Animism Vs. Anthnocentrism: The Key Differences In Religion

As time has progressed, religious scrutiny has expanded. Systems of faith are often written off as fruitless, but religion holds strong purposes. Cultures have religion to explain surroundings, unite individuals, and provide hope.

Religions across the globe have their own distinctive rites and rituals, idols, traditions, and values. Each have in common a desire to explain something unexplainable by common wisdom, or attributing some aspect of life to some higher power. Many religions have at their heart etiological stories, which explain some sort of natural phenomenon through the physical manifestation of their deity or deities. From high winds and thunderstorms to love, fertility, and the sun, such religions focus on the physical world in this life. Other religions try to explain the "next" life or the afterlife. These religions usually give a moral code to live by, with stricter adherence to this code offering a better afterlife.

Religion is defined as A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual being (Mifflin). It is known that many of our behaviours are determined by the presence of religion in one's life. Religion implants its principles in a person and their attitudes, personality, morals and ethics and alters it to a great extent. This

These two concepts are very similar to the beliefs of Hinduism. In Hinduism, they believe to continue life after death. To understand this concept you have to first grasp the idea of the soul. In Hinduism people believe in the existence of the soul. They believe the soul to be external, invisible and unchanging. Atman in Hinduism means soul in English. The believed the concept of soul (atman) to be very important in human life. Just like Animism the atman or soul is a crucial part of the human body and controls the power within. Animism is closely related to the concepts of Hinduism. In Hinduism most individuals believe that there is life after death, and that the soul(atman) doesn’t rest in peace if the spirit is displeased. As for Animism it has a similar concept.

Hindus believe that ones circumstances in life are completely determined by his previous conduct, either in this life or in previous lives. This is called karma. By doing good deeds in this life, therefore, one can improve his circumstances in the future, especially in future reincarnations. (BG, p. 9,10) The final goal is to escape or be released from the cycle of reincarnation. Hindus will seek in life to be set free from birth, death, and rebirth, so that we exist in a state of pure impersonal being without a physical body. Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that man has only one life to live. In contradiction to the doctrine of karma, the Abrahamic religion believe that on earth, men often do not receive fair or just rewards for their lives they get their reward on judgment day. God will judge all men and declare our eternal rewards on the basis of our lives, whether we have lived it good or bad. After judgment, men receive their eternal destinies. The righteous receive eternal life, a state of bliss, in the presence of God. The wicked receive eternal punishment, suffering and sorrow, separated from God. In the Abrahamic religion the gift of life is received after we leave the earth, not on the earth. Finally Hindu’s and Abrahamic religions also differ on their concept of Salvation.

Religion is one of the greatest creations of mankind. Human beings are different from any other animals because of their ability to think and to create. When man evolved to form societies or countries, when they need to understand better the world around them, religions were created naturally.

Almost all religions around the world are based on a belief. Almost every religion have certain rules and principles that order together within a society: Many people misunderstand and misinterpret the holy texts the Bible, Quran, Torah, and others fabricate. Religion is defined as faith to a higher being who one believes has created us. It has also been used as laws through history to stop the committing of crimes. In many religions, the consequences of breaking rules and regulations of the religion are burning in the pit of hell. Religion is man-made and was created for many reasons but mainly to keep peace and justice in the world. But the words can be manipulated and used as an excuse to start wars on this planet. This caused many to believe that the world would be a better place without religion.

There are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified in the world according to David Barrett. Religion is just “faith” or a “belief system” that people have. A belief system that dates back to early times is, Fatalism. Still seen today in popular movies, books, T.V. shows and other works of art, fatalism is the belief that, “all things and events are inevitable.” Movies like: The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, and Serendipity all show examples of how fatalism is still real.

Religion has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Where years ago, it was limited to a few specific set of beliefs in which the majority of people conformed to and few people deviated. Nowadays, religion is immeasurable and varies depending on where you live. Despite all the changes, there are a few basic elements that every religion follows such as; a set of stories, sacredness, community, belief of a higher power, rules/ethics, offer hope and a way to connect with the divine. Although the building blocks are the same, each organizations, religious practices and beliefs are unique.

Human beings have always been curious about the meaning and purpose of life. Religions try to answer the curiosity people have about there being a higher source, typically identifying this greater domination as God. Some beliefs teach that there is only one G-d this is defined as a monotheistic religion. Some examples of monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Although each sect has a different perspective on teachings and beliefs they have one common thread; the belief in a singular deity.

There are many different religions with many different beliefs, traditions, practices, and rituals. These differences are a very important part of understanding and appreciating the culture and history behind the specific religion. However, the practices that certain religions have in common can aid even more in furthering the understanding of specific beliefs of other religions. Since most religions cultivate from the practices and beliefs of other religions, they use those core values and beliefs and transform them into what they believe is a better way practicing. Religions use similarities within each other and twist them into their own. There are certain beliefs within every religion that shape their practices such as their morals or their most essential or absolute value, their position on human beings’ problems and solutions, and their view on life and death within their religion. Pure Land Buddhism (a form of Mahayana Buddhism) and Vaishnavites (a group within Hinduism) are great examples of this very concept.

Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods or a particular system of faith and worship. In the world we live in many have different religion and believes. Some are forced into religion to believe this is the right way and others were brought up into that religion since birth. This make others think they are more superior than others. Religion has been passed on from generation to generation. Has religion changed over time? Yes of course. We have many religions such as Christianity, Gnosticism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Others. According to the text or readings The Dream of the Rood, Julian of Norwich's Revelations, and Milton's Paradise Lost, they both had

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

Animism is usually applied to any religious beliefs that recognize spirits or a spirit world inherent in the physical world (Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International, n.d.). Spiritual beings are everywhere and they shape all that happens. The basic of animism is that the spirit world is stronger than humans. The spirit world controls everything in life.

They became the cornerstone of many earlier and later civilizations. Even today many countries, especially those in the Middle East, have religious leaders who work with the government to enact laws and “guide” the spiritual aspect of the lives of their citizens. Unfortunately, with such strong beliefs and convictions can come conflict. This conflict can be on a small scale, such as discrimination against those who don’t share the same beliefs to full-scale war which was the case in the first Crusades. In more recent times we have seen mass genocides of people based in part on religious beliefs such as the annihilation of the Jews during the Second World War. Today we see it played out in acts of terrorism, jihads. Religion is a powerful tool that can be used both to help and enrich the lives of people or used as justification for intolerance against others.