Religion

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, Judaism, Hinduism
Row 2. Islamic, Buddhism, Shinto
Row 3. Sikhism, Bahá'í Faith, Jainism A religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mysticism. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.

In the frame of European religious thought,Jack Goody as cited in religions present a common quality, the "hallmark of patriarchal religious thought": the division of the world in two comprehensive domains, Sacred-profane dichotomy.Durkheim 1976, p.36 Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, Divinity, or of the highest truth.Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion is also often described as a "way of life".

The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. "Organized religion" generally refers to an organization of people supporting the exercise of some religion with a prescribed set of beliefs, often taking the form of a Juristic person (see religion-supporting organization). Other religions believe in personal revelation and responsibility."Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system,"The words "belief system" may not necessarily refer to a religion, though a religion may be referred to as "belief system." but is more socially defined than that of personal convictions.

Etymology The English word religion is in use since the 13th century, loaned from Anglo-French religiun (11th century), ultimately from the Latin :wikt:religio, "reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, pietas, the Res divina"Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary

The ultimate origins of Latin religio are obscure.It is usually accepted to derive from "bind, connect". Likely from a prefixed , i.e. re (again) + ligare. This interpretation is favoured by modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell, but was made prominent by Augustine of Hippo, following the interpretation of Lactantius. Another possibility is derivation from a reduplicated . A historical interpretation due to Cicero on the other hand connects "read", i.e. re (again) + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully".qui omnia, quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent, diligenter retractarent et tamquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex relegendo, ut elegantes ex elegendo, tamquam a diligendo diligentes, ex intellegendo intellegentes: his enim in verbis omnibus inest vis legendi eadem, quae in religioso, Cic. N. D. 2, 28, 72

Definition of religion Religion has been defined in a wide variety of ways. Most definitions attempt to find a balance somewhere between overly sharp definition and meaningless generalities. Some sources have tried to use formalistic, doctrinal definitions while others have emphasized experiential, emotive, intuitive, valuational and ethical factors. Definitions mostly include:

a notion of the transcendence or divine, often, but not always, in the form of theism
a cultural or behavioural aspect of ritual, liturgy and organized worship, often involving a priesthood, and societal norms of morality (ethos) and virtue (arete)
a set of myths or sacred truths held in reverence or belief by adherents

Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in "God" or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, "a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.”George A. Lindbeck, Nature of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1984), 33. According to this definition, religion refers to one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's thoughts and actions.

Other religious scholars have put forward a definition of religion that avoids the reductionism of the various sociological and psychological disciplines that reduce religion to its component factors. Religion may be defined as the presence of a belief in the sacred or the holy. For example Rudolf Otto's "The Idea of the Holy," formulated in 1917, defines the essence of religious awareness as awe, a unique blend of fear and fascination before the divine. Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as a "feeling of absolute dependence."

The Encyclopedia of Religion defines religion this way:Religion Edition. Winston King. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 11. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. p7692-7701.

Other encyclopedic definitions include: "A general term used... to designate all concepts concerning the belief in god(s) and goddess(es) as well as other spiritual beings or transcendental ultimate concerns"Penguin Dictionary of Religions (1997) as quoted on and "human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine."Encyclopædia Britannica (2006) as quoted on

Religion and superstition In keeping with the Latin etymology of the word, religious believers have often seen other religions as superstition. Likewise, some atheists, agnostics, deists, and skeptics regard religious belief as superstition. (Edmund Burke, the Irish orator, once said, "Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.")

Religious practices are most likely to be labeled "superstitious" by outsiders when they include belief in extraordinary events (miracles), an afterlife, supernatural interventions, apparitions or the efficacy of prayer, charms, incantations, the meaningfulness of omens, and prognostications.

Greek and Roman pagans, who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. "Such fear of the gods (deisidaimonia) was what the Romans meant by 'superstition' (Veyne 1987, p 211). Early Christianity was outlawed as a superstitio Iudaica, a "Jewish superstition", by Domitianin the 80s AD, and by AD 425, Theodosius II outlawed Ancient Roman religion as superstitious.

The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).

The Catechism clearly dispels commonly held preconceptions or misunderstandings about Catholic doctrine relating to superstitious practices:

Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16-22 (para. #2111)

History Origins and development There are a number of models regarding the ways in which religions come into being and develop. Broadly speaking, these models fall into three categories:

Models which see religions as social constructions;
Models which see religions as progressing toward higher, objective truth;
Models which see a particular religion as absolutely true.

