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Perspective on world religion
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Clifford Geertz propose this concept in his article. Based on his theory, religion is like a lens, which can help them looking at the world in a different perceptions. Religion can be a “frames of perception” (Introducing Religion, page 365) and guiding our live transparently. For example, when 9/11 happened in 2001 and many religious people said it is a punishment from “God” to punish United States to support same sex marriage. This theory is based on their perception of their religious belief.
In 2005 the Air Force was devastated by allegations of religious harassment and discrimination at the Air Force Academy. Seven years later, Air Force leaders are still struggling to find an appropriate balance that will continue to allow airmen their religious freedom while honoring their commitment to duty. The debate over religion and duty came to the forefront again in February when Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins gave a presentation titled “Ronnie’s Rules” at his first commander’s call. In it included two references to God. The first was when he stated, “Always put God first and stay within his will,” and the second, “Always remember God is good,” concluded his brief. Some members of Lt. Gen. Hawkins staff were offended by his brief and reported him to a military watchdog group known as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Airmen throughout the service have mixed reactions towards “Ronnie’s Rules.” Some have said that he should be allowed to talk about his personal beliefs, while others viewed this as undue pressure on subordinates to follow his faith. It is these types of views that are dividing the Air Force.
A person 's reality is conceptualized through the lens of religion. Any religion begins by teaching essential morals. These morals can tell a person what is "right" and what is "wrong," and should be foundational to an individual 's perception of social reality. A world without morals would be dangerous and cruel. The simplicity of right and wrong has also been factored into law, but even law doesn 't always have the highest moral intelligence. Religion has been at fault as well, resulting in death and destruction; shaping a person 's reality in different ways. Religious wars throughout history are an example of how two different groups of people of different religions have differed on their perspectives. People of religions that taught the same morals of "right" and "wrong" have had all out wars against each other. Both believing they were co...
I vividly remember sitting in my ninth grade world history class, only six short years ago, when my teacher announced that next week we would begin a four week study on world religions. A nervous murmur swept through thirty students, all thinking the
There is not phenomenon can prove that religious represents all, because the god is not one. Prothero pointed out that even though all religious are fundamentally the same, they still have some small differences. Different religious have different tenets, however they represent all meaning of life. Philosopher always did some meaningful things to show religious, and they have referred some tendencies to separate them to seven ““dimensions” of religious: the ritual, narrative, experiential, institutional, ethical, doctrinal, and material dimensions.” (Prothero, Stephen, God is not one: The Eight Rival Religions the Run the World. New York: Harper-Collins, 2010. P13). Although human beings have different religious, they still looking for same purposes and same goals in their
“In thinking about religion, it is easy to be confused about what it is.” (Smart, 1992) To combat this, Smart uses seven dimensions to define common characteristics of religion. Much of what will be explored will fit his dimensions. The practical and ritual dimension can been seen in all three religions through worship and rituals and patterns of behaviour. The latter are those acts that help the believer develop spiritual awareness or ethical insight, such as yoga or meditation in Buddhism and Hinduism. The experiential and emotional dimension of religion explains that religion feeds on human emotions and key events from history to illustrate this is, the enlightenment of the Buddha, or the visions of Muhammad. A person will not follow something without meaning or emotion driving it. The narrative or mythic dimension of religion refers to the use of story telling in religion. Typically, all faiths use stories to illustrate their beliefs or events in history, whether they might be of things to come, or like in this essay, stories of the Buddha, or Muhammad. The use of story telling is important as the stories are often based on accounts of history or documents that have been found. Story telling can enhance the believers faith and are often integrated into rituals. The doctrinal and philosophical dimension of religion talks about the importance of the holy books/ doctrines. Since the doctrines typically have an account of the leaders life, and the leaders are usually educated, believers read the doctrines to gain an insight into the leaders life; and thus strive to become more like them or abide by their teachings. The ethical and legal
Religion is considered as a pervasive force in this world. It shapes people as to how they behave and interact with almost everything present in the society. Influencing behavior, character formations, ideals, policies, standards are just among the dimensions and societal perspectives affected and impacted by religion. Because of these applications and implications in human lives and existence, religion should be understood deeply, particularly, on how it affects the world. Looking at the American perspective of the term "religion," it could be simply
Religion can be described as a social institution built up around the idea of a supernatural being or beings, and the relation of human beings to them. In addition, religion provides individuals a belief to which they understand their existence as well network of emotional support during times of distress. Moreover, religious institutions provide individuals a proper perspective of life and establish values. Religion involves three major aspects: A conception of the nature and character of divinity (2) A set of principles concerning the duties and obligations between divinity and humanity. (3) A set of behavior patterns designed to conform to God’s will (Thorman, 154). The theme of panopticisim is to assert and maintain power by being unseen. In Christianity, God, unable to be to seen, is a supernatural being with infinite power. In addition, the Holy Bible reaffirms this power and establishes accordance among civilians. The social institution of religion is a form of a panoptic system where individuals are compelled to act accordingly.
