Religion Essay
1. What are the functions of religion?
2. Is it possible to be religious and accept the teachings of modern science?
Based upon my opinion and research I believe that it is not possible to be religious and at the same time, accept the teachings of modern science. As explained in the two questions below, the idea of a religion is to seek the answer to the meaning of life, and after death, live in an eternity with their God. Many religions outline the beginning of the world and how we all had come onto this earth. For example, Christianity has the Garden of Eden, and Scientology believes we were placed on the earth by aliens. Now that technology is constantly advancing at such an incredible rate, modern society relies a lot upon science to solve the mystery of how we came to be on the earth, and our purpose. The explanation by modern science diverts many away from their previous religions as they no longer need to look for a meaning and basis of life as it can be explained and supposedly proved through on going scientific research. Therefore, the two sides clash and do not allow for people to be religious and at the same time accept what modern science is proposing.
3.Why is it that some people lose their faith while others are converted?
Constantly, the world is changing and same as people. Religion to a majority is not a large factor of their life. Many only go to church on special occasions such as Christmas, and Easter. Particular religions become less based upon the actual history and beliefs, which allows for a lot of movement between religions and non-religious beliefs. People can be easily introduced into a religion due to a life-altering event when they discover a God like figure. Religion brings e...
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... they move around parts of the land and allow for the land to regrow rather than leaving a large ecological footprint over the land just as our modern day society is doing. The land is extremely important to the Indigenous Australians as it is the basis of their identity as the journeys of ancestral being created the land and it’s people which is re-told through stories of the Dreaming, rituals, ceremonies, and art.
10. Dreaming is the past, the present and the future. Discuss.
The Aboriginals believe that every person lives for eternity within the Dreaming, which exists before and after the life of the individual as long as this child was born through a mother. The spirit of the child is expected to enter the foetus during the pregnancy and if they baby kicked, it was believed that this was the work of the land spirits, therefore the expecting mother would stand.
ties that Aboriginal people have with the land. Thus insuring that The Dreaming is not separated from the physical world or hinged on the past, but existent in the present. It is not only believed that the Ancestral beings gave Aboriginals their physical surroundings but were also responsible for establishing the social and cultural patterns to be emulated. Demonstrating human qualities the Ancestor Spirits established the Aboriginal way of life. including kinship systems, customs and moral lessons represented by both good and bad behaviour.
Ancient Aboriginals were the first people to set foot on the Australian continent, over 40,000 years or more before Colonization (Eckermann, 2010). They survived by hunting and gathering their food, worshipping the land to protect its resources, and ensuring their survival. The aboriginal community had adapted to the environment, building a strong framework of social, cultural, and spiritual beliefs (Eckermann, 2010).
Aboriginal spirituality originally derives from the stories of the dreaming. The dreaming is the knowledge and a sense of belonging that the Aboriginals had of the beginning of life and the relationship to the land and sea (Australian Museum, 2011). The dreaming stories are passed on from one generation to the next orally. These stories teach the following generations how to behave towards the land and other people. The dreaming stories give them a sense of duty to protect the land and appreciate it because the dreamtime stories indicate that the spirits have not died but are still alive in different forms as animals or humans, therefore the ancestor’s power is still felt through the landforms (Clark, 1963), (Australian Governement, 2008)
Indigenous people are able to keep their culture and heritage alive by passing on knowledge, arts, rituals and performances from one generation to another. Many traditional beliefs include:
In today’s society, there are roughly around 4,200 religions that exist on this planet. Some define "religion" as a cultural system of behaviors and practices that help people make important decisions in life. Out of the many religions, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism have many similarities that connect them to one another. Themes of morality, justice, love are found through both the Buddha's teaching and the Hebrew and Christian Bible.
What is Christianity and why has it been able to develop into a continuously growing and evolving religion?