The models are not mutually exclusive. Multiple models may be seen to apply simultaneously, or different models may be seen as applying to different religions.

In pre-modern (pre-urban) societies, religion is one defining factor of ethnicity, along with language, regional customs, national costume, etc. As Xenophanes famously comments: Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair. Ethnic religions may include officially sanctioned and organized civil religion with an organized clergy, but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation to the people in question. The notion of goyim ("nations") in Judaism reflect this state of affairs, the implicit assumption that each nation will have its own religion. Historical examples include Germanic polytheism, Celtic polytheism, Slavic polytheism and pre-Hellenistic Ancient Greek religion.

The "Axial Age" Karl Jaspers, in his Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (The Origin and Goal of History), identified a number of key Axial Age thinkers as having had a profound influence on future philosophy and religion, and identified characteristics common to each area from which those thinkers emerged. Jaspers saw in these developments in religion and philosophy a striking parallel without any obvious direct transmission of ideas from one region to the other, having found no recorded proof of any extensive inter-communication between Ancient Greece, the Ancient Near East, Iron Age India and Iron Age China. Jaspers held up this age as unique, and one which to compare the rest of the history of ideas to. Jaspers' approach to the culture of the middle of the first millennium BCE has been adopted by other scholars and academics, and has become a point of discussion in the history of religion.

In its later part, the "Axial Age" culminated in the development of monism and monotheism, notably of Platonic realism in Hellenistic philosophy, the notion of atman in Vedanta and the notion of Tao in Taoism.

Middle Ages The present-day world religions established themselves throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages by: Christianization of the West, Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, the decline of Buddhism in India and rise of Hinduism in India, and the spread of Islam throughout the Near East and much of Central Asia. In the High Middle Ages, Islam was in conflict with Christianity during the Crusades and with Hinduism in the conquest in the Indian subcontinent.

Many medieval religious movements emphasized mysticism, such as the Cathars and related movements in the West, the Bhakti movement in India and Sufism in Islam. Monotheism reached definite forms in Christian Christology and in Islamic Tawhid. Hindu views on monotheism notions of Brahman likewise reached their classical form with the teaching of Adi Shankara.

Modern period European colonisation during the 15th to 19th centuries resulted in the spread of Christianity to Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, Australia and the ]. The 18th century saw the beginning of secularisation in Europe, rising to notability in the wake of the French Revolution.

In the 20th century, the regimes of Communist Eastern Europe and Communist China were explicitly anti-religious. A great variety of new religious movements originated in the 20th century, many proposing syncretism of elements of established religions. Adherence to such new movements is limited, however, remaining below 2% worldwide in the 2000s. Adherents of the classical world religions account for more than 75% of the world's population, while adherence to indigenous tribal religions has fallen to 4%. As of 2005, an estimated 14% of the world's population identifies as nonreligious.

Demographics Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutual influence. Abrahamic religions originate in the Middle East, Indian religions in India and Far Eastern religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are African diasporic religions, which have their origins in Central Africa and West Africa.

).In summary, religious adherence of the world's population is as follows:"Abrahamic religions": 53.5%,"Indian religions": 19.7%,irreligious: 14.3%,"Far Eastern religions": 6.5%,tribal religions: 4.0%,new religious movements: 2.0%.

Abrahamic religions are by far the largest group, and these consist primarily of Christianity, Islam and Judaism (sometimes Bahá'í Faith is also included). They are named for the patriarch Abraham, and are unified by their strict monotheism. Today, around 3.4 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around South-East Asia and China.
Indian religions originated in Greater India and tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma and karma. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, South East Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Indian religions mutually influenced each other.
Far Eastern religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Do (in Japanese or Korean). They include Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Chondogyo, Caodaism, and Yiguandao as well as Far Eastern Buddhism (in which the group overlaps with the "Indian" group).
Iranic religions include Zoroastrianism, Yazdanism and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeanism, Manichaeism). It has significant overlaps with Abrahamic traditions, e.g. in Sufism and in recent syncretic movements such as Bábísm and Bahá'í Faith.
African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 18th centuries, building of African traditional religions of Central Africa and West Africa.
Indigenous tribal religions, formerly found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths, but persisting as undercurrents of folk religion. Includes African traditional religions, Asian Shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian_people#Religion and Australian Aboriginal mythology traditions and arguably Chinese folk religion (overlaps with Far Eastern religions).
New religious movements, a heterogenous group of religious faiths emerging since the 19th century, often syncretism, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions (Bahá'í Faith, Hindu revivalism, Ayyavazhi, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionism), some inspired by science-fiction (UFO religions, Scientology). See List of new religious movements, list of groups referred to as cults.

