Potential Effects Of Excluding African Religions And Beliefs From Global Discourse Essay

Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One” is a survey of world religions, comprising vital information on a vast array of different sets of belief. As someone who has never studied religion before, nor belongs to a particular faith, the variability within these religions is staggering. One might be satisfied to define religion as “how a person goes about believing in God,” but soon finds that even that definition has its holes. Thankfully, “God Is Not One” does an amazing job of cluing its reader into the nuances that are sometimes forgotten about the religions it approaches.

Having the privilege to serve in the military has allowed this writer the opportunity to be exposed to the pluralistic society in a way which has exposed him to the beauty of the diversity enjoyed in American culture. One aspect of said diversity is the interaction which has taken place amongst the Christian and various world religions who also wear the same uniform in defense of America. It was the pleasure of the writer to attend a local synagogue in which his Jewish brothers and sisters welcomed him with open arms. The local congregation of Jewish believers went out of their way in order to ensure their newest visitor understood the flow of service and the significance of the ritual which took place on the first Shabbat or Sabbath of the month. The following essay will serve to detail the worship experience as well as how it and other beliefs of Judaism compare/contrast with the Christian faith.

Masuzawa analyzes the different characteristics of a religion that have influenced its placement in the national or universal religion categories. In order to be identified as a world religion, criteria such as “the naming of an extraordinary yet historically genuine person as the founder and initiator or the tradition (Masuzawa, 132)” had to be met. This criterion fits all of the religions that achieved the status of a world religion by the twentieth century other than Hinduism and Shinto (Masuzawa, 133). Another principle was the “recognition of certain texts that could be claimed to hold a

Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane analyzes a wide variety of components that are found within various world religions. Eliade uses the history of religion to support his ideas as the the book itself is a brief introduction to religion as a whole, particulary the religions of primitive societies. Nonetheless, when looking to the past one can see that mankind’s desire to associate itself with the sacred has been occuring for thousands of years. From temples to passages of intiation, religious man is a unique microcosm that follows and repeats the structure of the religious macrocosm, the creation of the cosmos. One can conclude that Eliade views religion as the “paradigmatic solution for every existential crisis.” (p210) and

Religion is a universal term that is widely used for a human’s belief system. The views on how religions compare to one another can be defined differently. One view explains religions using a united belief system by their common goals. Another view explains that different religions are just a shared essence and have vast differences between their specific traditions and customs. This shared essence, but vastly different theory, is explained by Stephen Prothero, using the term “pretend pluralism”. There are many major and minor religions that have guided people in their morals and beliefs. Religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All five of these current, major religions have vast differences, but may have common goals in their morals, traditions, etc. Two of the most practiced religions, of these five, are Christianity and Islam. These two religions are constantly at battle with one another, but what many people don’t see is that there are just as many similarities between these two religions as there are differences. Through this paper we will discover the underlying similarities and differences between these two religions and, hopefully, conclude that supports either the common goal theory or the “pretend pluralism” theory.

Searching back to its beginnings, religion has a profound impact on cultural identity through the presence of deep and ancient roots that connect a people to their glorious, memorable and often idealized histories. By equating a given religion with the success of a society often times national pride and religious pride become intertwined. Though this manifests itself differently in each country, throughout all four surveyed this attribute seemed to be present.

In a process begun in the nineteenth century and accelerated in the twentieth, the great religions of the world became truly global in the geographic distribution of their adherents and so

Molloy, M. (2012). Experiencing the World’s Religions. Tradition, Challenge, and Change (6th ed.)Chapter 5. Retrieved from https://newclassroom3.phoenix.edu/Classroom

In Kevin Riley’s article “From Tribal to Universal”, him and several other historians argue that religious traditions emerge within and through traditions and beliefs that already exist. These new religions borrow from, adapt, and reject older traditions. Their ideas along with beliefs, can often be traced back and connected to multiple existing systems of belief. The documents collected in “Tribal to Universal Religion” help us understand and analyze the relationships between various religions, some of which did not originate in the same place, and their common ideas. Kevin Riley is surely right about religions borrowing from, adapting, and rejecting older traditions. This idea is clearly seen through the creation of Buddhism and Christianity.

The anthropological studies of religion show that individuals use religion to serve different purposes, but they rarely note that these functions are different in some cultures. These religions involve both cosmological and transcendental which vary in their beliefs and practices. The transcendental religions view the existence of the universe as strong evidence for God’s presence. This religion assumes a Supreme God created the universe and that he still maintains its existence. Cosmology, on the contrary, is highly individualistic in both character and philosophical outlook and they resist any common doctrinal stance. While transcendentalists believe in ultimate power in supernatural powers, cosmological religions believe in ultimate power from the natural world. The essay will compare between two cosmological religions which include, archaic religion and the primitive religion as well as one transcendentalist religion of Christianity together with how disenchantment de-legitimize cosmological religions.

The meaning of religion is something that scholars, along with society at large, have attempted to define for centuries. Although the term cannot truly have one solid meaning, it is clear that religion is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. In Religion: The Basics, author Mallory Nye discusses his approach to studying religion. In arguing that culture and religion strongly influence each other, he explains that those studying religion must make people and culture their focus, as variations even within the same religions exist and must be considered. Moreover, Nye explains how religion is, essentially, a universal concept, as it takes form in an array of shapes across the globe. With Nye’s argument, I have developed new insights

Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic

Religion and spirituality reach into the depths of the human psyche and strongly influence a nation’s way of life.

Religion has existed for countless centuries. Christianity is one of the major religions in this world, which had people be criticized, battle in wars, and killed for, but it still survived to this day. The purpose of this paper is to study the source of the religion, recognize the teachings, observe its spread throughout the world, and to identify how it stands among people today. Approaching this paper by a factual report I will explain these major points and why we need to know about this religion and other religions that existed before our generation.

I think that it is important to study world religions because it can help people to become more tolerant of other’s beliefs and more compassionate to other people’s causes. With so much war and misunderstanding in the world based on religious viewpoints, it is important to take the time to find out where and why people believe the way that they do. While I find that most people in the world follow a religion based on their geographical location, this is not the case in the United States. Because the US is a country where people from all over the world can come to live it is a place where many different religions are practiced. It is important, especially for people in this country, to study world religions