with the exception of Hinduism due to India's large population. Examples can include Druze, Hinduism, Judaism (depending on sect), Yazidi, Zoroastrianism

A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... The practice of being exclusive; mentality characterized by the disregard for opinions and ideas other than ones own. ... In the social sciences, pluralism is a framework of interaction in which groups show sufficient respect and tolerance of each other, that they fruitfully coexist and interact without conflict or assimilation. ... Inclusivism, one of several approaches to understanding the relationship between religions, asserts that while one set of beliefs is absolutely true, other sets of beliefs are at least partially true. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Throughout history, various groups have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Druze (Arabic: duruzÄ« درزي, pl. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ... Melek taus The Yezidi or Yazidi (Kurdish; Êzidî) are adherents of a small Middle Eastern religion with ancient origins. ... Faravahar, The depiction of the human soul before birth and after death. ...

Approaches to relating to the beliefs of others

Adherents of particular religions deal with the differing doctrines and practices espoused by other religions in a variety ways. All strains of thought appear in different segments of all major world religions.

Exclusivism

People with exclusivist beliefs typically explain other religions as either in error, or as corruptions or counterfeits of the true faith. Examples include:

• Christians believe Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." John 14:6.

• The Qur'an states: "O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people." Qur'an 5:51.

• Judaism maintains that God said to Israel through Moses: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

Exclusivist views are more completely explored in chosen people. Throughout history, various groups have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose. ...

Inclusivism

People with inclusivist beliefs recognize some truth in all faith systems, highlighting agreements and minimizing differences, but see their own faith as in some way ultimate. Examples include: Inclusivism, one of several approaches to understanding the relationship between religions, asserts that while one set of beliefs is absolutely true, other sets of beliefs are at least partially true. ...

• From Hinduism:
  • A well-known Rig Vedic hymn stemming from Hinduism claims that "Truth is One, though the sages know it variously."
  • Krishna, incarnation or avatar of Vishnu, the supreme God in Hinduism, said in the Gita: In whatever way men identify with Me, in the same way do I carry out their desires; men pursue My path, O Arjuna, in all ways. (Gita:4:11);

Lord Krishna

• • Krishna said: "Whatever deity or form a devotee worships, I make his faith steady. However, their wishes are only granted by Me." (Gita: 7:21-22)
  • Another quote in the Gita states: "O Arjuna, even those devotees who worship other lesser deities (e.g., Devas, for example) with faith, they also worship Me, but in an improper way because I am the Supreme Being. I alone am the enjoyer of all sacrificial services (Seva, Yajna) and Lord of the universe." (Gita: 9:23)

• From Christianity:
  • Jesus said, "He who is not against me is for me." Mark 9:40.
  • Jesus said, "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Luke 12:10.
  • The Apostle Peter wrote of God: "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
  • An aphorism common in some Christian circles: "All Truth is God's Truth."

• From Islam:
  • The Qur'an states: "Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way - except in the case of those of them who do wrong - saying, 'We have faith in what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our God and your God are one and we submit to Him.'" (Holy Qur'an, Surat al-'Ankabut; 29:46)
  • "Among the people of the Book there are some who have iman in Allah and in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down to them, and who are humble before Allah. They do not sell Allah's Signs for a paltry price. Such people will have their reward with their Lord. And Allah is swift at reckoning." (Holy Qur'an, Surat Al 'Imran; 3:199)
  • "...You will find the people most affectionate to those who have iman are those who say, 'We are Christians.' That is because some of them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant." (Holy Qur'an, Surat al-Ma'ida; 5:82)

• From Judaism:
  • The Talmud states: "The righteous of all peoples have a place in the World-To-Come" (Tos. to Sanhedrin 13:2, Sifra to Leviticus 19:18), and affirms that the great majority of non-Jewish humanity will be saved, due to God's overwhelming mercy (BT Sanhedrin 105a).
  • The Torah mentions a number of righteous gentiles, including Melchizedek who presided at offerings to God that Abraham made (Gen. 14:18), Job, a pagan Arab of the land of Uz who had a whole book of the Hebrew Bible devoted to him as a paragon of righteousness beloved of God (see the book of Job), and the Ninevites, the people given to cruelty and idolatry could be accepted by God when they repented (see the Book of Jonah).
  • Rabbinic tradition asserts that the basic standard of righteousness was established in a covenant with Noah: anyone who keeps the seven commandments of this covenant is assured of salvation, no matter what their religion. This is standard Jewish teaching for the past two thousand years.

• From the Bahá'í Faith:
  • Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith states: "The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society." (The Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" in World Order, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1972-73)) [1]

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Lord Krishna Krishna (कृष्ण, Sanskrit for black. Also said to mean All Attractive), is, according to common Hindu tradition, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. ... In Hinduism, an avatar is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. ... For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... File links The following pages link to this file: Religion ... File links The following pages link to this file: Religion ... A Deva, in Hinduism, is a deity, controlling forces of nature such as fire, air, etc. ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957) The Guardians Resting Place in London Shoghi Effendi Rabbani was the Guardian of the Baháí Faith. ...

Pluralism

Main article: Religious pluralism Religious pluralism is the belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions, and denominational conflicts within the same religion. ...

People with pluralist beliefs make no distinction between faith systems, viewing each one as valid within a particular culture. Examples include: Religious pluralism is the belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions, and denominational conflicts within the same religion. ...

• The Qur'an, revealed through Muhammad, states, "Those with Faith, those who are Jews, and the Christians and Sabaeans, all who have Faith in Allah and the Last Day and act rightly will have their reward with their Lord. They will feel no fear and will know no sorrow." (Qur'an, Surat al-Baqara; 2:62)

• The Christian writer Paul wrote, "God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themseleves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)" Romans 2:6-15.

Syncretism

Main article: Syncretism Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate, even opposing, beliefs and to meld practices of various schools of thought. ...

People with syncretistic views blend the views of a variety of different religions or traditional beliefs into a unique fusion which suits their particular experience and context.

Unitarian Universalism is an example of a syncretistic faith. The flaming chalice is the universally recognized symbol for Unitarian Universalism. ...

Religion in relation to other closely related topics

Religion and spirituality

It is common to distinguish the concept of "religion" from the concept of "spirituality."

Individuals who ascribe to this distinction see spirituality as a belief in ideas of religious significance (such as God, the Soul, or Heaven) without being bound to the bureaucratic structure and creeds of a particular organized religion. They choose the term spirituality rather than religion to describe their form of belief, perhaps reflecting a large-scale disillusionment with organized religion that is occurring in much of the Western world (see Religion in modernity), and a movement towards a more "modern" — more tolerant, and more intuitive — form of religion. Spirituality, in a broad sense a concern with matters of the spirit, is a wide term with many available readings. ...

Many members of organized religion, of course, see no significant difference between the two terms, because they see spirituality at the heart of their religion, and see the church organization as a means of preserving that spirituality. Many of them associate themselves with an organized religion because they see the religious community as a means of maintaining and strengthening their faith in fellowship with other believers. They may see amorphous "spirituality" movements as "religions of convenience," in which individuals can choose whatever beliefs make them feel comfortable at the time, without being bound to any external standard of accountability.

Finally, it should be noted that many individuals, while still associating themselves with an organized religion, see a distinction between the mundane, earthly aspects of their religion and the spiritual dimension. They note that people may take part in organized religion purely for mundane reasons, for example, gaining security from such things as regular attendance at churches or temples, or the social comfort of fervently agreeing with other believers; they note that this sometimes is done without a corresponding spiritual dimension. They then conclude that such behavior is "religious" without being "spiritual." Further, some aspects of religion (for example, the Catholic Inquisition or Islamic Terrorism), are seen by many although not all as completely contrary to the teachings of the religions' founders, who many believe taught tolerance and love. In support of this belief that religions may "lose their way," many cite things such as Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees, who represented organized religion in his context.

Mahatma Gandhi who was born a Hindu wrote the following about religion in his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth [2]: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called Mahatma Gandhi, was the charismatic leader who brought the cause of Indias independence from British colonial rule to world attention. ... The Story of My Experiments with Truth was first published in 1929 and is the autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Mahatma Gandhi. ...

Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or the greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism being such. Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If untouchability could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an excrescence. I could not understand the raison d'etre of a multitude of sects and castes. What was the meaning of saying that the Vedas were the inspired Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also the Bible and the Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to convert me, so were Muslim friends. Abdullah Sheth had kept on inducing me to study Islam, and of course he had always something to say regarding its beauty.

He then went on to say: Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The word Caste is derived from the Portuguese word casta, meaning lineage, breed or race. ... The Vedas (also referred to as Vedam) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... The holy Jewish scripture: The Torah. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... A Christian is a follower and believer in Jesus of Nazareth and the religion of Christianity. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ...

As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.

Gandhi, was criticizing the aspects of organized religion. He also said the following about Hinduism: Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being ... When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ...

As a result, many who consider themselves deeply involved with the divine may have come to reject much of the recognised aspects of established religion, in an effort to free themselves of the mundane trappings or perceived corruption of "religion". An example of such individuals are Christian anarchists. Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. ...

Religion and science

Generally speaking, religion and science use different methods in their effort to gain knowledge. Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning (a posteriori), or through introspection (a priori). ...

Scope of the methods

According to the religious method the sources of knowledge can be a a religious leader, a sacred text, or personal revelation. It is not limited in scope and can try to answer any question. For information on the last book of the New Testament see the entry on the Book of Revelation. ...

The scientific method requires interaction with the world, which could, for example, consist of synthesizing chemicals in a laboratory or excavating of dinosaur bones. It is therefore restricted to questions concerning such interaction.

The following questions can be approached by both methods but science requires evidence which is open to the scrutiny of other scientists/professionals and the wider public.

• "Who murdered that person?"
• "How did the world, as we see it today, develop?"
• "How can I cure a disease?"
• "How do I build an airplane?"
• "How can a certain goal be attained?"
• "What makes people behave in a certain way?"

The following questions can be approached by the religious method, but not by the scientific method.

• "What goals should I have?"
• "What is good or evil?"
• "What was before time itself existed?"
• "Is God both three and one?"

Goal of the methods

The religious method asserts it has sought absolute and unchanging Truth. The scientific method, on the other hand, aims at giving the best unbiased answer currently possible. While religious knowledge in the form of sacred texts is considered true for thousands of years, scientific knowledge tends to change rather quickly- 'science advances through disproof of its hypothesis'. - Richard Dawkins. Much of this article is about philosophical ideas regarding what sorts of things are called true, and the meaning of the word truth. ...

Some Christians consider Genesis, written more than two thousand years ago, the literal and true account of creation. But evolution theory, often contrasted with Genesis, has itself evolved since the original version was proposed by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... This article is about biological evolution. ... Charles Darwin in 1854, five years prior to the publication of The Origin of Species Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809–19 April 1882) was a British naturalist who achieved lasting fame as originator of the theory of evolution through natural selection. ... The 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species First published in 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by British naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal...

Conflicts

The scientific method often took religious beliefs as its first input. Johannes Kepler, for example, tried to model the solar system according to his religious ideals. But as scientific theories change, they start to conflict with those beliefs. Sometimes the religion adopts the new theory, but often a heavy dispute arises. Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630), a key figure in the scientific revolution, was a German astronomer, mathematician and astrologer. ...

Famous conflicts between Christianity and science:

• flat world - round world (quickly adopted)
• geocentrism - heliocentrism (adopted after a heavy dispute)
• Creationism - Evolution theory (adopted by scientific community, yet still disputed by some members of the public on religious grounds)

Though science does not tell what goals people should pursue, conflicts with religion might even arise in this field if scientific theories indicate that two goals exclude each other. The flat Earth theory is the idea that Earth is flat, as opposed to the view that the Earth is very nearly spherical (see Spherical Earth). ... Belief in a flat Earth is found in humankinds oldest writings. ... The geocentric model (in Greek: geo = earth and centron = centre) of the universe is a paradigm which places the Earth at its center. ... Heliocentric Solar System In astronomy, heliocentrism is the theory that the Sun is at the center of the Universe and/or the Solar System. ... Christianity, Islam and Judaism hold the belief that the universe was created by a Supreme Being. ... This article is about biological evolution. ...

Other alternatives

Logic and reason

The scientific method uses logic and reason to deduce consequences from theories, but it is not the same as logic and reason. According to science, logic and reason cannot tell which theory is correct and hence cannot make any statement about interaction with the world. On the other hand logic and reason addresses questions, the scientific method cannot answer. Using them, it is possible to deduce complex consequences from more simple assumptions and definitions. Those assumptions can then be based on even more simple assumptions. But as this chain has to come to an end, logic and reason cannot give an answer to every question.

Using common definitions, logic and reason can answer the following questions.

• "What is seven plus twelve?"
• "Can something existing outside of time, change its mind?"

Emotions

Emotions can give answers to any question concerning our goals, likes or dislikes. They might be seen as equivalent with personal revelation and hence as religious, but they do not depend on exterior sources like texts or other people.

Emotions give answers to the following questions.

• "Should I eat?"
• "Whom should I marry?"
• "Do I like people being murdered?"

Usage

The extent to which people apply those methods varies greatly. Naturally scientists tend more to the scientific method and persons with a religious position tend more to the religious method. But especially in the past, many clergy contributed to science and many scientists expressed religious beliefs.

Logic and reason is essential for the scientific method, but is also used by religion, in the form of theology to conclude consequences from religious dogmas. Theology is literally reasonable discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... This article is on dogma in religion. ...

• Gregor Mendel was a monk who made experiments with peas and thus discovered genetics.
• Augustine of Hippo concluded by logic and reason that God cannot change his mind.

Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel (July 22, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was a Czech-Austrian monk who is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... St. ...

Religion and myth

Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, Israel

The word "myth" has two meanings, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: Shrine of the Bab in Haifa Israel at night viewed from above looking down Ben Gurion Avenue Photo distributed for public use by the Bahai World Center, re-sized from a photo on the press materials page at http://www. ... Shrine of the Bab in Haifa Israel at night viewed from above looking down Ben Gurion Avenue Photo distributed for public use by the Bahai World Center, re-sized from a photo on the press materials page at http://www. ... For the Lebanese singer, see Haifa Wehbe Haifa (Hebrew חֵיפָה Ḥefa, Ḥeyfa; Arabic حَيْفَا Ḥayfā) is the third-largest city in Israel, with a population close to 300,000. ...

1. a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence
2. a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

Myth as "mere story"

Ancient polytheistic religions, such as those of ancient Greece, ancient Rome, the Vikings, etc., are often studied under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development to industrial conditions, are similarly observed by the anthropology of religion. Mythology can be a term used pejoratively by religious and non-religious people both, by defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology. Here myths are treated as fantasies, or "mere" stories. Polytheism is belief in, or worship of, multiple gods or divinities. ... Greek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... Roman mythology can be considered as two parts. ... Norse mythology, Viking mythology or Scandinavian mythology refer to the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and that feature a specific religious or belief system. ... Look up Culture in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikinews has a related story: Culture and entertainment Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cultural Development in Antiquity Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Culture and Civilization in Modern Times Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations, by Dr. Sam Vaknin Categories: Culture... The anthropology of religion involves the study of religious institutions in relation to other social institutions, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures. ...

Myth as defining and explaining belief

The term myth in sociology, however has a non-pejorative meaning, defined as stories that are important for the group and not necessarily untrue. Examples include the death and resurrection of Jesus (which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, as well as being ostensibly historical). This article is about the religious meaning of the word Resurrection. For other meanings see Resurrection (disambiguation). ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ...

Religion and Occam's Razor

Occam's Razor is the principle that one should not take more assumptions than needed. When multiple explanations are available for a phenomenon, the simplest version is preferred. When deciding between two models which make equivalent predictions, choose the simpler one. Gravity, while more complicated in some ways than a magic stone, has predictive powers that are lacking in a theory of a magic stone causing things to fall and the planets to move in the sky. Thus a magic stone being a simpler theory is irrelevant because it doesn't make equivelently accurate and complete predictions. Occams Razor (also spelt Ockhams Razor), is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. ...

