Religion and The Search For Ultimate Meaning

RELIGION AND
THE SEARCH FOR

ULTIMATE
MEANING
The Nature of Religion and its Meaning
• from the latin verb religare, which means “to tie” or

to “bind fast”.
• Religion is a powerful institution that connects
human beings, both as individuals and collectively,
to a transcendent reality.
• Religion has a pervasive effect and influence on
the development of humanity, society, culture,and
individual.
Many scholars in the early 20th century predicted the
demise of religion as a social phenomenon because
of the advancement in technology. As people rely
more and more on scientific reason and method to
explain natural events and so-called miracles,
supernatural occurences, and mysteries, many critics
of religion such as Sigmund Freud, the founder of
psychoanalysis, and Karl Marx, the father of
scientific socialism, believed that religion will
gradually disappear. This view is called
secularization.
substantive definition of religion - “a system of beliefs,
rituals, and practices, usually institutionalized in one
manner or another, which connects this world to the
beyond. It provides the bridge that allows human to
approach the divine, the universal life force that both
encompasses and trancends the world”.
-limits religion to the belief in supernatural or divine force.
functional definition of religion - does not necessarily
refer to the belief in a supernatural being (god or force).
- is anything that provides an individual with the ultimate
meaning that organizes his/her entire life and worldview..
- a system of beliefs and practices by means of which a
group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of
human life.
- may include humanism, individualism, nationalism, and
even socialism.
• Whether one adopts a substantive or functional definition
of religion will depend on what one wants to study under
the rubrics of religion.
Types of Religious Organizations
• CHURCH
- the church is a religious organition that claims to
possess the truth about salvation exclusively. A classic
example is the Roman Catholic Church.
- includes everybody or virtually everybody in a society.
- membership is by childbirth through baptism.
Roman Catholics in the Philippines estimates about
74,211,896 in 2014. Being the largest organition in the
country, it is a very powerful institution.
The El Shaddai, a Philippine- based Catholic Charismatic
religious group, was founded by Mariano “Mike” Zuniega
Velarde, better known as Bro. Mike Velarde. El Shaddai has
grown rapidly in the last decade, and as of 2005, had a
reported 8 million members worldwide.
• SECT
- also percieves itself as unique owner of the truth.
However, it constitutes a minority in a given society.
- an example is the resurgence of “born again”
Christianity that recruits its members by asking them to
accept Jesus Christ in their lives.
– an example of sect in the Philippines is the Iglesia ni Cristo that
has 2,251,941 members in 2004 that was established by Felix
Manalo, who served as the first executive minister.
– as a sect, the INC believes itself to be the one true universal
church and that other Christian Churches , including Roman
Catholic, are apostates.
• DENOMINATION
– is oriented toward cooperation, at least it relates to other similar
denominations.
– the liberal branches of Protestants belong to this category.
• CULT
– was introduced by sociologist Howard Becker
– according to Gerry Lanuza, cult is a non-traditional form of
religion, the doctrine of which is taken from diverse sources,
either from non traditional sources or an exclusive group, which
emphasizes the belief in the divine element within the
individual, and whose teachings are derived from either a real
or legendary figure, the purpose of which is to aid the individual
in the full realization of his/spiritual power.
Religious Syncretism
• Syncretism promotes the growth of popular religion or
folk religion that is different from the original parent
religion or mainstream orthodoxy.
• the mainstream religion often distances itself from folk
religion while tolerating its practices and beliefs.
• a perfect example of this is the various colorful fiestas in
the Philippines.
While the images of the Sto. Niño, Black Nazarene, and
other cult of the saints are hardly found in the Bible of the
Roman Catholic Church, nevertheless, Filipinos have
creatively blended this images and rituals with local cultural
practices.
The sinulog Festival in Cebu, for instance, is a re-
enactment of Queen Juana's baptism. Folk religious
practices include the development and veneration of other
Sto. Niño images; pana'ad or “vows”; pagahalad or
“offerings”; pagpahid or “wiping of the image with the
handkerchief”; pagsinulog or “traditional sinulog ritual
dance”; the fluvial procession; and the folkloric narratives,
legends, and myths
• Part of folk religion is the split-Cristianity or the
coexistence of two contradictory belief systems within the
individual believer.
• According to Fr. Bulatao, split-Christianity may be
described as the coexistence within the same person
of two or more thought-and-behavior systems which
are inconsistent with each other.
So it is with the split-leveled person; at one level he
professes allegiance to ideas, attitudes and ways of
behaving which are mainly borrowed from Christian West,
at another level he holds convictions which are more
properly for his own ways of living and believing which were
handed down from his ancestors, which do not always find
their way into an explicit philosophical system, but
nevertheless now and then flow into action.
Religion and Women
• Women have been equated with religion and with the role
of transmitting religious beliefs and practices to the
children.
• Men are considered as the leaders of the religious
organization.
• In short, religious leadership and power have always
been dominated by men, while women tend to become its
major transmitters.
• However, it must be born in mind that some feminist
scholars of religion argue that before the birth of “male
god,” there was matriarchy.
• Under matriarchy or the rule and dominance of women in
political and social life, religion was also dominated by
women. Hence, many feminist scholars argue for
recovering the “godess religion”.
• Goddess feminism arose out of goddess religion in the
United States in the late 1960s and was inspired by the
countercultural ferment of the period. Thoes who
embraced this religion regard the earth as the sacred
body of the Goddess. The Goddess is also the metaphor
for the strength, autonomy, beauty, and inherent divinity of
women. Gaia, the earth Goddess, is considered as an
empowering symbol for women raised in patriarchal
religions where divinity is equated with the male God
(Rountree 2006)
Today, many feminist within mainstream religious
organizations are lobbying for equal rights within their
respective religious organizations. Among Catholic
feminists, they advocate for the ordination of of women as
priests. Among Protestant groups, however, women have
already gained a strong presence as many women have
already been ordained as ministers.
• The first woman to become bishop in the Anglican
Communion was Barbara Harris, who was ordained on
February 11,1989.
• Do you agree that women should be
ordained as priests? Why or why not?
Religion in the age of Globalization
• “Modernization necessarily leads to a 'decline of religion''
both in society and in the mind of individuals (Berger
1999).”
• Modernization drastically replaces tradition with science-
based knowledge.
• Religion declines because the previously accepted
religious symbols, doctrines, and institutions lose their
prestige and significance, culminating in society without
religion.
• To have a “secular mind” means that one believes that
this world is all there is to reality. There is no heaven, no
afterlife of any kind, and no Messiah (Ledewitz 2009)
• In the case of the Philippines, one scholar observed that
“religion and the religious influence are so pervasive in
Asia that secularization often means not a rejection of
religion, but a rejection of decadent clergy who have
become exploitative, rigidly formalist, and standing in the
way of genuine spiritual development” (Mendoza 1984-
1986, p 56)
• Secularization in the Philippines meant merely
“nationalizing” the Catholic Church by replacing the friars
with the native secular priests. This was a rection to the
Spanish friars who were perceived as obstacles to
education, progress, and freedom.

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RELIGION AND

THE SEARCH FOR

• from the latin verb religare, which means “to tie” or

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