Download Religion - WordPress.com

Religion
Outline
•
•
•
•
•
The Most Basic of Basics
Misconceptions
What is Religion?
Why is Religion Important?
Debate Tactics
The Most Basic of Basics
Abrahamic Religions
• Monotheistic religions that believe they
descend from Abraham
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
Key Term: Ethnoreligious
Group
• An ethnic group of people whose
members are unified by a common
religious background.
• Interaction of culture, language, religion,
and collective identity
• Examples: Sikh, Zoroastrians, and Jews
Judaism
• Oldest Abrahamic religion
• Origins: Ancient Israel and Judea
• Important texts:
– Torah
– Tanakh/Hebrew Bible
– Oral Tradition, etc.
• 14 Million Jews; 42% in Israel and 42% in
North America
Christianity
•
•
•
•
Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy (11th century schism)
Protestantism (16th century)
Important Texts
– Old Testament
– New Testament
– Etc.
Islam
• Quran + Muhammad’s teachings
• Southeast Asia, North Africa, Western
Asia, and Central Asia; Iran, Pakistan
• Sunni Islam
• Shia Islam
Hinduism
•
•
•
•
South Asia
Broad range of philosophies
Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism
3rd largest religion
Buddhism
• Nontheistic
• Gautama Buddha
– 6th – 4th century
• Four Noble Truths
The Big Five
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Folk Religion
Misconceptions
THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Most non-Abrahamic religions do not have
a concept of hell or damnation
• Christianity is the world’s fastest growing
religion
• U.S. is historically not that Christian
• Islam vs. Islamism
What is Religion?
Is religion an interest, or an identity?
What is Religion?
• Worldview
– Way of seeing yourself, the people around
you, and your relationship with the divine
– Not just some opinions or beliefs
Why are people religious?
• Often cultural or family context
– Community Identity
– Ethnoreligious Groups
• Set of beliefs or values
– Way of understanding the world, your place
within it, and what will happen to you after
death
Religion
• Individual and collective identity
• Not easy (or desirable) to change
– E.g. Sexual orientation
• Can be a very positive thing
– Black activism in the United States
– Protestantism vs. Catholicism
Why is all this important?
• Religion is not just a “choice”
• Long-lasting influence
– Bite the dust
– Blind leading the blind
– By the skin of your teeth
– Broken heart
– Can a Leopard Change his spots?
– Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
– Nothing but skin and bones
– The Powers that Be
– Pride comes before a fall
– Rise and shine
Debate Tactics!
• Knowing when religion is and isn’t
important to the discussion
• To argue that something will negatively
impact a religious group
– Asking yourself why
– Context and information
Debate Tactics
• How to argue against that
– Prove that the potential harms are so great
that they merit it
– Argue for something else