fbpx
Wikipedia

Religion

May 18, 2023

This article is about a cultural system of behaviors, practices and ethics. For other uses, see Religion (disambiguation). "Religious" redirects here. For the term describing a type of monk or nun, see Religious (Western Christianity). Not to be confused with Religious denomination.

Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements[1]—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.[2][3] Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine,[4] sacredness,[5] faith,[6] and a supernatural being or beings.[7]

Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, matrimonial and funerary services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance or public service. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred texts, symbols and holy places, that primarily aim to give life meaning. Religions may contain symbolic tales that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena; some followers believe these to be true stories. Traditionally, both faith and reason have been considered sources of religious beliefs.[8]

There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide,[9] though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—account for over 77% of the world's population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious,[10] meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists, and agnostics, although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs.[11] A portion of the population, mostly located in Africa and Asia, are members of new religious movements.[12] Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having generally higher birth rates.[13]

The study of religion comprises a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for its origins and workings, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief.[14]

Etymology and history of concept

 
The Buddha, Laozi, and Confucius in a Ming dynasty painting
 
"Three laughs at Tiger Brook", a Song dynasty (12th century) painting portraying three men representing Confucianism, Taoism (Daoism), and Buddhism laughing together

Etymology

See also: History of Religion

The term religion comes from both Old French and Anglo-Norman (1200s AD) and means respect for sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity, what is sacred, reverence for the gods.[15][16] It is ultimately derived from the Latin word religiō. According to Roman philosopher Cicero, religiō comes from relegere: re (meaning "again") + lego (meaning "read"), where lego is in the sense of "go over", "choose", or "consider carefully". Contrarily, some modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell have argued that religiō is derived from religare: re (meaning "again") + ligare ("bind" or "connect"), which was made prominent by St. Augustine following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones, IV, 28.[17][18] The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece, of a knight 'of the religion of Avys'".[19]

Religiō

Main article: Religio

In classic antiquity, religiō broadly meant conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation, or duty to anything.[20] In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religiō was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts; never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge.[21][22] In general, religiō referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family, neighbors, rulers, and even towards God.[23] Religiō was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods, but as a range of general emotions which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context such as hesitation, caution, anxiety, or fear, as well as feelings of being bound, restricted, or inhibited.[24] The term was also closely related to other terms like scrupulus (which meant "very precisely"), and some Roman authors related the term superstitio (which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame) to religiō at times.[24] When religiō came into English around the 1200s as religion, it took the meaning of "life bound by monastic vows" or monastic orders.[19][23] The compartmentalized concept of religion, where religious and worldly things were separated, was not used before the 1500s.[23] The concept of religion was first used in the 1500s to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities; the Peace of Augsburg marks such instance,[23] which has been described by Christian Reus-Smit as "the first step on the road toward a European system of sovereign states."[25]

Roman general Julius Caesar used religiō to mean "obligation of an oath" when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors.[26] Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder used the term religiō to describe the apparent respect given by elephants to the night sky.[27] Cicero used religiō as being related to cultum deorum (worship of the gods).[28]

Threskeia

In Ancient Greece, the Greek term threskeia (θρησκεία) was loosely translated into Latin as religiō in late antiquity. Threskeia was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in the writings of Josephus in the 1st century AD. It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others, to cultic practices. It was often contrasted with the Greek word deisidaimonia, which meant too much fear.[29]

History of the concept of the "religion"

See also: Timeline of religion

Religion is modern concept.[30] The concept was invented recently in the English language and is found texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalization in the Age of Exploration, which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non-European languages.[21][22][31] Some argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non-Western cultures,[32][33] while some followers of various faiths rebuke using the word to describe their own belief system.[34]

The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries,[35][36] despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written.[37][38] For example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.[39] One of its central concepts is halakha, meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law, which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life.[40] Even though the beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world, ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals.[41] In the 1st century AD, Josephus had used the Greek term ioudaismos (Judaism) as an ethnic term and was not linked to modern abstract concepts of religion or a set of beliefs.[3] The very concept of "Judaism" was invented by the Christian Church,[42] and it was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity.[41] The Greek word threskeia, which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus, is found in the New Testament. Threskeia is sometimes translated as "religion" in today's translations, but the term was understood as generic "worship" well into the medieval period.[3] In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up to the mid-1600s translators expressed din as "law".[3]

The Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion,[43] also means law. Throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power.[44][45]

Though traditions, sacred texts, and practices have existed throughout time, most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and world religions first entered the English language.[46][47][48] Native Americans were also thought of as not having religions and also had no word for religion in their languages either.[47][49] No one self-identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s.[50] "Hindu" has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.[51][52] Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of religion since there was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this idea.[53][54]

According to the philologist Max Müller in the 19th century, the root of the English word religion, the Latin religiō, was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety (which Cicero further derived to mean diligence).[55][56] Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law.[57]

Definition

Main article: Definition of religion

Scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. There are, however, two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.[58][59][60][61][62]

Modern Western

The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West.[33] Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages.[3][23] Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition.[63][64] Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.[32][33]

An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion.[65] They observe that the way the concept today is used is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside the West (or even in the West until after the Peace of Westphalia).[66] The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states:

The very attempt to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode, what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurately, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when downgraded culturally, is formative of the dichotomous Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity and all else, between the creator and his creation, between God and man.[67]

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a

... system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."[68]

Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that

... we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is accomplished. We just know that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it.[69]

The theologian Antoine Vergote took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency. He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion, which he defined as

... the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings.[7]

Peter Mandaville and Paul James intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence/transcendence, spirituality/materialism, and sacredness/secularity. They define religion as

... a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.[70]

According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions, there is an experiential aspect to religion which can be found in almost every culture:

... almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences ... toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience—varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture.[71]

Classical

 
Budazhap Shiretorov (Будажап Цыреторов), the head shaman of the religious community Altan Serge (Алтан Сэргэ) in Buryatia

Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl, commonly translated as "the feeling of absolute dependence".[72]

His contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit."[73]

Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings".[74] He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".[4] By the term divine James meant "any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not"[75] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.[76]

Sociologist Émile Durkheim, in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, defined religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".[5] By sacred things he meant things "set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them". Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.[note 1] On the contrary, a sacred thing can be "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred".[77] Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them.[78]

Echoes of James' and Durkheim's definitions are to be found in the writings of, for example, Frederick Ferré who defined religion as "one's way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively".[79] Similarly, for the theologian Paul Tillich, faith is "the state of being ultimately concerned",[6] which "is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man's spiritual life."[80]

When religion is seen in terms of sacred, divine, intensive valuing, or ultimate concern, then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g., those made by Richard Dawkins) do not necessarily disturb its adherents.[81]

Aspects

Beliefs

Main article: Religious beliefs

Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs, have been a subject of interest to philosophers and theologians.[8] The origin of religious belief as such is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams.[82]

Mythology

Main article: Mythology

The word myth has several meanings.

  1. A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;
  2. A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or
  3. A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being.[83]

Ancient polytheistic religions, such as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, are usually categorized under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as other people's religions, and religion can be defined as misinterpreted mythology."[84]

In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group, whether or not it is objectively or provably true.[85] Examples include the resurrection of their real-life founder Jesus, which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.

Practices

Main articles: Religious behaviour and Cult (religious practice)

The practices of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity (god or goddess), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, religious music, religious art, sacred dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture.[86]

Social organisation

Religions have a societal basis, either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants, or with an organized clergy, and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership.

Academic study

Main articles: Religious studies and Classifications of religious movements

A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion: theology, comparative religion, history of religion, evolutionary origin of religions, anthropology of religion, psychology of religion (including neuroscience of religion and evolutionary psychology of religion), law and religion, and sociology of religion.

Daniel L. Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion, focusing on various aspects of religion: animism and magic, by E.B. Tylor and J.G. Frazer; the psycho-analytic approach of Sigmund Freud; and further Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, and Clifford Geertz.[87]

Michael Stausberg gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion, including cognitive and biological approaches.[88]

Theories

Main article: Theories of religion

Sociological and anthropological theories of religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion.[89] These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of religious belief and practice.

Origins and development

Main article: History of religion
 
The Yazılıkaya sanctuary in Turkey, with the twelve gods of the underworld

The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices.

According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success—and many movements come and go with little long-term effect—has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement."[90]

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places, religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies.[91]

Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune."[91]

Cultural system

While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who simply called it a "cultural system".[92] A critique of Geertz's model by Talal Asad categorized religion as "an anthropological category".[93] Richard Niebuhr's (1894–1962) five-fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture, however, indicates that religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems, though with some interplay.[94]

Social constructionism

Main article: Social constructionism

One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.[95] Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, and Jason Ānanda Josephson. The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures.

Cognitive science

Main article: Cognitive science of religion
Further information: Religion and schizophrenia

Cognitive science of religion is the study of religious thought and behavior from the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences.[96] The field employs methods and theories from a very broad range of disciplines, including: cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive anthropology, artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology, zoology, and ethology. Scholars in this field seek to explain how human minds acquire, generate, and transmit religious thoughts, practices, and schemas by means of ordinary cognitive capacities.

Hallucinations and delusions related to religious content occurs in about 60% of people with schizophrenia. While this number varies across cultures, this had led to theories about a number of influential religious phenomena and possible relation to psychotic disorders. A number of prophetic experiences are consistent with psychotic symptoms, although retrospective diagnoses are practically impossible.[97][98][99] Schizophrenic episodes are also experienced by people who do not have belief in gods.[100]

Religious content is also common in temporal lobe epilepsy, and obsessive–compulsive disorder.[101][102] Atheistic content is also found to be common with temporal lobe epilepsy.[103]

Comparativism

Main article: Comparative religion

Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world's religions. In general, the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics, and the nature and form of salvation. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.[104]

In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification[105] of the main world religions includes Middle Eastern religions (including Zoroastrianism and Iranian religions), Indian religions, East Asian religions, African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.[105]

Classification

Main article: History of religion

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called world religions. Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories:

  1. world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international religions;
  2. indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and
  3. new religious movements, which refers to recently developed religions.[106]

Some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited.[107][108][109] The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms (i.e. religions).[110][clarification needed]

Morphological classification

Some scholars classify religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Jainism, while ethnic religions are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts.[111][112] Others reject the distinction, pointing out that all religious practices, whatever their philosophical origin, are ethnic because they come from a particular culture.[113][114][115]

Demographic classification

Main articles: Major religious groups and List of religious populations

The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5.8 billion people and 84% of the population, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism (with the relative numbers for Buddhism and Hinduism dependent on the extent of syncretism) and traditional folk religion.

Five largest religions 2015 (billion)[116] 2015 (%) Demographics
Christianity 2.3 31.2% Christianity by country
Islam 1.8 24.1% Islam by country
Hinduism 1.1 15.1% Hinduism by country
Buddhism 0.5 6.9% Buddhism by country
Folk Religion 0.4 5.7%
Total 6.1 83% Religions by country

A global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59% of the world's population identified as religious, 23% as not religious, 13% as convinced atheists, and also a 9% decrease in identification as religious when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.[117] A follow-up poll in 2015 found that 63% of the globe identified as religious, 22% as not religious, and 11% as convinced atheists.[118] On average, women are more religious than men.[119] Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for syncretism.[120][121][122] A 2017 Pew projection suggests that Islam will overtake Christianity as the plurality religion by 2075. Unaffiliated populations are projected to drop, even when taking disaffiliation rates into account, due to differences in birth rates.[123][124]

Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having higher birth rates in general.[125]

Specific religions

Main article: List of religions and spiritual traditions

Abrahamic

 
The patriarch Abraham (by József Molnár)

Abrahamic religions are monotheistic religions which believe they descend from Abraham.

Judaism

Main article: Judaism
 
The Torah is the primary sacred text of Judaism.

Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, originating in the people of ancient Israel and Judah.[126] The Torah is its foundational text, and is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. It is supplemented by oral tradition, set down in written form in later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah; historically, this assertion was challenged by various groups. The Jewish people were scattered after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Today there are about 13 million Jews, about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States.[127] The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism (Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism), Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism.[126]

Christianity

 
Jesus is the central figure of Christianity.

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1st century) as presented in the New Testament.[128] The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ,[128] the Son of God, and as Savior and Lord. Almost all Christians believe in the Trinity, which teaches the unity of Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. Most Christians can describe their faith with the Nicene Creed. As the religion of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe during the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated throughout the world via missionary work.[129][130][131] It is the world's largest religion, with about 2.3 billion followers as of 2015.[132] The main divisions of Christianity are, according to the number of adherents:[133]

There are also smaller groups, including:

Islam

 
Muslims circumambulating the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam

Islam is a monotheistic[134] religion based on the Quran,[134] one of the holy books considered by Muslims to be revealed by God, and on the teachings (hadith) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE. Islam is based on the unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the Abrahamic prophets of Judaism, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions before Muhammad. It is the most widely practiced religion of Southeast Asia, North Africa, Western Asia, and Central Asia, while Muslim-majority countries also exist in parts of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Europe. There are also several Islamic republics, including Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania, and Afghanistan.

  • Sunni Islam is the largest denomination within Islam and follows the Qur'an, the ahadith (ar: plural of Hadith) which record the sunnah, whilst placing emphasis on the sahabah.
  • Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam and its adherents believe that Ali succeeded Muhammad and further places emphasis on Muhammad's family.
  • There are also Muslim revivalist movements such as Muwahhidism and Salafism.

Other denominations of Islam include Nation of Islam, Ibadi, Sufism, Quranism, Mahdavia, and non-denominational Muslims. Wahhabism is the dominant Muslim schools of thought in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Other

Whilst Judaism, Christianity and Islam are commonly seen as the only three Abrahamic faiths, there are smaller and newer traditions which lay claim to the designation as well.[135]

 
The Baháʼí Lotus Temple in Delhi

For example, the Baháʼí Faith is a new religious movement that has links to the major Abrahamic religions as well as other religions (e.g. of Eastern philosophy). Founded in 19th-century Iran, it teaches the unity of all religious philosophies[136] and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as additional prophets (Buddha, Mahavira), including its founder Bahá'u'lláh. It is an offshoot of Bábism. One of its divisions is the Orthodox Baháʼí Faith.[137]: 48–49 

Even smaller regional Abrahamic groups also exist, including Samaritanism (primarily in Israel and the State of Palestine), the Rastafari movement (primarily in Jamaica), and Druze (primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel). The Druze faith originally developed out of Isma'ilism, and it has sometimes been considered an Islamic school by some Islamic authorities, but Druze themselves do not identify as Muslims.[138][139][140] Mandaeism, sometimes also known as Sabianism (after the mysterious Sabians mentioned in the Quran, a name historically claimed by several religious groups),[141] is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion.[142]: 4 [143]: 1  Its adherents, the Mandaeans, consider John the Baptist to be their chief prophet.[142] Mandaeans are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity.[144]

East Asian

Main article: East Asian religions

East Asian religions (also known as Far Eastern religions or Taoic religions) consist of several religions of East Asia which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese), Dō (in Japanese or Korean) or Đạo (in Vietnamese). They include:

Taoism and Confucianism

 
The Temple of Heaven, a Taoist temple complex in Beijing
  • Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.

Folk religions

Indian religions

Indian religions are practiced or were founded in the Indian subcontinent. They are sometimes classified as the dharmic religions, as they all feature dharma, the specific law of reality and duties expected according to the religion.[145]

Hinduism

 
Folk depiction of Ganesha in Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal, Udaipur, India

Jainism

 
The 10th century Gommateshwara statue in Karnataka

Buddhism

 
Wat Mixay Buddhist shrine in Vientiane, Laos

Sikhism

 
An 1840 miniature of Guru Nanak
  • Sikhism is a panentheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Sikh gurus in 15th-century Punjab. It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 30 million Sikhs.[155][156] Sikhs are expected to embody the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī—a saint-soldier, have control over one's internal vices and be able to be constantly immersed in virtues clarified in the Guru Granth Sahib. The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith in Waheguru—represented by the phrase ik ōaṅkār, meaning one God, who prevails in everything, along with a praxis in which the Sikh is enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings.

Indigenous and folk

 
Chickasaw Native cultural/religious dancing
 
Peyotists with their ceremonial tools
 
Altay shaman in Siberia
 
Temple to the city god of Wenao in Magong, Taiwan

Indigenous religions or folk religions refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by shamanism, animism and ancestor worship, where traditional means "indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…".[157] These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe; they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts.[158] Some faiths are syncretic, fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices.[159]

Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e.g. in China.[158]

Traditional African

 
Shango, the Orisha of fire, lightning, and thunder, in the Yoruba religion, depicted on horseback
Main article: Traditional African religion
Further information: African diasporic religions

African traditional religion encompasses the traditional religious beliefs of people in Africa. In West Africa, these religions include the Akan religion, Dahomey (Fon) mythology, Efik mythology, Odinani, Serer religion (A ƭat Roog), and Yoruba religion, while Bushongo mythology, Mbuti (Pygmy) mythology, Lugbara mythology, Dinka religion, and Lotuko mythology come from central Africa. Southern African traditions include Akamba mythology, Masai mythology, Malagasy mythology, San religion, Lozi mythology, Tumbuka mythology, and Zulu mythology. Bantu mythology is found throughout central, southeast, and southern Africa. In north Africa, these traditions include Berber and ancient Egyptian.

There are also notable African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, such as Santeria, Candomble, Vodun, Lucumi, Umbanda, and Macumba.

 
Sacred flame at the Ateshgah of Baku

Iranian

Iranian religions are ancient religions whose roots predate the Islamization of Greater Iran. Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities.

Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster in the 6th century BCE. Zoroastrians worship the creator Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrianism, good and evil have distinct sources, with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda, and good trying to sustain it.

Kurdish religions include the traditional beliefs of the Yazidi,[160][161] Alevi, and Ahl-e Haqq. Sometimes these are labeled Yazdânism.

New religious movements

Main article: New religious movement
See also: List of new religious movements

Related aspects

Law

Main article: Law and religion

The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since 1980.[175] Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non-establishment, but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective.[176][177] Specialists have explored themes in Western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, and discipline and love.[178] Common topics of interest include marriage and the family[179] and human rights.[180] Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East[181] and pagan Rome.[182]

Studies have focused on secularization.[183][184] In particular, the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.[185]

Science

Main articles: Faith and rationality, Relationship between religion and science, and Epistemology

Science acknowledges reason and empirical evidence; and religions include revelation, faith and sacredness whilst also acknowledging philosophical and metaphysical explanations with regard to the study of the universe. Both science and religion are not monolithic, timeless, or static because both are complex social and cultural endeavors that have changed through time across languages and cultures.[186]

The concepts of science and religion are a recent invention: the term religion emerged in the 17th century in the midst of colonization and globalization and the Protestant Reformation.[3][21] The term science emerged in the 19th century out of natural philosophy in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature (natural science),[21][187][188] and the phrase religion and science emerged in the 19th century due to the reification of both concepts.[21] It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged.[21] In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin roots of both science (scientia) and religion (religio) were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues, never as doctrines, practices, or actual sources of knowledge.[21]

In general the scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers cosmological questions about the universe that can be observed and measured. It develops theories of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement, or even rejection, in the face of additional evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as de facto verities in general parlance, such as the theories of general relativity and natural selection to explain respectively the mechanisms of gravity and evolution.

