Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems

This unit generally aims to introduce the nature of religion and the Abrahamic faiths
consisting of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These three are generally referred to as Abrahamic
faiths or religions since they all trace their spiritual roots to Abraham’s belief in one God.

Objective of this Module

 Understand the worldview of each of the world’s major religions
 Analyze the culture of the region that gave rise to specific religions
 Explain and describe the core teachings of the major religions

Table of Contents
First Quarter

Lesson 1:
A. How World Religions Began
- Historical Background of Religion
- Elements and Characteristics of Belief System
 - Spirituality and Religiousness
Lesson 2:
A. Relationship of Geography, Culture and Religions
- Historical and Geographical contexts of the different religions.

Lesson 3:
A. Effects of Religion
- Positive and Negative Effect of Religions
Lesson 4:
A. Judaism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Judaism.
Lesson 5:
A. Christianity
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Christianity
Lesson 6:
A. Islam
-Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Islam
B. Comparison of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
- Differences and Similarities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Lesson 7:
A. Hinduism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Hinduism
 Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems

Second Quarter

Lesson 1:
A. Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism
Lesson 2:
A. Confucianism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Confucianism
Lesson 3:
A. Taoism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Taoism
Lesson 4:
A. Shintoism
- Brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues
of Shintoism
 Lesson 1: How World Religions Began

Objectives
1. Explain the etymological meanings of the term religion
2. Identify and explain the key elements of religion
3. Explain the difference between religiousness and spirituality, as well as their relationship
4. Distinguish between god -centered and nongod-centered forms of sacredness
5. Distinguish between theism, atheism, agnosticism and nontheism

 What does the word religion means?

There are at least three closely related accounts on the etymology of the term religion. 
 The term comes from a Latin word that means “to tie or bind”. Some identify this
Latin as religare (Palmer, 2004, 14) while some identify it as religio (Saucier and
Skrzypiska 2006, 1259). In any case, this etymological meaning of religion, to tie or
bind, indicates two objectives of religion: first, to bind humanity and divine together;
and second, to bind humans into a community that is bound with the divine.
 The term religion consists of two Latin words, namely, re, means “again”, and lig-,
means “to join or connect” (Molly 2010). In this context what is being joined again
or being reconnected is humanity and the divine, or the human world and sacred
world. It means religion suggests that there was originally a unity between the human
world and the sacred world which was somehow lost or strained; and religion is the
way for humans to recover or reestablish that unity.
 The word religion derives from the Latin word relegare which literally means “to
tread carefully” and which indicates “respect and care both the natural and
supernatural worlds” (Palmer 2004, 14). This further suggests that a primary
concern of religion is to provide guidance on how humans ought to live.
 Key Elements of Religion
 WORLD VIEW- A coherent and comprehensive belief system. As a coherent set
of beliefs forms a belief system, another way of saying the same is that a
worldview refers to a comprehensive belief system. First, religion consists of
beliefs. Beliefs generally refer to assertions, claims, or thoughts about things that
are held to be true. Beliefs are, strictly speaking, mental states that advance claims
or knowledge about the world, and are expressible in the form of statements.
Examples ore religious beliefs are the beliefs that humans have immortal souls,
 that there is a God or gods, and that there is universal justice in the world in which
wrongdoings shall be appropriately punished and goods actions shall be
appropriately rewarded, if not in this world, in the afterlife. 
 SPIRITUAL WORLD- Religion believes or assumes that there is a spiritual
world or a transcendent reality, in addition to the physical, natural world that we
live in. By spiritual, we simply mean nonphysical or non-natural. As such, the
spiritual world refers to what is sometimes also called the transcendental world or
supernatural world (by “transcendental” and “super”, we mean “outside the
physical or natural”). Being nonphysical, the spiritual world is known or accessed
not by means of scientific methods (generally the methods of sense observation
and quantification), but by other means of knowing such as visions, revelations,
and mystical (or religious) experiences.
 SACREDNESS- Religion regards certain things as sacred. The sacred is
contrasted with the ordinary, profane, or secular. While ordinary things can be
used as mere instruments to satisfy human interests, sacred things are treated with
respect or reverence. Also, the value of an ordinary thing depends on human
interests (it “mind-dependent”), while the value of a sacred thing does not (it is
“mind-independent”). A sacred thing either has its own (intrinsic or inherent)
value or it derives its value from association with a sacred thing which has value
on its own. A typical way of showing respect to sacred things is by following the
ethical codes associated with these things, saying prayers, offering flowers,
tithing, and others. And when respect is accorded by a person to sacred things, the
belief is that this person has done something good which will merit some form of
reward, either in this world or in the world beyond.
 ETHICAL CODES- Religions have ethical or moral codes. It is referring to
guidelines concerning how humans ought to relate to the divine, treat one another,
or behave towards one another, God, gods, and revered teachers (Mabaquiao Jr.,
2017). In some cases, it includes rules about what sorts of food to abstain from
eating generally, what kind of clothes they need to wear on specific events or
occasions, and the like.
 COMMUNITY- A religious belief system is shared and practiced by a
community of believers. The community of believers usually involves an
organization consisting of a hierarchy of authorities. Each level in the hierarchy
has designated rights and duties. How people get to occupy the higher positions
vary in different religions. The ways include revelations, reincarnations, blood
relations, and election by revered members of the religious community.
 SACRED WRITINGS- Divinely inspired texts containing the basic teachings
and sacred stories; the sacred writings of religion contain their doctrines,
prophecies, central stories, and especially their main teachings. They are divinely
inspired. Sacred Writings contents usually revealed by a God or gods through
 chosen messengers. Sometimes the mere recitation of passages in the sacred
writings can already produce religious effects like forgiveness, blessings, power
to overcome sin, spiritual calmness and fear evil spirits. Sometimes, the mere
presence or sight of a sacred writing is enough to produce these religious effects.
 CENTRAL STORIES- Some scholars refer to these stories as “myths”, but due
to a connotation of the term “myth” as being a story that is purely imaginary or
that is historically untrue, we shall use the neutral term “story”. The central stories
of religions include accounts of how the world and the human race (or a chosen
human race) began; how God was personified or manifested in the world; how a
great teacher came to a realization of religious truths or received messages and
instructions from God, the gods, or the heaven; how the important events in the
life of a great teacher came about; and how some actions of faithful followers like
acts of martyrdom became worthy of emulation or sources or religious
inspirations. 
 RITUALS- It include ceremonies that re-enact sacred stories, and different
activities, such as dances and songs that show praise or gratitude to God, gods, or
a revered teacher or prophet.
 ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS- Artistic expressions of religious beliefs in various
art forms such as paintings, music, dance, and architectural design, sculpture,
drama, poetry. A lot of world-renowned artistic works were religiously inspired.
 SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOUSNESS
 Zinnbauer and Pargament (2005) identify two general perspectives or the
relationship between spirituality and religiousness. Both perspectives assume that
religiousness and spirituality are not identical concepts.
 First perspective, it is not possible to be religious and spiritual at the same time. A
religious person, in this regard, is not a spiritual person, and a spiritual person is
not religious person.
 Second perspective maintains that it is possible to be religious and spiritual at the
same time. A religious person can be a spiritual person, and a spiritual person can
be a religious person. What makes them different or not identical is simply that
one is a form or version of the other. That is, either religiousness is a form of
spirituality or spirituality is a form of religiousness.
 Forms of Divine Absolutes
 GOD- CENTERED  SACREDNESS
 The divine absolute usually takes the form of God or gods.
 Considerations:
 Is centered on either the soul, certain principles, or the teachings of a
revered teacher, among others
 Quantity, that is whether there is just one God or there are many gods
 Relation with nature, that is, whether God or the gods exist outside or
within the natural world.
 NON-GOD CENTERED SACREDNESS
 Some religions where the divine absolute does not take the form of a God
or gods. Instead, sacredness is centered on either the soul, certain
principles, or the teachings of a revered teacher, among others.

