IWRC ♡ 2

Theories on the Origin of Religion

• Animistic Theory

• Nature-Worship Theory

• Theory of Original Monotheism

• Magic Theory

• Wish Fulfillment Theory

Animistic Theory

• primitive people believed in souls or anima found in people (seen in dreams) and in all of nature

• spirits could be helpful or harmful to human beings

• early people had to pray to these spirits, offer sacrifices, and appease or avoid them

• Melanesian people believed in mana

mana

• mysterious force that inhabited all of nature

• its destructiveness can be avoided by establishing taboos

Nature-Worship Theory

• human beings first developed religions from observations of the forces of nature

• early people became aware of the regularity of the seasons, the tides and the phases of the moon

• they began personalizing them by giving them names

• developed religions around them

Theory of Original Monotheism

• in Australia and Africa basic cultures held a common belief in a distant high god

• originally there had been one great god above all others

• he may have been the creator of the world or the father of the many lesser deities

Magic Theory

• people had gone three phases of development concerning the spirit world

• primitive magic

• religion

• science

primitive magic

• people attempted to control nature

• in the hope that nature will cooperate if rituals are done properly

Wish Fulfillment Theory

• developed by the few as a means to control the masses and suppress revolution

• as a result of the continuing struggle between classes

The Origin of Religion

• The Human Quest for Meaning

• The Quest of Purpose

• The Quest for Salvation

The Human Quest for Meaning

understanding our world and our experience

The Quest of Purpose

motivation to live a life which promotes human wholeness

The Quest for Salvation

search to be free from the feeling of disharmony deep within the human person

Anthropological Structures of Religion

• Western Beliefs

• Eastern Beliefs

Western Beliefs

• Judaism, Christianity, Islam

  • Torah, Bible, Qur’an

• monotheistic

• share a similar view of the world and concept

• interpersonal relationship with God

• morality is based on learning the will of God and living it out individually/with community

• time is linear, beginning to end

Eastern Beliefs

• Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Hinduism, Confucianism

• polytheism

• to live a good, happy, and better life that’s balanced

• meditation is central, holy books are not

• reincarnations and rebirth

• things can be better or worse through karma

• time is a cycle

Holy Places

• Mecca

• Vatican

• Bodh Gaya

• River Ganges

Spiritual

relating or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical thing

Spirituality

• Latin word spiritus, verb root spirare

• may be manifested in quite a number of ways

• having purpose, making sense of life

• generally alive, purposeful, and fulfilled

spirare

means to breathe

Positive Effect

• Charitable Giving

• Promote Ethics in Political Life

• Religion Brings Together in a Community

• Religion Provide Inner Strength

Charitable Giving

• making an effort to be kind to those who are in need

• teaches value of sharing in order to receive plentiful of

  blessing

• serving our fellow man

Promote Ethics in Political Life

• high message of religion is that man is equal before God

• inspired some religious reformers to campaign against injustice

Religion Brings Together in a Community

• allows people to share a common goal of the religion

• will make them feel united

Religion Provide Inner Strength

• faith has often been a source of courageous action

• can be a source of courage to fight oppression

Negative Effect

• Religion Gets People Fear

• Religion Turn People Against Each Other

• Religion Seek Power

Religion Gets People Fear

• fear of hell is continuously in one's mind filling one with worry and anxiety

• does not allow them to live spontaneously

• most so-called religious people become neurotic and, in some cases even schizophrenic

Religion Turn People Against Each Other

• leads to tremendously negative consequences

• hatred, racism, and all kinds of violence

Religion Seek Power

• religions are man-made institutions like for-profit corporations are

• to survive and grow a religion must find a way to build power, wealth, and compete for market share

Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. You shall not make idols.

3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not lie.

10. You shall not covet.