WORLDVIEW

Worldview is a collection of beliefs about life and the universe being held by
people. (The Free Dictionary 2014). This is how every individual sees and
interprets the world. For a certain individual, social environment and
upbringing are critical in the development of a religious life. All these factors
influence how people organize their beliefs and ideas while eventually
creating a comprehensive narrative through which they look at the world and
interrelate with it.

Belief in god or gods is found in almost all religions. There is a good reason to
presuppose that religion had existed during prehistoric times and this has
continued to the modern day. Human life may have produced hundreds of
religions and belief systems. There could be more unknown than known
religions in the world since recorded history covers only several thousand
years of human existence.
Kinds of Belief System
Monism - There is no real distinction between god and the universe
Monotheism - The doctrine/belief in one supreme god
Polytheism - The belief and worship of many gods
Atheism - Disbelief in or denial of the existence of a personal god
Agnosticism - God cannot be known

DEFINITION AND NATURE OF RELIGION

Religion may be defined as “an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and
rules used to worship a god or a group of gods” (Merriam-Websters Dictionary
2014). The Latin word religion refers to “something done with overanxious or
scrupulous attention to detail” (Bowker 1997). This term may have probably
been derived from the Latin verb religare which means “to tie together, to bind
fast.”

In its original sense, the word refers to expression of proper piety that is,
binding to god (Grassie 2010). Quite later, religion was used to designate
formal belief systems and tenets. The term was eventually applied to what we
now call as religion because of the manner in which people performed rituals
during those days. While religion may be universal in all stages of human
history, it does not follow that all individuals are religious or even religious to
some degree (Parrinder 1971).

THE ORIGIN OF RELIGION

1. The Human Quest for Meaning
Understanding our World and our Experience

2. The Quest of Purpose

The motivation to live a life which promotes human wholeness in
accordance with the meaning discovered.

3. The Quest for Salvation

The search to be free from the feeling of disharmony deep within the
human person.
CONCEPT OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
SPIRITUALITY
Belief that the divine is within us
Personal belief or values system
God is inside the heart
Spiritual laws-based
Heaven is a state of mind
Human relationship/Deed
Others:
Belies with individuals
Internal Focus
Goal: To determine common principles, values, and ethics
Belief about what is good, true, and beautiful
Unites people over society
RELIGION
Belief in a superhuman power outside of you, the creator of the
universe.
Dictated belief or conditioned mind
God is inside the mind
Faith-based
Heaven is a place you go when you die
Brick or Mortar Temple
Others:
Expressly stated, organized belief system
External focus and formal structure
Goal: Salvation through one truth and one right way

THEOLOGY
Theology is the study of religious faith, practice, and experience especially the
study of God and of God's relation to the world.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGION
Most scholars agree that every religion has the same three basic elements:
1. Wisdom or Creed
a. A creed is a set of truths that must be accepted and agreed to by those
who wish to belong to the religion, those who choose to be a follower or
disciple.
e.g. The Nicene creed, Laws of Manu, Ten Commandments
b. A creed is a summary of the principle beliefs of a religion.
e.g. The Nicene creed, Laws of Manu, Ten Commandments

2. Worship or Cult
a. Refers to the way of worshipping, to the RITUALS that are practiced by
followers of the religion.
b. This is often a difficult element to describe because it involves so many
diverse elements.

3. Works or Code
a. Refers to the ethical values and the system of moral practice directly
resulting from an adherence to the beliefs.

EIGHT ELEMENTS OF RELIGIONS

1. BELIEF SYSTEM or WORLDVIEW: Many beliefs that fit together in a
system to make sense of the universe and our place in it.
2. COMMUNITY: The belief system is shared, and its ideals are practiced by
a group.
3. CENTRAL STORIES/MYTHS: Stories that help explain the beliefs of a
group; these are told over and over again and sometimes performed by
members of the group. They may or may not be factual.
4. RITUALS: Beliefs are explained, taught, and made real through
ceremonies.
5. ETHICS: Rules about how to behave; these rules are often thought to have
come from a deity or supernatural place, but they might also be seen as
guidelines created by the group over time.
6. CHARACTERISTIC EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES: Most religions share
emotions such as awe, mystery, guilt, joy, devotion, conversion, inner peace,
etc.
7. MATERIAL EXPRESSION: Religions use things to perform rituals or to
express or represent beliefs, such as: statues, paintings, music, flowers,
incense, clothes, architecture, and specific sacred locations.
8. SACREDNESS: Religions see some things as sacred and some not sacred
(or profane). Some objects, actions, people, and places may share in the
sacredness or express it.

