What is religion?

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What is religion?
Adapted from Merdith Hickman (2005), World
Religions, Usborne London.
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What is culture?
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What is an iceberg?

• Much bigger on the bottom than on the top
• How is culture like an iceberg?

But I thought we were talking about religion?
What does religion have to do with culture?
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Questions

1. Where did the world come from?
2. Why was the world created?
3. Who are we? Who am I?
4. What is my purpose in life?
5. How should people live?
6. Why is it that there is so much suffering?
7. What happens when a person dies?

These are questions that cannot be tested and
proven a person has to trust or have faith in
them
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The word religion

• Comes from the Latin word RELIGIO (means a
  duty)
• There is more to life than just the physical
  world
• Religious people believe that if we live in a
  certain way, answers can be found
• Answers are known as the ABSOLUTE or ULTIMATE
  truth

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What do religions have in common?

• Religions recognize that the world and people in
  it are not perfect
• If people have faith (follow the religions
  teachings correctly), they believe they will
  find the answers to some of the big questions and
  be freed from suffering (salvation/liberation)

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Why do we have religions?

• Past religion was relied upon to explain
  seasons, weather etc
• Past studies show that religion helped keep
  communities together shared rules for living
  and a shared way of understanding the world
• Today reduces peoples fears gives them
  something beyond themselves to rely on

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Religions of the World - an overview
What are the major religions of the world?

• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Bahai Faith
• Zoroastrianism

• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Sikhism
• Jainism
• Taoism
• Confucianism
• Shinto

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Others

• Atheists people who do not believe that a
  supernatural power exists
• Agnostics people who say it is impossible to
  know whether or not God exists because there is
  no proof either way
• Humanists people have the ability to develop
  themselves and to build a world that will be a
  happier place. People should not be judged by a
  set of religious rules.

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What common themes run through religions but
which we could research to find differences in
the way the religions are practised?

• Worship
• Prayer and meditation
• Scriptures/books
• Sacred objects

• Festivals
• Priests
• Sacred places
• Rites of passage
• Monks and nuns