Religion

1
Religion

• Definitions of some terms

2
Definitions

• Sacrifice
• Myth
• Rituals
• Rites of Passage
• Ancestor Veneration

• Animism
• Magic
• Divination
• Taboo
• Totems

3
Animism

• It is the idea that the world and everything in
  it is filled with souls or spirits.
• These spirits can be communicated with.
• Spirits feel and therefore, can be harmed,
  flattered, offended and can also hurt or help.

4
Magic

• Magic is a way of controlling the natural
  elements.
• Magicians attempt to control the elements for the
  benefit of their society or for the detriment of
  their enemies.
• Nature is understood to be controlled by forces
  which can be manipulated.
• There is also sympathetic magic or imitative
  magic.

5
Sympathetic magic

• A person attempts to get nature to do something
  by performing the act oneself.
• Examples
• a voodoo doll
• temple prostitutes

6
Divination

• Predicting the future.
• A person, shaman or priests, is especially
  trained for this function.

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• It may examine the entrails of a sacrificed
  animal or watching flights of birds or palm
  reading.
• Tarot cards, Ouija boards are also examples of
  divination.

8
Taboo

• Taboos are best viewed by those inside of the
  tradition as ways of protecting the individual
  from harm. Certain activities are avoided in
  order not to offend the spirits. The word taboo
  comes from the Polynesian word Tabu or tapu. In
  early societies holy persons, objects and places
  are considered off limits to ordinary folk.

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Taboos (cont.)

• "Chieftains, priests, sacred places, fetishes,
  and so on are to be avoided by the unordained,
  except on special occasions or when there is
  special preparation." Taboos follow birth and
  death rituals. Sometimes twins are considered
  taboos as well as the body of certain dead
  people. In some cultures women who are mensing
  are considered taboo.

10
Totems

• Totems. The word totem is from the Ojibwa word
  ototeman. It is an identification that the tribe
  or clan or nation has with a certain animal, or
  sometimes certain plants or the moon or the sun
  or the stars. In many later societies "mascots"
  take the place of totems.

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Sacrifice

• Sacrifice is a common practice in many religions.
  "People have offered sacrifices of nearly every
  imaginable material to the gods, spirits, demons,
  and ancestors. Most often, the sacrifices are
  animals, which are slaughtered and then burned or
  cooked and eaten before the gods." Sacrifice of
  other kinds of objects occurs as well.

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Sacrifice (cont.)

• Sacrificing as various meanings which depend on
  the religion, context, location, time of year,
  the individual sacrificing etc. In the sacrifice
  there is the sense of communing between the one
  sacrificing and the deity, gods, or spirits to
  whom the sacrifice is made.

13
Myth

• The word myth often has three meanings.
• 1. something widely accepted but is really
  false.
• 2. Stories in early societies which tell of
  heroic actions or forces of nature or gods or
  goddesses.
• 3. Primitive belief about nature and the
  universe. Pre-scientific

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Myth

• Myth does not here mean a story that is not
  true. Rather, myth means a story that presents
  in the form of a narrative the basic world view
  of a society. (Ellwood)

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Rituals

• Ritual. Every religion has ritual. These are
  rites and ceremonies which could be simple or
  complex and are best interpreted in their
  original setting or context. Sometimes these
  ritual reenact myths and stories. Priests and
  lay people take part in them. They sometime
  involve particular kind of attire, or a specific
  location. They could be the reliving of an
  important event.

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Rituals (cont.)

• (E)veryday religious activity and practice are
  significant because their primary purpose often
  to place individuals, families, and groups in
  right relationships with gods, ancestors, other
  human beings, and nature. (Ellwood)
• Rituals are ways in which these relationships can
  be insured.

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Rites of Passage

• Rites of passage are aids in the journey in life
  and are very important. Important events such
  birth, death, marriage, passage into adulthood
  are commemorated with special ceremonies.
• They can be the enactment of myths or mirror the
  ideas of the groups with regard to a particular
  phase in life.

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Ancestor Veneration

• The elders have a high place in these traditions
  and are sometimes venerated. Some believe that
  death is just a transition to another phase of
  life and therefore the spirits of the ancestors
  are still active.
• Sometimes these spirits are feared and people
  take action to prevent them from returning from
  their graves.
• Other societies believe that deceased ancestors
  can benefit the society and will make offerings
  to them.

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Deities

• Many Hues

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Theism

• Agnosticism -- God cannot be known

• Atheism -- (not-God-ism) There is no God

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• Deism -- God is absent

• Polytheism (many-gods-ism) -- There are many
  personal gods each has control on various aspects
  of life

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• Henotheism There are many gods but one
  restricts ones allegiance to one God

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Theism (cont.)

• Pantheism (God-is-all-ism) -God is identical with
  nature and the universe as a whole

• Panentheism (everything-in-God) -- Everything
  ultimately exists in god

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• Monotheism (one-God-ism) -- There is only one
  supreme Being

25
Sources

• http//www.northerndong.com/images/gallery/mask.jp
  g
• http//www.hope-link.org/images/magic.jpg
• http//www.voodoowizardneworleans.com/voodoodolls/
  images/unknowndoll_2.jpg
• http//hops.ucsd.edu/jordan/scriptorium/gga/gga07
  4.jpg
• http//www.crystal-connection.com/divine.shtml
• http//members.aol.com/oldenwilde/pix/divination.j
  pg
• http//www.lostworldarts.com/images/taboo.jpg
• http//www.mentors.ca/totems.gif
• http//www.be.wvu.edu/divecon/econ/trumbull/cuba/p
  ics/sacrifice.jpg
• http//www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/idis/jewish-stu
  dies/covr/images/sacrifice.jpg
• http//www.ajisunteho.com/rituals/images/014.jpg
• http//www.northearth.com/images/rituals.jpg
• http//www.soulawakening.org/ceremo3.jpg
• http//www.macnabstearoom.com/China/M20Ancestors
  20Shrine.jpg

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More Sources

• http//www.tsatsastudio.org/web_pics_small/deities
  .jpg
• http//www.iskcon.net/ct/graphics/Deities20full.j
  pg
• http//www.webeffects-aus.com/quicksilversmagic/bo
  okofmagic/deities.gif
• http//www.toel.org.uk/timages/atheism.jpg
• http//www.nd.edu/jquinn/humanism/images/huxley.j
  pg
• http//baci.duluth.com/images/blackewe1.jpg
• http//www.polytheism.com/egypha.jpg
• http//www.polytheism.com/naturegod.jpg
• http//www.polytheism.com/hivish.jpg
• http//www.polytheism.com/isis1.jpg
• http//www.nexusdomain.org/religions/ZEUSKERAVNIOS
  .jpg
• http//www.ghsd.k12.mi.us/KLICK/members/Jessi/spac
  epages/PLANETS.jpg
• http//members.aol.com/Heraklit1/images/m100-sce.j
  pg
• http//www.hereinstead.com/sys-tmpl/nss-folder/1pi
  ctures/mgodsmaller.jpg