Western Beliefs
MONOTHEISTIC - believe in one God.
 Share a similar view of the world and concept because they both sprang
from Judaism (Islam and Christianity).
 Humans must enter an interpersonal relationship with God.
 Morality is based on learning the will of God, understanding, and living it
out individually and as a community.
 Time is viewed as Linear, from beginning to end.
 The Bible (Christianity, Torah (Judaism), or Qur’an (Islam) are the central
books studied and lived by.

Eastern Beliefs
POLYTHEISM- belief in more than one god.

 Main concern is to live a good, happier, and have better life.

 Creation contains god within it. All elements of creation from plants to
animals have an animated spirit.
 Meditation is central to these faiths.
 Life is balanced.
 Holy books are not central to the belief and practice.
 Time is viewed in cycles.
 There is a belief in reincarnations and rebirth.
 Understand the difference and see similarities between nations and
culture both political and philosophical.
 Appreciate our own belief by seeing them alongside those of others.
 Work for Ecumenism through a meaningful exchange of ideas between
religious groups.
SIMILARITIES OF RELIGIONS (THE STRUCTURE OF RELIGIONS)
 Belief in a power greater than humans.
 Holy places (Ex. Mecca, Vatican, Bodh Gaya, River Ganges).
 Set of religious symbols by which the religion is identified.
 Having a liturgy or observance of Holy Days.
 Having Sacred or Holy Writings and list of rules.
 Number of important people, founders, prophets, missionaries, and
historical people.
 Place of worship.
 Belief in the Golden Rule
RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES
Their idea of sin or evil
Their idea of salvation
Their idea of priesthood
Their idea of a personal God

All religion and culture are based on Geography.

Things can be made better or worse through karma.

A. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Prehistoric humans, such as the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, have
practiced a set of belief systems like in burying their dead, painting on
the walls of caves and carving images from stones.

The existence of humankind for so long a time has resulted in the

formation of religion and belief systems. It is certain that many religions
may have been unrecorded in the past. Others may have gradually
died down like Zoroastrianism that once flourished in South Asia but is
now only confined in Iran, India, and Central Asia
Important Dates on The Origin of World Religions

Date Significance
 c. 2000 BCE – Time of Abraham, the patriarch of Israel
 c. 1200 BCE – Time of Moses, the Hebrew leader of Exodus
 c. 1100 - 500 BCE – Hindus compiled their holy texts, the Vedas
 c. 563 - 83 BCE – Time of the Buddha, founder of Buddhism
 c. 551 - 479 BCE – Time of Confucius, founder of Confucianism
 c. 200 BCE – The Hindu book, Bhagavad Gita, was written
 c. 2 to 4 BCE - 32 CE – Time of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and founder of
Christianity
 c. 32 CE – The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
 c. 40 - 90 CE – The new Testament was written by the followers of Jesus
Christ
 c. 100 CE – Beginnings of Shintoism (no known founder)
 c. 500 - 580 CE – Time of Lao Tzu, founder of Daoism
 c. 570 - 632 CE – Time of Muhammad, who recorded the Q’ran as the
basis of Islam

The Patriarch AbrahamCommonalities in Abrahamic Religions

1. They all worship one supreme being.
Ancient Hebrews – Elohim, Adonai, or Yahweh
Present day Judaism – “Lord” or “God”
Muslims – Allah

2. Prophets and apostles play major roles

 Judaism has 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses.
 Early prophets include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and
Joshua.
 Christianity has 12 apostles, some of whom wrote parts of the New
Testament.
 Islam believes that Muhammad is the final prophet or the “Seal of the
Prophets.”

3. Prior to the establishment as organized religions, the role of divine

revelation or intervention is associated among their progenitors (ancestors).
 God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac at Mount Moriah.
 God presented the 10 Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai.
 Played a major role in the establishment of the three monotheistic
religions: namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which account for
more than half of the world’s total population. As such, these organized
religions are collectively known as ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS.
 The importance of Abraham in these three religions lies in the fact that the
patriarch appears as an elemental (primary) figure for monotheistic belief
system and a paragon (exemplar) for extreme devotion.
God sacrificed His son Jesus Christ through crucifixion as the plan to
salvation.
God commanded Muhammad to establish a new religion at a cave in
Mount Hira.
Then and now, the followers of the three Abrahamic religions are presented
with a choice between good and evil.

The Indian Mosaic

India is one of the oldest surviving civilizations, with its history dating
back to at least 6500 BCE. The many conquerors that came to India
were gradually absorbed into the native Indian religions.

The Harappan civilization, Aryan influence, local dynasties, and the

Muslim conquest all had their fair share in building the intricate Indian
mosaic. As a result, variety and complexity characterize Indian culture.
Four great religions originated in India – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism,
and Sikhism – and a myriad of minor cults and local sects.