Demographic distribution of the major super-groupings mentioned is shown in the table below:

{|style="width:90%;" class="wikitable"|-! Name of Group !! Name of Religion !! Number of followers !! Date of Origin !! Main regions covered|-| rowspan="4"| Abrahamic religions
3.4 billion] || 2.1 billion ||1st c.|| Worldwide except Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia and China ] || 1.5 billion || 7th c. || Middle East, Northern Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Russia, China, Balkan Peninsula, Malay Archipelago || 14 million || [History_of_the_Levant#Iron_Age || Israel, USA, Europe || 7 million || 19th c. || Dispersed worldwide with no major population centers|-| rowspan="4"| [Indian religions
1.4 billion] || 900 million || no founder || Indian subcontinent, Fiji, Guyana and Mauritius || 376 million || [Iron Age India || Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Indochina, regions of Russia.] || 23 million || 16th c. || India, Pakistan, Africa, Canada, USA, United Kingdom || 4.2 million || [Iron Age India || India, and East Africa
500 million|[Taoism ] || China and the Chinese diaspora || unknown || [Spring and Autumn Period ], Korea, Vietnam and the Chinese and Vietnamese diasporas] || 4 million || no founder || Japan || 1-2 million || 1925 || [Vietnam || 1.13 million || 1812 || [Korea || 1-2 million || c. 1900 || [Taiwan || 394 million || no founder || [China || 300 million || no founder || [India, Asia and [African diasporic religions || 100 million || no founder || Africa, [Americas):

Juche (North Korea): 19 million
Spiritism (not an organized religion): 15 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Neopaganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800,000
Rastafarianism: 600,000
Scientology: 500,000

Religious belief Religious belief usually relates to the existence, nature and worship of a deity or deities and divine involvement in the universe and human life. Alternately, it may also relate to values and practices transmitted by a spiritual leader. Unlike other belief systems, which may be passed on orally, religious belief tends to be codified in literate societies (religion in non-literate societies is still largely passed on orally Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, Pascal Boyer, Basic Books (2001)).

Religious beliefs are found in virtually every society throughout human history. Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth".Byrd Gibbens, Professor of English at University of Arkansas at Little Rock; quoted Epigraph (literature) in Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin, 2001

Related forms of thought Religion and science Religious knowledge, according to religious practitioners, may be gained from religious leaders, sacred texts (scriptures), and/or personal revelation. Some religions view such knowledge as unlimited in scope and suitable to answer any question; others see religious knowledge as playing a more restricted role, often as a complement to knowledge gained through physical observation. Some religious people maintain that religious knowledge obtained in this way is absolute and infallible (religious cosmology).

such as geometry and Astrology and astronomy was connected to the divine for most History of science in the Middle Ages. The compass in this 13th Century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of Creation (theology).

The scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers physical cosmology questions about the physical universe. It develops theory of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is probabilistic and subject to later improvement or revision in the face of better evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as facts (such as the theories of gravity or evolution).

Many scientists held strong religious beliefs (see List of Christian thinkers in science) and worked to harmonize science and religion. Isaac Newton, for example, believed that gravity caused the planets to revolve about the Sun, and credited God with the design. In the concluding General Scholium to the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he wrote: "This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." Nevertheless, conflict arose between religious organizations and individuals who propagated scientific theories which were deemed unacceptable by the organizations. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has in the pastQuotation: "The Second Vatican Council affirmed academic freedom for natural science and other secular disciplines". From the essay of Ted Peters about Science and Religion at "Lindsay Jones (editor in chief). Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. Thomson Gale. 2005. p.8185" reserved to itself the right to decide which scientific theories were acceptable and which were unacceptable. In the 17th century, Galileo was tried and forced to recant the heliocentrism based on the medieval church's stance that the Greek Greek astronomy system of astronomy was the correct one.By Dr Paul Murdin, Lesley Murdin Photographs by Paul New. Supernovae Astronomy Murdin Published 1985, Cambridge UniversityPress Science,256 pages,ISBN 052130038X page 18.Godfrey-Smith, Peter. 2003. Theory and reality: an introduction to the philosophy of science. Science and its conceptual foundations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Page 14.