Religion does not have a method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures and it is an attempt to find meaning in the world, and to explain humanity's place in it and relationship to it and to any posited entities. In terms of Christian theology and ultimate truths, people rely on reason, experience, scripture, and tradition to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe. Furthermore, religious models, understanding, and metaphors are also revisable, as are scientific models.[189]

Regarding religion and science, Albert Einstein states (1940): "For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.[190] Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action; it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts[190]…Now, even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determine the goals, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up."[191]

Morality

Main article: Morality and religion

Many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. These include the Triple Jems of Jainism, Judaism's Halacha, Islam's Sharia, Catholicism's Canon Law, Buddhism's Eightfold Path, and Zoroastrianism's good thoughts, good words, and good deeds concept, among others.[192]

Religion and morality are not synonymous. While it is "an almost automatic assumption,"[193] in Christianity, morality can have a secular basis.

The study of religion and morality can be contentious due to ethnocentric views on morality, failure to distinguish between in group and out group altruism, and inconsistent definitions of religiosity.

Politics

Impact

Main article: Religion in politics

Religion has had a significant impact on the political system in many countries.[194] Notably, most Muslim-majority countries adopt various aspects of sharia, the Islamic law.[195] Some countries even define themselves in religious terms, such as The Islamic Republic of Iran. The sharia thus affects up to 23% of the global population, or 1.57 billion people who are Muslims. However, religion also affects political decisions in many western countries. For instance, in the United States, 51% of voters would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who did not believe in God, and only 6% more likely.[196] Christians make up 92% of members of the US Congress, compared with 71% of the general public (as of 2014). At the same time, while 23% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, only one member of Congress (Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona), or 0.2% of that body, claims no religious affiliation.[197] In most European countries, however, religion has a much smaller influence on politics[198] although it used to be much more important. For instance, same-sex marriage and abortion were illegal in many European countries until recently, following Christian (usually Catholic) doctrine. Several European leaders are atheists (e.g. France's former president Francois Hollande or Greece's prime minister Alexis Tsipras). In Asia, the role of religion differs widely between countries. For instance, India is still one of the most religious countries and religion still has a strong impact on politics, given that Hindu nationalists have been targeting minorities like the Muslims and the Christians, who historically[when?] belonged to the lower castes.[199] By contrast, countries such as China or Japan are largely secular and thus religion has a much smaller impact on politics.

Secularism

Main articles: Secularism and Secularization
 
Ranjit Singh established secular rule over Punjab in the early 19th century.

Secularization is the transformation of the politics of a society from close identification with a particular religion's values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions. The purpose of this is frequently modernization or protection of the population's religious diversity.

Economics

Main article: Economics of religion
Further information: Religion and business and Wealth and religion
 
Average income correlates negatively with (self-defined) religiosity.[117]

One study has found there is a negative correlation between self-defined religiosity and the wealth of nations.[200] In other words, the richer a nation is, the less likely its inhabitants to call themselves religious, whatever this word means to them (Many people identify themselves as part of a religion (not irreligion) but do not self-identify as religious).[200]

Sociologist and political economist Max Weber has argued that Protestant Christian countries are wealthier because of their Protestant work ethic.[201] According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of the total global wealth (while making up only about 20% of the world population, see section on classification).[202]

Health

Main article: Impacts of religion on health

Mayo Clinic researchers examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality, and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes.[203] The authors reported that: "Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide."[204]

The authors of a subsequent study concluded that the influence of religion on health is largely beneficial, based on a review of related literature.[205] According to academic James W. Jones, several studies have discovered "positive correlations between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity."[206]

An analysis of data from the 1998 US General Social Survey, whilst broadly confirming that religious activity was associated with better health and well-being, also suggested that the role of different dimensions of spirituality/religiosity in health is rather more complicated. The results suggested "that it may not be appropriate to generalize findings about the relationship between spirituality/religiosity and health from one form of spirituality/religiosity to another, across denominations, or to assume effects are uniform for men and women.[207]

Violence

Main article: Religious violence
See also: Islam and violence, Christianity and violence, and Judaism and violence

Critics such as Hector Avalos,[208] Regina Schwartz,[209] Christopher Hitchens,[210][page needed] and Richard Dawkins[211][page needed] have argued that religions are inherently violent and harmful to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders.

Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent, arguing "religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical." He asserts that "violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion" and that "virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary."[212][213]

Animal sacrifice

Main article: Animal sacrifice

Some (but not all) religions practise animal sacrifice, the ritual killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a deity. It has been banned in India.[214]

Superstition

Further information: Superstition, Magical thinking, and Magic and religion

Greek and Roman pagans, who saw their relations with the gods in political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods (deisidaimonia), as a slave might fear a cruel and capricious master. The Romans called such fear of the gods superstitio.[215] Ancient Greek historian Polybius described superstition in ancient Rome as an instrumentum regni, an instrument of maintaining the cohesion of the Empire.[216]

Superstition has been described as the non-rational establishment of cause and effect.[217] Religion is more complex and is often composed of social institutions and has a moral aspect. Some religions may include superstitions or make use of magical thinking. Adherents of one religion sometimes think of other religions as superstition.[218][219] Some atheists, deists, and skeptics regard religious belief as superstition.

The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110). "Superstition," it says, "is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22" (para. #2111)

Agnosticism and atheism

Main articles: Atheism, Agnosticism, Irreligion, Antireligion, and Humanism
See also: Criticism of atheism

The terms atheist (lack of belief in any gods) and agnostic (belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods), though specifically contrary to theistic (e.g. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) religious teachings, do not by definition mean the opposite of religious. There are religions (including Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism), in fact, that classify some of their followers as agnostic, atheistic, or nontheistic. The true opposite of religious is the word irreligious. Irreligion describes an absence of any religion; antireligion describes an active opposition or aversion toward religions in general.

Interfaith cooperation

Main article: Interfaith dialogue

Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse,[220] many religious practitioners[who?][221] have aimed to band together in interfaith dialogue, cooperation, and religious peacebuilding. The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the World's Religions at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which affirmed universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures.[222] The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with Christian–Jewish reconciliation representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.[223]

Recent interfaith initiatives include A Common Word, launched in 2007 and focused on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together,[224] the "C1 World Dialogue",[225] the Common Ground initiative between Islam and Buddhism,[226] and a United Nations sponsored "World Interfaith Harmony Week".[227][228]

Culture

Culture and religion have usually been seen as closely related.[43] Paul Tillich looked at religion as the soul of culture and culture as the form or framework of religion.[229] In his own words:

Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning-giving substance of culture, and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself. In abbreviation: religion is the substance of culture, culture is the form of religion. Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture. Every religious act, not only in organized religion, but also in the most intimate movement of the soul, is culturally formed.[230]

Ernst Troeltsch, similarly, looked at culture as the soil of religion and thought that, therefore, transplanting a religion from its original culture to a foreign culture would actually kill it in the same manner that transplanting a plant from its natural soil to an alien soil would kill it.[231] However, there have been many attempts in the modern pluralistic situation to distinguish culture from religion.[232] Domenic Marbaniang has argued that elements grounded on beliefs of a metaphysical nature (religious) are distinct from elements grounded on nature and the natural (cultural). For instance, language (with its grammar) is a cultural element while sacralization of language in which a particular religious scripture is written is more often a religious practice. The same applies to music and the arts.[233]

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of religion

Criticism of religion is criticism of the ideas, the truth, or the practice of religion, including its political and social implications.[234]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ That is how, according to Durkheim, Buddhism is a religion. "In default of gods, Buddhism admits the existence of sacred things, namely, the four noble truths and the practices derived from them" Durkheim 1915
  2. ^ Hinduism is variously defined as a religion, set of religious beliefs and practices, religious tradition etc. For a discussion on the topic, see: "Establishing the boundaries" in Gavin Flood (2003), pp. 1–17. René Guénon in his Introduction to the Study of the Hindu doctrines (1921 ed.), Sophia Perennis, ISBN 0-900588-74-8, proposes a definition of the term religion and a discussion of its relevance (or lack of) to Hindu doctrines (part II, chapter 4, p. 58).

