Religion
(→Range of religious perspectives) |
(→Religion and the supernatural) |
||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
==Religion and the supernatural == | ==Religion and the supernatural == | ||
| − | + | A major theory of the development of religion is that the concept of "supernatural" powers (Gods) socially "evolved" as a people began to abstract about the world around them, and started to say "why and how" to that natural world. Simplistic gods were believed to be in the human mindset roughly 10,000 years ago as human saw "life" itself as mysterious and sacred. But the first real advancements on social and economic levels of "religion" as anything most westerners would recognize likely begins 4,000-2,500 BCE. These resulting religions provided both clumsy and elegant solutions to how to live with others and to survive as a people and how to understand and explore the natural world. Sadly, many religions throughout history have been and often continue to be unable to separate the supernatural from the rules, and the clumsy rules from the elegant ones. | |
==Modern approaches== | ==Modern approaches== | ||
Revision as of 14:24, 20 March 2009
Error: This page is currently unavailable, as it has been eaten by a goat.
A religion is a systematic set of beliefs (which can be dogmas), rituals, codifications of behaviour, that revolve around a particular groups World View, which is usually rooted in some supernatural views about the world at large and Humanity's place in the world.
The system of beliefs and rules are called dogma; religions vary in how much dogma they include and how strictly they define it and enforce it.
Contents |
Major features
All of the world's religions have several of the following features: mythologies about creation (some admit they are, some don't) and man's place in it; answers of some sort for life's mysterious questions (what happens before life/after death, where do lost socks go); guidelines for morality or ethics usually based on the dogma and mythology; a requirement to have faith in the religion's ideals; festivals that take place at certain times of the year, marking both historical and mythological aspects of the religion; set ways of marking rites of passage such as marriage ceremonies, funerals and initiations into adulthood; and some sort of guidance (rules) for how to live in the world so defined, and/or some explanation about the beginning and ending of the world.
To what extent each religion has the above features varies widely. Some religions are so bereft of silliness and dogma that they might as well be called philosophies. At the other extreme, some are rife with superstition, myth taken as fact, and harshly enforced rules.[1] People who are not their adherents call them "cults", those who share their dogma (the "faithful") think they are the ultimate truth, even above the evidence of their senses.
Religion and the supernatural
A major theory of the development of religion is that the concept of "supernatural" powers (Gods) socially "evolved" as a people began to abstract about the world around them, and started to say "why and how" to that natural world. Simplistic gods were believed to be in the human mindset roughly 10,000 years ago as human saw "life" itself as mysterious and sacred. But the first real advancements on social and economic levels of "religion" as anything most westerners would recognize likely begins 4,000-2,500 BCE. These resulting religions provided both clumsy and elegant solutions to how to live with others and to survive as a people and how to understand and explore the natural world. Sadly, many religions throughout history have been and often continue to be unable to separate the supernatural from the rules, and the clumsy rules from the elegant ones.
Modern approaches
In the modern era, many fairly non-religious people cobble together a "personal philosophy" that is a grab-bag of the religious, philosophical, and moral concepts that they think or feel works well for them.
In contrast, in spite of so much of our understanding of the universe, there are people who insist that every teaching their religion promotes is the absolute truth - these people are called fundamentalists.
While many religionists think that the modern world's most important battles are between religious traditions, the reality is that the most important struggle is that between fundamentalists of any stripe and people who are more open-minded in their beliefs.
Religion and science
Historically, due to the aspect of religions' needing to "explain" natural phenomena, as science has improved its explanations of them, the two fields have experienced friction. In some cases religions have encouraged naturalistic explorations and explanations, at the other extreme, they have severely suppressed these attempts. It is, however, difficult to imagine a religion which does not, at some level, rely on supernatural or miraculous explanations.
Examples of science-friendly religion
- In the middle ages, the Muslim world had a mini-renaissance due to their open-mindedness towards science. This has collapsed due to the rise of fundamentalism in Islam.
- In the modern era, many Christian denominations accept fully modern science and its ramifications. See NOMA.
- The Irenaean theodicy to explain the existence of evil in the world is dependent upon the 'evolution' (his words) of humans. It is, perhaps, interesting to note that he was writing in 160 CE,
- The Roman Catholic Church and its acceptance of evolution
Examples of anti-science religion
- Every religion that proposes supernatural causes for actual events.
- Copernicus and the Roman Catholic Church.
- Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church.
- Darwin and opposition to evolution by contemporary fundamentalists.
- Opposition to stem cell research (mostly in the US) by contemporary fundamentalists.
See also
- First Great Awakening
- Reparative Therapy of Fundamentalism
- State Religion
- Freedom From Religion Foundation
- Fun:Starting a new religion