Many theories exist as to why religions sometimes seem to conflict with scientific knowledge. In the case of Christianity, a relevant factor may be that it was among Christians that science in the modern sense was developed. Unlike other religious groups, as early as the 17th century the Christian churches had to deal directly with this new way to investigate nature and seek truth. The perceived conflict between science and Christianity may also be partially explained by a literal interpretation of the Bible adhered to by many Christians, both currently and historically. This way to read the sacred texts became especially prevalent after the rise of the Protestant reformation, with its emphasis on the Bible as the only authoritative source concerning the ultimate reality.Stanley Jaki. Bible and Science, Christendom Press, 1996 (pages 110-111) This view is often shunned by both religious leaders (who regard literally believing it as petty and look for greater meaning instead) and scientists who regard it as an impossibility.

Some Christians have disagreed or are still disagreeing with scientists in areas such as the validity of Kepler's laws of planetary motion, the theory of evolution, the method of creation of the universe and the Earth, and the origins of life. On the other hand, scholars such as Stanley Jaki have suggested that Christianity and its particular worldview was a crucial factor for the emergence of modern science. In fact, most of today's historians are moving away from the view of the relationship between Christianity and science as one of "conflict" - a perspective commonly called the conflict thesis.{{cite book | last = Spitz | first = Lewis | title = (The Rise of modern Europe) The protestant Reformation 1517-1559. | publisher = Harper Torchbooks | date = 1987 | pages = pp 383 | isbn = 0-06-132069-2 The historian of early modern Europe Lewis Spitz says "To set up a 'warfare of science and theology' is an exercise in futility and a reflection of a nineteenth century materialism now happily transcended" -->Quotation: "''The [conflict thesis, at least in its simple form, is now widely perceived as a wholly inadequate intellectual framework within which to construct a sensible and realistic historiography of Western science.''" (p. 7), from the essay by [Colin A. Russell "The Conflict Thesis" on "Gary Ferngren (editor). ''Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-7038-0". Gary Ferngren in his historical volume about Science & Religion states:

{{Quotation|While some historians had always regarded the thesis as oversimplifying and distorting a complex relationship, in the late twentieth century it underwent a more systematic reevaluation. The result is the growing recognition among historians of science that the relationship of religion and science has been much more positive than is sometimes thought. Although popular images of controversy continue to exemplify the supposed hostility of Christianity to new scientific theories, studies have shown that Christianity has often nurtured and encouraged scientific endeavour, while at other times the two have co-existed without either tension or attempts at harmonization. If Galileo and the Scopes trial come to mind as examples of conflict, they were the exceptions rather than the rule.Gary Ferngren (editor). Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-7038-0. (Introduction, p. ix)-->

In the Bahá'í Faith, the Bahá'í Faith and science is a central tenet. The principle states that that truth is one, and therefore true science and true religion must be in harmony, thus rejecting the view that science and religion are in conflict. `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, asserted that science and religion cannot be opposed because they are aspects of the same truth; he also affirmed that reasoning powers are required to understand the truths of religion and that religious teachings which are at variance with science should not be accepted; he explained that religion has to be reasonable since God endowed humankind with reason so that they can discover truth.{{cite book], the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, described science and religion as "the two most potent forces in human life."

Proponents of Hinduism claim that Hinduism is not afraid of scientific explorations, nor of the technological progress of mankind. According to them, there is a comprehensive scope and opportunity for Hinduism to mold itself according to the demands and aspirations of the modern world; it has the ability to align itself with both science and spiritualism. This religion uses some modern examples to explain its ancient theories and reinforce its own beliefs. For example, some Hindu thinkers have used the terminology of quantum physics to explain some basic concepts of Hinduism such as Maya (Hinduism) or the illusory and impermanent nature of our existence.

The philosophical approach known as pragmatism, as propounded by the American philosopher William James, has been used to reconcile scientific with religious knowledge. Pragmatism, simplistically, holds that the truth of a set of beliefs can be indicated by its usefulness in helping people cope with a particular wiktionary:context of life. Thus, the fact that scientific beliefs are useful in predicting observations in the physical world can indicate a certain truth for scientific theories; the fact that religious beliefs can be useful in helping people cope with difficult emotions or moral decisions can indicate a certain truth for those beliefs. (For a similar postmodern view, see grand narrative).