References

  1. ^ "Religion – Definition of Religion by Merriam-Webster". from the original on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  2. ^ Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). "Myth 1: All Societies Have Religions". 50 Great Myths of Religion. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 12–17. ISBN 978-0-470-67350-8.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Nongbri, Brent (2013). Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15416-0.
  4. ^ a b James 1902, p. 31.
  5. ^ a b Durkheim 1915.
  6. ^ a b Tillich, P. (1957) Dynamics of faith. Harper Perennial; (p. 1).
  7. ^ a b Vergote, A. (1996) Religion, Belief and Unbelief. A Psychological Study, Leuven University Press. (p. 16)
  8. ^ a b Swindal, James (April 2010). "Faith and Reason". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. from the original on 31 January 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  9. ^ African Studies Association; University of Michigan (2005). History in Africa. Vol. 32. p. 119.
  10. ^ "The Global Religious Landscape". 18 December 2012. from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Religiously Unaffiliated". The Global Religious Landscape. Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life. 18 December 2012. from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2022. The religiously unaffiliated include atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs.
  12. ^ Eileen Barker, 1999, "New Religious Movements: their incidence and significance", New Religious Movements: challenge and response, Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell editors, Routledge ISBN 0-415-20050-4
  13. ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2006). "3 – Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns". In Martin, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. pp. 47–66. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521842700.004. ISBN 978-1-13900-118-2.
  14. ^ James, Paul (2018). "What Does It Mean Ontologically to Be Religious?". In Stephen Ames; Ian Barns; John Hinkson; Paul James; Gordon Preece; Geoff Sharp (eds.). Religion in a Secular Age: The Struggle for Meaning in an Abstracted World. Arena Publications. pp. 56–100. from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  15. ^ Harper, Douglas. "religion". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  16. ^ "Religion" Oxford English Dictionary https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/161944 3 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ In The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light. Toronto. Thomas Allen, 2004. ISBN 0-88762-145-7
  18. ^ In The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers, ed. Betty Sue Flowers, New York, Anchor Books, 1991. ISBN 0-385-41886-8
  19. ^ a b Huizinga, Johan (1924). The Waning of the Middle Ages. Penguin Books. p. 86.
  20. ^ "Religio". Latin Word Study Tool. Tufts University. from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g Harrison, Peter (2015). The Territories of Science and Religion. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-18448-7.
  22. ^ a b Roberts, Jon (2011). "10. Science and Religion". In Shank, Michael; Numbers, Ronald; Harrison, Peter (eds.). Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-226-31783-0.
  23. ^ a b c d e Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). "Myth 1: All Societies Have Religions". 50 Great Myths about Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 12–17. ISBN 978-0-470-67350-8.
  24. ^ a b Barton, Carlin; Boyarin, Daniel (2016). "1. 'Religio' without "Religion"". Imagine No Religion : How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities. Fordham University Press. pp. 15–38. ISBN 978-0-8232-7120-7.
  25. ^ Reus-Smit, Christian (April 2011). "Struggles for Individual Rights and the Expansion of the International System". International Organization. 65 (2): 207–242. doi:10.1017/S0020818311000038. ISSN 1531-5088. S2CID 145668420.
  26. ^ Caesar, Julius (2007). "Civil Wars – Book 1". The Works of Julius Caesar: Parallel English and Latin. Translated by McDevitte, W.A.; Bohn, W.S. Forgotten Books. pp. 377–378. ISBN 978-1-60506-355-3. Sic terror oblatus a ducibus, crudelitas in supplicio, nova religio iurisiurandi spem praesentis deditionis sustulit mentesque militum convertit et rem ad pristinam belli rationem redegit." – (Latin); "Thus the terror raised by the generals, the cruelty and punishments, the new obligation of an oath, removed all hopes of surrender for the present, changed the soldiers' minds, and reduced matters to the former state of war."- (English)
  27. ^ Pliny the Elder. "Elephants; Their Capacity". The Natural History, Book VIII. Tufts University. from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021. maximum est elephans proximumque humanis sensibus, quippe intellectus illis sermonis patrii et imperiorum obedientia, officiorum quae didicere memoria, amoris et gloriae voluptas, immo vero, quae etiam in homine rara, probitas, prudentia, aequitas, religio quoque siderum solisque ac lunae veneratio." "The elephant is the largest of them all, and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man. It understands the language of its country, it obeys commands, and it remembers all the duties which it has been taught. It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, and equity; it has a religious respect also for the stars, and a veneration for the sun and the moon."
  28. ^ Cicero, De natura deorum Book II, Section 8.
  29. ^ Barton, Carlin; Boyarin, Daniel (2016). "8. Imagine No 'Threskeia': The Task of the Untranslator". Imagine No Religion : How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities. Fordham University Press. pp. 123–134. ISBN 978-0-8232-7120-7.
  30. ^ Pasquier, Michael (2023). Religion in America: The Basics. Routledge. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0367691806. Religion is a modern concept. It is an idea with a history that developed, most scholars would agree, out of the social and cultural disruptions of Renaissance and Reformation Europe. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, at a time of unprecedented political transformation and scientific innovation, it became possible for people to differentiate between things religious and things not religious. Such a dualistic understanding of the world was simply not available in such clear terms to ancient and medieval Europeans, to say nothing of people from the continents of North America, South America, Africa, and Asia.
  31. ^ Harrison, Peter (1990). 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89293-3.
  32. ^ a b Dubuisson, Daniel (2007). The Western Construction of Religion: Myths, Knowledge, and Ideology. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8756-7.
  33. ^ a b c Fitzgerald, Timothy (2007). Discourse on Civility and Barbarity. Oxford University Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-19-530009-3.
  34. ^ Smith, Wilfred Cantwell (1963). The Meaning and End of Religion. New York: MacMillan. pp. 125–126.
  35. ^ Nongbri, Brent (2013). Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept. Yale University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-300-15416-0. Although the Greeks, Romans, Mesopotamians, and many other peoples have long histories, the stories of their respective religions are of recent pedigree. The formation of ancient religions as objects of study coincided with the formation of religion itself as a concept of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  36. ^ Harrison, Peter (1990). 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-521-89293-3. That there exist in the world such entities as 'the religions' is an uncontroversial claim...However, it was not always so. The concepts 'religion' and 'the religions', as we presently understand them, emerged quite late in Western thought, during the Enlightenment. Between them, these two notions provided a new framework for classifying particular aspects of human life.
  37. ^ Nongbri, Brent (2013). "2. Lost in Translation: Inserting "Religion" into Ancient Texts". Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15416-0.
  38. ^ Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). 50 Great Myths about Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-470-67350-8. Many languages do not even have a word equivalent to our word 'religion'; nor is such a word found in either the Bible or the Qur'an.
  39. ^ Hershel Edelheit, Abraham J. Edelheit, History of Zionism: A Handbook and Dictionary 24 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3, citing Solomon Zeitlin, The Jews. Race, Nation, or Religion? (Philadelphia: Dropsie College Press, 1936).
  40. ^ Whiteford, Linda M.; Trotter II, Robert T. (2008). Ethics for Anthropological Research and Practice. Waveland Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4786-1059-5. from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  41. ^ a b Burns, Joshua Ezra (2015). "3. Jewish ideologies of Peace and Peacemaking". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-1-118-95342-6.
  42. ^ Boyarin, Daniel (2019). Judaism: The Genealogy of a Modern Notion. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-7161-4.
  43. ^ a b "14.1A: The Nature of Religion". Social Sci LibreTexts. 15 August 2018. from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  44. ^ Kuroda, Toshio (1996). Translated by Jacqueline I. Stone. (PDF). Japanese Journal of Religious Studies: 23.3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  45. ^ Neil McMullin. Buddhism and the State in Sixteenth-Century Japan. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1984.
  46. ^ Harrison, Peter (2015). The Territories of Science and Religion. University of Chicago Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-226-18448-7. The first recorded use of "Boudhism" was 1801, followed by "Hindooism" (1829), "Taouism" (1838), and "Confucianism" (1862) (see figure 6). By the middle of the nineteenth century these terms had secured their place in the English lexicon, and the putative objects to which they referred became permanent features of our understanding of the world.
  47. ^ a b Josephson, Jason Ananda (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. University of Chicago Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-226-41234-4. The early nineteenth century saw the emergence of much of this terminology, including the formation of the terms Boudhism (1801), Hindooism (1829), Taouism (1839), Zoroastri-anism (1854), and Confucianism (1862). This construction of "religions" was not merely the production of European translation terms, but the reification of systems of thought in a way strikingly divorced from their original cultural milieu. The original discovery of religions in different cultures was rooted in the assumption that each people had its own divine "revelation," or at least its own parallel to Christianity. In the same period, however, European and American explorers often suggested that specific African or Native American tribes lacked religion altogether. Instead these groups were reputed to have only superstitions and as such they were seen as less than human.
  48. ^ Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). 50 Great Myths about Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-470-67350-8. The phrase "World Religions" came into use when the first Parliament of the World's Religions was held in Chicago in 1893. Representation at the Parliament was not comprehensive. Naturally, Christians dominated the meeting, and Jews were represented. Muslims were represented by a single American Muslim. The enormously diverse traditions of India were represented by a single teacher, while three teachers represented the arguably more homogenous strains of Buddhist thought. The indigenous religions of the Americas and Africa were not represented. Nevertheless, since the convening of the Parliament, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism have been commonly identified as World Religions. They are sometimes called the "Big Seven" in Religious Studies textbooks, and many generalizations about religion have been derived from them.
  49. ^ Rhodes, John (January 1991). "An American Tradition: The Religious Persecution of Native Americans". Montana Law Review. 52 (1): 13–72. In their traditional languages, Native Americans have no word for religion. This absence is very revealing.
  50. ^ Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). 50 Great Myths about Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-470-67350-8. Before the British colonized India, for example, the people there had no concept "religion" and no concept "Hinduism." There was no word "Hindu" in classical India, and no one spoke of "Hinduism" until the 1800s. Until the introduction of that term, Indians identified themselves by any number of criteria—family, trade or profession, or social level, and perhaps the scriptures they followed or the particular deity or deities upon whose care they relied in various contexts or to whom they were devoted. But these diverse identities were united, each an integral part of life; no part existed in a separate sphere identified as "religious." Nor were the diverse traditions lumped together under the term "Hinduism" unified by sharing such common features of religion as a single founder, creed, theology, or institutional organization.
  51. ^ Pennington, Brian K. (2005), Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion, Oxford University Press, pp. 111–118, ISBN 978-0-19-803729-3, from the original on 17 December 2019, retrieved 5 August 2018
  52. ^ Lloyd Ridgeon (2003). Major World Religions: From Their Origins to the Present. Routledge. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-134-42935-6. It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient, and in a sense this is true ... . It was formed by adding the English suffix -ism, of Greek origin, to the word Hindu, of Persian origin; it was about the same time that the word Hindu, without the suffix -ism, came to be used mainly as a religious term. ... The name Hindu was first a geographical name, not a religious one, and it originated in the languages of Iran, not of India. ... They referred to the non-Muslim majority, together with their culture, as 'Hindu'. ... Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion, the word came to have religious implications, and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion. ... However, it is a religious term that the word Hindu is now used in English, and Hinduism is the name of a religion, although, as we have seen, we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us.
  53. ^ Josephson, Jason Ananda (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1, 11–12. ISBN 978-0-226-41234-4.
  54. ^ Zuckerman, Phil; Galen, Luke; Pasquale, Frank (2016). "2. Secularity around the World". The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies. Oxford University Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-19-992494-3. It was only in response to Western cultural contact in the late nineteenth century that a Japanese word for religion (shukyo) came into use. It tends to be associated with foreign, founded, or formally organized traditions, particularly Christianity and other monotheisms, but also Buddhism and new religious sects.
  55. ^ Max Müller, Natural Religion, p. 33, 1889
  56. ^ "Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary". from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  57. ^ Max Müller (1870). Introduction to the Science of Religion: Four Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution with Two Essays on False Analogies, and the Philosophy of Mythology. p. 28.
  58. ^ Vgl. Johann Figl: Handbuch Religionswissenschaft: Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, ISBN 3-7022-2508-0, S. 65.
  59. ^ Julia Haslinger: Die Evolution der Religionen und der Religiosität, s. Literatur Religionsgeschichte, S. 3–4, 8.
  60. ^ Johann Figl: Handbuch Religionswissenschaft: Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, ISBN 3-7022-2508-0, S. 67.
  61. ^ In: Friedrich Schleiermacher: Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der evangelischen Kirche. Berlin 1821/22. Neuausg. Berlin 1984, § 3/4. Zit. nach: Walter Burkert: Kulte des Altertums. Biologische Grundlagen der Religion. 2. Auflage. C.H. Beck, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-43355-9, S. 102.
  62. ^ Peter Antes: Religion, religionswissenschaftlich. In: EKL Bd. 3, Sp. 1543. S. 98.
  63. ^ McKinnon, AM. 2002. "Sociological Definitions, Language Games and the 'Essence' of Religion" 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, vol 14, no. 1, pp. 61–83.
  64. ^ Josephson, Jason Ānanda. (2012) The Invention of Religion in Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 257
  65. ^ McKinnon, A.M. (2002). "Sociological definitions, language games, and the 'essence' of religion" (PDF). Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. 14 (1): 61–83. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.613.6995. doi:10.1163/157006802760198776. hdl:2164/3073. ISSN 0943-3058. (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  66. ^ Smith, Wilfred Cantwell (1978). The Meaning and End of Religion. New York: Harper and Row.
  67. ^ King, W.L. (2005). "Religion (First Edition)". In Eliade, Mircea (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference US. p. 7692.
  68. ^ Geertz 1993, pp. 87–125.
  69. ^ Geertz 1993, p. 90.
  70. ^ James, Paul & Mandaville, Peter (2010). Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions. London: Sage Publications. from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  71. ^ MacMillan Encyclopedia of religions, Religion, p. 7695
  72. ^ Finlay, Hueston E. (2005). "'Feeling of absolute dependence' or 'absolute feeling of dependence'? A question revisited". Religious Studies. 41: 81–94. doi:10.1017/S0034412504007462. S2CID 170541390.
  73. ^ Max Müller. "Lectures on the origin and growth of religion."
  74. ^ Tylor, E.B. (1871) Primitive Culture: Researches Into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. Vol. 1. London: John Murray; (p. 424).
  75. ^ James 1902, p. 34.
  76. ^ James 1902, p. 38.
  77. ^ Durkheim 1915, p. 37.
  78. ^ Durkheim 1915, pp. 40–41.
  79. ^ Frederick Ferré, F. (1967) Basic modern philosophy of religion. Scribner, (p. 82).
  80. ^ Tillich, P. (1959) Theology of Culture. Oxford University Press; (p. 8).
  81. ^ Pecorino, P.A. (2001) Philosophy of Religion. Online Textbook 19 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Philip A. Pecorino.
  82. ^ Zeigler, David (January–February 2020). "Religious Belief from Dreams?". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 44, no. 1. Amherst, NY: Center for Inquiry. pp. 51–54.
  83. ^ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, p. 22 ISBN 0-385-24774-5
  84. ^ Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor. Ed. Eugene Kennedy. New World Library ISBN 1-57731-202-3.
  85. ^ "myth". Encyclopædia Britannica. from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  86. ^ Oxford Dictionaries 8 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine mythology, retrieved 9 September 2012
  87. ^ Pals 2006.
  88. ^ Stausberg 2009.
  89. ^ Segal 2005, p. 49
  90. ^ Monaghan, John; Just, Peter (2000). Social & Cultural Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-19-285346-2.
  91. ^ a b Monaghan, John; Just, Peter (2000). Social & Cultural Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-19-285346-2.
  92. ^ Clifford Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System, 1973
  93. ^ Talal Asad, The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category, 1982.
  94. ^ Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1951) as cited by Domenic Marbaniang, "The Gospel and Culture: Areas of Conflict, Consent, and Conversion", Journal of Contemporary Christian Vol. 6, No. 1 (Bangalore: CFCC, Aug 2014), ISSN 2231-5233 pp. 9–10
  95. ^ Vergote, Antoine, Religion, belief and unbelief: a psychological study, Leuven University Press, 1997, p. 89
  96. ^ Barrett, Justin L. (2007). "Cognitive Science of Religion: What Is It and Why Is It?". Religion Compass. 1 (6): 768–786. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00042.x. from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  97. ^ Nicholson, PT (2014). "Psychosis and paroxysmal visions in the lives of the founders of world religions". The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 26 (1): E13–14. doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.12120412. PMID 24515692.
  98. ^ Murray, ED; Cunningham, MG; Price, BH (2012). "The role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered". The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 24 (4): 410–426. doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11090214. PMID 23224447.
  99. ^ Weber, SR; Pargament, KI (September 2014). "The role of religion and spirituality in mental health". Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 27 (5): 358–363. doi:10.1097/YCO.0000000000000080. PMID 25046080. S2CID 9075314.
  100. ^ Reina, Aaron (July 2014). "Faith Within Atheism". Schizophrenia Bulletin. 40 (4): 719–720. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt076. PMC 4059423. PMID 23760918.
  101. ^ Favazza, A. "Psychiatry and Spirituality". In Sadock, B; Sadock, V; Ruiz, P (eds.). Kaplan and Sadocks Comprehensive Texbook of Psychiatry (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
  102. ^ Altschuler, EL (2004). "Temporal lobe epilepsy in the priestly source of the Pentateuch". South African Medical Journal. 11 (94): 870. PMID 15587438.
  103. ^ Heilman, Kenneth M.; Valenstein, Edward (2011). Clinical Neuropsychology. Oxford University Press. p. 488. ISBN 978-0-19-538487-1. Studies that claim to show no difference in emotional makeup between temporal lobe and other epileptic patients (Guerrant et al., 1962; Stevens, 1966) have been reinterpreted (Blumer, 1975) to indicate that there is, in fact, a difference: those with temporal lobe epilepsy are more likely to have more serious forms of emotional disturbance. This typical personality of temporal lobe epileptic patient has been described in roughly similar terms over many years (Blumer & Benson, 1975; Geschwind, 1975, 1977; Blumer, 1999; Devinsky & Schachter, 2009). These patients are said to have a deepening of emotions; they ascribe great significance to commonplace events. This can be manifested as a tendency to take a cosmic view; hyperreligiosity (or intensely professed atheism) is said to be common.
  104. ^ "Human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, and divine" Encyclopædia Britannica (online, 2006), cited after "Definitions of Religion". Religion facts. from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  105. ^ a b "Charles Joseph Adams, Classification of religions: geographical, Encyclopædia Britannica". from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  106. ^ Harvey, Graham (2000). Indigenous Religions: A Companion. (Ed: Graham Harvey). London and New York: Cassell. p. 6.
  107. ^ Brian Kemble Pennington Was Hinduism Invented? New York: Oxford University Press US, 2005. ISBN 0-19-516655-8
  108. ^ Russell T. McCutcheon. Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001.
  109. ^ Nicholas Lash. The beginning and the end of 'religion'. Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-521-56635-5
  110. ^ Joseph Bulbulia. "Are There Any Religions? An Evolutionary Explanation." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 17.2 (2005), pp. 71–100
  111. ^ Park, Chris (2005). "Religion and Geography". In Hinnells, John R. (ed.). The Routledge companion to the study of religion. Routledge. pp. 439–440. ISBN 978-0-415-33311-5. from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  112. ^ Flügel, Peter (2005). "The Invention of Jainism: A Short History of Jaina Studies" (PDF). International Journal of Jaina Studies. 1 (1): 1–14. (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  113. ^ Timothy Fitzgerald. The Ideology of Religious Studies. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2000.
  114. ^ Craig R. Prentiss. Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity. New York: NYU Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8147-6701-X
  115. ^ Tomoko Masuzawa. The Invention of World Religions, or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. ISBN 0-226-50988-5
  116. ^ "Christians are the largest religious group in 2015". Pew Research Center. from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  117. ^ a b (PDF). WIN-Gallup International. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  118. ^ (PDF). WIN/Gallup International. WIN/Gallup International. 13 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2015.
  119. ^ "Women More Religious Than Men". Livescience.com. 28 February 2009. from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  120. ^ Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers – p. 77, Christian Smith, Melina Lundquist Denton – 2005
  121. ^ "Christ in Japanese Culture: Theological Themes" in Shusaku Endo's Literary Works, Emi Mase-Hasegawa – 2008
  122. ^ New poll reveals how churchgoers mix eastern new age beliefs 22 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 26 July 2013
  123. ^ "Islam set to become world's largest religion by 2075, study suggests". The Guardian. 5 April 2017. from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  124. ^ "The Changing Global Religious Landscape". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 5 April 2017. from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  125. ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2006). "3 - Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns". In Martin, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. pp. 47–66. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521842700.004. ISBN 978-1139001182.
  126. ^ a b "Judaism | Definition, Origin, History, Beliefs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  127. ^ (PDF). www.cbs.gov.il. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  128. ^ a b "Christianity | Definition, Origin, History, Beliefs, Symbols, Types, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  129. ^ Muslim-Christian Relations. Amsterdam University Press. 2006. ISBN 978-90-5356-938-2. from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2007. The enthusiasm for evangelization among the Christians was also accompanied by the awareness that the most immediate problem to solve was how to serve the huge number of new converts. Simatupang said, if the number of the Christians were double or triple, then the number of the ministers should also be doubled or tripled and the role of the laity should be maximized and Christian service to society through schools, universities, hospitals and orphanages, should be increased. In addition, for him the Christian mission should be involved in the struggle for justice amid the process of modernization.
  130. ^ Fred Kammer (2004). Doing Faith Justice. Paulist Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-8091-4227-9. from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2007. Theologians, bishops, and preachers urged the Christian community to be as compassionate as their God was, reiterating that creation was for all of humanity. They also accepted and developed the identification of Christ with the poor and the requisite Christian duty to the poor. Religious congregations and individual charismatic leaders promoted the development of a number of helping institutions-hospitals, hospices for pilgrims, orphanages, shelters for unwed mothers-that laid the foundation for the modern "large network of hospitals, orphanages and schools, to serve the poor and society at large."
  131. ^ Christian Church Women: Shapers of a Movement. Chalice Press. March 1994. ISBN 978-0-8272-0463-8. from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2007. In the central provinces of India they established schools, orphanages, hospitals, and churches, and spread the gospel message in zenanas.
  132. ^ "World's largest religion by population is still Christianity". Pew Research Center. from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  133. ^ a b c "Christianity". HISTORY. from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  134. ^ a b "Islam". HISTORY. from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  135. ^ Massignon 1949, pp. 20–23
  136. ^ a b "What Bahá'ís Believe | The Bahá'í Faith". www.bahai.org. from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  137. ^ Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin (1992). Rosen, Roger (ed.). The illustrated encyclopedia of active new religions, sects, and cults (1st ed.). New York: Rosen Pub. Group. ISBN 978-0-8239-1505-7.
  138. ^ James Lewis (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Prometheus Books. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  139. ^ "Are the Druze People Arabs or Muslims? Deciphering Who They Are". Arab America. Arab America. 8 August 2018. from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  140. ^ De McLaurin, Ronald (1979). The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East. Michigan University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-03-052596-4. Theologically, one would have to conclude that the Druze are not Muslims. They do not accept the five pillars of Islam. In place of these principles the Druze have instituted the seven precepts noted above.
  141. ^ De Blois, François (1960–2007). "Ṣābiʾ". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0952. Van Bladel, Kevin (2017). From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004339460. ISBN 978-90-04-33943-9. from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022. p. 5.
  142. ^ a b Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). "Part I: Beginnings – Introduction: The Mandaean World". The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. New York: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion. pp. 1–20. doi:10.1093/0195153855.003.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-515385-9. OCLC 57385973. from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  143. ^ Ginza Rabba. Translated by Al-Saadi, Qais; Al-Saadi, Hamed (2nd ed.). Germany: Drabsha. 2019.
  144. ^ McGrath, James (23 January 2015), "The First Baptists, The Last Gnostics: The Mandaeans", YouTube-A lunchtime talk about the Mandaeans by Dr. James F. McGrath at Butler University, from the original on 4 November 2021, retrieved 16 December 2021
  145. ^ Mittal, Sushil (2003). Surprising Bedfellows: Hindus and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern India. Lexington Books. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-7391-0673-0.
  146. ^ Klaus K. Klostermaier (2010). Survey of Hinduism, A: Third Edition. SUNY Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-7914-8011-3. from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  147. ^ p. 434 Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions By Wendy Doniger, M. Webster, Merriam-Webster, Inc
  148. ^ p. 219 Faith, Religion & Theology By Brennan Hill, Paul F. Knitter, William Madges
  149. ^ p. 6 The World's Great Religions By Yoshiaki Gurney Omura, Selwyn Gurney Champion, Dorothy Short
  150. ^ "Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the Secret Royal Treasure in Vaults". 14 July 2020. from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  151. ^ Dundas 2002, pp. 30–31.
  152. ^ Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony (2000), Buddhist Thought: A complete introduction to the Indian tradition, Routledge, ISBN 0-203-18593-5 p. 194
  153. ^ Smith, E. Gene (2001). Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-179-3
  154. ^ Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, ISBN 4-7674-2015-6
  155. ^ "Sikhism: What do you know about it?". The Washington Post. from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  156. ^ Zepps, Josh (6 August 2012). "Sikhs in America: What You Need To Know About The World's Fifth-Largest Religion". Huffington Post. from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  157. ^ J.O. Awolalu (1976) What is African Traditional Religion? 22 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine Studies in Comparative Religion Vol. 10, No. 2. (Spring, 1976).
  158. ^ a b Pew Research Center (2012) The Global Religious Landscape. A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010 19 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
  159. ^ Central Intelligence Agency. . World Factbook. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  160. ^ Asatrian, Garnik S.; Arakelova, Victoria (2014). The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-54429-6. from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  161. ^ Açikyildiz, Birgül (2014). The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85772-061-0. from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  162. ^ "Cao Dai | Vietnamese religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  163. ^ "What is Eckankar? Eckankar is Love, Wisdom and Freedom". Eckankar. from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  164. ^ "New Religious Movements: New Religious Movements in Japan | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  165. ^ "Movements | Millenarian Movement | Timeline | The Association of Religion Data Archives". www.thearda.com. from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  166. ^ White, Larisa A. (2021). World Druidry: A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality. Belmont, California: Larisa A. White. pp. 253–255. ISBN 978-1-7367792-0-0.
  167. ^ "The Druids". The British Museum. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  168. ^ "Neo-Paganism | religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  169. ^ "7 Noahide Laws » Judaism Humanity Noahidism". The Seven Noahide Laws. from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  170. ^ a b Davidsen, Markus Altena (2013). "Fiction-based religion: Conceptualising a new category against history-based religion and fandom". Culture and Religion. 14 (4): 378–395. doi:10.1080/14755610.2013.838798. hdl:1887/48123. S2CID 143778202.
  171. ^ "Satanism". HISTORY. from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  172. ^ Escobedo, Dan Gilgoff and Tricia (22 March 2017). "Scientology: What exactly is it?". CNN. from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  173. ^ "Unitarianism and Universalism – English Unitarianism". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  174. ^ "Wicca | History, Beliefs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  175. ^ Witte, John (2012). "The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report". Ecclesiastical Law Journal. 14 (3): 327–354. doi:10.1017/s0956618x12000348. S2CID 145170469.
  176. ^ Norman Doe, Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction (2011).
  177. ^ W. Cole Durham and Brett G. Scharffs, eds., Law and religion: national, international, and comparative perspectives (Aspen Pub, 2010).
  178. ^ John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, eds., Christianity and Law: An Introduction (Cambridge U.P. 2008)
  179. ^ John Witte Jr., From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition (1997).
  180. ^ John Witte, Jr., The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (2008).
  181. ^ Elizabeth Mayer, Ann (1987). "Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East". American Journal of Comparative Law. 35 (1): 127–184. doi:10.2307/840165. JSTOR 840165.
  182. ^ Alan Watson, The state, law, and religion: pagan Rome (University of Georgia Press, 1992).
  183. ^ Ferrari, Silvio (2012). "Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective". Ecclesiastical Law Journal. 14 (3): 355–370. doi:10.1017/s0956618x1200035x. S2CID 145347158.
  184. ^ Palomino, Rafael (2012). "Legal dimensions of secularism: challenges and problems". Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice. 2: 208–225. from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  185. ^ Bennoune, Karima (2006). "Secularism and human rights: A contextual analysis of headscarves, religious expression, and women's equality under international law". Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. 45: 367.
  186. ^ Stenmark, Mikael (2004). How to Relate Science and Religion: A Multidimensional Model. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-8028-2823-1.
  187. ^ Cahan, David, ed. (2003). From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-08928-7.
  188. ^ Numbers, Ronald; Lindberg, David, eds. (2003). When Science and Christianity Meet. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-48214-9.
  189. ^ Tolman, Cynthia. . Malboro College. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015.
  190. ^ a b Coyne, Jerry A. (5 December 2013). "Einstein's Famous Quote About Science and Religion Didn't Mean What You Were Taught". The New Republic. from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  191. ^ Einstein, Albert (21 September 1940). "Personal God Concept Causes Science-Religion Conflict". The Science News-Letter. 38 (12): 181–182. doi:10.2307/3916567. JSTOR 3916567.
  192. ^ Esptein, Greg M. (2010). Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. New York: HarperCollins. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-06-167011-4.
  193. ^ Rachels, James; Rachels, Stuart, eds. (2011). The Elements of Moral Philosophy (7 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-803824-2.
  194. ^ "Religion and Politics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  195. ^ "Sharia Law". Muslims for Progressive Values. from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  196. ^ The Economist explains: The role of religion in America's presidential race 9 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Economist, 25 February 2016
  197. ^ Lipka, Michael (27 August 2015). "10 facts about religion in America". Pew Research Center. from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  198. ^ Europe, religion and politics:Old world wars 9 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Economist, 22 April 2014
  199. ^ Lobo, L. 2000 Religion and Politics in India 10 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, America Magazine, 19 February 2000
  200. ^ a b WIN-Gallup. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  201. ^ Max Weber, [1904] 1920. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
  202. ^ "Christians hold largest percentage of global wealth: Report". deccanherald.com. 14 January 2015. from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  203. ^ Mueller, Paul S.; Plevak, David J.; Rummans, Teresa A. (1 December 2001). "Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice". Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 76 (12): 1225–1235. doi:10.4065/76.12.1225. PMID 11761504. from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  204. ^ Mueller, Paul S.; Plevak, David J.; Rummans, Teresa A. (2001). "Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice". Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 76 (12): 1225–1235. doi:10.4065/76.12.1225. PMID 11761504. from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2010. We reviewed published studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes. We also reviewed articles that provided suggestions on how clinicians might assess and support the spiritual needs of patients. Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide
  205. ^ Seybold, Kevin S.; Hill, Peter C. (February 2001). "The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Mental and Physical Health". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 10 (1): 21–24. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00106. S2CID 144109851.
  206. ^ Jones, James W. (2004). "Religion, Health, and the Psychology of Religion: How the Research on Religion and Health Helps Us Understand Religion". Journal of Religion and Health. 43 (4): 317–328. doi:10.1007/s10943-004-4299-3. S2CID 33669708. from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  207. ^ Maselko, Joanna; Kubzansky, Laura D. (2006). "Gender differences in religious practices, spiritual experiences and health: Results from the US General Social Survey". Social Science & Medicine. 62 (11): 2848–2860. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.008. PMID 16359765.
  208. ^ Avalos, Hector (2005). Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.
  209. ^ The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism By Regina M. Schwartz. University of Chicago Press. 1998.
  210. ^ Hitchens, Christopher (2007). God is not Great. Twelve.
  211. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Bantam Books.
  212. ^ Eller, Jack David (2010). Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-218-6. As we have insisted previously, religion is not inherently and irredeemably violent; it certainly is not the essence and source of all violence.
  213. ^ Eller, Jack David (2010). Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-218-6. Religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical. Violence is one phenomenon in human (and natural existence), religion is another, and it is inevitable that the two would become intertwined. Religion is complex and modular, and violence is one of the modules—not universal, but recurring. As a conceptual and behavioral module, violence is by no means exclusive to religion. There are plenty of other groups, institutions, interests, and ideologies to promote violence. Violence is, therefore, neither essential to nor exclusive to religion. Nor is religious violence all alike... And virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary.
  214. ^ France-Presse, Agence (2 September 2014). "Indian court bans animal sacrifice". The Guardian. from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  215. ^ Veyne, Paul, ed. (1987). A History of Private Life I: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. p. 211.
  216. ^ Polybius, The Histories, VI 56.
  217. ^ Kevin R. Foster & Hanna Kokko (2009) [Published online 9 September 2008]. (PDF). Proc. R. Soc. B. 276 (1654): 31–37. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0981. PMC 2615824. PMID 18782752. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2010.
  218. ^ Boyer, Pascal (2001). "Why Belief". Religion Explained. ISBN 978-0-465-00696-0.
  219. ^ David, Fitzgerald (2010). Nailed : ten Christian myths that show Jesus never existed at all. [Place of publication not identified]. ISBN 978-0-557-70991-5. OCLC 701249439.
  220. ^ "The Structure of Religion in the U.S. | Boundless Sociology". courses.lumenlearning.com. from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  221. ^ Raja Juli, Antoni. "The Role of Religion in Peacebuilding in Conflict-Torn Society in Southeast Asia" (PDF). The University of Queensland, Australia. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  222. ^ "1893 Chicago | parliamentofreligions.org". parliamentofreligions.org. from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  223. ^ Miles, Leroyce (2018). Introduction to the Study of Religion. EDTECH. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-83947-363-0. from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  224. ^ "A Common Word Between Us and You". acommonword.com. from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  225. ^ . c1worlddialogue.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011.
  226. ^ "Islam and Buddhism". islambuddhism.com. from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  227. ^ "Home". World Interfaith Harmony Week. from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  228. ^ "» World Interfaith Harmony Week UNGA Resolution A/65/PV.34". worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com. from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  229. ^ Edward L. Queen, Encyclopedia of American Religious History, Volume 1 Facts on File, 1996. p. vi.
  230. ^ Paul Tillich, Theology of Culture, Robert C. Kimball (ed), (Oxford University Press, 1959). p.42
  231. ^ Eric J. Sharpe, "Religion and Cultures", An inaugural lecture delivered on 6 July 1977 by Eric J. Sharpe, Professor of Religious Studies in the University of Sydney. Accessed at Openjournals 14 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine on 22 June 2018
  232. ^ See Taslima Nasreen, "I Say, Three Cheers For Ayaan" 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Outlook, The Magazine 28 August 2006. Also, Nemani Delaibatiki, "Religion and the Vanua" 6 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Fiji Sun 8 July 2017 in which the distinctive elements of culture against religion are taken from Domenic Marbaniang, "Difference Between Culture and Religion: A Proposal Requesting Response" 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 12 October 2014.
  233. ^ Domenic Marbaniang, "The Gospel and Culture: Areas of Conflict, Consent, and Conversion", Journal of Contemporary Christian Vol. 6, No. 1 (Bangalore: CFCC, Aug 2014), ISSN 2231-5233 pp. 7–17
  234. ^ Beckford, James A. (2003). Social Theory and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-521-77431-4.