 Views on the existence of God

 Views on number of God
 THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
 Theology literally means “the study of God”. More specifically, however, it
refers to a systematic study of a religion’s main doctrines. “Theology” is often
used to refer to Christian theology; but it actually also applies to the other
standardly regarded as monotheistic religions, namely, Judaism and Islam.
Consequently, as we have Christian theology, we also have Jewish Theology and
Islamic Theology. With regard to the other religions, their systematic studies are
called philosophies instead of theologies. One obvious reason is that the term
“theology” implies a belief in one God but other religions may not subscribe
either to the belief in God or gods, or to the belief that there is only one God. Thus
we have, for instance, Buddhist philosophy and Hindu philosophy, instead of
Buddhist theology and Hindu theology. We also have Confucian, Taoist, and
Shinto philosophies, instead of Confucian, Taoist, and Shinto theologies
 Philosophy of religion deals with philosophical issues found in religion, which
include among many others, whether we can adequately prove the existence of
God, whether we can adequately reconcile the existence of evil with the existence
of a God who is wholly good and all powerful, whether we can adequately
reconcile God’s omniscience (the power to know everything) and foreknowledge
(the power to know future events) with human freedom, explain the nature of
miracles, and determine the meaningfulness of religious language (how religious
linguistic expressions acquire their meanings).
 Philosophy of religion tries to settle issues in religion by means solely of the
human power of reasoning. This means, among others, justifying its claims by
the coherence of its arguments. Some theologians also engage in philosophy of
religion to show that what is believed by faith can also be demonstrated by
reason.
Exercise 1
Direction: Discuss the following question using 1 paragraph.
Given the three accounts of the etymology of the word “religion”, what do you think it
indicate about the nature or function of religion in human lives?

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Exercise 2
Which among the key elements of religion do you think is the most important and the least
important? List at least 2 elements for each column and explain your answer.

Most Important Least Important

Exercise 3
Direction: Complete the Venn diagram below about the differences and similarities of
Spirituality and Religiousness.

Spirituality Religiousness

REFERENCE:

 Mabaquiao Jr., Napoleon (2017), The Padayon Series Introduction to World Religions
and Belief Systems, Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., Quezon City.