Some, such as atheists, secular humanists, and agnostics assert that Occam's Razor makes belief in divine intervention unreasonable. This is because some religions require an individual to make many more assumptions regarding causes in the natural world than Atheistic and Naturalistic explanations require. For instance, some religious beliefs require the believer to assume that an invisible God created the universe, is concerned with our moral behavior for some reason, yet does not reveal himself, and will judge us after death for decisions we made in relative ignorance, sending us to either an assumed Heaven or an assumed Hell. Atheists conclude that such beliefs require myriad assumptions, while naturalistic explanations require significantly fewer assumptions and that the religious beliefs are therefore less reasonable than naturalistic ones. It is important to understand that all predictive knowledge is being referred to here. It does no good to have fewer assumptions in each of a hundred areas of knowledge, yet more assumptions altogether. Also information of a nonpredictive or nonobjective kind is not the kind of knowledge dealt with here. A personal judgement that belief in God is the best way to make sense of the voice in one's head is both subjective and mostly of little predictive power. Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively believing in the non-existence of deities. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Occams Razor (also spelt Ockhams Razor), is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. ... For the direct intervention of a deity in human affairs, see divine intervention. ... The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is a place or state of painful suffering. ...

William of Occam was a Christian and Franciscan friar who used Occam's Razor to pare away various religious elements other than God around 1300 A.D., long before science had any reasonable theory to explain the existence of life, mind, or conciousness. Needless to say, knowledge has advanced since then, and what William's view of the use of this principle named after him would be today is anyone's guess. William of Ockham (also Occam or any of several other spellings) (ca. ... The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ...

Approaches to the study of individual religions

Methods of studying religion subjectively (in relation to one's own beliefs)

These include efforts to determine the meaning and application of "sacred" texts and beliefs in the context of the student's personal worldview. This generally takes one of three forms:

• one's own — efforts by believers to ascertain the meaning of their own sacred text or other traditions, and to conform their thoughts and actions to the principles enunciated in those traditions. For most believers, this involves a lifetime process of study, analysis, and practice. Some faiths, such as Hasidic Judaism, emphasize adherence to a set of rules and rituals. Other faiths, such as Christianity, emphasize the internalization and application of a set of abstract principles, such as Love, Justice, or Faith. Some believers interpret their scriptures literally, and apply the text exactly as it is written. Other believers try to interpret scripture and other tradition through its context, to derive abstract principles which they may apply more directly to their lives and contexts.
  

  

  Mosque; Aswan, Egypt.

• another's compared to one's own — efforts by believers of one belief system attempt to describe a different belief system in terms of their own beliefs. One example of this method is in David Strauss's 1835 The Life of Jesus. Strauss's theological approach strikes from the Biblical text the descriptions of angels and miracles which, due to his presupposition that supernatural events do not occur, he does not believe could have occurred. He then concludes that the stories must have been inserted by a "supernaturalist" merely trying to make an important story more convincing. In this course of his argument, Strauss argues that the supernaturalist who inserted the angels into the story of the birth of Christ borrowed the heathen doctrine of angels from the Babylonians who had held the Jews in captivity. That is, the New Testament's fabulous role for angels "is evidently a product of the influence of the Zend religion of the Persians on the Jewish mind." Due to his presumption that supernatural events do not occur, he dismisses the possibility that both cultures came to believe in angels independently, as a result of their own experiences and context.

• another's as defined by itself — efforts by believers of one belief system to understand the heart and meaning of another faith on its own terms. This very challenging approach to understanding religion presumes that each religion is a self-consistent system whereby a set of beliefs and actions depend upon each other for coherence, and can only be understood in relation to each other. This method requires the student to investigate the philosophical, emotional, religious, and social presuppositions that adherents of another religion develop and apply in their religious life, before applying their own biases, and evaluating the other faith. For instance, an individual who personally does not believe in miracles may attempt to understand why adherents of another religion believe in miracles, and then attempt to understand how the individual's belief in miracles affects their daily life. While the individual may still himself not believe in miracles, he may begin to develop an understanding of why people of other faiths choose to believe in them.

Download high resolution version (480x640, 45 KB)Mosque; Aswan, Egypt. ... Download high resolution version (480x640, 45 KB)Mosque; Aswan, Egypt. ... David Friedrich Strauss (January 27, 1808 – February 8, 1874), was a German theologian and writer. ... The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... According to many religions, a miracle is an intervention by God in the universe. ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ... In compiling the history of ancient Israel and Judah, there are many available sources, including the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible), other Jewish texts such as the Talmud, the Ethiopian book of history known as the Kebra Nagast, the writings of historians such as Nicolaus of...

Methods of studying religion objectively (in a scientific and religiously neutral fashion)

There are a variety of methods employed to study religion which seek to be religiously neutral. One's interpretation of these methods depends on one's approach to the relationship between religion and science, as discussed above.

• Historical, archeological, and literary approaches to religion include attempts to discover the sacred writings at the "dawn of humanity." For example, Max Müller in 1879 launched a project to translate the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism into English in the Sacred Books of the East. Müller's intent was to translate for the first time the "bright" as well as the "dark sides" of non-Christian religions into English. [3]

Critics note that historical, archeological, and literary approaches are scientific insofar as they uncover the facts of ancient religions, and seek to understand and interpret those facts within their context. They assert that the approaches are unscientific, however, insofar as they make value judgments as to which parts of ancient religions are "bright" and which are "dark," because value judgments are beyond the realm of the verifiable phenomena of science.

• Anthropological approaches include attempts to lay out the principles of native tribes that have had little contact with modern technology as in John Lubbock's The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man. [4]

The term "religion" is extremely problematic for anthropologists, and approaches to the subject are quite varied within the discipline. Some anthropologists (along with many other academics) take the view that religion, particularly in less technically complex cultures, is a form of proto-science--a primitive attempt to explain and predict phenomena in the natural world, similar to modern science but less advanced.

However, many (if not most) modern anthropologists reject this view (a form of social evolutionism) as antiquated, over-simplified, ethnically and intellectually chauvinistic, and unsupported by cross-cultural evidence. Science has very specific methods and aims, while the term "religion" encompasses a huge spectrum of practices, goals, and social functions. In addition to explaining the world (natural or otherwise), religions may also provide mechanisms for maintaining social and psychological well-being, and the foundations of moral/ethical, economic, and political reasoning.

While many early anthropologists attempted to catalogue and universalize these functions and their origins, modern researchers have tended to back away from such speculation, preferring a more holistic approach: The object of study is the meaning of religious traditions and practices for the practitioners themselves--religion in context--rather than formalized theories about religion in general.

Critics note that this approach is relativistic, informal, and primarily descriptive--possibly putting it outside the realm of science. Anthropologists themselves remain divided on the issue.

• Sociological approaches include attempts to explain the development of the ideas of morality and law, as in for example, Auguste Comte's Cours de philosophie positive hypothesizing in 1842 that people go through stages of evolution 1) obeying supernatural beings, then 2) manipulating abstract unseen forces, and finally 3) exploring more or less scientifically the social laws and practical governmental structures that work in practice. Within a sociological approach, religion is but the earliest primitive stage of discovering what is morally right and wrong in a civilized society. It is the duty of intelligent men and women everywhere to take responsibility for shaping the society without appealing to a non-existent Divinity to discover empirically what moral concepts actually work in practice, and in the process, the shapers of society must take into account that there is no Divine authority to adjudicate between what are only the opinions of men and women. Comte wrote, in translation, "It can not be necessary to prove to anybody who reads this work that Ideas govern the world, or throw it into chaos; in other words, that all social mechanism rests upon Opinions. The great political and moral crisis that societies are now undergoing is shown by a rigid analysis to arise out of intellectual anarchy." The intellectual anarchy includes the warring oppositions among the world's religions. [5]

Critics note that the sociological approaches are scientific insofar as they note that the three "stages" are empirically observable, but unscientific insofar as it makes the value judgment that any one is superior to another, because value judgments are beyond the realm of the verifiable phenomena of science.

