Global Studies
Honors
World Religion Comparison
Unit
Mrs. Hoffnagle
August 2015
Some terms….
Belief: A "belief" is an attitude or idea
that motivates a person to act.
Deity: "Deity" is a general term for a
god or goddess.
Faith: The term "faith" is closely
associated with Protestant Christian
attitudes toward religion because it
implies that religions are sets of beliefs.
Holy Books: The term "holy books" refers
to texts that are considered as
authoritative or sacred within a
tradition. Holy books can be written,
oral, or both.
Ritual: The term "ritual" refers to a
system of actions and beliefs. A ritual
has several stages, generally including
a distinctive beginning, middle, and
end, as well as pre-ritual and post-ritual
stages.
Tradition: The term "tradition" refers to
the transmission of received practices,
customs, and knowledge. In some
religions, traditions refer primarily to holy
books; in others, to religious practices;
in still others, "tradition" refers to both
holy books and religious practices.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/religious_studies.html
Mehndi
According to
religioustolerance.org:
 Religion
is any specific system of belief
about deity, often involving rituals, a code
of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a
worldview.
Common Factors:
 Belief
in something sacred (gods, texts,
etc.)
 Distinction between sacred and profane
objects
 Ritual acts focused on sacred objects
 Moral code believed to have a sacred or
supernatural basis
 Characteristically religious feelings (awe,
guilt) which tend to surface in the
presence of sacred objects and during
the practice of ritual.
Factors (continued)
 Prayer
and other forms of communication
with the supernatural
 A worldview or general picture of the
world and how the individual fits into it
 Organization of one’s life based upon
worldview
 A social group bound by the above
What is religion?
Assignment:




Read over the positions on religion.
Part I - Pick a position that you feel either best suits
your personal definition of what religion is or one
that is most opposite of your personal definition.
Part 2 – Pick a position that you feel best describes
how the majority of people in the world feel about
religion. This may be different from your own view.
Part 3 – Take a look at your religion and think
about the shared factors of religion. Can you cite
examples of each from your own personal
experience. If you are not a religious person, try to
think about a religion that you are familiar with.