The Ways Of Viewing Religion

In William James’ 1902 book “The Varieties of Religious Experience” he opens with depicting the approach of his review. He clarifies that it would be of little advantage to construct the examination with respect to regular people who have bound religious encounters and emulate customs which have been passed on to them. Rather, he centers the review around 'religious virtuosos '. In addition, as he clarifies in his second address, the attention must be on individual religious experience instead of corporate, in light of the fact that it is more central. Actually, it is out of the extreme encounters of a little few that most religious developments (or "factions" as he terms them) have created. Part 3 builds up that individuals appear to have the ability to encounter the concealed furthermore an inclination to see it as being more genuine than things seen, listened, touched or tasted.

When doubt is looked at from a religious stand point it is a fault in faith. Both faith and doubt are one in the same, because one is the feeling that something is right, and the other is of something wrong. One, can have faith removed and restored, and just as easily have doubt assured and removed. In the painting the viewer is provided a picturesque image of the removal of doubt, and the restoration of faith. When the prophet Thomas doubted Jesus’s resurrection he did what any one does when their truth is doubted, and proved he was in fact Jesus by allowing the prophet to touch his wounds. Like many aspect in a person’s life, doubt must be removed this way or they would stay stagnant, and mankind would have likely never advanced. If doubt is looked at on a deeper level the power it has over each person is intense. A prime example is this painting, if Jesus would not have proved to Thomas he had indeed been resurrected Thomas likely would have lost faith, and no longer been a prophet spreading the news of Jesus. In today’s world a person does not walk around sticking fingers in other people like in this painting, but they do depend on surveys, statistics and other forms of information to rid them of doubt so they can make important decisions like what school to

David Chidester defines religion as the ways of being a human person in a human place. He further goes on to describe it as “the practices and discourses that negotiate what it is to be human in person in relation to the superhuman or in relation to whatever might be treated as subhuman” (Chidester). As such religion can be said to encompass the beliefs customs and even the cultures of the people. It defines and shapes the human out view to life and how they relate to each other based on the morals and ethical guidelines outlined in the various doctrines governing the religions. Over the years, religion has been interpreted from different perspectives. Over time in history, religion was directly intertwined with the activities and the lives of the people. For instance, where the people practiced farming, they had deities or gods which were thought to control and protect the seasons which were an integral part of the farming activities. The same case applied to those who practiced pastoralism activities. In all aspects, the religion was in tandem with their activities.

Religion is a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals that guides human life, including behaviors and values. I agree with the claim that the sociological study of religion makes one’s religious faith stronger in societies and communities because the more knowledgeable you are of your religion, the more you follow and practice its beliefs. Reading the books of the religion of your choice allows you to choose the lifestyle you live and control your beliefs. Sociologically studying one’s religion cannot damage religious faith unless you are sociologically studying a religion other than yours. Your devotion to your religion has been given to you at birth, and normally children follow their parents before anyone else.

A meme is an idea or behaviour that spreads from person to person within a society. The word originates from the Greek word “mimeme”, meaning “imitated thing”. The term was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene in 1976, as the mental equivalent of a gene. Dawkins proposed the idea that social information can change and propagate through a culture in a way similar to genetic changes in a population of organisms; evolution by natural selection. The idea was subsequently introduced in to finding the root of religion, which was named memeplexes, because they contain vast numbers of interacting memes. Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, and ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes

The Cosmological argument argues for the existence of God a posteriori based on the apparent order in the universe. For Aristotle, the existence of the universe needs an explanation, a cause, as it could not have come from nothing. Nothing comes from nothing so since there is something, there must have been some other thing that is its cause. Aristotle rules out an infinite progression of causes, so, that led to the conclusion that there must be a First Cause. Likewise with motion, there must have been a first cause; Aristotle calls this the ‘Prime Mover’. There is a God, says Aristotle -for how else does motion begin? Whilst this argument does generally offer some support for the existence of God, it does not prove his existence.