• Psychological approaches. The Psychology of religion involves the gathering and classification of data (usually wide ranging) and the building of the explanations of the psychological processes underlying the religious experiences and beliefs. It includes a wide variety of researches (psychoanalytical and others) : Sigmund Freud (Oedipus Complex, Illusion), Carl Jung (Universal archetypes), Erich Fromm (Desire, Need for stable frame), William James (Personal religious experience, Pragmatism), Alfred Adler (Feeling of inferiority, Perfection), Ludwig Feuerbach (Imagination, Wishes, Fear of Death), Gordon Alport (Mature religion and Immature religion), Erik Erikson (Influence on personality development), Rudolf Otto (Non-rational experience), James Leuba (Mystical experiences and drugs).

• Philosophical approaches include attempts to derive rational classifications of the views of the world that religions preach as in Immanuel Kant's 1788 Critique of Practical Reason. Within a philosophical approach, the reason for a religious belief should be more important than the emotional attachment to the belief. [6] And in attempting to provide a reasonable basis for morality, Kant proposed the categorical imperative: "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." [7]

Critics assert that while philosophical approaches are competent insofar as they logically systematize and compare sets of a priori fundamental values, they are incompetent insofar as they attempt to assert those a priori fundamental values.

• Neuroscientific approaches seek to explore the apparent similarities among religious views dominant in diverse cultures that have had little or no contact, why religion is found in almost every human group, and why humans accept counterintuitive statements in the name of religion. In neuroscience, work by scientists such as Ramachandran and his colleagues from the University of California, San Diego [8] suggests evidence of brain circuitry in the temporal lobe associated with intense religious experiences. See also neurotheology, the scientific study of the biological basis of spiritual experience.

In sociology, Rodney Stark has looked at the social forces that have caused religions to grow and the features of religions that have been most successful. For example, Stark, who claims to be an agnostic, hypothesizes that, before Christianity became established as the state religion of Constantinople, Christianity grew rapidly because it provided a practical framework within which non-family members would provide help to other people in the community in a barter system of mutual assistance. Similarly, evolutionary psychology approaches consider the survival advantages that religion might have given to a community of hunter-gatherers, such as unifying them within a coherent social group.

Critics assert that while neuroscientific and evolutionary approaches are scientific insofar as they note the practical advantages religions provide their adherents, it is unscientific insofar as it asserts that people subscribe to religions merely in order to take advantage of those advantages, and exclude the religion's purported attraction: closer experience with Truth and God.

• Cognitive psychological approaches take a completely different approach to explaining religion. Foremost among them is Pascal Boyer, whose book, Religion Explained, lays out the basics of his theory, and attempts to refute several previous and more direct explanations for the phenomenon of religion. Religion is taken in its widest sense (from holy mountains over ancestral spirits to monotheistic deities). An explanation is offered for human religious behaviour without making a presumption, to the positive or the negative, about the actual subject matter of the religious beliefs. Essentially, the reasoning goes that religion is a side effect to the normal functioning of certain subconscious intuitive mental faculties which normally apply to physics (enabling prediction of the arc a football will take only seconds after its release, for example), and social networks (to keep track of other people's identity, history, loyalty, etc.), and a variety of others. For instance, the same mechanism that serves to link, without explaining, an event (e.g. rustling of tall grass) with a cause (the possible presence of a predator) will help to form or sustain a belief that two random events are linked, or that an unexplained event is linked to supernatural causes. The reasoning would imply that there is no direct causal link between the subject matter of a belief (e.g. whether the ancestors watch over us) and the fact that there is such a belief.

Critics assert that cognitive psychological approaches are unfalsifiable pseudoscience, because they assert that religious experience is a "side-effect" of another cognitive faculty without showing any actual connection between the two, and without providing any way to falsify the cognitive psychological explanation by showing the religious experience to be genuine.

For a discussion of the struggle to attain objectivity in the scientific study of religion, see Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey (ISBN 1581344589), who argues that some studies performed pursuant to these methods make claims beyond the realm of observable and verifiable phenomena, and are therefore neither scientific nor religiously neutral. Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900), more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German Orientalist, one of the founders of Indian studies, who virtually created the discipline of comparative religion. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality. ... In the history of science, the scientific revolution was the period that roughly began with the discoveries of Kepler, Galileo, and others at the dawn of the 17th century, and ended with the publication of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton. ... John Lubbock. ... Social Evolutionism is a athropological and sociological social theory that holds that societies progress through stages of increasing development, i. ... // What is science? There are different theories of what science is. ... Morality is a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong. ... Corruption Jurisprudence Philosophy of law Law (principle) List of legal abbreviations Legal code Intent Letter versus Spirit Natural Justice Natural law Religious law Witness intimidation Legal research External links Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Law Look up law in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Law, Legal Definitions... Auguste Comte Auguste Comte (full name Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte) (January 17 (recorded January 19), 1798 - September 5, 1857) was a positivist thinker and a founder of the discipline of sociology. ... A civilization or civilisation has a variety of meanings related to human society. ... Intelligence is usually said to involve mental capabilities such as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... In moral philosophy, the word responsibility has at least two related meanings: The obligation to answer for actions. ... Psychology of religion involves the gathering and classification of data (usually wide ranging) and the building of the explanations of the psychological processes underlying the religious experiences and beliefs. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... Carl Gustav Jung Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology. ... Erich Fromm Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was an internationally renowned German-American psychologist and humanistic philosopher. ... William James William James (January 11, 1842, New York - August 26, 1910, Chocorua, New Hampshire). ... Alfred Adler Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 - May 28, 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor and psychologist, founder of the school of individual psychology. ... Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (July 28, 1804 - September 13, 1872), German philosopher, fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, was born in Landshut, Bavaria and died in Rechenberg (since 1899 a district of Nuremberg). ... Erik Homburger Erikson (June 15, 1902 - May 12, 1994) was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings, and for coining the phrase identity crisis. Biography Eriksons heritage is somewhat mysterious. ... Rudolf Otto (September 25, 1869 - 6 March 1937) was an eminent German protestant theologian and scholar of comparative religion. ... In philosophy, the word rationality has been used to describe numerous religious and philosophical theories, especially those concerned with truth, reason, and knowledge. ... Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a German philosopher from Prussia, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... The philosophical concept of a categorical imperative is central to the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, known as Kantianism. ... Neuroscience is a field of study which deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the nervous system. ... The University of California, San Diego (popularly known as UCSD) is a public, coeducational university located in La Jolla, California. ... In the anatomy of animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the supervisory center of the nervous system. ... The temporal lobe is part of the cerebrum. ... Neurotheology, also known as biotheology, is a relatively new field of scientific study that analyzes the biological basis of spirituality. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical and theological view that the existence of God, gods or deities is either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Evolutionary psychology (or EP) proposes that human and primate cognition and behavior can be better understood in light of human and primate evolutionary history. ... Pascal Boyer is an advocate of the idea that human instincts provide us with the basis for an intuitive theory of mind that guides our social relations and morality. ... Religion Explained is a book by anthropologist Pascal Boyer about the evolutionary origins of religious thought. ... Subconscious may refer to: that which is subliminal to consciousness the underlying consciousness see subconsciousness. ... Phrenology is seen today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ...

Development of religion

Main Article: Development of religion There are a number of models regarding the ways in which religions come into being and develop. ...

There are several models for understanding how religions develop.

• Models which view religion as untrue include:
  • The "Dogma Selection Model," which holds that religions, although untrue in themselves, encode instructions useful for survival, that these ideas "mutate" periodically as they are passed on, and they spread or die out in accord with their effectiveness at improving chances for survival.
  • The "Opium of the Masses Model," in which "Religion in any shape or form is regarded as pernicious and deliberate falsehood, spread and encouraged by rulers and clerics in their own interests, since it is easier to control over the ignorant." -- Bertrand Russell Wisdom of the West (ISBN 0517690411)
  • The "Theory of Religion Model," in which religion is viewed as arising from some psychological or moral pathology in religious leaders and believers.
• Models which view religion as progressively true include:
  • The "Baha'i Prophecy Model," which holds that God has sent a series of prophets to Earth, each of which brought teachings appropriate for his culture and context, but all originating from the same God, and therefore teachings the same essential message.
  • The "Great Awakening Model," which holds that religion proceeds along a Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis, synthesis, in cycles of approximately 80 years as a result of the interaction between four archetypal generations, by which old religious beliefs (the thesis) face new challenges for which they are unprepared (the antithesis) and adapt to create new and more sophisticated beliefs (the synthesis).
  • The "A Study of History Model," which holds that prophets are given to extraordinary spiritual insight during periods of social decay and act as "surveyors of the course of secular civilization who report breaks in the road and breakdowns in the traffic, and plot a new spiritual course which will avoid those pitfalls."
• Models which view a particular religion as absolutely true include:
  • The "Jewish Model", which holds that God relates to humanity through covenents; that he established a covenant with all humanity at the time of Noah called the Noahide Laws, and that he established a covenant with Israel through the Ten Commandments.
  • The "Exclusivist Models," which hold that one particular is the "One True Religion," and all others are false, so that the development of the True Religion is tied inexorably to one prophet or holy book, and all other religions are seen as originating either in human ignorance or imagination, or a more devious influence, such as false prophets or Satan himself.

