Defining Religion

Defining Religion
• Have you ever tried climbing a mountain to

reach its summit?
Pause and Reflect…
• How do you describe your commitment to
your religion?
• How do you and your friends observe your
religious practices?
• Is it valid to think that a particular religion is
the only true religion in the world?
What is Religion?
• “Action or conduct indicating belief in,
obedience to, and reverence for a god, gods,
or similar superhuman power; the
performance of religious rites or
observances.”
Two important essentials components of
religion:
1. Belief in a supernatural being

2. Effort or commitment.
Etymology of Religion
• Relegere – “constantly return to”, speaks about
religious observance such as Holy Week, Ramadan,
or Passover.
• Religari - “to be tied into”, refers to the
commitment to one’s own religion.
• Re-eligere - “to choose again”, refers to conversion
or going back to one’s roots or goals.
• Religio - which means
“conscientiousness” or “reverence”,
referring to the awe or fear felt in the
presence of a spirit or diety.
Some definitions…
• Friedrich Schleirmermacher – Religion is “the
feeling of absolute dependence.”
• Victor Frankl – Religion is a “function of the
spiritual unconsciousness, which is the source of
the will to meaning.
• Emile Durkheim – Religion is “a unified system of
beliefs and practices relative to sacred things which
unite into one single moral community all those
who adhere to them.”
• For one, religion may be understood as an
institutionalized systems of beliefs and
practices from which an individual or
community derives meaning and
significance and to which community
formally adheres in response to ultimate
questions and the struggles of everyday life
in the light of transcendent reality.
Intellectual Definition
– Max Mueller wrote that religion is a
mental factor independent of sense and
reason to apprehend the infinite in
different names
Emotional Definitions
– 1. Schleiermacher saw the essence of
religion as an emotion and consists of
feelings of absolute dependence
– 2. McTaggert said religion is best described
as an emotion resting in conviction of
harmony between ourselves and the
universe at large
Psychological Definition
– William James said that religion comes
from the feelings and experiences and
individual people
• As a consequence, no one has the right to
claim that his or her religion is the only true
one. Respect builds harmony and avoids
contempt.
• Each particular religion is a worldview, a lens
through which human beings see
themselves and their ultimate purpose and
engage with their fellow beings (human and
nonhuman)
• Creed [ from the Latin credo meaning “I believe”]
consists of fundamental religious beliefs and
assumptions.
• Code refers to the norms of behavior that every
adherent of a religion seeking well-being and
fulfillment is expected to observe.
• Cult [ from the Latin cultus, meaning “worship”]
comprises practices that nourish believers’
interiority/spirituality and their union with ultimate
realities, whether solitary or communal.
For an activity or ritual:
1. What is this activity or ritual?
2. Describe how it is performed.
3. How does it connect you to God?
4. What does it say about God?
5. How is it supposed to guide the believer on how
to behave and relate with others?
Religion as Morality
– Immanuel Kant saw religion as the
recognitions of our duties as divine
commands, the driving force of the sacred
is morality, e.g., tabu, holiness
Theology
• Theology is one way of engaging in a formal
study of a particular religious tradition.
• The term theology originated from the
Christian tradition and is rooted in two Greek
words, theos meaning “god” and logos, “word”
– the verbal expression of the human
experience of transcendent reality.
• Theology is the formal, systematic attempt to give
a rational explanation of the beliefs and practices
of a religious institution and of the religious
experiences of its adherents.
• It is an intellectual exposition of a religious
tradition from within its community of adherents.
• In other words, theology is done by insiders, as
practitioners of a religion expressing personal
convictions within a like-minded community.
Religious Studies
• Are another way of engaging in an academic
study of religion and differ from theology in a
number of ways.
• While religious studies can be and often are
conducted by people who are in some way
insiders, scholarship in religious studies is
written to purposely include readers who are
outsiders – those who have little or no
previous knowledge of or investment in that
particular religious tradition.
• While theology assumes certain shared
beliefs, attitudes, or practices, the audience
of religious studies is assumed to be open to
the logical persuasion of evidence, but is not
ultimately expected to make a religious
commitment.
• Religious studies include, but are not limited
to, such fields as history of religions,
philosophy of religion, psychology or religion,
sociology of religion, and anthropology of
religion.
Philosophy of Religion
• As the philosophical study of the nature and
meaning of religion, consists in analyzing
religious concepts, beliefs, and practices of
religious adherents.
• While dealing with the same concerns as
theology, it usually asks more critical
questions pertaining to a religious tradition,
as it claims to be free from the religious
assumptions taken for granted by adherents
and therefore, supposedly, more objective.
Psychology of Religion
• Attempts to explain religious behavior by
making use of current theories in
psychology.
Sociology of Religion
• Describes religious phenomena in terms or
their function in human societies.
Religious Anthropology
• Studies the cultural significance of
religious experiences, ideas, and
institutions.
7 Basic Elements of Religion
1. Beliefs. It is the sensation of brain we
have beliefs in one God, Dooms day,
Angels, Sacred books, good and bad Luck,
while Hindus believe in more than one
God.
2. Religious Organization. Religion is an
organization of beliefs, rituals and
emotions. No religion without
organization can survive..
3. Emotions. Emotions of hope, fear, reverence
and humility are the products of religious rituals.
4. Ritual & Ceremonies. All religions have their
own ritual and ceremonies. These are the
emotional and ceremonial practices.
5. Sacred Objects. It has its own sacred objects.
For Hindus idols, temples, Cow, river of Ganga
and Jamna are sacred. For Christians the cross,
Church, and Bible are the sacred objects while
for Muslims. The holy Quran, Mosque,
Baithullah, Crescent are sacred objects.
6. Symbols. Symbols are the signs used for
sacred objects or situation. Symbols give
meaning t human behavior.
7. Sects. There are small groups within a
religion called sects. Sects have their own
religious followers. In Christianity, there are
Catholics, and protestants while is Islam
these sects are Shias, Sunnis, Ahle Hadith,
Wahabies etc.
Student Activity: Reflect Upon
1. How does the discussion lead you to
check your views on religion now?
2. What is the image/face of your religion?
Draw an image that describes your
religion.
Group Task
• Bring a religious item or a picture that shows a part of
a religious activity/ritual. Describe the item or
activity/ritual guided by the questions below.
For religious item:
1. What is this item?
2. What is it used for? What is its meaning or
importance?
3. How does it connect you to God?
4. What does it say about God?
5. How is it supposed to guide the believer on how to
behave and relate with others?

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Defining Religion

• Have you ever tried climbing a mountain to

1. Belief in a supernatural being

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