The concept of religion has been a vital part of my life for as long as I can remember. Christianity in particular has served as the utmost precedence for my family and I, as I was raised on eminently well-built and eternal Christian values. From the time I can remember, I was always in and involved in the church, whether it was bible study, Sunday school, or just typical Sunday morning worship. Being raised and brought up in the comfort and shelter of the Christian religion has provided me with a genuine appreciation for it. In retrospect, the comfort and shelter of Christianity has sparked fascination and bewilderment. Throughout the emergence of my formal Christian education, there are countless things I hope

should be wrong and the next question is inescapable: could it be that no ultimate truth at all? (Davie 2013: 53) Therefore, no one individual’s worldview is better than any other’s, which indirectly led to a relatively climate of religious pluralism. We now cannot make public claims that bound whole society on the basis of our personal truth. The moral and religious orders of societies broadly fragmented over time in cultural diversity and religious pluralism.

A worldview is a system of extreme convictions, suspicions, qualities, and thoughts regarding the universe and our place in it that shapes how a man comprehends their life and encounters and how that individual demonstration accordingly. Religion is most essentially characterized as the investigation of God. Each worldview has a religion; that is to say, it mirrors some sort of the point of view of God. Its perspective of God might be extremely exact or it might be exceptionally ambiguous. You may believe that the skeptical worldview can't have a religion since they deny there's a Divine being in any case. However, even agnostic worldview has something to say in regards to God, regardless of the fact that it's exclusive that he doesn't exist!

What is my worldview? What is my concept of religion within my worldview? I have had a long journey of growth and of struggle in my desire to find God. Starting from a young age, I had many questions concerning God and how involved he was in my life from a Protestant Christian perspective, to having what I would call a personal experience of the love of God as a child, which put me on the path to look for him. Just when I think I had God figured out, it’s as if my worldview got flipped upside down. So, my journey has been one of a constant changing worldview, never finding full comfort in any one area, denomination, or even religion. From a desire to be right within the particular denomination I was in, to finding out other

René Descartes (1556-1650) considered a rationalist claims that before we can describe reality or what it means to exist, one must know what reality and existence is. Descartes proposed that it is pointless to claim something is real without justification. However for something to be justified it must be also be indubitable. In [René Descartes, Meditation I, 1641] Descartes argues that ones beliefs can be systematically doubted. All truths, for example; beliefs, ideas, thoughts, and matter should be doubted in order to build a belief system that is indubitable. In this essay I will discuss the methods of doubt; these include perceptual illusions, the dream problem, and a deceiving God. I will also discuss the phrase I am, I exist and I am a thinking thing that passed the method the doubt. I will use these methods of doubt and phrases to explain why the arguments are either weak or strong and whether I agree to their meaning.

Define religion in terms of its six characteristics – sacred, myth, ritual, community, morality, and religious leaders – and explain the possible relations among them.

Different sociological perspectives on religion have focused on outlining the various roles that religion serves, the inequalities and other consequences that it can perpetuate and reinforce in our daily lives. It is evident from different theoretical explanations that religion really exists. This fact has been established by different sociologists and has outmuscled all the objections and critics that have been argued against it. Religion has been founded by natural things around us, and it is a law in sociology that no institution that is based on error and falsehood can ever survive in our modern society. It is also apparent that religion roots itself in reality and corresponds to the needs of all humans. Science has over the years, tried and failed to discover the origin of religion (Giddens et al. 2016). Different perspectives have existed to explain the sociology of religion. The structural functionalism theory contends that religion exists to serve various functions within our society, such as providing answers to spiritual mysteries in, or creating a place for social controls and interactions, and offering emotional comfort among many others. Conflict theory, on the other hand, views religion as an institution that has contributed to the patterns of social inequality and conflict. Symbolic interactionist theory arises from the thought that the world we live in is constructed socially and through the interpretation various

This is one of the biggest arguments that people have today. They either want you to believe the same as they do or want to prove what they believe is right. Religion is a unified set of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite [into] one single moral community, all those who adhere to them by Durkheim (1915). When I was young we did not grow up with religion in our home. My mom never pushed me into any religion; I made a choice to be spiritual. As far as my children I push for them to believe in Christianity. I do not tell my children my beliefs because I want them to choose on their own. We do attend church when we can, and we pray before we eat every time.

Throughout my life religion has never been prominent. When taking a religion class at first anyone with no knowledge of religion would be skeptical, however after a while I began to realize that religion is all around us in everyday life. When I started out with the class I had the mindset that religion was not important, I thought I had to get through the class. Now that the class is coming to an end I have come to the conclusion that in order to be successful you have to let God guide you. This class had been life changing, it has taught me: how to be a better athlete, partner, son, and person all around. It has taught me that you need to trust the process in which you are given. Although every aspect of the class was great, my favorite