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
Here in the US we have several different religions being practiced everyday: like Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism, and as well as Judaism and Christianity and even newer beliefs like scientology. Religion is a very important thing to people because it helps us find answers to some very difficult questions, namely what are we and why are we here. This is very important itself because knowing who we are is the basis of our beliefs and the foundation to everything that we do. (Neusner, 2009)
There are many social institutions that have major impacts on society. One of the trickiest social institutions would have to be, religion. Religion seems to have a huge impact on a society even if it’s directly or indirectly. Why is that? Do we need it? Does it let us live a more fulfilled life? What effects does it have on society? Is it necessary for a functioning society? According to Dalton Conley (2013:611) sociology defines religion as being a unified system of beliefs traditions, and practices around sacred things; a set of shared “stories” that guide belief and action. Religion is a way for people to make sense of the world, it keeps society in line with expected behaviors. Without religion people would subside to create their own rules and would deem to follow a path that could harm a society and come to an end. Religion is necessary for a society to function, prosper, and for someone to learn how to be a well moral contributor to society.
If there is one aspect of society that has endured the ages and is an integral part of society today is religion. There are currently about 7 billion people on earth and of those 7 billion more than half adhere to some form of organized religion. The world’s top religion with about 33% of the population or 2.1 billion followers is Christianity, followed by Islam and Hinduism with 1.3 billion and 851 million adherents respectively. These are just a few of the most well-known religions in the world but; what of the religions obscured in mystery and left in the background? The religions you don’t hear much about in your classrooms or in the media. What is their history? What are their beliefs? I hope to shed some light on these questions and bring to light some of the less popular religions in the world. I will be covering several different religions in this paper, Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Shinto
Making up the two largest religions in the world, Christianity and Islam, both look at marriage as a major part of one’s life journey. Thus the idea that the sacred ritual of marriage in both Christianity and Islam are full of rich symbolism, ceremony and grounded in religious and cultural traditions, can be explored. However, the ritual of marriage differentiates between Christianity and Islam, as Christianity is founded on deep symbolic meaning and religious tradition in contrast to the culturally rich marriage ceremony found in Islam. This can be further investigated through an in depth analysis of the ceremony, symbols, religious and cultural traditions involved in the ritual of marriage.
The religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are alike in many ways but they also share many differences. Judaism and Christianity use the bible in their holy scriptures, while Islam does not. Jesus Christ is a part of all three religions as Christianity and Islam developed from Judaism. Many believe that the three religions worship, pray to, and focus on the same god. They believe this as many of the prophets are they share much in common as they share many beliefs. However, the followers of the three religions pray differently and in different places. the religions believe that their god created the world and everything in the world. The three Abrahamic religions have different histories, yet they share many similarities and difference.
My definition of religion has mostly stayed the same, but my perception of it has changed. At the beginning of the class, I assumed religion was something you believed based on your moral principles. I now believe that those moral principles are based on the religion that you believe in. Your religion changes your perception of the world and how to go about in it. Your religion tells you what is right and wrong in the world and answers all of the big questions one asks. Religion according to our book is, “A pattern of beliefs and practices that expresses and enacts what a community regards as sacred and/or ultimate about life” (Van Voorst 6). That definition was one thing that really got me thinking about my own personal idea of what religion
First off, it is important to realize that religion and science have to be related in some way, even if it is not the way I mentioned before. If religion and science were completely incompatible, as many people argue, then all combinations between them would be logically excluded. That would mean that no one would be able to take a religious approach to a scientific experiment or vice versa. Not only does that occur, but it occurs rather commonly. Scientists often describe their experiments and writings in religious terms, just as religious believers support combinations of belief and doubt that are “far more reminiscent of what we would generally call a scientific approach to hypotheses and uncertainty.” That just proves that even though they are not the same, religion and science have to be related somehow.
Spirituality can have many different definitions, depending on who is asked. It can be something as simple as looking for a higher meaning to life, or something so complex that one can base their beliefs, religion and overall life around it. There are several different ways to express one's spirituality; rituals, songs, dances, stories, and writings are all common methods of expression.