Sources

Primary
  • Lao Tzu; Tao Te Ching (Victor H. Mair translator); Bantam (1998).
  • The Holy Bible, King James Version; New American Library (1974).
  • The Koran; Penguin (2000), ISBN 0-14-044558-7.
  • The Origin of Live & Death, African Creation Myths; Heinemann (1966).
  • Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia; Penguin (1971).
  • Selected Work Marcus Tullius Cicero
Secondary
  • Borg, J. (November 2003), "The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences", American Journal of Psychiatry, 160 (11): 1965–1969, doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965, PMID 14594742, S2CID 5911066
  • Brodd, Jeffrey (2003). World Religions. Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5.
  • Yves Coppens, Origines de l'homme – De la matière à la conscience, De Vive Voix, Paris, 2010
  • Yves Coppens, La preistoria dell'uomo, Jaca Book, Milano, 2011
  • Descartes, René; Meditations on First Philosophy; Bobbs-Merrill (1960), ISBN 0-672-60191-5.
  • Dow, James W. (2007), A Scientific Definition of Religion 22 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  • Dundas, Paul (2002) [1992], The Jains (Second ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-26605-5, from the original on 22 January 2017, retrieved 17 March 2018
  • Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); Our Oriental Heritage; MJF Books (1997), ISBN 1-56731-012-5.
  • Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); Caesar and Christ; MJF Books (1994), ISBN 1-56731-014-1
  • Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); The Age of Faith; Simon & Schuster (1980), ISBN 0-671-01200-2.
  • Durkheim, Emile (1915). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: George Allen & Unwin.
  • Geertz, Clifford (1993). "Religion as a cultural system". The interpretation of cultures: selected essays, Geertz, Clifford. London: Fontana Press. pp. 87–125.
  • Marija Gimbutas 1989. The Language of the Goddess. Thames and Hudson New York
  • Gonick, Larry; The Cartoon History of the Universe; Doubleday, vol. 1 (1978) ISBN 0-385-26520-4, vol. II (1994) ISBN 0-385-42093-5, W.W. Norton, vol. III (2002) ISBN 0-393-05184-6.
  • Haisch, Bernard The God Theory: Universes, Zero-point Fields, and What's Behind It All—discussion of science vs. religion (Preface), Red Wheel/Weiser, 2006, ISBN 1-57863-374-5
  • James, William (1902). The Varieties of Religious Experience. A Study in Human Nature. Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Khanbaghi, A., The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran (IB Tauris; 2006) 268 pages. Social, political and cultural history of religious minorities in Iran, c. 226–1722 AD.
  • King, Winston, Religion [First Edition]. In: Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 11. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference US, 2005. pp. 7692–7701.
  • Korotayev, Andrey, World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.
  • Lynn, Richard; Harvey, John; Nyborg, Helmuth (2009). "Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations". Intelligence. 37: 11–15. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004.
  • McKinnon, Andrew M. (2002), "Sociological Definitions, Language Games and the 'Essence' of Religion" 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Method & theory in the study of religion, vol 14, no. 1, pp. 61–83.
  • Massignon, Louis (1949). "Les trois prières d'Abraham, père de tous les croyants". Dieu Vivant. 13: 20–23.
  • Palmer, Spencer J., et al. Religions of the World: a Latter-day Saint [Mormon] View. 2nd general ed., tev. and enl. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1997. xv, 294 p., ill. ISBN 0-8425-2350-2
  • Pals, Daniel L. (2006), Eight Theories of Religion, Oxford University Press
  • Ramsay, Michael, Abp. Beyond Religion? Cincinnati, Ohio: Forward Movement Publications, (cop. 1964).
  • Saler, Benson; Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent Anthropologists, Transcendent Natives, and Unbounded Categories (1990), ISBN 1-57181-219-9
  • Schuon, Frithjof. The Transcendent Unity of Religions, in series, Quest Books. 2nd Quest ... rev. ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993, cop. 1984. xxxiv, 173 p. ISBN 0-8356-0587-6
  • Segal, Robert A (2005). "Theories of Religion". In Hinnells, John R. (ed.). The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. London; New York: Routledge. pp. 49–60.
  • Stausberg, Michael (2009), Contemporary Theories of religion, Routledge
  • Wallace, Anthony F.C. 1966. Religion: An Anthropological View. New York: Random House. (pp. 62–66)
  • The World Almanac (annual), World Almanac Books, ISBN 0-88687-964-7.
  • The World Almanac (for numbers of adherents of various religions), 2005

Further reading

  • Saint Augustine; The Confessions of Saint Augustine (John K. Ryan translator); Image (1960), ISBN 0-385-02955-1.
  • Barzilai, Gad; Law and Religion; The International Library of Essays in Law and Society; Ashgate (2007), ISBN 978-0-7546-2494-3
  • Bellarmine, Robert (1902). "Sermon 48: The Necessity of Religion." . Sermons from the Latins. Benziger Brothers.
  • James, Paul & Mandaville, Peter (2010). Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions. London: Sage Publications.
  • Lang, Andrew; The Making of Religion. Third Edition. Longmans, Green, and Co. (1909).
  • Marx, Karl; "Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right", Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, (1844).
  • Noss, John B.; Man's Religions, 6th ed.; Macmillan Publishing Co. (1980). N.B.: The first ed. appeared in 1949, ISBN 978-0-02-388430-6. OCLC 4665144.
  • Inglehart, Ronald F., "Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion", Foreign Affairs, vol. 99, no. 5 (September / October 2020), pp. 110–118.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Religion.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Religion.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Religion and spirituality.
  • Kevin Schilbrack. "The Concept of Religion". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • from UCB Libraries GovPubs
  • Religion at Curlie
  • [Usurped!] by Adherents.com August 2005
  • IACSR – International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion
  • Studying Religion – Introduction to the methods and scholars of the academic study of religion
  • A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right – Marx's original reference to religion as the opium of the people.
  • – Harvard Human Rights Journal article from the President and Fellows of Harvard College (2003)
  • Sociology of Religion Resources
  • Video: 5 Religions spreading across the world

