Religion, Spirituality, Faith, And Perceptions About Religion Essay

In The Sacred Quest, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham attempts the search for a coherent definition of religion. While he doesn’t strive for a one-sentence interpretation of what indicates a real, organized religion, he arrives on several elements and functions to give meaning to his definition. To Cunningham, there are five elements that make up a religion: belief, feeling, action, individual and community aspects, and values. Cunningham argues that these five elements exists in order to explain what could not otherwise be explained, enable people to sustain hope in the face of difficult experiences, and provide ways of thinking that provide goals and respond to “great problems” in life (158). All of these aspects work

The term spirituality comes from the word, spirit, and a suffix -uality. Spirit has a general meaning of entity or life force, which is not physical. Spirituality thus means anything that has a relationship with spirit and its features or qualities. However, spirituality in human beings has two main components a primary component, spirit and human entities, that is, will and conscience. Spirituality in human beings is what leads to other desirable and undesirable qualities such as integrity and selfishness respectively. It is the only way in which human beings gain hope, comfort, inner peace, and meaning in their lives. Spirituality has been wrongly associated with religion since time immemorial. To me, spirituality is more than what we can simply call religion or faith. Religious beliefs are made of individual spirituality, which are mostly universal. Spirituality is developed outside religion itself.

Defining Religion "Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves round man as long as

Religion and spirituality have been complex issues in the United States of America. This is especially true when it comes to Native Americans. Since the 16th century, contact between Native Americans and Europeans has been filled with both good and bad. In this paper, the issue of religion and spirituality and how they figure into the story of Indian-European contact between the 16th and 21st centuries will be discussed.

This will be based on the chapter 4 Religion as "Truth-Claims", posted on Blackboard. First of all, Dianne L. Oliver makes a preface about her writings saying that religions claim to get the truth, and followers of diverse religions say that their truth is the only one true, and cannot be compare with any other. Also, she remarks that many of those religion followers use violence to uphold their own version of truth. Moreover, she let us know that she is going to consider the "True-Claims" of different religions, and show how those claims can influence the practices, behaviors, and ideas of religion followers. Next to the introduction, she considers that religion is very essential for understanding the fundamental questions in our daily lives.

Defining Religion The most fundamental question when examining a religion is "what is religion?" That is a distinctly hard question to answer considering that what is ordinarily considered to be religion is not all it is, and what many consider not to be religion may be near religious (i.e. sports). The truth is that there are no genuine answers to the question of "what is religion".

One argues that today we have a crisis of belief, not a crisis of faith. To explain this crisis, I will briefly examine the relationship between faith and belief, explain why cultural shift is important to note when trying to understand religious issues, go into detail on the three hallmarks of each of the two cultures by showing how they compare to each other, show how Tillich’s notion of correlation deals with this idea of culture and a crisis of belief, and explain how Marsh’s notion of a “theology of negotiation” (33) fits with Lonergan’s definition and allows him to argue that film can help us raise theological questions.

1. For the first part of the paper, I interviewed one of my best friends from back home. I grew up with him throughout school and continue to be very close to him. My interviewee’s name is Nathaniel, he is 21, and studies philosophy. Nathaniel and I have been close for a long time but never fully discussed our religious beliefs openly. I was very excited to interview him for this paper.

The thing that strikes me the most is the fact that Jesus would have become man even if Original Sin didn’t enter our lives (Benedict XVI). It makes me feel really loved when I think about the fact that God wanted to come to us even if we didn’t fall. It shows that he loves us when we are good and bad. God planned to send his son to save us from our sins and give us eternal life because of his love for us (John 3:16). Another thing that strikes me is that even though it may seem like God is angry and demanding, he actually isn’t. God wanted to give us salvation, but the death of his son was not a ransom for this (Article). I never realized that God was willing to do anything to save us and share eternal life with us because of how much he loves us. I learned that God became human not only to save us from sin but to also show and teach us how to love others. I never thought of the Incarnation in that way, so it changed how I view the relationship between God and Jesus. God wants to show us how to treat others by Jesus’s example while saving us from sin at the same time.

Many skeptics in today’s culture are convinced that organized religion does more harm than good. Many of these people make persuasive arguments that are or can be conclusive. In some cases, they say, a church, has too much power, is filled with politics and its rituals take away from God and put emphasis on one’s self; therefore, faith is what matters. In the novel A Portrait of The Artist as Young Man by James Joyce, readers see Stephen go through life with faith, surrounded by others with faith and religious activities. After a while, Steven loses sight of true faith, forgets God and becomes an artist.

     According to the American College Dictionary, religion is a noun defined as the quest for the values of the ideal life. This definition is vast and general, allowing for a variety of interpretations by people from all cultures. There is no single path to follow in order to lead an ideal life, only personal beliefs and experiences. Religion is non-finite so there is no way of determining a boundary (Smart, 5). In my quest for a true understanding of what religion is I explored my own traditions and religious beliefs as well as life experiences. Slowly, with the added insight from the text and videos, my own definition of religion has begun to take shape.

During the late 17th and 18th centuries, a powerful movement spread across Europe that fundamentally changed European society. Widely referred to in hindsight as the Enlightenment, this era in European history showed a great emphasis on the glory of reason and science, dramatically shifting from the emphasis on religious doctrine that empowered Europe for centuries. Through this period of Enlightenment, new ideals were reflected amongst European society. Writers, scholars, and philosophers began writing fondly of the world and man’s capacity to understand the world around him without blindly following religion. Instead, people were encouraged to

What is religion? Each person’s definition of religion is different. Each person’s faith is different. This is a question that has been asked for centuries, and regardless of the answer given there is no right or wrong answer. Religion can be defined as a group of people who have shared beliefs who feel their life has purpose or meaning. This feeling or belief that their life has meaning can come from outside of themselves, as well as within. Taking this one step further, these shared beliefs put into action in the form of worship, can be easily identified because they happen regularly. It can be said the Primal religions were in fact not religions. Some may argue Confucianism is not a religion. Others may say Taoism is not a

When the Earth first saw lifeform that eventually morphed into the humans we are today, the world was also introduced to spirituality. Since the times humans first coexisted with others there was a form of belief and religion. The surprising fact is, religion and spirituality first took form in the shape and embodiment of a female. The Goddess was the first physical presentation of an "otherworldly being" and was in place for longer than we 've had our current religion. "The surviving art documents and ideological evolution in human consciousness: People saw themselves in a new relationship to the environment and to other living species. Human, mostly female, representation was growing in importance; the male was still generally confined to a zoomorphic form" (Gadon, 25). People lived peacefully with the earth and coexisted without causing great harm to nature. Humans hunted when they needed to eat and used all the animal had to offer. Sadly, however, the worshipping mindset surrounding the Goddess was replaced, and took along with it the peaceful harmony between humankind and nature. "When we consider the prominent role of the Bird Goddess as Cosmic Creator in Old Europe, her reappearance as threatening female power is a telling example of the reversal of the symbol 's meaning under patriarchy" (Gadon, 125).

What religion am I? In my life, I have been told many things about my religion. My mother is a Roman Catholic, while my father is Jewish. I have learned about both religions, and I have tried to practice both as best I could, but I am now faced with the decision; which one am I?