Clifford Geertz has focused more on the symbolic power of religion. He has talked about the fact that it is the symbolic power of religion that has a strong influence on the people. It is the religion, in accordance to Clifford that helps the people in understanding the place that the people have in the world. The actions that are undertaken by the people are also defined by the religion. Based on the arguments that have been given by Clifford, it can be added here that there is a great effect of religion and the religious values on the kind of politics being observed in the nations (Pals 309). When we talk about the religion, it can be added here that we are talking about the set of beliefs as well as the ethical values, which are used in the creation of the world and the ways in which the world is managed. So where does the symbolic state of religion stand in the modern political world. One of the main facts that need to be mentioned here is that politics is related with the development certain motivations in men. These motivations need to be powerful and long lasting. It has been found in the case of the definition of religion by Geertz. He has added that religion provides a set of symbols that develop long lasting, modulations in the people. There is no doubt about the fact that the politics and democracy has more to do with the development of strong states and nations. There needs to be a general order of existence in the nations and states, which leads to strong nations. Nations that are more democratic are the ones having strong order of existence. This is the order that has been mentioned in the definition of a ‘symbolic’ religion by Geertz (Pals 313). Thereby from here, it would not be wrong to add that the religion and ...
Religion is a symbolic representation of society. The sociological approach to religious belief looks at how society behaves on a whole, to answer the question, “Why are people religious?” We express our participation in religious events through plays, acts of confession, religious dances, etc. To begin to understand why we have such term, let’s understand the common elements of religion. There are different types in which people believe in or follow and that is: animatism, animism, ancestral spirits, god and goddesses, and minor supernatural beings. Beyond these different elements, such one is to have religious leaders to follow.
some, such as Karl max saw that religion is a way strong of a tool that impairs social evaluation. Which resulted in ethnic and religious cleansing and furthermore proved to be the wrong approach to defining the role that religion plays in societies behaviors. I for one, think that religion is an indispensable and integral part of human sociology; furthermore, I believe understanding this relationship would lead to social development.
In Introducing Philosophy of Religion, Chad Meister asserts “there are several components (that) seem to be central to the world religion: a system of beliefs, the breaking in of a transcendent reality, and human attitudes of ultimate concern, meaning and purpose” (Meister 6). Throughout my life, I feel that religion is one of the core social belief systems that people use to maintain what they feel is a good way to live. Giving them a sense of purpose or fulfillment during their earthly life, most hoping whatever beliefs that have will help them after death. Even though there are many different religions or religious value systems, everyone has most likely been exposed to one or more. There is only 15% of the world’s population that do not believe in one type of religion or another (Meister, 7).
According to Merriam-Webster, religion is based on “an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods” (“Religion”). In every part of the world there is a struggle between individual religions that are trying to institutionalize their “system of beliefs” on each other, and within those individual religions there is also a struggle of sects that claims that their teaching should be the basis for that religion, not the teachings that is presented by other believers of the same religion. These religious sect later go on to create religious organizations. The first thing these religious organizations try to propagate to their followers is that anyone that are not a follower of their doctrines is corrupt and needs a divine deliverance from themselves. This deliverance cannot be given to the individual in another religious organization, it has to come from them. One of the biggest organization that has openly declared themselves as the divine judgers of men from God is th...
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Religion plays an enormous role in the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over it, lives have been surrounded by it, and it has directly or indirectly shaped the lives of many individuals. Culture and religion play a large role in developing each other. People’s religion is decided by their culture. The prominence or the lack of religion will develop someone’s religious identity have play a core role in determining what that person believes.
So what is religion? Religion is more than an institution of rituals and beliefs, its more than just going to church on Sunday, its more than just praying 5 times day facing mecca. Religion is a powerful tool for governments. Religion creates a sense of unity that unites all peoples with-in that religion, but also can have the opposite effect. It can cause wars between two opposite religions. Religion is also an inhibitor according to Karl Marx. It stunts progression of many social classes or slows the progression of rights for women. Even though all of these peoples were Atheists, they all could still see the huge impact religion has had on our society, and how it has made us the people as whole we are today.