May 18, 2023
religion, this, article, about, cultural, system, behaviors, practices, ethics, other, uses, disambiguation, religious, redirects, here, term, describing, type, monk, religious, western, christianity, confused, with, religious, denomination, range, social, cul. This article is about a cultural system of behaviors practices and ethics For other uses see Religion disambiguation Religious redirects here For the term describing a type of monk or nun see Religious Western Christianity Not to be confused with Religious denomination Religion is a range of social cultural systems including designated behaviors and practices morals beliefs worldviews texts sanctified places prophecies ethics or organizations that generally relate humanity to supernatural transcendental and spiritual elements 1 although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion 2 3 Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine 4 sacredness 5 faith 6 and a supernatural being or beings 7 Religious symbols Christianity Islam Isese Hinduism Judaism Baha i Eckankar Buddhism Jainism Wicca Unitarian Universalism Sikhism Taoism Thelema Tenrikyo Shinto Religious practices may include rituals sermons commemoration or veneration of deities or saints sacrifices festivals feasts trances initiations matrimonial and funerary services meditation prayer music art dance or public service Religions have sacred histories and narratives which may be preserved in sacred texts symbols and holy places that primarily aim to give life meaning Religions may contain symbolic tales that may attempt to explain the origin of life the universe and other phenomena some followers believe these to be true stories Traditionally both faith and reason have been considered sources of religious beliefs 8 There are an estimated 10 000 distinct religions worldwide 9 though nearly all of them have regionally based relatively small followings Four religions Christianity Islam Hinduism and Buddhism account for over 77 of the world s population and 92 of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious 10 meaning that the remaining 9 000 faiths account for only 8 of the population combined The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion atheists and agnostics although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs 11 A portion of the population mostly located in Africa and Asia are members of new religious movements 12 Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having generally higher birth rates 13 The study of religion comprises a wide variety of academic disciplines including theology philosophy of religion comparative religion and social scientific studies Theories of religion offer various explanations for its origins and workings including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief 14 Contents 1 Etymology and history of concept 1 1 Etymology 1 1 1 Religiō 1 1 2 Threskeia 1 2 History of the concept of the religion 2 Definition 2 1 Modern Western 2 2 Classical 3 Aspects 3 1 Beliefs 3 1 1 Mythology 3 2 Practices 3 3 Social organisation 4 Academic study 4 1 Theories 4 1 1 Origins and development 4 1 2 Cultural system 4 1 3 Social constructionism 4 1 4 Cognitive science 4 2 Comparativism 5 Classification 5 1 Morphological classification 5 2 Demographic classification 6 Specific religions 6 1 Abrahamic 6 1 1 Judaism 6 1 2 Christianity 6 1 3 Islam 6 1 4 Other 6 2 East Asian 6 2 1 Taoism and Confucianism 6 2 2 Folk religions 6 3 Indian religions 6 3 1 Hinduism 6 3 2 Jainism 6 3 3 Buddhism 6 3 4 Sikhism 6 4 Indigenous and folk 6 5 Traditional African 6 6 Iranian 6 7 New religious movements 7 Related aspects 7 1 Law 7 2 Science 7 3 Morality 7 4 Politics 7 4 1 Impact 7 4 2 Secularism 7 5 Economics 7 6 Health 7 7 Violence 7 7 1 Animal sacrifice 7 8 Superstition 7 9 Agnosticism and atheism 7 10 Interfaith cooperation 7 11 Culture 8 Criticism 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Sources 13 Further reading 14 External linksEtymology and history of concept The Buddha Laozi and Confucius in a Ming dynasty painting Three laughs at Tiger Brook a Song dynasty 12th century painting portraying three men representing Confucianism Taoism Daoism and Buddhism laughing together Etymology See also History of Religion The term religion comes from both Old French and Anglo Norman 1200s AD and means respect for sense of right moral obligation sanctity what is sacred reverence for the gods 15 16 It is ultimately derived from the Latin word religiō According to Roman philosopher Cicero religiō comes from relegere re meaning again lego meaning read where lego is in the sense of go over choose or consider carefully Contrarily some modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell have argued that religiō is derived from religare re meaning again ligare bind or connect which was made prominent by St Augustine following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones IV 28 17 18 The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece of a knight of the religion of Avys 19 Religiō Main article Religio In classic antiquity religiō broadly meant conscientiousness sense of right moral obligation or duty to anything 20 In the ancient and medieval world the etymological Latin root religiō was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts never as doctrine practice or actual source of knowledge 21 22 In general religiō referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family neighbors rulers and even towards God 23 Religiō was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods but as a range of general emotions which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context such as hesitation caution anxiety or fear as well as feelings of being bound restricted or inhibited 24 The term was also closely related to other terms like scrupulus which meant very precisely and some Roman authors related the term superstitio which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame to religiō at times 24 When religiō came into English around the 1200s as religion it took the meaning of life bound by monastic vows or monastic orders 19 23 The compartmentalized concept of religion where religious and worldly things were separated was not used before the 1500s 23 The concept of religion was first used in the 1500s to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities the Peace of Augsburg marks such instance 23 which has been described by Christian Reus Smit as the first step on the road toward a European system of sovereign states 25 Roman general Julius Caesar used religiō to mean obligation of an oath when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors 26 Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder used the term religiō to describe the apparent respect given by elephants to the night sky 27 Cicero used religiō as being related to cultum deorum worship of the gods 28 Threskeia In Ancient Greece the Greek term threskeia 8rhskeia was loosely translated into Latin as religiō in late antiquity Threskeia was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in the writings of Josephus in the 1st century AD It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others to cultic practices It was often contrasted with the Greek word deisidaimonia which meant too much fear 29 History of the concept of the religion See also Timeline of religion Religion is modern concept 30 The concept was invented recently in the English language and is found texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalization in the Age of Exploration which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non European languages 21 22 31 Some argue that regardless of its definition it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non Western cultures 32 33 while some followers of various faiths rebuke using the word to describe their own belief system 34 The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries 35 36 despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible the Quran and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written 37 38 For example there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious national racial or ethnic identities 39 One of its central concepts is halakha meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life 40 Even though the beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals 41 In the 1st century AD Josephus had used the Greek term ioudaismos Judaism as an ethnic term and was not linked to modern abstract concepts of religion or a set of beliefs 3 The very concept of Judaism was invented by the Christian Church 42 and it was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity 41 The Greek word threskeia which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus is found in the New Testament Threskeia is sometimes translated as religion in today s translations but the term was understood as generic worship well into the medieval period 3 In the Quran the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations but up to the mid 1600s translators expressed din as law 3 The Sanskrit word dharma sometimes translated as religion 43 also means law Throughout classical South Asia the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law but these later became independent sources of power 44 45 Though traditions sacred texts and practices have existed throughout time most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred In the 18th and 19th centuries the terms Buddhism Hinduism Taoism Confucianism and world religions first entered the English language 46 47 48 Native Americans were also thought of as not having religions and also had no word for religion in their languages either 47 49 No one self identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s 50 Hindu has historically been used as a geographical cultural and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent 51 52 Throughout its long history Japan had no concept of religion since there was no corresponding Japanese word nor anything close to its meaning but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding among other things freedom of religion the country had to contend with this idea 53 54 According to the philologist Max Muller in the 19th century the root of the English word religion the Latin religiō was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods careful pondering of divine things piety which Cicero further derived to mean diligence 55 56 Muller characterized many other cultures around the world including Egypt Persia and India as having a similar power structure at this point in history What is called ancient religion today they would have only called law 57 DefinitionMain article Definition of religion Religious symbols from left to right top to bottom Christianity Islam Hinduism Buddhism Judaism the Bahaʼi Faith Eckankar Sikhism Jainism Wicca Unitarian Universalism Shinto Taoism Thelema Tenrikyo and Zoroastrianism Scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion There are however two general definition systems the sociological functional and the phenomenological philosophical 58 59 60 61 62 Modern Western The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West 33 Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages 3 23 Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition with some giving up on the possibility of a definition 63 64 Others argue that regardless of its definition it is not appropriate to apply it to non Western cultures 32 33 An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion 65 They observe that the way the concept today is used is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside the West or even in the West until after the Peace of Westphalia 66 The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states The very attempt to define religion to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life is primarily a Western concern The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative intellectualistic and scientific disposition It is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode what is called the Judeo Christian climate or more accurately the theistic inheritance from Judaism Christianity and Islam The theistic form of belief in this tradition even when downgraded culturally is formative of the dichotomous Western view of religion That is the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity and all else between the creator and his creation between God and man 67 The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful pervasive and long lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic 68 Alluding perhaps to Tylor s deeper motive Geertz remarked that we have very little idea of how in empirical terms this particular miracle is accomplished We just know that it is done annually weekly daily for some people almost hourly and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it 69 The theologian Antoine Vergote took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion which he defined as the entirety of the linguistic expressions emotions and actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings 7 Peter Mandaville and Paul James intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence transcendence spirituality materialism and sacredness secularity They define religion as a relatively bounded system of beliefs symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially grounded ontologies of time space embodiment and knowing 70 According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions there is an experiential aspect to religion which can be found in almost every culture almost every known culture has a depth dimension in cultural experiences toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience varied in form completeness and clarity in accordance with the environing culture 71 Classical Budazhap Shiretorov Budazhap Cyretorov the head shaman of the religious community Altan Serge Altan Serge in Buryatia Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhangigkeitsgefuhl commonly translated as the feeling of absolute dependence 72 His contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel disagreed thoroughly defining religion as the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit 73 Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as the belief in spiritual beings 74 He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on would exclude many peoples from the category of religious and thus has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience the psychologist William James defined religion as the feelings acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine 4 By the term divine James meant any object that is godlike whether it be a concrete deity or not 75 to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity 76 Sociologist Emile Durkheim in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things 5 By sacred things he meant things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church all those who adhere to them Sacred things are not however limited to gods or spirits note 1 On the contrary a sacred thing can be a rock a tree a spring a pebble a piece of wood a house in a word anything can be sacred 77 Religious beliefs myths dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them 78 Echoes of James and Durkheim s definitions are to be found in the writings of for example Frederick Ferre who defined religion as one s way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively 79 Similarly for the theologian Paul Tillich faith is the state of being ultimately concerned 6 which is itself religion Religion is the substance the ground and the depth of man s spiritual life 80 When religion is seen in terms of sacred divine intensive valuing or ultimate concern then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms e g those made by Richard Dawkins do not necessarily disturb its adherents 81 AspectsBeliefs Main article Religious beliefs Traditionally faith in addition to reason has been considered a source of religious beliefs The interplay between faith and reason and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs have been a subject of interest to philosophers and theologians 8 The origin of religious belief as such is an open question with possible explanations including awareness of individual death a sense of community and dreams 82 Mythology Main article Mythology The word myth has several meanings A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice belief or natural phenomenon A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence or A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being 83 Ancient polytheistic religions such as those of Greece Rome and Scandinavia are usually categorized under the heading of mythology Religions of pre industrial peoples or cultures in development are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non religious people By defining another person s religious stories and beliefs as mythology one implies that they are less real or true than one s own religious stories and beliefs Joseph Campbell remarked Mythology is often thought of as other people s religions and religion can be defined as misinterpreted mythology 84 In sociology however the term myth has a non pejorative meaning There myth is defined as a story that is important for the group whether or not it is objectively or provably true 85 Examples include the resurrection of their real life founder Jesus which to Christians explains the means by which they are freed from sin is symbolic of the power of life over death and is also said to be a historical event But from a mythological outlook whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant Instead the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is most significant Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations Practices Main articles Religious behaviour and Cult religious practice The practices of a religion may include rituals sermons commemoration or veneration of a deity god or goddess sacrifices festivals feasts trances initiations funerary services matrimonial services meditation prayer religious music religious art sacred dance public service or other aspects of human culture 86 Social organisation Religions have a societal basis either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants or with an organized clergy and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership Academic studyMain articles Religious studies and Classifications of religious movements A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion theology comparative religion history of religion evolutionary origin of religions anthropology of religion psychology of religion including neuroscience of religion and evolutionary psychology of religion law and religion and sociology of religion Daniel L Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion focusing on various aspects of religion animism and magic by E B Tylor and J G Frazer the psycho analytic approach of Sigmund Freud and further Emile Durkheim Karl Marx Max Weber Mircea Eliade E E Evans Pritchard and Clifford Geertz 87 Michael Stausberg gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion including cognitive and biological approaches 88 Theories Main article Theories of religion Sociological and anthropological theories of religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion 89 These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of religious belief and practice Origins and development Main article History of religion The Yazilikaya sanctuary in Turkey with the twelve gods of the underworld The origin of religion is uncertain There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world It seems that the key to long term success and many movements come and go with little long term effect has relatively little to do with the prophets who appear with surprising regularity but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement 90 The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures Some religions place an emphasis on belief while others emphasize practice Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important Some religions claim to be universal believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group In many places religion has been associated with public institutions such as education hospitals the family government and political hierarchies 91 Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant persistent and intolerable One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune 91 Cultural system While religion is difficult to define one standard model of religion used in religious studies courses was proposed by Clifford Geertz who simply called it a cultural system 92 A critique of Geertz s model by Talal Asad categorized religion as an anthropological category 93 Richard Niebuhr s 1894 1962 five fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture however indicates that religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems though with some interplay 94 Social constructionism Main article Social constructionism One modern academic theory of religion social constructionism says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings 95 Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson Timothy Fitzgerald Talal Asad and Jason Ananda Josephson The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non Western cultures Cognitive science Main article Cognitive science of religion Further information Religion and schizophrenia Cognitive science of religion is the study of religious thought and behavior from the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences 96 The field employs methods and theories from a very broad range of disciplines including cognitive psychology evolutionary psychology cognitive anthropology artificial intelligence cognitive neuroscience neurobiology zoology and ethology Scholars in this field seek to explain how human minds acquire generate and transmit religious thoughts practices and schemas by means of ordinary cognitive capacities Hallucinations and delusions related to religious content occurs in about 60 of people with schizophrenia While this number varies across cultures this had led to theories about a number of influential religious phenomena and possible relation to psychotic disorders A number of prophetic experiences are consistent with psychotic symptoms although retrospective diagnoses are practically impossible 97 98 99 Schizophrenic episodes are also experienced by people who do not have belief in gods 100 Religious content is also common in temporal lobe epilepsy and obsessive compulsive disorder 101 102 Atheistic content is also found to be common with temporal lobe epilepsy 103 Comparativism Main article Comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world s religions In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics metaphysics and the nature and form of salvation Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred numinous spiritual and divine 104 In the field of comparative religion a common geographical classification 105 of the main world religions includes Middle Eastern religions including Zoroastrianism and Iranian religions Indian religions East Asian religions African religions American religions Oceanic religions and classical Hellenistic religions 105 ClassificationMain article History of religion A map of major denominations and religions of the world In the 19th and 20th centuries the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called world religions Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories world religions a term which refers to transcultural international religions indigenous religions which refers to smaller culture specific or nation specific religious groups and new religious movements which refers to recently developed religions 106 Some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy or even calling a given practice religious rather than cultural political or social in nature is limited 107 108 109 The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms i e religions 110 clarification needed Morphological classification Some scholars classify religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts such as Christianity Islam Buddhism and Jainism while ethnic religions are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts 111 112 Others reject the distinction pointing out that all religious practices whatever their philosophical origin are ethnic because they come from a particular culture 113 114 115 Demographic classification Main articles Major religious groups and List of religious populations The five largest religious groups by world population estimated to account for 5 8 billion people and 84 of the population are Christianity Islam Buddhism Hinduism with the relative numbers for Buddhism and Hinduism dependent on the extent of syncretism and traditional folk religion Five largest religions 2015 billion 116 2015 DemographicsChristianity 2 3 31 2 Christianity by countryIslam 1 8 24 1 Islam by countryHinduism 1 1 15 1 Hinduism by countryBuddhism 0 5 6 9 Buddhism by countryFolk Religion 0 4 5 7 Total 6 1 83 Religions by countryA global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59 of the world s population identified as religious 23 as not religious 13 as convinced atheists and also a 9 decrease in identification as religious when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries 117 A follow up poll in 2015 found that 63 of the globe identified as religious 22 as not religious and 11 as convinced atheists 118 On average women are more religious than men 119 Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for syncretism 120 121 122 A 2017 Pew projection suggests that Islam will overtake Christianity as the plurality religion by 2075 Unaffiliated populations are projected to drop even when taking disaffiliation rates into account due to differences in birth rates 123 124 Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having higher birth rates in general 125 Specific religionsMain article List of religions and spiritual traditions Abrahamic The patriarch Abraham by Jozsef Molnar Abrahamic religions are monotheistic religions which believe they descend from Abraham Judaism Main article Judaism The Torah is the primary sacred text of Judaism Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion originating in the people of ancient Israel and Judah 126 The Torah is its foundational text and is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible It is supplemented by oral tradition set down in written form in later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts practices theological positions and forms of organization Within Judaism there are a variety of movements most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah historically this assertion was challenged by various groups The Jewish people were scattered after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE Today there are about 13 million Jews about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States 127 The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism 126 Christianity Jesus is the central figure of Christianity Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth 1st century as presented in the New Testament 128 The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ 128 the Son of God and as Savior and Lord Almost all Christians believe in the Trinity which teaches the unity of Father Son Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead Most Christians can describe their faith with the Nicene Creed As the religion of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe during the time of colonization Christianity has been propagated throughout the world via missionary work 129 130 131 It is the world s largest religion with about 2 3 billion followers as of 2015 132 The main divisions of Christianity are according to the number of adherents 133 The Catholic Church led by the Bishop of Rome and the bishops worldwide in communion with him is a communion of 24 Churches sui iuris including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic churches such as the Maronite Catholic Church 133 Eastern Christianity which include Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East Protestantism separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th century Protestant Reformation and is split into thousands of denominations Major branches of Protestantism include Anglicanism Baptists Calvinism Lutheranism and Methodism though each of these contain many different denominations or groups 133 There are also smaller groups including Restorationism the belief that Christianity should be restored as opposed to reformed along the lines of what is known about the apostolic early church Latter day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s Jehovah s Witnesses founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell Islam Muslims circumambulating the Kaaba the most sacred site in Islam Islam is a monotheistic 134 religion based on the Quran 134 one of the holy books considered by Muslims to be revealed by God and on the teachings hadith of the Islamic prophet Muhammad a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE Islam is based on the unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the Abrahamic prophets of Judaism Christianity and other Abrahamic religions before Muhammad It is the most widely practiced religion of Southeast Asia North Africa Western Asia and Central Asia while Muslim majority countries also exist in parts of South Asia Sub Saharan Africa and Southeast Europe There are also several Islamic republics including Iran Pakistan Mauritania and Afghanistan Sunni Islam is the largest denomination within Islam and follows the Qur an the ahadith ar plural of Hadith which record the sunnah whilst placing emphasis on the sahabah Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam and its adherents believe that Ali succeeded Muhammad and further places emphasis on Muhammad s family There are also Muslim revivalist movements such as Muwahhidism and Salafism Other denominations of Islam include Nation of Islam Ibadi Sufism Quranism Mahdavia and non denominational Muslims Wahhabism is the dominant Muslim schools of thought in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Other Whilst Judaism Christianity and Islam are commonly seen as the only three Abrahamic faiths there are smaller and newer traditions which lay claim to the designation as well 135 The Bahaʼi Lotus Temple in Delhi For example the Bahaʼi Faith is a new religious movement that has links to the major Abrahamic religions as well as other religions e g of Eastern philosophy Founded in 19th century Iran it teaches the unity of all religious philosophies 136 and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism Christianity and Islam as well as additional prophets Buddha Mahavira including its founder Baha u llah It is an offshoot of Babism One of its divisions is the Orthodox Bahaʼi Faith 137 48 49 Even smaller regional Abrahamic groups also exist including Samaritanism primarily in Israel and the State of Palestine the Rastafari movement primarily in Jamaica and Druze primarily in Syria Lebanon and Israel The Druze faith originally developed out of Isma ilism and it has sometimes been considered an Islamic school by some Islamic authorities but Druze themselves do not identify as Muslims 138 139 140 Mandaeism sometimes also known as Sabianism after the mysterious Sabians mentioned in the Quran a name historically claimed by several religious groups 141 is a Gnostic monotheistic and ethnic religion 142 4 143 1 Its adherents the Mandaeans consider John the Baptist to be their chief prophet 142 Mandaeans are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity 144 East Asian Main article East Asian religions East Asian religions also known as Far Eastern religions or Taoic religions consist of several religions of East Asia which make use of the concept of Tao in Chinese Dō in Japanese or Korean or Đạo in Vietnamese They include Taoism and Confucianism The Temple of Heaven a Taoist temple complex in Beijing Taoism and Confucianism as well as Korean Vietnamese and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought Folk religions Chinese folk religion the indigenous religions of the Han Chinese or by metonymy of all the populations of the Chinese cultural sphere It includes the syncretism of Confucianism Taoism and Buddhism Wuism as well as many new religious movements such as Chen Tao Falun Gong and Yiguandao Other folk and new religions of East Asia and Southeast Asia such as Korean shamanism Chondogyo and Jeung San Do in Korea indigenous Philippine folk religions in the Philippines Shinto Shugendo Ryukyuan religion and Japanese new religions in Japan Satsana Phi in Laos Vietnamese folk religion and Cao Đai Hoa Hảo in Vietnam Indian religions Indian religions are practiced or were founded in the Indian subcontinent They are sometimes classified as the dharmic religions as they all feature dharma the specific law of reality and duties expected according to the religion 145 Hinduism Folk depiction of Ganesha in Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal Udaipur India Hinduism is also called Vaidika Dharma the dharma of the Vedas 146 It is a synecdoche describing the similar philosophies of Vaishnavism Shaivism and related groups practiced or founded in the Indian subcontinent Concepts most of them share in common include karma caste reincarnation mantras yantras and darsana note 2 Hinduism is one of the most ancient of still active religious belief systems 147 148 with origins perhaps as far back as prehistoric times 149 The Padmanabhaswamy Temple houses the Padmanabhaswamy Temple treasure 150 Jainism The 10th century Gommateshwara statue in Karnataka Jainism taught primarily by Rishabhanatha the founder of ahimsa is an ancient Indian religion that prescribes a path of non violence truth and anekantavada for all forms of living beings in this universe which helps them to eliminate all the Karmas and hence to attain freedom from the cycle of birth and death saṃsara that is achieving nirvana Jains are found mostly in India According to Dundas outside of the Jain tradition historians date the Mahavira as about contemporaneous with the Buddha in the 5th century BCE and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha based on the c 250 year gap is placed in 8th or 7th century BCE 151 Digambara Jainism or sky clad is mainly practiced in South India Their holy books are Pravachanasara and Samayasara written by their Prophets Kundakunda and Amritchandra as their original canon is lost Shwetambara Jainism or white clad is mainly practiced in Western India Their holy books are Jain Agamas written by their Prophet Sthulibhadra Buddhism Wat Mixay Buddhist shrine in Vientiane Laos Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in the 5th century BCE Buddhists generally agree that Gotama aimed to help sentient beings end their suffering dukkha by understanding the true nature of phenomena thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth saṃsara that is achieving nirvana Theravada Buddhism which is practiced mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia alongside folk religion shares some characteristics of Indian religions It is based in a large collection of texts called the Pali Canon Mahayana Buddhism or the Great Vehicle under which are a multitude of doctrines that became prominent in China and are still relevant in Vietnam Korea Japan and to a lesser extent in Europe and the United States Mahayana Buddhism includes such disparate teachings as Zen Pure Land and Soka Gakkai Vajrayana Buddhism first appeared in India in the 3rd century CE 152 It is currently most prominent in the Himalaya regions 153 and extends across all of Asia 154 cf Mikkyō Two notable new Buddhist sects are Hoa Hảo and the Navayana Dalit Buddhist movement which were developed separately in the 20th century Sikhism An 1840 miniature of Guru Nanak Sikhism is a panentheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Sikh gurus in 15th century Punjab It is the fifth largest organized religion in the world with approximately 30 million Sikhs 155 156 Sikhs are expected to embody the qualities of a Sant Sipahi a saint soldier have control over one s internal vices and be able to be constantly immersed in virtues clarified in the Guru Granth Sahib The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith in Waheguru represented by the phrase ik ōaṅkar meaning one God who prevails in everything along with a praxis in which the Sikh is enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings Indigenous and folk Chickasaw Native cultural religious dancing Peyotists with their ceremonial tools Altay shaman in Siberia Temple to the city god of Wenao in Magong Taiwan Indigenous religions or folk religions refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by shamanism animism and ancestor worship where traditional means indigenous that which is aboriginal or foundational handed down from generation to generation 157 These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people ethnicity or tribe they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts 158 Some faiths are syncretic fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices 159 Australian Aboriginal religions Folk religions of the Americas Native American religionsFolk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced e g in China 158 Traditional African Shango the Orisha of fire lightning and thunder in the Yoruba religion depicted on horseback Main article Traditional African religion Further information African diasporic religions African traditional religion encompasses the traditional religious beliefs of people in Africa In West Africa these religions include the Akan religion Dahomey Fon mythology Efik mythology Odinani Serer religion A ƭat Roog and Yoruba religion while Bushongo mythology Mbuti Pygmy mythology Lugbara mythology Dinka religion and Lotuko mythology come from central Africa Southern African traditions include Akamba mythology Masai mythology Malagasy mythology San religion Lozi mythology Tumbuka mythology and Zulu mythology Bantu mythology is found throughout central southeast and southern Africa In north Africa these traditions include Berber and ancient Egyptian There are also notable African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas such as Santeria Candomble Vodun Lucumi Umbanda and Macumba Sacred flame at the Ateshgah of Baku Iranian Iranian religions are ancient religions whose roots predate the Islamization of Greater Iran Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster in the 6th century BCE Zoroastrians worship the creator Ahura Mazda In Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda and good trying to sustain it Kurdish religions include the traditional beliefs of the Yazidi 160 161 Alevi and Ahl e Haqq Sometimes these are labeled Yazdanism New religious movements Main article New religious movement See also List of new religious movements The Bahaʼi Faith teaches the unity of all religious philosophies 136 Cao Đai is a syncretistic monotheistic religion established in Vietnam in 1926 162 Eckankar is a pantheistic religion with the purpose of making God an everyday reality in one s life 163 Epicureanism is a Hellenistic philosophy that is considered by many of its practitioners as a type of sometimes non theistic religious identity It has its own scriptures a monthly feast of reason on the Twentieth and considers friendship to be holy Hindu reform movements such as Ayyavazhi Swaminarayan Faith and Ananda Marga are examples of new religious movements within Indian religions Japanese new religions shinshukyo is a general category for a wide variety of religious movements founded in Japan since the 19th century These movements share almost nothing in common except the place of their founding The largest religious movements centered in Japan include Soka Gakkai Tenrikyo and Seicho No Ie among hundreds of smaller groups 164 Jehovah s Witnesses a non trinitarian Christian Reformist movement sometimes described as millenarian 165 Neo Druidism is a religion promoting harmony with nature 166 named after but not necessarily connected to the Iron Age druids 167 Modern pagan movements attempting to reconstruct or revive ancient pagan practices such as Heathenry Hellenism and Kemeticism 168 Noahidism is a monotheistic ideology based on the Seven Laws of Noah 169 and on their traditional interpretations within Rabbinic Judaism Some forms of parody religion or fiction based religion 170 like Jediism Pastafarianism Dudeism Tolkien religion 170 and others often develop their own writings traditions and cultural expressions and end up behaving like traditional religions Satanism is a broad category of religions that for example worship Satan as a deity Theistic Satanism or use Satan as a symbol of carnality and earthly values LaVeyan Satanism and The Satanic Temple 171 Scientology 172 is a religious movement that teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as auditing in which practitioners aim to consciously re experience and understand painful or traumatic events and decisions in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects UFO Religions in which extraterrestrial entities are an element of belief such as Raelism Aetherius Society and Marshall Vian Summers s New Message from God Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning and has no accepted creed or theology 173 Wicca is a neo pagan religion first popularised in 1954 by British civil servant Gerald Gardner involving the worship of a God and Goddess 174 Related aspectsLaw Main article Law and religion The study of law and religion is a relatively new field with several thousand scholars involved in law schools and academic departments including political science religion and history since 1980 175 Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non establishment but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena Exponents look at canon law natural law and state law often in a comparative perspective 176 177 Specialists have explored themes in Western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy rule and equity and discipline and love 178 Common topics of interest include marriage and the family 179 and human rights 180 Outside of Christianity scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East 181 and pagan Rome 182 Studies have focused on secularization 183 184 In particular the issue of wearing religious symbols in public such as headscarves that are banned in French schools have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism 185 Science Main articles Faith and rationality Relationship between religion and science and Epistemology Science acknowledges reason and empirical evidence and religions include revelation faith and sacredness whilst also acknowledging philosophical and metaphysical explanations with regard to the study of the universe Both science and religion are not monolithic timeless or static because both are complex social and cultural endeavors that have changed through time across languages and cultures 186 The concepts of science and religion are a recent invention the term religion emerged in the 17th century in the midst of colonization and globalization and the Protestant Reformation 3 21 The term science emerged in the 19th century out of natural philosophy in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature natural science 21 187 188 and the phrase religion and science emerged in the 19th century due to the reification of both concepts 21 It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism Hinduism Taoism and Confucianism first emerged 21 In the ancient and medieval world the etymological Latin roots of both science scientia and religion religio were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues never as doctrines practices or actual sources of knowledge 21 In general the scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers cosmological questions about the universe that can be observed and measured It develops theories of the world which best fit physically observed evidence All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement or even rejection in the face of additional evidence Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as de facto verities in general parlance such as the theories of general relativity and natural selection to explain respectively the mechanisms of gravity and evolution Religion does not have a method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures and it is an attempt to find meaning in the world and to explain humanity s place in it and relationship to it and to any posited entities In terms of Christian theology and ultimate truths people rely on reason experience scripture and tradition to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe Furthermore religious models understanding and metaphors are also revisable as are scientific models 189 Regarding religion and science Albert Einstein states 1940 For science can only ascertain what is but not what should be and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary 190 Religion on the other hand deals only with evaluations of human thought and action it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts 190 Now even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies Though religion may be that which determine the goals it has nevertheless learned from science in the broadest sense what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up 191 Morality Main article Morality and religion Many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong These include the Triple Jems of Jainism Judaism s Halacha Islam s Sharia Catholicism s Canon Law Buddhism s Eightfold Path and Zoroastrianism s good thoughts good words and good deeds concept among others 192 Religion and morality are not synonymous While it is an almost automatic assumption 193 in Christianity morality can have a secular basis The study of religion and morality can be contentious due to ethnocentric views on morality failure to distinguish between in group and out group altruism and inconsistent definitions of religiosity Politics Impact Main article Religion in politics Religion has had a significant impact on the political system in many countries 194 Notably most Muslim majority countries adopt various aspects of sharia the Islamic law 195 Some countries even define themselves in religious terms such as The Islamic Republic of Iran The sharia thus affects up to 23 of the global population or 1 57 billion people who are Muslims However religion also affects political decisions in many western countries For instance in the United States 51 of voters would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who did not believe in God and only 6 more likely 196 Christians make up 92 of members of the US Congress compared with 71 of the general public as of 2014 At the same time while 23 of U S adults are religiously unaffiliated only one member of Congress Kyrsten Sinema D Arizona or 0 2 of that body claims no religious affiliation 197 In most European countries however religion has a much smaller influence on politics 198 although it used to be much more important For instance same sex marriage and abortion were illegal in many European countries until recently following Christian usually Catholic doctrine Several European leaders are atheists e g France s former president Francois Hollande or Greece s prime minister Alexis Tsipras In Asia the role of religion differs widely between countries For instance India is still one of the most religious countries and religion still has a strong impact on politics given that Hindu nationalists have been targeting minorities like the Muslims and the Christians who historically when belonged to the lower castes 199 By contrast countries such as China or Japan are largely secular and thus religion has a much smaller impact on politics Secularism Main articles Secularism and Secularization Ranjit Singh established secular rule over Punjab in the early 19th century Secularization is the transformation of the politics of a society from close identification with a particular religion s values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions The purpose of this is frequently modernization or protection of the population s religious diversity Economics Main article Economics of religion Further information Religion and business and Wealth and religion Average income correlates negatively with self defined religiosity 117 One study has found there is a negative correlation between self defined religiosity and the wealth of nations 200 In other words the richer a nation is the less likely its inhabitants to call themselves religious whatever this word means to them Many people identify themselves as part of a religion not irreligion but do not self identify as religious 200 Sociologist and political economist Max Weber has argued that Protestant Christian countries are wealthier because of their Protestant work ethic 201 According to a study from 2015 Christians hold the largest amount of wealth 55 of the total world wealth followed by Muslims 5 8 Hindus 3 3 and Jews 1 1 According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34 8 of the total global wealth while making up only about 20 of the world population see section on classification 202 Health Main article Impacts of religion on health Mayo Clinic researchers examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health mental health health related quality of life and other health outcomes 203 The authors reported that Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes including greater longevity coping skills and health related quality of life even during terminal illness and less anxiety depression and suicide 204 The authors of a subsequent study concluded that the influence of religion on health is largely beneficial based on a review of related literature 205 According to academic James W Jones several studies have discovered positive correlations between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity 206 An analysis of data from the 1998 US General Social Survey whilst broadly confirming that religious activity was associated with better health and well being also suggested that the role of different dimensions of spirituality religiosity in health is rather more complicated The results suggested that it may not be appropriate to generalize findings about the relationship between spirituality religiosity and health from one form of spirituality religiosity to another across denominations or to assume effects are uniform for men and women 207 Violence Main article Religious violence See also Islam and violence Christianity and violence and Judaism and violence Critics such as Hector Avalos 208 Regina Schwartz 209 Christopher Hitchens 210 page needed and Richard Dawkins 211 page needed have argued that religions are inherently violent and harmful to society by using violence to promote their goals in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent arguing religion and violence are clearly compatible but they are not identical He asserts that violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion and that virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary 212 213 Animal sacrifice Main article Animal sacrifice Some but not all religions practise animal sacrifice the ritual killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a deity It has been banned in India 214 Superstition Further information Superstition Magical thinking and Magic and religion Greek and Roman pagans who saw their relations with the gods in political and social terms scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods deisidaimonia as a slave might fear a cruel and capricious master The Romans called such fear of the gods superstitio 215 Ancient Greek historian Polybius described superstition in ancient Rome as an instrumentum regni an instrument of maintaining the cohesion of the Empire 216 Superstition has been described as the non rational establishment of cause and effect 217 Religion is more complex and is often composed of social institutions and has a moral aspect Some religions may include superstitions or make use of magical thinking Adherents of one religion sometimes think of other religions as superstition 218 219 Some atheists deists and skeptics regard religious belief as superstition The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and as such is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion para 2110 Superstition it says is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes It can even affect the worship we offer the true God e g when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition Cf Matthew 23 16 22 para 2111 Agnosticism and atheism Main articles Atheism Agnosticism Irreligion Antireligion and Humanism See also Criticism of atheism The terms atheist lack of belief in any gods and agnostic belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods though specifically contrary to theistic e g Christian Jewish and Muslim religious teachings do not by definition mean the opposite of religious There are religions including Buddhism Taoism and Hinduism in fact that classify some of their followers as agnostic atheistic or nontheistic The true opposite of religious is the word irreligious Irreligion describes an absence of any religion antireligion describes an active opposition or aversion toward religions in general Interfaith cooperation