Introduction to

World Religions
and Belief
Systems
By: Kelvin Paul B.
Panuncio

Subject Description:
The course explores the main tenets and
practices of major world religions:
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana
Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and
Shintoism. It aims to help learners
understand the historical contexts of nine
religions, appreciate their uniqueness and
similarities and promote mutual
understanding among believers of
different faiths. They are expected to

What is Religion?
Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings,
dogmas and practices that define the
relations between human being and
sacred or divinity. A given religion is
defined by specific elements of a
community of believers: dogmas,
sacred books, rites, worship,
sacrament, moral prescription,
interdicts, organization. The majority
of religions have developed starting
from a revelation based on the

A religion may be defined with its three great

characteristics: Believes and religious practices
The religious feeling i.e. faith
Unity in a community of those who share the same
faith: the Church. It is what differentiates religion
from magic.
The study of disappeared or existing religions
shows the universal character of this phenomenon
and a very large variety in the ritual doctrines and
practices.
One generally distinguishes the religions called
primitive or animists, the Oriental religions
(Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism,
Taoism...) and the religions monotheists derived
from the Bible (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
Christianity has itself given birth to several religions

Etymology
The word religion is derived from Latin "religio"
(what attaches or retains, moral bond, anxiety of
self-consciousness, scruple) used by the Romans,
before Jesus Christ, to indicate the worship of the
demons.
The origin of "religio" is debated since antiquity.
Cicero said it comes from "relegere" (to read again,
to re-examine carefully, to gather) in the meaning
"to carefully consider the things related to the
worship of gods".Later, Lucretius, Lactancius and
Tertullianus see its origin in "religare" (to connect)
to refer "the bond of piety that binds to God".
Initially used for Christianity, the use of the word
religion gradually extended to all the forms of
social demonstration in connection with sacred.

Brief historical account of the rational interpretation of religion

For Aristotle (384-322 BC), the

science of theology has for subject
the "separate" beings of matter and
the "motionless engines" that make
movement possible to any thing. This
science of divine or metaphysics
searches to know the first principles
and causes of the things of this
world. The thought of Aristotle will be
until the end of Middle Ages the base

 The rationalism of the 17th century

professed the autonomy of reason,
compared with faith, for the search of
truth. Descartes (1596-1650) wanted
always to reconcile the interests of science
with those of religion. By writing "God or
nature" Spinoza (1632-1677) identified
divinity with the "whole" of the real world,
contrary to the traditional religious
anthropomorphism that makes with God a
creator, distinct from world, acting
according to an aim. He defended the
independence of the religious powers and
the political one and the freedom to


The philosophical atheism of "The century of Light" (Helvetius, Holbach,
Diderot, La Mettrie...) caused a strong hostility towards religions, their
dogmas and their revelations. It proposed a materialist explanation of
world. Religions were regarded as frauds to the profit of social and political
interests.
Kant (1724-1804) in "Critique of Pure Reason" made vain the search for
ontological proof of God's existence. As for all questions of metaphysics,
God is no more a subject of knowledge, but comes under belief. God is a
transcendental idea of reason.
In the 19th century, Feuerbach (1804-1872), Marx (1818-1883), Nietzsche
(1844-1900) saw in religion a manifestation of ignorance and credulity, an
illusion. God is only an outward manifestation of the major man's
aspirations out human being.
For Marx, the social frustration is the cause of religious alienation by
projecting the human ideal in the imaginary world. Religion has a soothing
and narcotic effect ("opium of the people") compared with the miserable
reality. Therefore, religion is an illusory solution and not a real solution to
the difficulties and the sufferings of life.
Nietzsche imputd the harmful and morbid effects of the religious society to
the obsession of sin.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Freud (1856-1939) stated

that religion is an obsessional neurosis of humanity in which God is
the mental picture of the father under the protection of which man
places himself. To part from God ("the murder of the father") is one
of the inexorable phases of the human development.
The sociological approach of religion considers that this one does
not solely consist of the irrational expression of conscience or a
primitive stage of the human development, but is an essential
characteristic of society.
For Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), religion is a manifestation of
society former to each man and is an expression of its standards
and values.
For Max Weber (1864-1920), the religious practices are founded on
the charisma, quality extraordinary of an important person that
says to be send by God or that is become an example for many
people.
All these analyses are interesting and give different lights from
religion. Nevertheless, they are inevitably reducing taking into

Recitation
A person who is spiritual
but not religious and a
person who is religious
but not spiritual.

Differentiate religion from:

a. Spirituality
b. Theology
c. Philosophy of Religion
Differentiate between religion as humans way
to God, theology as a study of Gods way to
humans and philosophy as a reflection of
humans lived experience of God

Infer that:
A. belief system or worldview is a particular
way of ordering the realities of ones world.
B. Religion is the pursuit of transformation
guided by a sacred belief system.
C. Spirituality is ones integrative view of life.
It involves a quest for the meaning and
ultimate value of life as opposed to an
instrumentalist or materialistic attitude to
life.

The elements of religion are: (a)

reflects an effort to elevate their
whole self to a higher dimension of
existence, (b) a framework of
transcendent beliefs, (c) text or
scriptures, (d) rituals, and (e) sacred
spaces (e.g., church, temple,
mosque, synagogue).

Understanding the worldview of each

of the worlds major religions is
critical in appreciating their rituals
and practices. These worldviews are:
All is one (Monistic)
1. Many Gods (Polytheistic)
2. One God (Monotheistic)
3. No God (Atheistic)

The elements of spirituality

are: (a) holistic (fully
integrated view to life), (b)
quest for meaning
(including the purpose of
life), (c) quest for the
sacred (beliefs about God),

Seatwork
Prepare character sketches of a person
who is spiritual but not religious and
a person who is religious but not
spiritual