PCS 106 (RELIGIOUS CONFLICT) Making Sense of

Transcript:PCS 106 (RELIGIOUS CONFLICT) Making Sense of:
PCS 106 (RELIGIOUS CONFLICT) Making Sense of Religion and Violence 2/27/2009 Lecturer: Demola Akinyoade 1 Class Overview Class Objective: At the end of today’s class students should be able to: Define religion ; Identify the world major religions ; Identify the special distribution of religion and its adherents; and Understand the classifications of religion. 2/27/2009 Lecturer: Demola Akinyoade 2 Key Terms Supernatural: Above nature; that which is beyond or added to nature, often so considered because it is given by God or some force beyond that which humans are born with. In Roman Catholic theology, sanctifying grace is considered to be a supernatural addition to human nature. Profane: Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular. Sacred: Set apart by solemn religious ceremony; especially, in a good sense, made holy; set apart to religious use; consecrated; not profane or common; as, a sacred place; a sacred day; sacred service Belief system: The basis of a set of beliefs Hierarchy: Any group of objects ranked so that everyone but the topmost is subordinate to a specified group above it. 2/23/2009 Lecturer: Demola Akinyoade 3 Religion defined The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system,"[2] but it is more socially defined than personal convictions, and it entails specific behaviors, respectively. “Religion is the sigh of an oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless situation. It is the opium of people.” (Karl Marx) A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church all those, who adhere to them.” (Emile Durkheim) 2/23/2009 Lecturer: Demola Akinyoade 4 Religion defined A religion usually encompasses a set of stories, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to an ultimate power or reality It may be expressed through prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, among other things. It may focus on specific supernatural, metaphysical, and moral claims about reality (the cosmos, and human nature) which may yield a set of religious laws, ethics, and a particular lifestyle. Religion also encompasses ancestral or