Main article Interfaith dialogue Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse 220 many religious practitioners who 221 have aimed to band together in interfaith dialogue cooperation and religious peacebuilding The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the World s Religions at the 1893 Chicago World s Fair which affirmed universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures 222 The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic political or even religious conflict with Christian Jewish reconciliation representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews 223 Recent interfaith initiatives include A Common Word launched in 2007 and focused on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together 224 the C1 World Dialogue 225 the Common Ground initiative between Islam and Buddhism 226 and a United Nations sponsored World Interfaith Harmony Week 227 228 Culture Culture and religion have usually been seen as closely related 43 Paul Tillich looked at religion as the soul of culture and culture as the form or framework of religion 229 In his own words Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning giving substance of culture and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself In abbreviation religion is the substance of culture culture is the form of religion Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture Every religious act not only in organized religion but also in the most intimate movement of the soul is culturally formed 230 Ernst Troeltsch similarly looked at culture as the soil of religion and thought that therefore transplanting a religion from its original culture to a foreign culture would actually kill it in the same manner that transplanting a plant from its natural soil to an alien soil would kill it 231 However there have been many attempts in the modern pluralistic situation to distinguish culture from religion 232 Domenic Marbaniang has argued that elements grounded on beliefs of a metaphysical nature religious are distinct from elements grounded on nature and the natural cultural For instance language with its grammar is a cultural element while sacralization of language in which a particular religious scripture is written is more often a religious practice The same applies to music and the arts 233 CriticismMain article Criticism of religion Criticism of religion is criticism of the ideas the truth or the practice of religion including its political and social implications 234 See also Religion portalIndex of religion related articles Cosmogony Life stance List of foods with religious symbolism List of religion related awards List of religious texts Matriarchal religion Museum of the History of Religion Nontheistic religions Outline of religion Parody religions Priest Religion and happiness Religious conversion Religious discrimination Social conditioning Socialization Theocracy Theology of religions Why there is anything at allNotes That is how according to Durkheim Buddhism is a religion In default of gods Buddhism admits the existence of sacred things namely the four noble truths and the practices derived from them Durkheim 1915 Hinduism is variously defined as a religion set of religious beliefs and practices religious tradition etc For a discussion on the topic see Establishing the boundaries in Gavin Flood 2003 pp 1 17 Rene Guenon in hisIntroduction to the Study of the Hindu doctrines 1921 ed Sophia Perennis ISBN 0 900588 74 8 proposes a definition of the term religion and a discussion of its relevance or lack of to Hindu doctrines part II chapter 4 p 58 References Religion Definition of Religion by Merriam Webster Archived from the original on 12 March 2021 Retrieved 16 December 2019 Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 Myth 1 All Societies Have Religions 50 Great Myths of Religion Wiley Blackwell pp 12 17 ISBN 978 0 470 67350 8 a b c d e f Nongbri Brent 2013 Before Religion A History of a Modern Concept Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 15416 0 a b James 1902 p 31 a b Durkheim 1915 a b Tillich P 1957 Dynamics of faith Harper Perennial p 1 a b Vergote A 1996 Religion Belief and Unbelief A Psychological Study Leuven University Press p 16 a b Swindal James April 2010 Faith and Reason Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archived from the original on 31 January 2022 Retrieved 16 February 2022 African Studies Association University of Michigan 2005 History in Africa Vol 32 p 119 The Global Religious Landscape 18 December 2012 Archived from the original on 19 July 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2012 Religiously Unaffiliated The Global Religious Landscape Pew Research Center Religion amp Public Life 18 December 2012 Archived from the original on 30 July 2013 Retrieved 16 February 2022 The religiously unaffiliated include atheists agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys However many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs Eileen Barker 1999 New Religious Movements their incidence and significance New Religious Movements challenge and response Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell editors Routledge ISBN 0 415 20050 4 Zuckerman Phil 2006 3 Atheism Contemporary Numbers and Patterns In Martin Michael ed The Cambridge Companion to Atheism pp 47 66 doi 10 1017 CCOL0521842700 004 ISBN 978 1 13900 118 2 James Paul 2018 What Does It Mean Ontologically to Be Religious In Stephen Ames Ian Barns John Hinkson Paul James Gordon Preece Geoff Sharp eds Religion in a Secular Age The Struggle for Meaning in an Abstracted World Arena Publications pp 56 100 Archived from the original on 14 December 2021 Retrieved 23 August 2018 Harper Douglas religion Online Etymology Dictionary Religion Oxford English Dictionary https www oed com viewdictionaryentry Entry 161944 Archived 3 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine In The Pagan Christ Recovering the Lost Light Toronto Thomas Allen 2004 ISBN 0 88762 145 7 In The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers ed Betty Sue Flowers New York Anchor Books 1991 ISBN 0 385 41886 8 a b Huizinga Johan 1924 The Waning of the Middle Ages Penguin Books p 86 Religio Latin Word Study Tool Tufts University Archived from the original on 24 February 2021 Retrieved 21 February 2021 a b c d e f g Harrison Peter 2015 The Territories of Science and Religion University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 18448 7 a b Roberts Jon 2011 10 Science and Religion In Shank Michael Numbers Ronald Harrison Peter eds Wrestling with Nature From Omens to Science Chicago University of Chicago Press p 254 ISBN 978 0 226 31783 0 a b c d e Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 Myth 1 All Societies Have Religions 50 Great Myths about Religions Wiley Blackwell pp 12 17 ISBN 978 0 470 67350 8 a b Barton Carlin Boyarin Daniel 2016 1 Religio without Religion Imagine No Religion How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities Fordham University Press pp 15 38 ISBN 978 0 8232 7120 7 Reus Smit Christian April 2011 Struggles for Individual Rights and the Expansion of the International System International Organization 65 2 207 242 doi 10 1017 S0020818311000038 ISSN 1531 5088 S2CID 145668420 Caesar Julius 2007 Civil Wars Book 1 The Works of Julius Caesar Parallel English and Latin Translated by McDevitte W A Bohn W S Forgotten Books pp 377 378 ISBN 978 1 60506 355 3 Sic terror oblatus a ducibus crudelitas in supplicio nova religio iurisiurandi spem praesentis deditionis sustulit mentesque militum convertit et rem ad pristinam belli rationem redegit Latin Thus the terror raised by the generals the cruelty and punishments the new obligation of an oath removed all hopes of surrender for the present changed the soldiers minds and reduced matters to the former state of war English Pliny the Elder Elephants Their Capacity The Natural History Book VIII Tufts University Archived from the original on 7 May 2021 Retrieved 21 February 2021 maximum est elephans proximumque humanis sensibus quippe intellectus illis sermonis patrii et imperiorum obedientia officiorum quae didicere memoria amoris et gloriae voluptas immo vero quae etiam in homine rara probitas prudentia aequitas religio quoque siderum solisque ac lunae veneratio The elephant is the largest of them all and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man It understands the language of its country it obeys commands and it remembers all the duties which it has been taught It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory and to a degree that is rare among men even possesses notions of honesty prudence and equity it has a religious respect also for the stars and a veneration for the sun and the moon Cicero De natura deorum Book II Section 8 Barton Carlin Boyarin Daniel 2016 8 Imagine No Threskeia The Task of the Untranslator Imagine No Religion How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities Fordham University Press pp 123 134 ISBN 978 0 8232 7120 7 Pasquier Michael 2023 Religion in America The Basics Routledge pp 2 3 ISBN 978 0367691806 Religion is a modern concept It is an idea with a history that developed most scholars would agree out of the social and cultural disruptions of Renaissance and Reformation Europe From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century at a time of unprecedented political transformation and scientific innovation it became possible for people to differentiate between things religious and things not religious Such a dualistic understanding of the world was simply not available in such clear terms to ancient and medieval Europeans to say nothing of people from the continents of North America South America Africa and Asia Harrison Peter 1990 Religion and the Religions in the English Enlightenment Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 89293 3 a b Dubuisson Daniel 2007 The Western Construction of Religion Myths Knowledge and Ideology Baltimore Md Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 0 8018 8756 7 a b c Fitzgerald Timothy 2007 Discourse on Civility and Barbarity Oxford University Press pp 45 46 ISBN 978 0 19 530009 3 Smith Wilfred Cantwell 1963 The Meaning and End of Religion New York MacMillan pp 125 126 Nongbri Brent 2013 Before Religion A History of a Modern Concept Yale University Press p 152 ISBN 978 0 300 15416 0 Although the Greeks Romans Mesopotamians and many other peoples have long histories the stories of their respective religions are of recent pedigree The formation of ancient religions as objects of study coincided with the formation of religion itself as a concept of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Harrison Peter 1990 Religion and the Religions in the English Enlightenment Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 1 ISBN 978 0 521 89293 3 That there exist in the world such entities as the religions is an uncontroversial claim However it was not always so The concepts religion and the religions as we presently understand them emerged quite late in Western thought during the Enlightenment Between them these two notions provided a new framework for classifying particular aspects of human life Nongbri Brent 2013 2 Lost in Translation Inserting Religion into Ancient Texts Before Religion A History of a Modern Concept Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 15416 0 Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 50 Great Myths about Religions Wiley Blackwell p 13 ISBN 978 0 470 67350 8 Many languages do not even have a word equivalent to our word religion nor is such a word found in either the Bible or the Qur an Hershel Edelheit Abraham J Edelheit History of Zionism A Handbook and Dictionary Archived 24 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine p 3 citing Solomon Zeitlin The Jews Race Nation or Religion Philadelphia Dropsie College Press 1936 Whiteford Linda M Trotter II Robert T 2008 Ethics for Anthropological Research and Practice Waveland Press p 22 ISBN 978 1 4786 1059 5 Archived from the original on 10 June 2016 Retrieved 28 November 2015 a b Burns Joshua Ezra 2015 3 Jewish ideologies of Peace and Peacemaking In Omar Irfan Duffey Michael eds Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions Wiley Blackwell pp 86 87 ISBN 978 1 118 95342 6 Boyarin Daniel 2019 Judaism The Genealogy of a Modern Notion Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 7161 4 a b 14 1A The Nature of Religion Social Sci LibreTexts 15 August 2018 Archived from the original on 12 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Kuroda Toshio 1996 Translated by Jacqueline I Stone The Imperial Law and the Buddhist Law PDF Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 23 3 4 Archived from the original PDF on 23 March 2003 Retrieved 28 May 2010 Neil McMullin Buddhism and the State in Sixteenth Century Japan Princeton N J Princeton University Press 1984 Harrison Peter 2015 The Territories of Science and Religion University of Chicago Press p 101 ISBN 978 0 226 18448 7 The first recorded use of Boudhism was 1801 followed by Hindooism 1829 Taouism 1838 and Confucianism 1862 see figure 6 By the middle of the nineteenth century these terms had secured their place in the English lexicon and the putative objects to which they referred became permanent features of our understanding of the world a b Josephson Jason Ananda 2012 The Invention of Religion in Japan University of Chicago Press p 12 ISBN 978 0 226 41234 4 The early nineteenth century saw the emergence of much of this terminology including the formation of the terms Boudhism 1801 Hindooism 1829 Taouism 1839 Zoroastri anism 1854 and Confucianism 1862 This construction of religions was not merely the production of European translation terms but the reification of systems of thought in a way strikingly divorced from their original cultural milieu The original discovery of religions in different cultures was rooted in the assumption that each people had its own divine revelation or at least its own parallel to Christianity In the same period however European and American explorers often suggested that specific African or Native American tribes lacked religion altogether Instead these groups were reputed to have only superstitions and as such they were seen as less than human Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 50 Great Myths about Religions Wiley Blackwell p 12 ISBN 978 0 470 67350 8 The phrase World Religions came into use when the first Parliament of the World s Religions was held in Chicago in 1893 Representation at the Parliament was not comprehensive Naturally Christians dominated the meeting and Jews were represented Muslims were represented by a single American Muslim The enormously diverse traditions of India were represented by a single teacher while three teachers represented the arguably more homogenous strains of Buddhist thought The indigenous religions of the Americas and Africa were not represented Nevertheless since the convening of the Parliament Judaism Christianity Islam Hinduism Buddhism Confucianism and Taoism have been commonly identified as World Religions They are sometimes called the Big Seven in Religious Studies textbooks and many generalizations about religion have been derived from them Rhodes John January 1991 An American Tradition The Religious Persecution of Native Americans Montana Law Review 52 1 13 72 In their traditional languages Native Americans have no word for religion This absence is very revealing Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 50 Great Myths about Religions Wiley Blackwell p 14 ISBN 978 0 470 67350 8 Before the British colonized India for example the people there had no concept religion and no concept Hinduism There was no word Hindu in classical India and no one spoke of Hinduism until the 1800s Until the introduction of that term Indians identified themselves by any number of criteria family trade or profession or social level and perhaps the scriptures they followed or the particular deity or deities upon whose care they relied in various contexts or to whom they were devoted But these diverse identities were united each an integral part of life no part existed in a separate sphere identified as religious Nor were the diverse traditions lumped together under the term Hinduism unified by sharing such common features of religion as a single founder creed theology or institutional organization Pennington Brian K 2005 Was Hinduism Invented Britons Indians and the Colonial Construction of Religion Oxford University Press pp 111 118 ISBN 978 0 19 803729 3 archived from the original on 17 December 2019 retrieved 5 August 2018 Lloyd Ridgeon 2003 Major World Religions From Their Origins to the Present Routledge pp 10 11 ISBN 978 1 134 42935 6 It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient and in a sense this is true It was formed by adding the English suffix ism of Greek origin to the word Hindu of Persian origin it was about the same time that the word Hindu without the suffix ism came to be used mainly as a religious term The name Hindu was first a geographical name not a religious one and it originated in the languages of Iran not of India They referred to the non Muslim majority together with their culture as Hindu Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion the word came to have religious implications and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion However it is a religious term that the word Hindu is now used in English and Hinduism is the name of a religion although as we have seen we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us Josephson Jason Ananda 2012 The Invention of Religion in Japan University of Chicago Press pp 1 11 12 ISBN 978 0 226 41234 4 Zuckerman Phil Galen Luke Pasquale Frank 2016 2 Secularity around the World The Nonreligious Understanding Secular People and Societies Oxford University Press pp 39 40 ISBN 978 0 19 992494 3 It was only in response to Western cultural contact in the late nineteenth century that a Japanese word for religion shukyo came into use It tends to be associated with foreign founded or formally organized traditions particularly Christianity and other monotheisms but also Buddhism and new religious sects Max Muller Natural Religion p 33 1889 Lewis amp Short A Latin Dictionary Archived from the original on 26 February 2021 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Max Muller 1870 Introduction to the Science of Religion Four Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution with Two Essays on False Analogies and the Philosophy of Mythology p 28 Vgl Johann Figl Handbuch Religionswissenschaft Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 2003 ISBN 3 7022 2508 0 S 65 Julia Haslinger Die Evolution der Religionen und der Religiositat s Literatur Religionsgeschichte S 3 4 8 Johann Figl Handbuch Religionswissenschaft Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 2003 ISBN 3 7022 2508 0 S 67 In Friedrich Schleiermacher Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsatzen der evangelischen Kirche Berlin 1821 22 Neuausg Berlin 1984 3 4 Zit nach Walter Burkert Kulte des Altertums Biologische Grundlagen der Religion 2 Auflage C H Beck Munchen 2009 ISBN 978 3 406 43355 9 S 102 Peter Antes Religion religionswissenschaftlich In EKL Bd 3 Sp 1543 S 98 McKinnon AM 2002 Sociological Definitions Language Games and the Essence of Religion Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Method amp Theory in the Study of Religion vol 14 no 1 pp 61 83 Josephson Jason Ananda 2012 The Invention of Religion in Japan Chicago University of Chicago Press p 257 McKinnon A M 2002 Sociological definitions language games and the essence of religion PDF Method amp Theory in the Study of Religion 14 1 61 83 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 613 6995 doi 10 1163 157006802760198776 hdl 2164 3073 ISSN 0943 3058 Archived PDF from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 20 July 2017 Smith Wilfred Cantwell 1978 The Meaning and End of Religion New York Harper and Row King W L 2005 Religion First Edition In Eliade Mircea ed The Encyclopedia of Religion 2nd ed MacMillan Reference US p 7692 Geertz 1993 pp 87 125 Geertz 1993 p 90 James Paul amp Mandaville Peter 2010 Globalization and Culture Vol 2 Globalizing Religions London Sage Publications Archived from the original on 25 December 2019 Retrieved 1 May 2014 MacMillan Encyclopedia of religions Religion p 7695 Finlay Hueston E 2005 Feeling of absolute dependence or absolute feeling of dependence A question revisited Religious Studies 41 81 94 doi 10 1017 S0034412504007462 S2CID 170541390 Max Muller Lectures on the origin and growth of religion Tylor E B 1871 Primitive Culture Researches Into the Development of Mythology Philosophy Religion Art and Custom Vol 1 London John Murray p 424 James 1902 p 34 James 1902 p 38 Durkheim 1915 p 37 Durkheim 1915 pp 40 41 Frederick Ferre F 1967 Basic modern philosophy of religion Scribner p 82 Tillich P 1959 Theology of Culture Oxford University Press p 8 Pecorino P A 2001 Philosophy of Religion Online Textbook Archived 19 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine Philip A Pecorino Zeigler David January February 2020 Religious Belief from Dreams Skeptical Inquirer Vol 44 no 1 Amherst NY Center for Inquiry pp 51 54 Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth p 22 ISBN 0 385 24774 5 Joseph Campbell Thou Art That Transforming Religious Metaphor Ed Eugene Kennedy New World Library ISBN 1 57731 202 3 myth Encyclopaedia Britannica Archived from the original on 13 September 2021 Retrieved 24 April 2016 Oxford Dictionaries Archived 8 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine mythology retrieved 9 September 2012 Pals 2006 Stausberg 2009 Segal 2005 p 49 Monaghan John Just Peter 2000 Social amp Cultural Anthropology New York Oxford University Press p 126 ISBN 978 0 19 285346 2 a b Monaghan John Just Peter 2000 Social amp Cultural Anthropology New York Oxford University Press p 124 ISBN 978 0 19 285346 2 Clifford Geertz Religion as a Cultural System 1973 Talal Asad The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category 1982 Richard Niebuhr Christ and Culture San Francisco Harper amp Row 1951 as cited by Domenic Marbaniang The Gospel and Culture Areas of Conflict Consent and Conversion Journal of Contemporary Christian Vol 6 No 1 Bangalore CFCC Aug 2014 ISSN 2231 5233 pp 9 10 Vergote Antoine Religion belief and unbelief a psychological study Leuven University Press 1997 p 89 Barrett Justin L 2007 Cognitive Science of Religion What Is It and Why Is It Religion Compass 1 6 768 786 doi 10 1111 j 1749 8171 2007 00042 x Archived from the original on 12 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Nicholson PT 2014 Psychosis and paroxysmal visions in the lives of the founders of world religions The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 26 1 E13 14 doi 10 1176 appi neuropsych 12120412 PMID 24515692 Murray ED Cunningham MG Price BH 2012 The role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 24 4 410 426 doi 10 1176 appi neuropsych 11090214 PMID 23224447 Weber SR Pargament KI September 2014 The role of religion and spirituality in mental health Current Opinion in Psychiatry 27 5 358 363 doi 10 1097 YCO 0000000000000080 PMID 25046080 S2CID 9075314 Reina Aaron July 2014 Faith Within Atheism Schizophrenia Bulletin 40 4 719 720 doi 10 1093 schbul sbt076 PMC 4059423 PMID 23760918 Favazza A Psychiatry and Spirituality In Sadock B Sadock V Ruiz P eds Kaplan and Sadocks Comprehensive Texbook of Psychiatry 10th ed Wolters Kluwer Altschuler EL 2004 Temporal lobe epilepsy in the priestly source of the Pentateuch South African Medical Journal 11 94 870 PMID 15587438 Heilman Kenneth M Valenstein Edward 2011 Clinical Neuropsychology Oxford University Press p 488 ISBN 978 0 19 538487 1 Studies that claim to show no difference in emotional makeup between temporal lobe and other epileptic patients Guerrant et al 1962 Stevens 1966 have been reinterpreted Blumer 1975 to indicate that there is in fact a difference those with temporal lobe epilepsy are more likely to have more serious forms of emotional disturbance This typical personality of temporal lobe epileptic patient has been described in roughly similar terms over many years Blumer amp Benson 1975 Geschwind 1975 1977 Blumer 1999 Devinsky amp Schachter 2009 These patients are said to have a deepening of emotions they ascribe great significance to commonplace events This can be manifested as a tendency to take a cosmic view hyperreligiosity or intensely professed atheism is said to be common Human beings relation to that which they regard as holy sacred spiritual and divine Encyclopaedia Britannica online 2006 cited after Definitions of Religion Religion facts Archived from the original on 12 October 2014 Retrieved 16 February 2022 a b Charles Joseph Adams Classification of religions geographical Encyclopaedia Britannica Archived from the original on 7 November 2014 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Harvey Graham 2000 Indigenous Religions A Companion Ed Graham Harvey London and New York Cassell p 6 Brian Kemble Pennington Was Hinduism Invented New York Oxford University Press US 2005 ISBN 0 19 516655 8 Russell T McCutcheon Critics Not Caretakers Redescribing the Public Study of Religion Albany SUNY Press 2001 Nicholas Lash The beginning and the end of religion Cambridge University Press 1996 ISBN 0 521 56635 5 Joseph Bulbulia Are There Any Religions An Evolutionary Explanation Method amp Theory in the Study of Religion 17 2 2005 pp 71 100 Park Chris 2005 Religion and Geography In Hinnells John R ed The Routledge companion to the study of religion Routledge pp 439 440 ISBN 978 0 415 33311 5 Archived from the original on 9 May 2016 Retrieved 7 September 2020 Flugel Peter 2005 The Invention of Jainism A Short History of Jaina Studies PDF International Journal of Jaina Studies 1 1 1 14 Archived PDF from the original on 1 December 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2019 Timothy Fitzgerald The Ideology of Religious Studies New York Oxford University Press US 2000 Craig R Prentiss Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity New York NYU Press 2003 ISBN 0 8147 6701 X Tomoko Masuzawa The Invention of World Religions or How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism Chicago University of Chicago Press 2005 ISBN 0 226 50988 5 Christians are the largest religious group in 2015 Pew Research Center Archived from the original on 8 July 2022 Retrieved 8 July 2022 a b Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism PDF WIN Gallup International 27 July 2012 Archived from the original PDF on 6 September 2012 Retrieved 24 August 2012 Losing our Religion Two Thirds of People Still Claim to be Religious PDF WIN Gallup International WIN Gallup International 13 April 2015 Archived from the original PDF on 30 April 2015 Women More Religious