Seat of the Universal House of Justice The Baháí Faith is an emerging global religion founded by Baháulláh, a nineteenth-century Iranian exile. ... Great Awakenings are commonly said to be periods of religious revival in Anglo-American religious history. ... A Study of History is the 12-volume magnum opus of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, finished in 1961. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ... Noah or Nóach (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew נֹחַ Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), is a character from the Book of Genesis and the Quran who builds an ark to save his family and the worlds animals from the Deluge, the universal flood. ... The Noahide laws, also called the Brit Noah (Covenant of Noah) are the mitzvot (commandments) that Judaism (specifically, the Talmud rather than the Torah or Old Testament) teaches that all non-Jews are bound to follow. ... The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that feature prominently in Judaism and Christianity. ... Gustave Dores depiction of Satan from John Miltons Paradise Lost Satan (שָׂטָן Standard Hebrew Satan, Latin Sátanas, Tiberian Hebrew Śāṭān; Aramaic שִׂטְנָא Śiṭnâ: both words mean Adversary; accuser) is an angel, demon, or minor god in many religions. ...

Religion in modernity

In the late 19th century and throughout most of the 20th century, the demographics of religion has changed a great deal. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Some historically Christian countries, particularly those in Europe, have experienced a significant decline in Christian religion, shown by declining recruitment for priesthoods and monasteries, fast-diminishing attendance at churches, synagogues, etc. Explanations for this effect include disillusionment with ideology following the ravages of World War II, the materialistic philosophical influence of science, Marxism and Humanism, and a reaction against the exclusivist claims and religious wars waged by many religious groups. This decline is apparently in parallel with increased prosperity and social well-being. It appears increasingly common for people to engage in far-ranging explorations, with many finding spiritual satisfaction outside of organized churches. This is a demographic group whose numbers are growing and whose future impact cannot be predicted. Roman Catholic priest LCDR Allen R. Kuss (USN) aboard USS Enterprise A priest or priestess is a holy man or woman who takes an officiating role in worship of any religion, with the distinguishing characteristic of offering sacrifices. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... A church building is a building used in Christian worship. ... A synagogue or synagog (from Greek συναγωγη, transliterated sunagoge, place of assembly literally meeting, assembly) is a Jewish house of prayer and study. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: Immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons - the atom bomb being the ultimate. ... The term scientism is a relatively newly coined word that refers to certain epistemologies based on science. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ...

In the United States, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, studies show that Christianity is strong and growing stronger, and many believe those areas to have become the new "heart" of Christianity. Islam is currently the fastest growing religion, and is nearly universal in many states stretching from West Africa to Indonesia, and has grown in world influence in the West. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism remain nearly universal in the Far East, and have greatly influenced spirituality, particularly in the United States. Explanations for the growth of religion in these areas include disillusionment with the perceived failures of secular western ideologies to provide an ethical and moral framework. Believers point to perceived terrors such as Naziism, Communism, Colonialism, Secular Humanism, and Materialism, and the havoc wreaked by such movements around the world. Particularly vehement in this regard are Islamic fundamentalists, who view Western secularism as a serious threat to morality itself. They point to perceived decadence, high rates of divorce, crime, depression, and suicide as evidence of Western social decline, which they believe is caused by the abandonment of Faith by the West. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and 3rd most populous. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a popular movement. ... World map of colonialism circa 1945. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Materialism is the philosophical view that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are comprised of material. The view is perhaps best understood in its opposition to the doctrines of immaterial substance applied to the mind historically, and most famously by...

Modern reasons for adherence to religion

Typical reasons for adherence to religion include the following:

• "Experience or emotion": For many, the practice of a religion causes an emotional high that gives pleasure to them. Such emotional highs can come from the singing of traditional hymns to the trance-like states found in the practices of the Whirling Dervishes and Yoga, among others. People continue to associate with those practices that give pleasure and, in so far as it is connected with religion, join in religious organizations that provide those practices. Also, some people simply feel that their faith is true, and may not be able to explain their feelings.

• "Supernatural connection": Most religions postulate a reality which include both the natural and the supernatural. Most adherents of religion consider this to be of critical importance, since it permits belief in unseen and otherwise potentially unknowable aspects of life, including hope of eternal life.

• "Rational analysis": For some, adherence is based on intellectual evaluation that has led them to the conclusion that the teachings of that religion most closely describe reality. Among Christians this basis for belief is often given by those influenced by C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, as well as some who teach young earth Creationism.

• "Moderation": Many religions have approaches that produce practices that place limitations on the behaviour of their adherents. This is seen by many as a positive influence, potentially protecting adherents from the destructive or even fatal excesses to which they might otherwise be susceptible. Many people from many faiths contend that their faith brings them fulfillment, peace, and joy, apart from worldly interests.

• "Authority": Most religions are authoritarian in nature, and thus provide their adherents with spiritual and moral role models, who they believe can bring highly positive influences both to adherents and society in general.

• "Moral framework": Most religions see early childhood education in religion and spirituality as essential moral and spiritual formation, whereby individuals are given a proper grounding in ethics, instilling and internalizing moral discipline.

• "Majesty and tradition": People can form positive views of religion based on the visible manifestations of religion, e.g., ceremonies which appear majestic and reassuringly constant, and ornate cloth.

• "Community and culture": Organized religions promote a sense of community. The combination of moral and cultural common ground often results in a variety of social and support networks. Some ostensibly "religious" individuals may even have a substantially secular viewpoint, but retain adherence to religious customs and viewpoints for cultural reasons, such as continuation of traditions and family unity. Judaism, for example, has a particularly strong tradition of "secular" adherents.

• "Fulfillment": Most traditional religions require sacrifice of their followers, but, in turn, the followers may gain much from their membership therein. Thus, they come away from experiences with these religions with the feeling that their needs have been filled. In fact, studies have shown that religious adherents tend to be happier and less prone to stress than non-religious people.

• "Spiritual and psychological benefits": Each religion asserts that it is a means by which its adherents may come into closer contact with God, Truth, and Spiritual Power. They all promise to free adherents from spiritual bondage, and bring them into spiritual freedom. It naturally follows that a religion which frees its adherents from deception, sin, and spiritual death will have significant mental health benefits. Abraham Maslow's research after World War II showed that Holocaust survivors tended to be those who held strong religious beliefs (not necessarily temple attendance, etc), suggesting it helped people cope in extreme circumstances. Humanistic psychology went on to investigate how religious or spiritual identity may have correlations with longer lifespan and better health. The study found that humans may particularly need religious ideas to serve various emotional needs such as the need to feel loved, the need to belong to homogenous groups, the need for understandable explanations and the need for a guarantee of ultimate justice. Other factors may involve sense of purpose, sense of identity, sense of contact with the divine. See also Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl, detailing his experience with the importance of religion in surviving the Holocaust. Critics assert that the very fact that religion was the primary selector for research subjects may have introduced a bias, and that the fact that all subjects were holocaust survivors may also have had an effect. According to [9], "more longitudinal research with better multidimensional measures will help further clarify the roles of these [religious] factors and whether they are beneficial or harmful".

• "Practical benefits": Religions may sometimes provide breadth and scale for visionary inspirations in compassion, practical charity, and moral restraint. Christianity is noted for the founding of many major universities, the creation of early hospitals, the provision of food and medical supplies to the needy, and the creation of orphanages and schools, amongst other charitable acts. Many other religions (and non-religious organisations and individuals, eg: humanistic Oxfam) have also performed equivalent or similar work.

