What is Religion? Class 1 lecture

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What is Religion?
Module 1PHIL 220

Welcome to class! The following information should give you a general idea of how the
class is run, and what you need to do to get a good grade

Phil 220 Grading Details:
50% Attendance, participation and homework
15% Analysis Paper
15% Journal
20% Exams

You will have homework due at the beginning of each class, and often your homework will include questions
from the assigned readings. These questions will be graded. I have 3 categories for which I give daily
points:
-4 points for participation (which means actively engaging in class by speaking, commenting, discussing and
asking questions)
-1 point for attending
- Up to 5 points for homework (which means having it done at the beginning of class and being able to use it
as a basis for discussion). I accept only typed homework.
Each class will begin with a discussion of the homework questions, usually in small groups—
so you really need to keep up with the reading to get points for participation and
homework!

Be sure to check our class Canvas page after every class—it is the final word on what is happening in
our class!
I will post the homework due the following class in pdf format after every class. If you miss a
class, you will find homework for the following week on our class page. If you will be absent, your
homework is still due at the beginning of class. You can send it to me via Canvas.
If you need to speak with me personally, arrange to meet me during my office hours.
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Course Equipment
 The Textbook: The Illustrated World's
Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom
Traditions by Huston Smith
Publisher: HarperOne;–buy this used on the
web!
 There is a textbook on reserve in the library.
 One notebook, can be a composition notebook
or a spiral notebook, and one glue stick or
stapler.
 The ability to use Canvas—the school online
system—if you need help please let me know!
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Put your precious away,
please!
A June 2016 study from U T Austin shows the mere presence of one’s smartphone
reduces available cognitive capacity and impairs cognitive functioning, even though
people feel they’re giving their full attention and focus to the task at hand.

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Introductions
Please introduce your classmate by interviewing her or him
(take notes) and telling us:
Their name and major at CCC.
Why they are taking the course (blunt honesty is fine!)
What they would like to learn in the class.
One thing they have never done but would like to do
(the sky is the limit: dream large)!

Why study religion? What do we mean by
‘comparative religions’?
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Tools used to study religion
Cultural Anthropology: comparing religious beliefs and practices across
cultures.
Sociology, History, Archeology, Theory, Depth Psychology, Literary
Analysis, etc.
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What Religions Do:
They attempt to answer these questions
and challenges:
What Is ultimate reality, or the fundamental power in
all reality or the absolute nature of things?
How should we live in this world?
What is our ultimate purpose? What are we here for,
what is our life goal?

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Activity 1
Consensus definitions:
Discuss your group’s assigned term, and create a consensus definition
from your brains!! Elect one person to write the definition on the board,
and comment on the differences and agreements that led to your
definition.
Group 1: Define the term religion.
Group 2: Define the term sacred.
Group 3: Define the term myth.
Group 4: Define the term spirituality.
Group 5: Define the term ritual.

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What is religion?
Religion is often defined as ‘to join again’ or ‘to reconnect.’
Religion suggests a joining of our natural and human world to the ‘sacred’ world.

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What is religion?
‘Spiritual Path’ can sometimes be used as a substitute for the word religion, especially for
some Asian religions.
How do the terms ‘religion’ and ‘spiritual path’ differ in meaning to you—discuss with
classmate and be ready to share!

Classroom etiquette and being ‘woke’
 Our class is based on mutual respect. What one person holds
sacred may not be true for another. Showing respect is putting
another person’s dignity over your own need to express an
opinion.
 If we are woke we inspect ourselves and others for racial and
gender bias—and in this class religious bias.
 A person being overtly racist, sexist or ‘religionist’ is being
threatening– CCC’s rules state I have to drop you!
 Here’s what I tell my kids to say: “Don’t say that to me, don’t do
that to me. I hate it.”
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Belief system:
Several beliefs fit together into an
understanding of the universe and
the human being’s place in it; also
called a worldview, doctrine or
philosophy.What is your belief
system? Describe to another
student.
Community:
The belief system is shared, and its
ideals are practiced by a group.
(Social or institutional). Are you a
member of this kind of community?

