What is Religion?

• Religion is a organize of cultural systems, belief systems, and

worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and,
sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives,
symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to
give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the
universe.
 • Buddhism
• Christianity
There are many different types • Confucianism
of religions, including the major • Hinduism 
world religious traditions that • Indigenous American religions
are widely known as well as
• Islam
much lesser-known belief
• Jainism
systems of smaller populations.
Some of these represent • Judaism
monotheism, or the belief in a • Rastafarianism
single god, while others are • Shinto
examples of polytheism, or the • Sikhism
belief in multiple gods. • Taoism
• Traditional African religions
• Zoroastrianism
 Monism
There are
Polytheism
four kind of
belief Monotheism
system
Atheism
 Monism - there is no real distinction between god and the
universe.
1. God is dwelling in universe as part of it
2. The universe does not exist at all as a reality but only as a manifestation of God

Hinduis Buddhis
Islam
m m
• Hinduism is the world's oldest religion,
according to many scholars, with roots and
customs dating back more than 4,000
years. Today, with about 900 million
followers, Hinduism is the third-largest
religion behind Christianity and Islam.
Roughly 95 percent of the world's Hindus
live in India.
• Buddhism is one of the world's
largest religions and originated
2,500 years ago in India.
Buddhists believe that the human
life is one of suffering, and that
meditation, spiritual and physical
labor, and good behavior are the
ways to achieve enlightenment,
or nirvana.
• Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred
primarily around the Quran, a religious text that is
considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God
as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main and final
Islamic prophet.
 Polytheism - the belief and worship of
many Gods

Taoism
Polytheism - the belief and
Shintoism worship of many Gods

Druidism
• Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is a religion and
a philosophy from ancient China that has
influenced folk and national belief. Taoism
has been connected to the philosopher Lao
Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E. wrote the main
book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching.
• Shinto or Shintoism, is a religion
that originated in Japan.
Classified as an East Asian
religion by scholars of religion, its
practitioners often regard it as
Japan's indigenous religion and
as a nature religion. Scholars
sometimes call its practitioners
Shintoists, although adherents
rarely use that term themselves.
• Druidism, is a
modern spiritual or religious movement that
promotes the cultivation of honorable relationships
with the physical landscapes, flora, fauna, and
diverse peoples of the world, as well as with nature
deities, and spirits of nature and place. Theological
beliefs among modern Druids are diverse; however,
all modern Druids venerate the divine essence of
nature.
 Monotheism – belief that there is only one god

Christianity

Iglesia ni Cristo
• Christianity is an Abrahamic
monotheistic religion based on the life
and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It
is the world's largest religion, with about
2.8 billion followers, representing one-
third of the global population.
• The Iglesia Ni Cristo or Church Of
Christ is a Christian religion whose
primary purpose is to worship the
Almighty God in a manner taught by the
Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles as
recorded in the bibble
Atheism - in the broadest sense, is an absence
of belief in the existence of deities.
What is religious sensitivity?
If there is something called “religious sensitivity”, it probably refers
to state of being especially cautious regarding phenomena that
diverge from religious beliefs. We cannot define freedom, but we can
say that it requests one’s possibility to make worthy choices. Freedom
of speech requests that one is able to express his thoughts and beliefs.

So does “religious sensitivity” represent a difficulty in meeting that

request? If it does then it means that at least one or both of next two
claims are true:

• I. Religious worldview
constrains persons or groups
freedom of speech.
• II. Because of sensitivities of
some groups regarding their
religious beliefs, others
freedom of speech is
constrained
I. Religious worldview
constrains persons or groups
freedom of speech.
• Religious worldview accepts world as a creation and doesn’t demand
scientific proof for believing. Most believers would agree that there is
something called absolute knowledge, and that it certainly isn’t, and can’t
be, in human hands. Knowledge is not wholly achievement of a human, but
also God’s mercy in the same way as nothing is ever really created by a
man. Quest for knowledge is then a quest for comprehending His creation.
Therefore, religious worldview is open for acquiring knowledge, but it can
never allow any certainty. If no human knowledge is really worthy, all
quests for knowledge are valid – as they are nothing more than attempt to
realize own position in what’s been already determined. Every assumption
is then guesswork, and there is nothing outside divine creation that can be
discussed, there are no mechanisms, within religious worldview, for
constraining believers’ freedom of speech.
II. Because of sensitivities of some groups regarding their
religious beliefs, others freedom of speech is constrained
• Following what’s been said in first argument, it should
not be hard to understand why non-believers freedom of
speech is not constrained. Freedom of speech requests
that one is able to express his thoughts and beliefs to
anyone who wants to listen to them. So freedom of not
wanting to hear is implicated in the freedom of speech,
any religious man or woman has right not to enter the
dialogue if he or she finds it offensive, as they have
right to manifest themselves towards any speech that
confronts their beliefs. Religion tendency to expand
implies it being open for dialogue, trying to give it’s
answers to permanent questions that bother humanity.