Socialization in the study of animal and human behavior (ethology, social psychology, and psychology) is the process by which human beings or animals learn to adopt the behavior patterns of the community in which they live. ... Abraham Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was a psychologist. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: Immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons - the atom bomb being the ultimate. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ... Humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... Jenns a loser ...

Modern reasons for rejecting religion

Typical reasons for rejection of religion include the following:

• "Logical Contradiction": Many major world religions make the claim that they are the one true religion, and that all other religions are wrong (see Exclusivism). Logically, either one exclusive religion is right and all the others wrong, or else all exclusive religions are wrong. Since the vast majority of people believe in a religion they were taught before they were old enough to make a rational choice, it is more rational to reject all exclusive religions rather than to accept one for no better reason that an accident of birth.

• "Guilt and Fear": Many athiests, agnostics, and others see religion as a promoter of fear and conformity, causing people to adhere to it to shake the guilt and fear of either being looked down upon by others, or some form of punishement as outlined in the religious doctrines. In this way, religion can be seen as promotional of people pushing guilt onto others, or becoming fanatical (doing things they otherwise wouldn't if they were 'free' of religion), in order to shed their own guilt and fear ultimately generated by the religion itself. The "others" in this case being non-adherents to said religion. According to people who share this view, this can take forms such as: people looking down on others based on their non-adherance, to people preaching that others need something the religion can provide, all the way to global war.

• "Irrational and unbelievable creeds": Some religions postulate a reality which may be seen as stretching credulity and logic, and even some believers may have difficulty accepting particular religious assertions about nature, the supernatural and the afterlife. Some people believe the body of evidence available to humans to be insufficent to justify certain religious beliefs. They may thus disagree with religious interpretations of ethics and human purpose, and theistic views of creation. This reason has perhaps been aggravated by the protestations of some fundamentalist Christians.

• "Restrictiveness": Many religions have (or have had in the past) an approach that produces, or produced, practices that are considered by some people to be too restrictive, e.g., regulation of dress, and proscriptions on diet and activities on certain days of the week. Some feel that religion is the antithesis of prosperity, fun, enjoyment and pleasure. This causes them to reject it entirely, or to see it as only to be turned to in times of trouble.

• "Self-promotion": Some individuals place themselves in positions of power and privilege through promotion of specific religious views, e.g., the Bhagwan/Osho interlude, Reverend Moon of the Unification Church (sometimes called Moonie movement), and other controversial new religious movements pejoratively called cults. Such self-promotion has tended to reduce public confidence in many things that are called "religion." Similarly, highly publicized cases of abuse by the clergy of several religions have tended to reduce public confidence in the underlying message.

• "Promotion of ignorance": Many atheists, agnostics, and others see early childhood education in religion and spirituality as a form of brainwashing or social conditioning, essentially concurring with the Marxian view that "religion is the opiate of the masses", with addiction to it fostered when people are too young to choose.

• "Dulling of the mind against reality": Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx developed atheist views that reality is sometimes painful, there is no God to assist people in dealing with it, and people must learn to deal with problems themselves in order to survive. Per this view, religion in modern times, while it may decrease pain in the short run by providing hope and optimism, in the long run hinders the ability of people to deal with their problems by providing false hope. Hence in 1844, in Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy of Right', Marx said of religion, "It is the opiate [most likely in the traditional sense of an opium-like drug] of the masses." [10]

• "Unsuitable moral systems in mainstream religions": Some argue that simplistic absolutism taught by some religions impairs a child's moral capacity to deal with a world of complex and varied temptations in which, in reality, is different than they have been brought up to think by religion.

• "Unappealing forms of practice": People can form a negative view, based upon the manifestations of religion, e.g., ceremonies which appear pointless and repetitive, arcane clothing, and exclusiveness in membership requirements.

• "Detrimental effect on government": Many atheists, agnostics, and others believe that religion, because it insists that people believe certain claims "on faith" without sufficient evidence, hinders the rational/logical thought processes necessary for effective government. For example, a leader who believes that God will intervene to save humans from environmental disasters may be less likely to attempt to reduce the risk of such disasters through human action. Also, in many countries, religious organizations have tremendous political power, and in some countries can even control government almost completely. Disillusionment with forms of theocratic government, such as practiced in Iran, can lead people to question the legitimacy of any religious beliefs used to justify non-secular government.

• "Detrimental effect on personal responsibility": Many atheists, agnostics, and others believe that many religions, because they state that God will intervene to help individuals who are in trouble, cause people to be less responsible for themselves. For example, a person who believes that God will intervene to save him if he gets into financial difficulties may conclude that it is unnecessary to be financially responsible himself. (Some believers, however, would consider this a misrepresentation of religion: they would say that God only helps people who take initiative themselves first.) This attitude can be taken to extremes: there are instances of believers refusing life-saving medical treatment (or even denying it to their children) because they believe that God will cure them.

• "Tensions between proselytizing and secularizing": Increasingly secular beliefs have been steadily on the rise in many nations. An increasing acceptance of a secular worldview, combined with efforts to prevent "religious" beliefs from influencing society and government policy, may have led to a corresponding decline in religious belief, especially of more traditional forms.

• "Cause of division and hatred": Many religions state that certain groups (particularly those that do not belong to the religion in question) are "inferior" or "sinful" and deserve contempt, persecution, and even death. For example, some Moslems believe that women are inferior to men. Some Christians share this belief. At the time of the American Civil War, many Southerners used passages from the Bible to justify slavery. The Christian religion has been used as a reason to persecute and to deny the rights of homosexuals, on the basis that God disapproves of homosexuality, and by implication homosexuals 1. Many people believe that those who do not share their religion will be punished for their unbelief in an afterlife. There are countless examples of people of one religion or sect using religion as an excuse to murder people with different religious beliefs. To mention just a few, there was the slaughter of the Huguenots by French Catholics in the Sixteenth Century; Hindus and Moslems killing each other when Pakistan separated from India in 1947; the persecution and killing of Shiite Moslems by Sunni Moslems in Iraq and the murder of Protestants by Catholics and vice versa in Ireland, (both of these examples in the late Twentieth Century); and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that continues today. According to some critics of religion, these beliefs can encourage completely unnecessary conflicts and in some cases even wars. Many atheists believe that, because of this, religion is incompatable with world peace, freedom, civil rights, equality, and good government.

Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... Fundamentalist Christianity, or Christian Fundamentalism, in the scope of this particular article, refers to the movement within American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by conservative evangelical Christians, who, in a reaction to modernism, actively affirmed a core set of Christian beliefs: namely, the inerrancy of the... The expression Osho is: a term used to refer to a Zen Buddhist priest in Japanese; An alias used by the modern religious guru Rajneesh. ... Sun Myung Moon (born January 6, 1920) is the founder of the Unification Church (established on May 1, 1954, in Seoul, South Korea). ... The Unification movement was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a Korean minister who fled from North Korea during the Korean War. ... A new religious movement or NRM appears as a religious, ethical or spiritual grouping that has not (yet) become recognised as a standard denomination, church, or body, especially when it has a novel belief system and when it is not a sect. ... In religion and sociology, a cult is a group of people (often a new religious movement) devoted to beliefs which may be different to those held by the majority of society. ... Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively believing in the non-existence of deities. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Brainwashing or thought reform is the application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs or behavior of one or more people for political purposes. ... Conditioning is a psychological term for what Ivan Pavlov described as the learning of conditional behavior. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The term opiate refers to the alkaloids found in opium, an extract from the unripe seeds of the opium poppy (). It has also traditionally referred to natural and semi-synthetic derivatives of morphine. ... Addiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its consequences. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (July 28, 1804 - September 13, 1872), German philosopher, fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, was born in Landshut, Bavaria and died in Rechenberg (since 1899 a district of Nuremberg). ... Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, UK) was an influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association, whose two books in particular, Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto (the latter with Friedrich Engels), laid the foundations... The term opiate refers to the alkaloids found in opium, an extract from the unripe seeds of the opium poppy (). It has also traditionally referred to natural and semi-synthetic derivatives of morphine. ... Opium is a narcotic drug which is obtained from the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy . ... This article discusses faith in a religious context. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... A Christian is a follower and believer in Jesus of Nazareth and the religion of Christianity. ... A civil war is a war in which the competing parties are segments of the same country or empire. ... The holy Jewish scripture: The Torah. ... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Look up Slavery in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Slavery is a condition of control over a person against their will, enforced by violence or other forms of coercion. ... Afterlife (also known as life after death) is a generic term referring to a continuation of existence, typically spiritual and experiential, beyond this world, or after death. ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Shi‘as (the adjective in Arabic is شيعى shi‘i; English has traditionally used Shiite) which mean follower in Arabic make up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%-35% of all Muslim. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... // Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ...