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Stories
Central Myths:
Stories that express religious
beliefs (like major events of
a life story) are retold and
reenacted. Examples?
Rituals:
Beliefs enacted and made real
through ceremonies.
Examples?

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Ethics
Rules about human behavior, either revealed from a supernatural realm, and/or as
socially generated guidelines.
Share an ethical rule that you follow in your own life with a classmate.

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Emotional Experiences
Religious experiences can evoke awe, mystery, devotion,
conversion, “rebirth,” liberation, ecstasy, bliss, inner peace, guilt
and dread.
Have you experienced any of these feelings during a religious
ceremony?

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Material expressions:
Objects like statues, paintings, music (including chants), flowers, incense, clothing,
architecture, and specific locations.
Any religious or spiritual material expressions you find meaningful?

The ‘isms’
ism– a suffix denoting action, practice, state or condition, principles,
doctrines, devotion or adherence.
Mono (one) theos (deity, God) + ism =
Monotheism, the doctrine or belief there is one God.
ology- a suffix meaning a field of study.
Theo (god) + ology = Theology, the study of the nature of God and
religious belief.
Please get out your notebook and write Journal entry 1 on top of the
page.
As we go through the various religious doctrines, note which ones ‘speak
to’ or resonate with your own spiritual and religious beliefs and briefly
state why.
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Monotheism: belief in one God
Monotheists believe God is a just, compassionate, omnipotent divine being with
will and intelligence.
Monotheists believe the reality of God is beyond categories: God is pure spirit,
not definable in words, powerful, active in the world but also distinct from it: God
is transcendent.
Transcendent: unlimited by the world and all ordinary reality.

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Monotheism
Some monotheists view the sacred reality as more like an energy or mysterious
power. The sacred is then spoken of as something immanent within the
universe.
Some monotheists believe God is both immanent and transcendent.

The belief that the sacred reality
takes the form of many coexisting
gods and goddesses.
The multiple deities may be
separate, each in charge of an
aspect of reality (love, nature).
Which polytheistic traditions are you
familiar with?

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Polytheism or Henotheism?
Henotheism: the worship of one
deity while admitting the
possibility of other deities.
In Hinduism God is seen as one
divine energy having many
faces: gods, goddesses and
humans like Krishna, Buddha,
Jesus, Muhammed, and us.
Religious scholars call Hinduism
a henotheistic religion.

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Pantheism
The belief the universe is a sacred manifestation; nothing is separate from the
sacred.
Everything shares the same spiritual essence. The sacred is discoverable in the
physical world and its processes.
Nature is holy.

Panentheism
Panentheism (meaning "all-in-God”) is the belief that the divine interpenetrates every
part of the universe and extends beyond it.
What’s the difference?
While pantheism asserts that 'All is God', panentheism goes further to claim that God is
greater than the universe.
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Paganism
Paganism encompasses a diverse community: some groups
concentrate on specific traditions, practices or elements such as
ecology, witchcraft, Celtic traditions, or certain goddesses or
gods.
Wiccans, Druids, Sacred Ecologists and others make up part of
the community.
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Animism
Animism: the belief there is
no separation between the
physical and spiritual world.
Animists believe that
everything has a distinct
soul or spirit: animals,
rocks, trees, rivers, clouds,
people.

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Animism and Pantheism: the differences
What’s the difference between animism and pantheism?
Animists put more emphasis on the individual spirit of each thing.
Pantheists think everything shares the same spiritual essence, so all is
unified, there are no distinct spirits.

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Atheism, Agnosticism, Non-theism
Atheism: The belief there is no
God or gods/ goddesses. (A =
no, theos=God or god/esses).
Agnosticism: The belief that
the existence of God cannot be
proven.
Non-theism: No position on if
God exists or not.

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Activity 2
With your partner, please read the faith statements on your handouts and
decide which kind of belief system the statement represents. You might
detect overlap of the doctrines!!
Monotheist Atheist Polytheist Non-theist
Animist Henotheist Pantheist Agnostic
Panentheist– write a faith statement that reflects this doctrine!