Than Men Livescience com 28 February 2009 Archived from the original on 8 July 2013 Retrieved 14 July 2013 Soul Searching The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers p 77 Christian Smith Melina Lundquist Denton 2005 Christ in Japanese Culture Theological Themes in Shusaku Endo s Literary Works Emi Mase Hasegawa 2008 New poll reveals how churchgoers mix eastern new age beliefs Archived 22 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 26 July 2013 Islam set to become world s largest religion by 2075 study suggests The Guardian 5 April 2017 Archived from the original on 14 April 2021 Retrieved 20 March 2021 The Changing Global Religious Landscape Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project 5 April 2017 Archived from the original on 28 September 2021 Retrieved 21 March 2021 Zuckerman Phil 2006 3 Atheism Contemporary Numbers and Patterns In Martin Michael ed The Cambridge Companion to Atheism pp 47 66 doi 10 1017 CCOL0521842700 004 ISBN 978 1139001182 a b Judaism Definition Origin History Beliefs amp Facts Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 1 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Info PDF www cbs gov il Archived from the original PDF on 26 October 2011 Retrieved 22 March 2011 a b Christianity Definition Origin History Beliefs Symbols Types amp Facts Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 1 November 2014 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Muslim Christian Relations Amsterdam University Press 2006 ISBN 978 90 5356 938 2 Archived from the original on 20 June 2013 Retrieved 18 October 2007 The enthusiasm for evangelization among the Christians was also accompanied by the awareness that the most immediate problem to solve was how to serve the huge number of new converts Simatupang said if the number of the Christians were double or triple then the number of the ministers should also be doubled or tripled and the role of the laity should be maximized and Christian service to society through schools universities hospitals and orphanages should be increased In addition for him the Christian mission should be involved in the struggle for justice amid the process of modernization Fred Kammer 2004 Doing Faith Justice Paulist Press p 77 ISBN 978 0 8091 4227 9 Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 Retrieved 18 October 2007 Theologians bishops and preachers urged the Christian community to be as compassionate as their God was reiterating that creation was for all of humanity They also accepted and developed the identification of Christ with the poor and the requisite Christian duty to the poor Religious congregations and individual charismatic leaders promoted the development of a number of helping institutions hospitals hospices for pilgrims orphanages shelters for unwed mothers that laid the foundation for the modern large network of hospitals orphanages and schools to serve the poor and society at large Christian Church Women Shapers of a Movement Chalice Press March 1994 ISBN 978 0 8272 0463 8 Archived from the original on 20 June 2013 Retrieved 18 October 2007 In the central provinces of India they established schools orphanages hospitals and churches and spread the gospel message in zenanas World s largest religion by population is still Christianity Pew Research Center Archived from the original on 24 November 2019 Retrieved 27 February 2019 a b c Christianity HISTORY Archived from the original on 11 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 a b Islam HISTORY Archived from the original on 3 May 2020 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Massignon 1949 pp 20 23 a b What Baha is Believe The Baha i Faith www bahai org Archived from the original on 13 April 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Beit Hallahmi Benjamin 1992 Rosen Roger ed The illustrated encyclopedia of active new religions sects and cults 1st ed New York Rosen Pub Group ISBN 978 0 8239 1505 7 James Lewis 2002 The Encyclopedia of Cults Sects and New Religions Prometheus Books Retrieved 13 May 2015 Are the Druze People Arabs or Muslims Deciphering Who They Are Arab America Arab America 8 August 2018 Archived from the original on 20 October 2019 Retrieved 13 April 2020 De McLaurin Ronald 1979 The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East Michigan University Press p 114 ISBN 978 0 03 052596 4 Theologically one would have to conclude that the Druze are not Muslims They do not accept the five pillars of Islam In place of these principles the Druze have instituted the seven precepts noted above De Blois Francois 1960 2007 Ṣabiʾ In Bearman P Bianquis Th Bosworth C E van Donzel E Heinrichs W P eds Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition doi 10 1163 1573 3912 islam COM 0952 Van Bladel Kevin 2017 From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣabians of the Marshes Leiden Brill doi 10 1163 9789004339460 ISBN 978 90 04 33943 9 Archived from the original on 1 June 2022 Retrieved 19 June 2022 p 5 a b Buckley Jorunn Jacobsen 2002 Part I Beginnings Introduction The Mandaean World The Mandaeans Ancient Texts and Modern People New York Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion pp 1 20 doi 10 1093 0195153855 003 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 515385 9 OCLC 57385973 Archived from the original on 8 December 2021 Retrieved 17 December 2021 Ginza Rabba Translated by Al Saadi Qais Al Saadi Hamed 2nd ed Germany Drabsha 2019 McGrath James 23 January 2015 The First Baptists The Last Gnostics The Mandaeans YouTube A lunchtime talk about the Mandaeans by Dr James F McGrath at Butler University archived from the original on 4 November 2021 retrieved 16 December 2021 Mittal Sushil 2003 Surprising Bedfellows Hindus and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern India Lexington Books p 103 ISBN 978 0 7391 0673 0 Klaus K Klostermaier 2010 Survey of Hinduism A Third Edition SUNY Press p 15 ISBN 978 0 7914 8011 3 Archived from the original on 31 March 2019 Retrieved 22 August 2018 p 434 Merriam Webster s Encyclopedia of World Religions By Wendy Doniger M Webster Merriam Webster Inc p 219 Faith Religion amp Theology By Brennan Hill Paul F Knitter William Madges p 6 The World s Great Religions By Yoshiaki Gurney Omura Selwyn Gurney Champion Dorothy Short Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the Secret Royal Treasure in Vaults 14 July 2020 Archived from the original on 21 April 2021 Retrieved 9 June 2021 Dundas 2002 pp 30 31 Williams Paul Tribe Anthony 2000 Buddhist Thought A complete introduction to the Indian tradition Routledge ISBN 0 203 18593 5 p 194 Smith E Gene 2001 Among Tibetan Texts History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau Boston Wisdom Publications ISBN 0 86171 179 3 Kenkyusha s New Japanese English Dictionary ISBN 4 7674 2015 6 Sikhism What do you know about it The Washington Post Archived from the original on 11 August 2012 Retrieved 13 December 2012 Zepps Josh 6 August 2012 Sikhs in America What You Need To Know About The World s Fifth Largest Religion Huffington Post Archived from the original on 10 August 2012 Retrieved 13 December 2012 J O Awolalu 1976 What is African Traditional Religion Archived 22 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine Studies in Comparative Religion Vol 10 No 2 Spring 1976 a b Pew Research Center 2012 The Global Religious Landscape A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World s Major Religious Groups as of 2010 Archived 19 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Pew Forum on Religion amp Public Life Central Intelligence Agency Religions World Factbook Archived from the original on 20 December 2018 Retrieved 3 January 2013 Asatrian Garnik S Arakelova Victoria 2014 The Religion of the Peacock Angel The Yezidis and Their Spirit World Routledge ISBN 978 1 317 54429 6 Archived from the original on 25 February 2020 Retrieved 4 September 2020 Acikyildiz Birgul 2014 The Yezidis The History of a Community Culture and Religion I B Tauris ISBN 978 0 85772 061 0 Archived from the original on 26 February 2020 Retrieved 4 September 2020 Cao Dai Vietnamese religion Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 7 January 2019 Retrieved 11 January 2021 What is Eckankar Eckankar is Love Wisdom and Freedom Eckankar Archived from the original on 19 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 New Religious Movements New Religious Movements in Japan Encyclopedia com www encyclopedia com Archived from the original on 14 April 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Movements Millenarian Movement Timeline The Association of Religion Data Archives www thearda com Archived from the original on 1 August 2021 Retrieved 16 February 2022 White Larisa A 2021 World Druidry A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality Belmont California Larisa A White pp 253 255 ISBN 978 1 7367792 0 0 The Druids The British Museum Archived from the original on 23 December 2012 Retrieved 15 January 2022 Neo Paganism religion Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 1 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 7 Noahide Laws Judaism Humanity Noahidism The Seven Noahide Laws Archived from the original on 16 February 2022 Retrieved 11 January 2021 a b Davidsen Markus Altena 2013 Fiction based religion Conceptualising a new category against history based religion and fandom Culture and Religion 14 4 378 395 doi 10 1080 14755610 2013 838798 hdl 1887 48123 S2CID 143778202 Satanism HISTORY Archived from the original on 30 December 2020 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Escobedo Dan Gilgoff and Tricia 22 March 2017 Scientology What exactly is it CNN Archived from the original on 12 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Unitarianism and Universalism English Unitarianism Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 22 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Wicca History Beliefs amp Facts Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 27 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Witte John 2012 The Study of Law and Religion in the United States An Interim Report Ecclesiastical Law Journal 14 3 327 354 doi 10 1017 s0956618x12000348 S2CID 145170469 Norman Doe Law and Religion in Europe A Comparative Introduction 2011 W Cole Durham and Brett G Scharffs eds Law and religion national international and comparative perspectives Aspen Pub 2010 John Witte Jr and Frank S Alexander eds Christianity and Law An Introduction Cambridge U P 2008 John Witte Jr From Sacrament to Contract Marriage Religion and Law in the Western Tradition 1997 John Witte Jr The Reformation of Rights Law Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism 2008 Elizabeth Mayer Ann 1987 Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East American Journal of Comparative Law 35 1 127 184 doi 10 2307 840165 JSTOR 840165 Alan Watson The state law and religion pagan Rome University of Georgia Press 1992 Ferrari Silvio 2012 Law and Religion in a Secular World A European Perspective Ecclesiastical Law Journal 14 3 355 370 doi 10 1017 s0956618x1200035x S2CID 145347158 Palomino Rafael 2012 Legal dimensions of secularism challenges and problems Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 2 208 225 Archived from the original on 6 August 2020 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Bennoune Karima 2006 Secularism and human rights A contextual analysis of headscarves religious expression and women s equality under international law Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 45 367 Stenmark Mikael 2004 How to Relate Science and Religion A Multidimensional Model Grand Rapids Mich W B Eerdmans Pub Co ISBN 978 0 8028 2823 1 Cahan David ed 2003 From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences Writing the History of Nineteenth Century Science Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 08928 7 Numbers Ronald Lindberg David eds 2003 When Science and Christianity Meet Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 48214 9 Tolman Cynthia Methods in Religion Malboro College Archived from the original on 4 September 2015 a b Coyne Jerry A 5 December 2013 Einstein s Famous Quote About Science and Religion Didn t Mean What You Were Taught The New Republic Archived from the original on 29 November 2020 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Einstein Albert 21 September 1940 Personal God Concept Causes Science Religion Conflict The Science News Letter 38 12 181 182 doi 10 2307 3916567 JSTOR 3916567 Esptein Greg M 2010 Good Without God What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe New York HarperCollins p 117 ISBN 978 0 06 167011 4 Rachels James Rachels Stuart eds 2011 The Elements of Moral Philosophy 7 ed New York McGraw Hill ISBN 978 0 07 803824 2 Religion and Politics Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archived from the original on 18 January 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Sharia Law Muslims for Progressive Values Archived from the original on 11 November 2020 Retrieved 11 January 2021 The Economist explains The role of religion in America s presidential race Archived 9 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Economist 25 February 2016 Lipka Michael 27 August 2015 10 facts about religion in America Pew Research Center Archived from the original on 25 November 2020 Retrieved 9 July 2016 Europe religion and politics Old world wars Archived 9 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Economist 22 April 2014 Lobo L 2000 Religion and Politics in India Archived 10 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine America Magazine 19 February 2000 a b WIN Gallup Global Index of religion and atheism PDF Archived from the original PDF on 21 October 2013 Retrieved 12 July 2016 Max Weber 1904 1920 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Christians hold largest percentage of global wealth Report deccanherald com 14 January 2015 Archived from the original on 14 June 2018 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Mueller Paul S Plevak David J Rummans Teresa A 1 December 2001 Religious Involvement Spirituality and Medicine Implications for Clinical Practice Mayo Clinic Proceedings 76 12 1225 1235 doi 10 4065 76 12 1225 PMID 11761504 Archived from the original on 9 August 2021 Retrieved 11 January 2021 Mueller Paul S Plevak David J Rummans Teresa A 2001 Religious Involvement Spirituality and Medicine Implications for Clinical Practice Mayo Clinic Proceedings 76 12 1225 1235 doi 10 4065 76 12 1225 PMID 11761504 Archived from the original on 8 November 2019 Retrieved 13 November 2010 We reviewed published studies meta analyses systematic reviews and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health mental health health related quality of life and other health outcomes We also reviewed articles that provided suggestions on how clinicians might assess and support the spiritual needs of patients Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes including greater longevity coping skills and health related quality of life even during terminal illness and less anxiety depression and suicide Seybold Kevin S Hill Peter C February 2001 The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Mental and Physical Health Current Directions in Psychological Science 10 1 21 24 doi 10 1111 1467 8721 00106 S2CID 144109851 Jones James W 2004 Religion Health and the Psychology of Religion How the Research on Religion and Health Helps Us Understand Religion Journal of Religion and Health 43 4 317 328 doi 10 1007 s10943 004 4299 3 S2CID 33669708 Archived from the original on 2 March 2021 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Maselko Joanna Kubzansky Laura D 2006 Gender differences in religious practices spiritual experiences and health Results from the US General Social Survey Social Science amp Medicine 62 11 2848 2860 doi 10 1016 j socscimed 2005 11 008 PMID 16359765 Avalos Hector 2005 Fighting Words The Origins of Religious Violence Amherst New York Prometheus Books The Curse of Cain The Violent Legacy of Monotheism By Regina M Schwartz University of Chicago Press 1998 Hitchens Christopher 2007 God is not Great Twelve Dawkins Richard 2006 The God Delusion Bantam Books Eller Jack David 2010 Cruel Creeds Virtuous Violence Religious Violence Across Culture and History Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 61614 218 6 As we have insisted previously religion is not inherently and irredeemably violent it certainly is not the essence and source of all violence Eller Jack David 2010 Cruel Creeds Virtuous Violence Religious Violence Across Culture and History Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 61614 218 6 Religion and violence are clearly compatible but they are not identical Violence is one phenomenon in human and natural existence religion is another and it is inevitable that the two would become intertwined Religion is complex and modular and violence is one of the modules not universal but recurring As a conceptual and behavioral module violence is by no means exclusive to religion There are plenty of other groups institutions interests and ideologies to promote violence Violence is therefore neither essential to nor exclusive to religion Nor is religious violence all alike And virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary France Presse Agence 2 September 2014 Indian court bans animal sacrifice The Guardian Archived from the original on 27 August 2016 Retrieved 17 December 2016 Veyne Paul ed 1987 A History of Private Life I From Pagan Rome to Byzantium p 211 Polybius The Histories VI 56 Kevin R Foster amp Hanna Kokko 2009 Published online 9 September 2008 The evolution of superstitious and superstition like behaviour PDF Proc R Soc B 276 1654 31 37 doi 10 1098 rspb 2008 0981 PMC 2615824 PMID 18782752 Archived from the original PDF on 28 July 2010 Boyer Pascal 2001 Why Belief Religion Explained ISBN 978 0 465 00696 0 David Fitzgerald 2010 Nailed ten Christian myths that show Jesus never existed at all Place of publication not identified ISBN 978 0 557 70991 5 OCLC 701249439 The Structure of Religion in the U S Boundless Sociology courses lumenlearning com Archived from the original on 13 January 2020 Retrieved 8 August 2020 Raja Juli Antoni The Role of Religion in Peacebuilding in Conflict Torn Society in Southeast Asia PDF The University of Queensland Australia Retrieved 10 January 2021 1893 Chicago parliamentofreligions org parliamentofreligions org Archived from the original on 27 January 2021 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Miles Leroyce 2018 Introduction to the Study of Religion EDTECH p 6 ISBN 978 1 83947 363 0 Archived from the original on 16 February 2022 Retrieved 10 January 2021 A Common Word Between Us and You acommonword com Archived from the original on 10 February 2022 Retrieved 16 February 2022 konsoleH Login c1worlddialogue com Archived from the original on 28 January 2011 Islam and Buddhism islambuddhism com Archived from the original on 20 January 2022 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Home World Interfaith Harmony Week Archived from the original on 7 August 2020 Retrieved 8 August 2020 World Interfaith Harmony Week UNGA Resolution A 65 PV 34 worldinterfaithharmonyweek com Archived from the original on 21 September 2017 Retrieved 16 February 2022 Edward L Queen Encyclopedia of American Religious History Volume 1 Facts on File 1996 p vi Paul Tillich Theology of Culture Robert C Kimball ed Oxford University Press 1959 p 42 Eric J Sharpe Religion and Cultures An inaugural lecture delivered on 6 July 1977 by Eric J Sharpe Professor of Religious Studies in the University of Sydney Accessed at Openjournals Archived 14 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine on 22 June 2018 See Taslima Nasreen I Say Three Cheers For Ayaan Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine Outlook The Magazine 28 August 2006 Also Nemani Delaibatiki Religion and the Vanua Archived 6 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Fiji Sun 8 July 2017 in which the distinctive elements of culture against religion are taken from Domenic Marbaniang Difference Between Culture and Religion A Proposal Requesting Response Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 12 October 2014 Domenic Marbaniang The Gospel and Culture Areas of Conflict Consent and Conversion Journal of Contemporary Christian Vol 6 No 1 Bangalore CFCC Aug 2014 ISSN 2231 5233 pp 7 17 Beckford James A 2003 Social Theory and Religion Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 2 ISBN 978 0 521 77431 4 SourcesPrimaryLao Tzu Tao Te Ching Victor H Mair translator Bantam 1998 The Holy Bible King James Version New American Library 1974 The Koran Penguin 2000 ISBN 0 14 044558 7 The Origin of Live amp Death African Creation Myths Heinemann 1966 Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia Penguin 1971 Selected Work Marcus Tullius CiceroSecondaryBorg J November 2003 The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences American Journal of Psychiatry 160 11 1965 1969 doi 10 1176 appi ajp 160 11 1965 PMID 14594742 S2CID 5911066 Brodd Jeffrey 2003 World Religions Winona MN Saint Mary s Press ISBN 978 0 88489 725 5 Yves Coppens Origines de l homme De la matiere a la conscience De Vive Voix Paris 2010 Yves Coppens La preistoria dell uomo Jaca Book Milano 2011 Descartes Rene Meditations on First Philosophy Bobbs Merrill 1960 ISBN 0 672 60191 5 Dow James W 2007 A Scientific Definition of Religion Archived 22 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine Dundas Paul 2002 1992 The Jains Second ed Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 26605 5 archived from the original on 22 January 2017 retrieved 17 March 2018 Durant Will amp Ariel uncredited Our Oriental Heritage MJF Books 1997 ISBN 1 56731 012 5 Durant Will amp Ariel uncredited Caesar and Christ MJF Books 1994 ISBN 1 56731 014 1 Durant Will amp Ariel uncredited The Age of Faith Simon amp Schuster 1980 ISBN 0 671 01200 2 Durkheim Emile 1915 The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life London George Allen amp Unwin Geertz Clifford 1993 Religion as a cultural system The interpretation of cultures selected essays Geertz Clifford London Fontana Press pp 87 125 Marija Gimbutas 1989 The Language of the Goddess Thames and Hudson New York Gonick Larry The Cartoon History of the Universe Doubleday vol 1 1978 ISBN 0 385 26520 4 vol II 1994 ISBN 0 385 42093 5 W W Norton vol III 2002 ISBN 0 393 05184 6 Haisch Bernard The God Theory Universes Zero point Fields and What s Behind It All discussion of science vs religion Preface Red Wheel Weiser 2006 ISBN 1 57863 374 5 James William 1902 The Varieties of Religious Experience A Study in Human Nature Longmans Green and Co Khanbaghi A The Fire the Star and the Cross Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran IB Tauris 2006 268 pages Social political and cultural history of religious minorities in Iran c 226 1722 AD King Winston Religion First Edition In Encyclopedia of Religion Ed Lindsay Jones Vol 11 2nd ed Detroit Macmillan Reference US 2005 pp 7692 7701 Korotayev Andrey World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations A Cross cultural Perspective Lewiston New York Edwin Mellen Press 2004 ISBN 0 7734 6310 0 Lynn Richard Harvey John Nyborg Helmuth 2009 Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations Intelligence 37 11 15 doi 10 1016 j intell 2008 03 004 McKinnon Andrew M 2002 Sociological Definitions Language Games and the Essence of Religion Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Method amp theory in the study of religion vol 14 no 1 pp 61 83 Massignon Louis 1949 Les trois prieres d Abraham pere de tous les croyants Dieu Vivant 13 20 23 Palmer Spencer J et al Religions of the World a Latter day Saint Mormon View 2nd general ed tev and enl Provo Utah Brigham Young University 1997 xv 294 p ill ISBN 0 8425 2350 2 Pals Daniel L 2006 Eight Theories of Religion Oxford University Press Ramsay Michael Abp Beyond Religion Cincinnati Ohio Forward Movement Publications cop 1964 Saler Benson Conceptualizing Religion Immanent Anthropologists Transcendent Natives and Unbounded Categories 1990 ISBN 1 57181 219 9 Schuon Frithjof The Transcendent Unity of Religions in series Quest Books 2nd Quest rev ed Wheaton Ill Theosophical Publishing House 1993 cop 1984 xxxiv 173 p ISBN 0 8356 0587 6 Segal Robert A 2005 Theories of Religion In Hinnells John R ed The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion London New York Routledge pp 49 60 Stausberg Michael 2009 Contemporary Theories of religion Routledge Wallace Anthony F C 1966 Religion An Anthropological View New York Random House pp 62 66 The World Almanac annual World Almanac Books ISBN 0 88687 964 7 The World Almanac for numbers of adherents of various religions 2005Further readingSaint Augustine The Confessions of Saint Augustine John K Ryan translator Image 1960 ISBN 0 385 02955 1 Barzilai Gad Law and Religion The International Library of Essays in Law and Society Ashgate 2007 ISBN 978 0 7546 2494 3 Bellarmine Robert 1902 Sermon 48 The Necessity of Religion Sermons from the Latins Benziger Brothers James Paul amp Mandaville Peter 2010 Globalization and Culture Vol 2 Globalizing Religions London Sage Publications Lang Andrew The Making of Religion Third Edition Longmans Green and Co 1909 Marx Karl Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel s Philosophy of Right Deutsch Franzosische Jahrbucher 1844 Noss John B Man s Religions 6th ed Macmillan Publishing Co 1980 N B The first ed appeared in 1949 ISBN 978 0 02 388430 6 OCLC 4665144 Inglehart Ronald F Giving Up on God The Global Decline of Religion Foreign Affairs vol 99 no 5 September October 2020 pp 110 118 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Religion Wikiquote has quotations related to Religion Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Religion and spirituality Kevin Schilbrack The Concept of Religion In Zalta Edward N ed Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Religion Statistics from UCB Libraries GovPubs Religion at Curlie Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents Usurped by Adherents com August 2005 IACSR International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion Studying Religion Introduction to the methods and scholars of the academic study of religion A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel s Philosophy of Right Marx s original reference to religion as the opium of the people The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of Religion in International Law Harvard Human Rights Journal article from the President and Fellows of Harvard College 2003 Sociology of Religion Resources Video 5 Religions spreading across the world Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Religion amp oldid 1155029963, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.