Religion, metaphysics, and cosmology Religion and philosophy meet in several areas, notably in the study of metaphysics and cosmology. In particular, a distinct set of religious beliefs will often entail a specific metaphysics and cosmology. That is, a religion will generally have answers to metaphysical and cosmological questions about the nature of being, of the universe, humanity, and the divine.

Mysticism and esotericism Mysticism, in contrast with philosophy, denies that logic is the most important method of gaining enlightenment. Rather, physical disciplines such as yoga, stringent fasting, whirling (in the case of the Sufi dervishes), or the use of Psychoactive drugs such as LSD, lead to altered states of consciousness that logic can never hope to grasp.

Mysticism (to initiate) is the pursuit of communion with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, the Divinity, Spirituality, or God through direct, personal experience (intuition or insight) rather than rational thought. Mystics speak of the existence of realities behind external perception or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible through personal experience. They say that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge.

Esotericism claims to be more sophisticated than religion, to rely on intellectual understanding rather than faith, and to improve on philosophy in its emphasis on techniques of psycho-spiritual transformation (esoteric cosmology). Esotericism refers to "hidden" knowledge available only to the advanced, privileged, or initiated, as opposed to Exotericism, which is public. It applies especially to spirituality practices. The mystery religions of ancient Greece are examples of Esotericism.

Spirituality Members of an organized religion may not see any significant difference between religion and spirituality. Or they may see a distinction between the mundane, earthly aspects of their religion and its spiritual dimension.

Some individuals draw a strong distinction between religion and spirituality. They may see spirituality as a belief in ideas of religious significance (such as God, the Soul, or Heaven), but not feel bound to the bureaucratic structure and creeds of a particular organized religion. They choose the term spirituality rather than religion to describe their form of belief, perhaps reflecting a disillusionment with organized religion (see #Religion in modernity), and a movement towards a more "modern" — more tolerant, and more intuitive — form of religion. These individuals may reject organized religion because of historical acts by religious organizations, such as Christian Crusades and Islamic Jihad, the marginalisation and persecution of various minorities or the Spanish Inquisition. The basic precept of the Hindu idealism, the Vedas, is the inner reality of existence, which is essentially a spiritual approach to being.

Myth The word myth has several meanings.

A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;

A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or

A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being. Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, p. 22 ISBN 0-385-24774-5

Ancient polytheism religions, such as those of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Scandinavia, are usually categorized under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called "myths" in the anthropology of religion. The term "myth" can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as other people's religions, and religion can be defined as mis-interpreted mythology."Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor. Ed. Eugene Kennedy. New World Library ISBN 1-57731-202-3.

In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group whether or not it is objectively or provably true. Examples include the death and resurrection of Jesus, which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin and is also ostensibly a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old "life" and the start of a new "life" is what is most significant.

shaman, 1988

Cosmology Humans have many different methods which attempt to answer fundamental questions about the nature of the universe and our place in it (cosmology). Religion is only one of the methods for trying to answer one or more of these questions. Other methods include science, philosophy, metaphysics, astrology, esotericism, mysticism, and forms of shamanism, such as the sacred consumption of ayahuasca among Peruvian Amazonia's Urarina. The Urarina have an elaborate animistic cosmological systemBartholomew Dean 1994 "The Poetics of Creation: Urarina Cosmology and Historical Consciousness." Latin American Indian Literatures Journal (10):22-45, which informs their mythology, religious orientation and daily existence.

Given the generalized discontents with modernity, consumerism, over-consumption, violence and anomie, many people in the so-called industrial or post-industrial West rely on a number of distinctive religious worldviews. This in turn has given rise to increased religious pluralism, as well as to what are commonly known in the academic literature as new religious movements, which are gaining ground across the globe.

Criticism Most western criticism of religion focuses on the Abrahamic religions—particularly Christianity, Judaism, and Islam — with titles such as Why I am not a Christian, The God Delusion and The End of Faith representing some popular published books. Not all the criticisms would apply to all religions: criticism regarding the existence of god(s), for example, has very little relevance to some forms of God in Buddhism.

Critics consider all religious faith essentially irrational. The article about religion and irrationality.

Many critics claim dogmatic religions are typically morally deficient, elevating to morality status ancient, arbitrary, and ill-informed rules that may have been designed for reasons of hygiene, politics, or other reasons in a bygone era.Nobel Peace Laureate, Muslim and human rights activist Dr Shirin Ebadi has spoken out against undemocratic Islamic countries justifying "oppressive acts" in the name of Islam. Speaking at the Earth Dialogues 2006 conference in Brisbane, Dr Ebadi said her native Iran as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen "among others" were guilty of human rights violations. "In these countries, Islamic rulers want to solve 21st century issues with laws belonging to 14 centuries ago," she said. "Their views of human rights are exactly the same as it was 1400 years ago."