Sacramental: Rituals and
ceremonies performed regularly
and correctly as the path to
salvation; some religions believe
rituals influence the processes of
nature. Examples?
Prophetic orientation: Proper
belief and adherence to moral
rules ensures contact with God.
Examples?
A human can be the intermediary
between the believer and the sacred; a
prophet may speak to believers
on behalf of the sacred.
Examples?
Note in your journal which orientation(s) appeal to you.

Mystical orientation: A mystic
seeks union with a reality greater
than oneself, such as with God,
nature, the universe, or reality as a
whole.
Techniques like meditation,
chanting, dance or hallucinogens
are used for lessening the sense of
one’s individual identity to
experience a greater unity.
We call this an ecstatic state.
Note in your journal which
orientation(s) appeal to you.

1.Share your example of religion being used by an oppressor to
make people feel better about being poor and exploited.
Share your example of religion being used to better the status of
those who are poor and exploited.
2. Durkheim says the key feature of religion is a distinction between
the sacred (things set apart, forbidden, that inspire feelings of awe
and the profane (things that have no social significance). Describe
a sacred thing that inspires awe in you.
‘Isms’ review and activity from last week’s handout.
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The first peace, which is the
most important, is that which
comes within the souls of
people when they realize
their relationship, their
oneness, with the universe
and all its powers, and when
they realize that at the
center of the universe dwells
Wakan-Taka (the Great
Spirit), and that this center is
really everywhere, it is within
each of us.
Black Elk,( n.d), TheTrue Peace,retrieved from First People, http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Wisdom/BlackElk.html
[Untitled photograph of Black Elk]. Retrieved Feb. 28,2012, from: , http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Wisdom/BlackElk.html
[

With your partner, identify which of the following beliefs and belief systems are
contained in Black Elk’s worldview. Be prepared to support your answers!
Monotheism, Polytheism, Animism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Henotheism,
Pantheism, Non-theism Sacramental orientation, Prophetic orientation
Mystical orientation
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within
the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness,
with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the
center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this
center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”

For Functionalists, society is a system of parts of social institutions, such as religion, the family and
the economy.
Society is like an organism, with basic needs that it must meet in order to survive. Needs are met by
different institutions, each performs certain functions.
For Functionalists social consensus- shared norms and values which one follows, makes social order.
Religious institutions take a part in creating social solidarity and value consensus.

Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Émile Durkheim are foundational
thinkers for religious studies, although their explanations are
functionalist.

For Freud, religion is wish-fulfillment.
Freud thought that the adoption of religion
is a reversion to childish patterns of
thought in response to feelings of
helplessness and guilt.
We feel a need for security and
forgiveness, and so invent a source of
security and forgiveness: God.
Religion is seen as a childish delusion,
and atheism as a grown-up realism.
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For Marx, economics is the basis of all of human life and history — generating division of labor, class
struggle, and all the social institutions which are supposed to maintain the status quo. Marx thought all
institutions important in our daily lives — marriage, church, government, arts, etc. — can only be truly
understood when examined in relation to economic forces.
Marx thought religion is one of those social institutions dependent upon material and economic realities in
a given society. It has no independent history but is instead the creature of productive forces. As Marx
wrote, “The religious world is but the reflex of the real world.”
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To Marx, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society.
Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make
people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and
exploited.
This is the origin of his comment that religion is the “opium of the masses” —but his
thoughts are much more complex than commonly portrayed.
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For Durkheim, the key feature of religion is a distinction
between the sacred (things set apart, forbidden, that
inspire feelings of awe, or and are surrounded by taboos
and prohibitions) and the profane (things that have no
social significance) which is found in all religions.
Examples?
A religion involves rituals or practices that are collective-
performed by social groups. Those rituals reinforce social
norms.
Durkheim thought powerful feelings in believers indicates
their sacred symbols represent something of great power,
but the symbols aren’t religious—they are societal.
Durkheim suggested that when one worships the sacred
symbols, people are worshiping society itself, uniting
believers into a single moral community.

What is Religion? Class 1 lecture

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