Present day religious adherence and trends

Christianity is the religion with the largest number of adhherents, followed by Islam. This statistics shows the number of adherents of the major world religions:

 1. Christianity: 2.1 billion 2. Islam: 1.8 billion 3. Professing Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion 4. Hinduism: 900 million 5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million 6. Buddhism: 376 million 7. primal-indigenous: 300 million 8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million 9. Sikhism: 23 million 10. Juche: 19 million 11. Spiritism: 15 million 12. Judaism: 14 million 13. Baha'i: 7 million 14. Jainism: 4.2 million 15. Shinto: 4 million 16. Cao Dai: 4 million 17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million 18. Tenrikyo: 2 million 19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million 20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand 21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand 22. Scientology: 500 thousand 

In ranking religious coherent bodies or denominations, the Roman Catholic Church is the largest single denomination within Christianity. Sunni Islam is the major denomination within Islam, and Vaishnavism within Hinduism. In comparing between the number of Catholics and Sunnis, the number is still unclear, with most statistics stating the number of Sunnis in the world exceeding the Roman Catholics by a few thousands. There is a problem that scholars nowadays face in rating religion by number of followers. The number of professing secular/nonreligious/agnostic/atheist are 1.1 billion. But there are a lot of non-professing secular/nonreligious/agnostic/atheist population in the western world, the number increasing every year. In that case the number showed for western religions above, such Christianity may be significantly less. While in the eastern world, especially among muslims, the religious beliefs are more strongly footed, with more believers professing the religion actually practising the religion. So there are significantly less non-professing secular/nonreligious/agnostic/atheist population in the east. So for the eastern religions, such as Islam, the numbers shown above hold more accurately. Scholars have come to believe that Islam may be the largest religion in consideration of the fact that Islam has the largest number of sincerely believing adherents.

The present day religious trends are dynamic. Islam is the fastest growing religion. From 1950 to 2000, the number of Muslims in the world have increased by 200%. This is partly due to increasing population in the developing world, but mostly due to high conversion rate in the U.S.A, Canada, and the rest of the western world. Most scholars say that at this rate, Islam will exceed Christianity by 2023 by number of adherents, and by 2025 world adherence of Islam will be 5% more than that of Christianity, and hence it will be the major religion of the world. Every year the rate of growth of Islam increases significantly, and recent political and social events concerning Islam, have highlighted Islam significantly.

The percentage of Christian adherence has changed little from 1950 to 2000, as its growth is synchronised with the growth of world population. There has been a recent upheaval of Christian faith in the west. But generally, the number of believers and church attending Christians have decreased significantly since the late 19th century. Some scholars predict that traditional Christianity might be a very minor religion in the US by 2042, and Canada by 2023 due to immigration, rise of new and dynamic cults, and the rise of science and secularism.

There are a lot of scholars who share different outlooks of religious trends. But religion is a dynamic subject and religious beliefs are very much a matter of personal faith, and its hard to conclude a perfect general trend in religious practice.

External Link

• Retrograde Religion - Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc

• A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right - Marx's original reference to religion as the opium of the masses.

See also

Comparing Eastern and Western religious traditions Religious studies divides the world into Western and Eastern religions. ...

• Attributes of some religions: clergy – creed – cult – dogma – orthodoxy – priests
• Arguments about the existence of God: for – against
• Entities of some religious worldviews: god – goddess – sky father – solar deity – demigod – angel – spirit – demon – devil – prophet – animal worship – devas
• Irreligion
• Lists: list of religious topics – Major world religions – list of religions – list of religious populations – list of deities – List of self-proclaimed deities
• Non-religious beliefs: agnosticism – atheism – secularism – Secular Humanism
• Other elements of some religious worldviews:Dharma Yukam – afterlife – chosen people – creation belief – end of the world – evil - heaven – hell – karma – miracles – moksha – nirvana – resurrection – revelation – soul – spiritual possession – supernatural
• Problematic effects of some religions: religious violence
• Religious practices: divination – ecstasy – exorcism – faith – magic – meditation – mysticism – prayer – repentance – sacrifice – shunning – superstition – veneration – worship
• Practices frowned upon by religions: apostasy – heresy – idolatry – sin
• Related subjects: mythology – philosophy of religion – theology
• Religious beliefs: anarchism – transtheism – deism – henotheism – maltheism – monism – monotheism – pantheism – panentheism – polytheism – theism
• Religious organizations: cult – sect – denomination – ecclesia
• Scholarly approaches to religion: anthropology of religion – comparative religion – psychology of religion – sociology of religion
• Types of religions: ancestor worship – civil religion – folk religion – fundamentalism – mystery religion – New Age – paganism – shamanism – spirituality – totemism – animism

