The Origins of Religion (Adapted)
Then and Now
If you lived in the United States of America 50 years ago, you could conceivably have
moved from the beginning of the year to its end without encountering someone whose
religious tradition differed markedly from the one that was most familiar to you. But, if
you live in the United States of America today, you are likely to supervise, be supervised
by, meet on a social basis, or even suddenly find yourself related to someone who
pursues a religious tradition that seems bewilderingly different from your own. In an
earlier era, unfamiliar religious systems could be dismissed as “foreign” and left for the
scholars to explore. In this era, that is usually not a realistic option.
Why does religion exist?
An evident answer is that it serves many human needs. One of those primary needs has to
deal with our mortality. Because we and our loved ones must die, we have to face the
pain of death and the inevitable questions to bring about whether there is any soul,
afterlife, or rebirth. People often look to religion for the answers. Religion can help us
cope with death, and
religious rituals can offer
comfort. Human beings
also desire good health, a
regular supply of food,
and the conditions
necessary to ensure these
things…
Human beings are
also social by nature, and
religion offers
companionship and the
fulfillment that can come
from belonging to a group.
More over, religion often
provides a way to care for
the needy.
Human beings have a need to seek out and create artistic forms of expression.
Religion stimulates art, music, and dance, and has been the inspirational source of some
of the most imaginative buildings in the world. Religion not only makes use of multiple
arts but also integrates them into a living, often beautiful whole.
Perhaps the most basic function of religion is to respond to our natural wonder
about ourselves and the cosmos – our musings on a starry night. Religion helps us relate
to the unknown universe around us by answering the basic questions of who we are,
where we come from, and where we are going.
Why study religion?
Students embarking upon a study of the religions of the world, whether for a semester, a
year, or a lifetime, must question their reasons. After all, we have been told that religion
is a personal matter and that although we should be informed about the nature of our own
religion, the religion of others need scarcely concern us. ..The subject can be worth
studying simply because the student is interested in it. Certainly anyone interested in the
history of the world and in better understanding his or her own culture will find the study
of the world’s religions imperative. Also, religion permeates many other areas of study.
An art historian studying the art of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe will
examine picture after picture and find that it is filled with religious themes. Indeed, we
could not understand the art of 90 percent of the world’s cultures without knowing the
religious themes of those cultures. Likewise, the student of world literature must know
religions. We cannot comprehend the “Bhagavad Gita”(the main literature of India)
without a knowledge of Hinduism nor can we cannot truly grasp Hermann Hesse’s
Siddhartha without a knowledge of Buddhism.
Perhaps the greatest contribution that knowledge of the world religions
can make to a citizen of the twenty-first century is in the area of world politics. Religion
plays an increasingly important role in political conflict at home and abroad. At the time
of this writing, as at almost any other time in history, major political conflicts have
religious differences at their roots. Religious differences are fundamental to debates
concerning civil rights, abortion, and gender relations in the contemporary United States.
In other parts of the world, Catholic Christians war against Protestant Christians; Hindus
battle Muslims; Buddhists battle Hindus; Sikhs and Hindus are engaged in bloody
confrontation; Muslims are at war against Christians; and Jews struggle with Muslims.
Certainly, these conflicts have other dimensions, but the religious differences are
imposing. If we are to fully understand these conflicts, we must know that Muslims,
Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists have basic philosophical differences and that
religion can be a source of conflict as well as understanding. Another reason to study the
various faiths of the world is that the ways they influence, mirror, and support one
another are quite simply, fascinating. Sometimes, the true nature of a particular religious
tradition can come into clearest focus when a seeker within that faith examines another
tradition with a nonjudgmental approach and learning about the ways in which the
world’s faiths reinforce one another can be very fulfilling.
Furthermore, the world of the twenty-first century pushes us out of our insulated
worlds into closer and closer contact with what were formerly considered exotic and
distant religions. Television brings instant coverage of events in formerly remote parts of
the earth. Industrialization brings use together in urban centers. The fastest-growing
religion in the world is Islam, due to the influx of immigrants from Turkey, Arabia, Iran
and Pakistan, as well as internal conversion. The largest concentration of Hindus outside
of India is found in Leicester, England; New York City has a larger Jewish population
than the nation of Israel. Hollywood figures proclaim their conversion to Buddhism and
pop stars to Islam. Dance clubs play CDs recorded by Sufi devotional singers. Whereas
the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslims, or Orthodox Jew may once have seemed a distant and
exotic person, known only through books or movies, that person today may well be our
neighbor, our co-worker, or a student in our classes. One simply cannot be a wellinformed citizen of this era without a knowledge of the religions of the world.
A Definition of Religions
The English word religion is derived from the Latin word religio, which refers to
the fear or awe one feels in
the presence of a spirit or
god. In Western cultures,
we tend to define religion
in terms of a set of beliefs
having to do with the gods,
through which one is taught
a moral system. Although
this definition contains
elements that are found
within many of the
religions of the world, it
cannot do justice to them
all. For example, some
religions recognize
existence of gods but
actually have very little to do with them. Jainism and, to some extent some forms of
Buddhism may be called atheistic religions because their emphasis is on people’s
delivering themselves from their plight without the help of gods. Some religions are not
naturally tied to moral systems. Most of the religions that have existed on earth have
probably been far more concerned with humanity’s proper relationship to gods, demons,
and spirits, worldly prosperity, and well-being than with ethical relations among people.
One distinctive characteristic of the religion of the early Hebrews was the ethical
dimension their God required of them. Similar concerns can be found in Buddhism,
Hinduism, and other religions that have a broad, universal appeal. Modern adherents to
these religions associate the word religion with the word moral, but among most religions
these terms are not synonymous.
Directions: After completing the reading, answer the following questions.
1) Why does religion exist? (Give several examples).
2) According to the article, why should you be taking this class? (Give several examples).
3) Define the word religion.
4) Now, put it all together – What is religion?