1. Definition of religion: the beliefs or set of beliefs we use
to give meaning to our experience.
Religion cannot be defined as belief in a higher power or as
belief in a Scripture or as a set of practices. Many religions do not have
these features.
Implications of this definition of religion:
i All persons are religious since all persons give meaning to
their experience.
Both theism and atheism are formally paired beliefs which are
used in the same way to interpret experience.
ii Religion is fundamentally cognitive. It has to do with beliefs
which are either true or false.
Religion is not fundamentally mystical/experiential or a set
of social rules.
iii No experience is meaningful without interpretation.
One's basic belief cannot arise from experience.
Experience has meaning when interpreted in light of one's basic
belief using
reason.
iv As truth cannot be separated from meaning so faith cannot
be separated from
reason. It is by reason that meaning is grasped. Reason is the
test for meaning.
Faith grows as understanding grows. Faith is tested as understanding
is tested.
Faith is contrasted with sight; it is not contrasted with reason,
proof or under-
standing.
v No one is fully conscious of or consistent in their basic beliefs.
All have a mixture of the two basic beliefs, with one be more
at one's core.
History is an outworking of the conflict of these two beliefs
in each person, each
culture and in world history.
2. Definition of basic belief.
i Our most basic belief has to do with our most basic concept,
that of eternal existence.
ii There are two basic beliefs: all is eternal and only some
is eternal.
iii None is eternal cannot be held since it implies being came
from non-being.
iv Under 'all is eternal' are the following religions:
Secular Humanism (all is matter, matter is eternal, there is
no spirit or soul.)
Hinduism (all is one, atman is brahman, advaita: the world is
maya/illusion.)
Buddhism (all is dukkha, all is an eternal process)
Dualism (matter and spirit are both eternal: Greek, Persian,
Indian, Mormon)
Taoism, Confucianism and Shintoism
Shamanism (belief in spirits in nature, and magical powers)
v Under 'only some is eternal' or God the creator, are the following
religions:
Judaism (Orthodox, Reformed, Conservative, Reconstruction, Hasidic)
Christianity (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant)
Islam (Sunni, Shi'ia, Sufi)
Deism (God created the world but does not actively rule in the
world.)
3. Definition of 'God'
i In theism, God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchanging
in being, wisdom,
power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
ii In atheism, there is no God as spirit. 'God' has sociological
or psychological meaning only, if at all.
iii In deism, God is creator but not ruler.
iv In pantheism, God is all and all is God.
v In polytheism, there are many gods, each having rule over a
particular function
of nature. Or, the god is connected to the local people.
vi In dualism, God is maker but not creator.
vii In Shamanism, the gods are local spirits or impersonal forces.
4. Levels of religion
i popular
concern for practical and psychological needs
generally unaware of historical creeds.
ii historical
what the best minds have agreed upon after much discussion
This understanding is summed up in the great creeds of the faith.
iii philosophical
addresses questions that have not yet been discussed historically.
addresses questions that remain from the internal and external
challenges.
5. Recent developments in religion: the move from theism to shamanism
i The ongoing conflict between impersonal-natural explanations
and personal-
supernatural explanations beginning with the Greeks.
ii The shift from the Dark Ages and Medieval Christianity to
the Renaissance and
the Reformation.
iii The development of science from theism and from the Reformation
view of work.
iv The shift to deism and the extension of natural explanations;
the collapse of the
Old Order in the revolutionary period.
v The naturalism of Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud.
vi The miracles of technology and the trust in science.
vii World War I, World War II, The Cold War and the collapse
of Modernism:
post-colonialism and post-modernism.
6. Meaning, faith and reason in popular religion:
i liberals and conservatives
ii fundamentalism and literalism
iii the concept of hell - 4 contrasts
iv the concept of heaven - 4 contrasts
v the concept of the second coming of Christ - 4 contrasts
7. Meaning, faith and reason in science, religion and philosophy:
i Does the soul exist?
ii Creation and Evolution - geology
iii Creation and Evolution - biology
iv Creation and Evolution - astronomy
v Creation and Evolution - theistic evolution
© Surrendra Gangadean