Hinduism
It perfectly reflects Indian heterogeneity with its eclectic (diversified and
assorted) ways of religious expressions that are quite confusing to
outsiders.
It has no specific founder, no one sacred book, and with innumerable
gods and goddesses that any Hindu can venerate. As such, Hinduism
can be considered as museum of religions.

It was during the Vedic Period that Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma

became systematized as a religion that preached order and purpose to
the cosmos and human life.

During this period, universal order became equated with a stable

society as evidenced by the establishment of a centralized government
and the integration of collective traditions into Indian lives.

Buddhism
It centers its attention on the figure of the Buddha, who was not a god
but a human being who came to discover how to terminate sufferings in
order to escape the painful and continuous cycle of rebirth.
Buddhist followers revere Buddha in the same way that the members
of other world religions worship their gods.

The Mahayana sect of Buddhism differs from Theravada school

because of its rich array of buddhas and bodhisattvas who have
attained spiritual enlightenment.

These beings are already eligible to enter nirvana but choose to delay
this glorious path to guide others to the path of salvation.

Born near the end of the 6th century BCE, Siddhartha Gautama’s life is
closely linked with the historical and religious development of
Buddhism in India. Gaining new converts due to its mass appeal as
 compared to the exclusivity of Hindu beliefs, Buddhism spread far and
wide from India to Sri Lanka and to Southeast Asia.

The religion was transported to China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Across the Himalayas, it reached the Tibetan lands.

Presently, Buddhism has become more popular outside its place of

origin while Hinduism has remained entrenched (rooted) in India
throughout many centuries.

Confucianism
Even during the olden days, the Chinese had already endeavored to
establish and attain good governance. China adopted Confucius’s
ideals and ethics as the nation developed meritocracy (power goes to
those with superior intellects) as a basis for government officials.
Confucius is regarded as China’s greatest philosopher and teacher
who lived at the same time as Siddhartha Gautama in India.

Confucian ideals aspire to harmonize human relations and serve as

guide to social behavior. An ideal human society it the utmost concern
for the Confucian followers.

Confucius dwells upon the theme of the Dao as being the truth or way
things out to be done concordant with specific view to life, politics, and
customs.

Confucian Dao concerns human affairs.

Daoism
Mysteries abound the birth and life of Laozi (Lao-tzu) who may have
written Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching or The Book of the Way and its
Power.
Believed to be a contemporary (modern version) of Confucius, he once
worked as a record keeper at the time of Zhou Dynasty but soon left
the service due to his frustration with corruption.

Around 142 CE, Daoism began as an organized religion with the

establishment of the Way of the Celestial Masters sect by Zhang
Daoling during the Han Dynasty

The writings of Daoism centers on the concept of Dao, as a way or

path signifying appropriateness of one’s behavior to lead other people.

Dao in Daoism means road, path or way in which one does something.
Daoist Dao means the way the universe works.

Shintoism
 It is a loosely organized local belief in Japan, somewhat an ardent
(dedicated) religious form of Japanese patriotism. Its mythology
highlights the superiority of Japan over other lands.
Japanese people believed that their emperors literally descended from
the sun goddess Amaterasu.
Conscious effort is done to revere the beauty of Japan’s lands,
especially mountains.
The term ‘Shinto’ was coined around the 16th century CE to distinguish
native belief system from the imported religions of China and Korea,
including Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.
The term came from the Chinese words ‘shen’ and ‘tao’ roughly
translated as the ‘way of the gods’.
Of primal importance were the kami that were often defined as the
gods but could also refer to deities of heaven and earth, or even spirits
in human beings, animals, trees, seas, and mountains.

B. GEOGRAPHY OF FAITH
1. The Western Frontier
2. The Indian Subcontinent
3. The Eastern End

The Western Frontier

West Asia is the home of three great religions (J, C, I).
Religions have increasingly become involved in domestic politics of
West Asia, resulting in prolonged conflicts among countries that have
claimed thousands of lives.
The Levant: Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Palestine.
Israel remains the only country in the world with a Jewish-majority
population comprising almost 75% of its citizens.

The Arabian Peninsula, the world’s largest peninsula, consists of

countries that are predominantly Islamic in character. (Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Oman).
Most West Asian countries follow Shi’a and Sunni denominations of
Islam. Iran and Iraq associate themselves with the Shi’a sect while
Muslims in Saudi Arabia belong to Sunni branch.
The topography of West Asia is characterized by vast areas of
mountainous terrains which played significant roles in many religious
beliefs as these landforms provide ideal settings where gods live or
where gods and mortals meet.