Download Religion

Religion
What is it?
Religion – is simply defined as a system of beliefs
*God or gods, supernatural forces, divine energy, or
philosophies
Why is there a need for religion?
● It can try to explain the
unknown
● what happens after death?
● It can give meaning and
purpose to life
● why are we here?
● It can provide a guide for
proper behavior
● 10 Commandments
● ** religion is probably
the greatest influence
over individuals in a
particular society /
culture
Types of religion
● Monotheism is the
belief in one god
● Polytheism is the
belief in many gods
● Animism is the belief
in divine forces in
nature (aka paganism)
● Other
● Atheism – belief in no
gods
● Agnostic – don’t
know…its possible –
need conclusive
evidence
Structure of
religions
● History / beliefs / laws
– usually written down
in a holy book (text)
● Rituals (practices) –
services, ceremonies,
holy days , rights of
passage
● Clergy – religious
leaders (priests, rabbis,
ministers, imams, the
Pope)
Major Religions
● Have a large population
of followers
● Examples – Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism
● Sects – are divisions of
a religion (Christianity
– Roman Catholic,
Protestant, Eastern
Orthodox)
Cults
● Cults – are
religions that have
a very small
number of
followers
● Considered outside
the norm of
accepted religions
of the time
● All major religions
started out as cults
DQ- how does religion fit into
Maslow’s Hierarchy???
DQ – How important / influential
is religion in your life?
Rank your answer on a scale of 1(hardly)-10 (extremely) and justify your answer
LT – How does religion influence
(impact) culture? How influential is
religion on culture?
● Partner activity
● Lets look at some current events
● Using the chrome books go to my web page & go to the Yahoo
link
● Discuss
● Look at a variety of current events / articles and see how
religion might connect to these and influence culture
● Evaluate how influential religion is on culture (scale of 110)
●
Support your ranking with specific ideas (relating to culture)
Let’s compare the major monotheistic
religions in the world today…shall we
● LT – I can identify, compare, and contrast the
major characteristics that define the major
monotheistic religions of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.
● LT – I can analyze and evaluate why these 3
religions don’t really don’t get along.
● Group activity (3 per group)
● Venh diagram (Judaism / Christianity / Islam)
● Complete the diagram and answer the question on
back
Religion
Middle East is the
birthplace – of 3 major
world religions
(monotheism – the belief
in one god)
Judaism and Christianity developed along the eastern
coast of the Mediterranean
* both – use the Bible (Old
Testament) Jews use the Torah
* Jews – do not believe in the New
Testament (Life of Jesus as the
Messiah)
* Christianity –spread and took
root in Europe and their colonies
Religion
Islam – means “submission” to
the will of God (Allah – same
god as the Jews and
Christians)
* Muslims – followers of
Islam
* developed – in the Arabian
Peninsula (Mecca – 600’s
A.D.)
* Founder – Muhammad
(final prophet – messenger of
God)
* Holy Book – Koran
(contains the 5 pillars of Islam
– duties)
* 2 main divisions – or sects
(Sunnis / majority & Shiites or
Shia’s which are the
minority)
* being hurt – by religious
extremists (Osama bin Laden)
Group questions
●How similar are these 3 religions?
●Why do you think that these 3 religions tend
to be in conflict with each other?
DQ -What is your reaction to these
photos?
What words come to mind?
●Muslim
●Arab
●Islam
●Terrorist
●Suicide bomber
●Iraq
●Afghanistan
DQ – How would you feel if
this were you?
Is Islam a violent religion?
Sept. 11,
2001
Oregon
Shooting
Gay persecution by ISIS
Charlie Hebdo