See also Main lists: List of basic religious topics and List of religious topics

Notes References

Saint Augustine; The Confessions of Saint Augustine (John K. Ryan translator); Image (1960), ISBN 0-385-02955-1.
Descartes, René; Meditations on First Philosophy; Bobbs-Merril (1960), ISBN 0-672-60191-5.
Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); Our Oriental Heritage; MJF Books (1997), ISBN 1-56731-012-5.
Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); Caesar and Christ; MJF Books (1994), ISBN 1-56731-014-1
Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); The Age of Faith; Simon & Schuster (1980), ISBN 0-671-01200-2.
Marija Gimbutas 1989. The Language of the Goddess. Thames and Hudson New York
Gonick, Larry; The Cartoon History of the Universe; Doubleday, vol. 1 (1978) ISBN 0-385-26520-4, vol. II (1994) ISBN#0-385-42093-5, W. W. Norton, vol. III (2002) ISBN 0-393-05184-6.
Haisch, Bernard The God Theory: Universes, Zero-point Fields, and What's Behind It All -- discussion of science vs. religion ( Preface), Red Wheel/Weiser, 2006, ISBN 1-57863-374-5
Lao Tzu; Tao Te Ching (Victor H. Mair translator); Bantam (1998).
Marx, Karl; "Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right", Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, (1844).
Saler, Benson; "Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent Anthropologists, Transcendent Natives, and Unbounded Categories" (1990), ISBN 1-57181-219-9
The Holy Bible, King James Version; New American Library (1974).
The Koran; Penguin (2000), ISBN 0-14-044558-7.
The Origin of Live & Death, African Creation Myths; Heinemann (1966).
Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia; Penguin (1971).
The World Almanac (annual), World Almanac Books, ISBN 0-88687-964-7.
The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences - American Journal of Psychiatry 160:1965-1969, November 2003.
United States Constitution
Selected Work Marcus Tullius Cicero
The World Almanac (for numbers of adherents of various religions), 2005
Religion Edition. Winston King. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 11. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. p7692-7701.
World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective by Andrey Korotayev, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.

On religion definition:

the first major study: Émile Durkheim (1976) The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: George Allen & Unwin (originally published 1915, English translation 1915).
a distillation of the Western folk category of religion: Clifford Geertz. 1993 . Religion as a cultural system. Pp. 87-125 in Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. London: Fontana Press.
an operational definition: Anthony F. C. Wallace 1966. Religion: An Anthropological View. New York: Random House. (p. 62-66)
a recent overview: A Scientific Definition of Religion. By Ph.D. James W. Dow.

External links

Studying Religion - Introduction to the methods and scholars of the academic study of religion
Full-text search engine - Searchable sacred texts of the major World Religions
Guide to World Religions
A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right - Marx's original reference to religion as the opium of the people.
Religious tolerance
The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of “Religion” in International Law Harvard Human Rights Journal article from the President and Fellows of Harvard College(2003)
Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents by Adherents.com (August 28, 2005) Retrieved December 22, 2005
Philosophy and religion - an overview

BBC - Religion
Information about the UK's main religions, daily religion news, audio on demand and the BBC's religious programming.

BBC - Religion & Ethics - Religions
An introduction to many of the religions of the world. Includes Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Rastafari, Paganism, and many others.

Religion Clothing Company

Faith News & Religion | Times Online
Articles and comment about faith issues and religion from The Times and Sunday Times ... Pick up classic Hitchcock thrillers all this week, only in The Times

Oxford Scholarship Online: Subject Area, Religion
Oxford Scholarship Online - a cross-searchable library containing the full text of over 1,350 Oxford books ... Oxford University Press publishes original scholarship in all areas ...

Sociology of Religion
Click on the appropriate area below for information:-

Religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer ...

V&A and The National Archives | The Tudors | Religion
This website looks at aspects of life in Tudor England (court of Henry VIII, leisure, religion, lives of rich and poor, trade and jousting) using original historical documents and ...

Religion

Theology and Religion - Durham University
Offers information on undergraduate and graduate degrees programmes, staff, the University and a photo gallery as well as contact details.