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... A creed is a statement of belief—usually religious belief—or faith. ... In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings (scriptures), its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. ... Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas) is belief or doctrine held by a religion or any kind of organization to be authoritative. ... The word orthodoxy, from the Greek ortho (right, correct) and doxa (thought, teaching), is typically used to refer to the correct theological or doctrinal observance of religion, as determined by some overseeing body. ... Roman Catholic priest LCDR Allen R. Kuss (USN) aboard USS Enterprise A priest or priestess is a holy man or woman who takes an officiating role in worship of any religion, with the distinguishing characteristic of offering sacrifices. ... This article is in the process of being merged with Arguments against the existence of God. ... Many arguments about the existence of God have been proposed over time. ... The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... A goddess is a female deity in contrast with a male deity known as a god. A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities. ... The sky father is a recurring theme in pagan and neopagan mythology. ... A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun. ... A demigod, a half-god, is a modern distinction, often misapplied in Greek mythology. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A spirit or spiritual being is a non-corporeal entity found in many religions and belief systems throughout the world. ... In folklore, mythology, and religion, a demon or demoness is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit, but is also depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled. ... The Devil is the name given to a supernatural entity who, in most Western religions, is the central embodiment of evil. ... In numerous religions, including Abrahamic religions, Jah religions, Sikhism, and many forms of Paganism, a prophet is an intermediary with a deity, particularly someone who claims to speak for the deity or interprets the deitys will or mind. ... This article needs cleanup. ... A Deva, in Hinduism, is a deity, controlling forces of nature such as fire, air, etc. ... Irreligion is the absence of religious following. ... Many Wikipedia articles on religious topics are not yet listed on this page. ... Major world religions have been distinguished from minor religions using a variety of methods, though any such division naturally reflects a particular bias, since many adherent of a religion are likely to consider their own faith major. Two methods are mentioned in this article, number of adherents and the definitions... The following is a list of religions. ... ‹The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... This list of deities aims to give information about deities in the different religions, cultures and mythologies of the world. ... ‹The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively believing in the non-existence of deities. ... Secularism means: in philosophy, the belief that life can be best lived by applying ethics, and the universe best understood, by processes of reasoning, without reference to a god or gods or other supernatural concepts. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalisic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... The Dharma Yukam or Satya Yuga is the eighth or final yukam (aeon or age), according to Ayyavazhi mythology. ... Afterlife (also known as life after death) is a generic term referring to a continuation of existence, typically spiritual and experiential, beyond this world, or after death. ... Throughout history, various groups have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose. ... Creation beliefs and stories describe how the universe, the Earth, life, and/or humanity came into being. ... Many religious faiths teach that the end of the world, or Apocalypse, will occur at some unknown point in the future. ... Evil is a term describing Kay Fong that which is regarded as morally bad, intrinsically corrupt, wantonly destructive, inhumane, or wicked. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is a place or state of painful suffering. ... Basic definition: Karma is a sanskrit word and a concept of eastern religions. ... According to many religions, a miracle is an intervention by God in the universe. ... Moksha (Sanskrit: liberation) or Mukti (Sanskrit: release) refers, in general, to liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. ... nirvana is also the best grunge band ever you idiots ... This article is about the religious meaning of the word Resurrection. For other meanings see Resurrection (disambiguation). ... For information on the last book of the New Testament see the entry on the Book of Revelation. ... The soul according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the ethereal substance — spirit (Hebrew:rooah or nefesh) — particular to a unique living being. ... Spiritual possession is a concept of many religions and tales, where it is believed that a demon may take temporary control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in behaviour. ... The supernatural (Latin:super- exceeding+nature) comprises forces and phenomena that cannot be perceived by natural or empirical senses, and whose understanding may be said to lie with religious, magical, or otherwise mysterious explanation —yet remains firmly outside of the realm of science. ... Religious violence Throughout history, religious beliefs have provoked some believers into violence. ... This man in Rhumsiki, Cameroon, tells the future by interpreting the changes in position of various objects as caused by a fresh-water crab. ... Religious ecstasy is a trance-like state characterized by expanded mental and spiritual awareness and is frequently accompanied by visions, hallucinations, and physical euphoria. ... Exorcism is the practice of evicting or destroying demons or other evil spiritual entities which are supposed to have possessed (taken control of) a person or a building. ... This article discusses faith in a religious context. ... This article deals with magic in the context of religion and the anthropology of religion. ... Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. ... Mysticism (ancient Greek mysticon = secret) is the pursuit or discovery of what is believed to be the direct experience of union with divinity, God, or Ultimate Reality; or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. ... Prayer is an effort to communicate with God, or to some deity or deities, or another form of spiritual entity, or otherwise, either to offer praise, to make a request, or simply to express ones thoughts and emotions. ... Repentance is the feeling and act in which one recognizes and tries to right a wrong, or gain forgiveness from someone that they wronged. ... Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning to make sacred, from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ... The shunning of an individual is the act of deliberately avoiding association with him or her. ... Superstition describes a provably-wrong belief or a set of behaviors that are related to magical thinking, whereby the practitioner believes that the future, or the outcome of certain events, can be influenced by certain specified behaviors. ... (Latin veneratio, Greek δουλια dulia) In traditional Christian churches (for example, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy), veneration, or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion, and through them honoring God who made them and... Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as a god or goddess. ... Apostasy (Greek απο, apo, away, apart, στασις, stasis, standing) is the formal renunciation of ones religion. ... Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ... Idolatry is a term used by many religions to describe the worship of a false deity, which is an affront to their understanding of divinity. ... Sin has been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disregard for the norms revealed by God is a sin. ... Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and that feature a specific religious or belief system. ... Philosophy of religion is the rational study of the meaning and justification of fundamental religious claims, particularly about the nature and existence of God (or gods, or the divine). ... Theology is literally reasonable discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. ... Transtheism assumes the existence of God as an absent Deity and the ultimate concept of God’s existence is transcendent and external to all other forms of existence, which implies an impersonal, non-anthropomorphic, non-universemorphic or even non-cosmosmorphic being and view of God. ... Historical and modern Deism are defined by the view that reason, rather than revelation or tradition, should be the basis of belief in God. ... In religion and philosophy, henotheism is a term coined by Max Müller, meaning devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. ... Eutheism and dystheism are dialectic opposites within the spectrum of theistic religious beliefs. ... Monism is the metaphysical view that all is of one essential essence, substance or energy. ... Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Panentheism (Greek words: pan=all, en=in and Theos=God) is the view that God is immanent within all Creation and that the universe is part of God or that God is the animating force behind the universe. ... Polytheism is belief in, or worship of, multiple gods or divinities. ... Theism is the belief in one or more gods or goddesses. ... In religion and sociology, a cult is a group of people (often a new religious movement) devoted to beliefs which may be different to those held by the majority of society. ... A sect is a small religious group that has branched off of a larger established religion. ... Note that this kind of denomination is not that of a coin or banknote. ... An ecclesia is one of the four members of the most common sociological typology of religious groups -- the other three are the denomination, the sect and the cult. ... The anthropology of religion involves the study of religious institutions in relation to other social institutions, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures. ... Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes interpretive differences of common themes and ideas among the worlds religions. ... Psychology of religion involves the gathering and classification of data (usually wide ranging) and the building of the explanations of the psychological processes underlying the religious experiences and beliefs. ... The sociology of religion is – among other elements – the study of the practices, social structures, historical backgrounds, development, universal themes, and roles of religion in society. ... Ancestor worship, also ancestor veneration, is a religious practice based on the belief that ones ancestors possess supernatural powers. ... The intended meaning of the term civil religion perhaps varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator. ... Folk religion consists of beliefs, superstitions and cultural practices transmitted from generation to generation, in addition to the formally stated creeds and beliefs of a codified major religion. ... In comparative religion, fundamentalism refers to anti-modernist movements in various religions. ... A mystery religion is any religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... Within a European Christian context, paganism is a catch-all term which has come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion (as opposed to a revealed religion of a text). ... Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause human suffering by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. ... Spirituality, in a broad sense a concern with matters of the spirit, is a wide term with many available readings. ... Totemism (derived from the root -oode in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related) is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. ... Animism is the belief that personalized supernatural beings (or souls) inhabit all objects and govern their existence. ...

Related philosophical stances

• Dualism (Philosophy of mind) - the view that the mental and the physical have a fundamentally different nature as an answer to the mind-body problem.
• Idealism (Philosophy) - any theory positing the primacy of spirit, mind, or language over matter. It includes claiming that thought has some crucial role in making the world the way it is.
• Vitalism - the doctrine that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism. Often, the non-material element is referred to as the soul, the "vital spark," or a kind of energy.

In philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of beliefs which begin with the claim that the mental and the physical have a fundamentally different nature. ... The mind-body problem is the problem of determining the relationship between the human body and the human mind. ... In general parlance, idealism or idealist is also used to describe a person having high ideals, sometimes with the connotation that those ideals are unrealisable or at odds with practical life. ... Vitalism is the doctrine that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism. ...

Compare with

• Naturalism (Philosophy) - which rejects the validity of explanations or theories making use of entities inaccessible to natural science.
• Materialism (Philosophy) - the view that the only thing that can truly be said to 'exist' is matter; that fundamentally, all things are comprised of 'material'. Materialism is typically contrasted with dualism, idealism, and vitalism.
• the Scientific method - essentially an extremely cautious means of building a supportable, evidenced understanding of our world.

Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that reject the validity of explanations or theories making use of entities inaccessible to natural science, that is, supernatural phenomena: phenomena beyond the natural world that we measure using the scientific method. ... The lunar farside as seen from Apollo 11 Natural science is the study of the physical, nonhuman aspects of the Earth and the universe around us. ... Materialism is the philosophical view that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are comprised of material. The view is perhaps best understood in its opposition to the doctrines of immaterial substance applied to the mind historically, and most famously by... The characterization phase can require extended and extensive study, even centuries. ... An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents physical, biological or social processes, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ... Evidence can mean: Any observable event which tends to prove or disprove a proposition, see scientific method and reality. ... Understanding is a psychological state in relation to an object or person whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to be able to deal adequately with that object. ... The World in plate carrée projection The World In English, world is rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, man, and eld, age; thus, its oldest meaning is Age of Man. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

Religion

• American Religion Data Archive
• ReligionFacts.com - Objective guide to world religions
• Seekers of Truth Forums -- A forum for the discussion of religions, and the philosophies involved in them.
• Religion and consideration of animals
• Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science
• Religion, Science and Democracy Religion's competition with Science and Democracy
• Science and Religion by Elsa M. Glover (Ph.D. in Physics)
• TheoWiki
• What does it mean to be human? BBC article about Flores Man and religion
• World Religions
• Some Contrasts Between Science and Religion Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
• Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents
• Life After Death? Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
• Holy Horrors by James A. Haught A condemnation of religion as being responsible for violent atrocities
• Meaningful Discussion About Our Beliefs
• Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
• The Internet Sacred Text Archive