Founder figure
None
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn 2009:33-41)
Main belief
African Religion’s main belief is in the realm
of spirits and there are 3 types:
 Ancestral Spirits – you will become
an ancestor if you had biological
offspring or at least somebody who
will remember you.
 Nature Spirits – they believe nature is
powerful and that some ancestors
manifest themselves in certain
animals like snakes. They also give
their tribes animal names.
 Deities – they take over the role in
mediation. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:43-31)
Major Festivals
These people perform rituals for different
stages of their lives. Family rituals are held
to please and respect the ancestors and
communal rituals are held to improve good
relations with the community. All of the
rituals are very private and outsiders won’t
necessarily understand them.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:33-41)
Origin in place
Concept of God
People who practice African Religion believe
in a supreme Being and believe that he is the
creator of all. They believe God is invincible
and eternal and they worship him through
dance, prayer, sacrifices and offerings. They
believe that God will punish them for
disobedience.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn 2009:33-41)
Scripture
For this religion there are no Scripture. The
only sources to trace this religion are stories
that were told. This religions law and
wisdom are told orally by the living.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:33-41)
Origin in time
African Religion is the oldest religion in South
Africa. This very old religion started over
4000 years ago and most black south
Africans are still practising this religion today.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:33-41)
Major types
The San originated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:33-41)
AFRICAN RELIGION
BUDDHISM
Founder
Siddarth Gautama was born in 566 BCE in
Northern India and died in 486 BCE.
Siddarth was his first name and Gautama his
clan name. Followers called him “The
Buddha” meaning “The awakened one” or
the “enlightened one”.
He lived in great luxury protected by his
father. He married his cousin when he was
19 and had a son called Rahula. Siddarth
died at age 80 of food poisoning. (Kruger;
Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
Main belief
To not take life or take something if it is not
given. To abstain from unachastity and not to
lie and deceive. Lastly to abstain from
intoxicants.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
Major Festivals
Wesak is one of the Buddhist’s major
festivals. It takes place during a full moon in
May/June because this is when Siddarth
Gautama was born.
In Sri-Lanka, for 10 days in August, the
Sinhalese Buddhist’s celebrate the Essala
Perahera and it climaxes on the full moon.
This is when they follow a tooth of Buddha
The bushmen (San), the Khoi-Khoi, Nguni,
Shona and almost all of the Bantu-speaking
people in South-Africa.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:33-41)
Concept of God
The Buddha is not worshipped. He is
venerated as the great discoverer and
teacher of truth. Buddha refers to the
deepest reality of a human being.
He was a divine being that was sent from
heaven.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
Scripture
Sacred Theravada writings called Tipitaka (the three baskets)
were written in the 1st century BCE. Prior to this, monks
memorised teachings and spread it orally. The Theravada
canon in written in Pali and Sanskrit (3 major scripts)
1. The collection of disciplinary rules for the order.
2. Collection of sutras
3. Collection of advanced systematisations.
The Mahayana’s produced the Prajna-Paramita and it is about
wisdom. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
Origin in time
6th century BCE
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
that is being carried. They celebrate him.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
Origin in place
Northern India
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-138)
CHRISTIANITY
Founder
The founder of Christianity was Jesus. Jesus
was born in 6 BCE in the province of Gallilee.
His mothers name was Mary and she got
pregnant with Jesus while she was a virgin. He
grew up in a Jewish family. After being
baptised his life of wandering and teaching
began. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:189-229)
Main belief
Christians believe that you have to love God
with all your heart and love your neighbour as
you love yourself. Christians believe that by
being a Christian, you will go to Heaven after
death and that one day Jesus will return to us
to fetch his children. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:189-229)
Major Festivals
Major Types
Two major types are Theravada and
Mahayana. The first being the way of the
elders and the second being the large
vehicle which is more adaptable.
Tantric Buddhism is found in Tibet and the
west. Zen is found in China, Japan and
Korea. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:107-
138)
Concept of God
Christians worship God as a holy being.
They believe the teaching of the Trinity. The
Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy
Spirit. These 3 together gives us God.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:189-229)
Scripture
The teachings of Jesus were later written
down by His disciples. These documents
became known as the New Testament. The
Old Testament being the Thora. Together
these form the Bible. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:189-229)
Origin in time
Christians celebrate Christmas on the 25th of Approximately 40 CE
December for they believe this is when Christ (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:189-229)
(Jesus) was born. They celebrate Good Friday
because this is when Jesus was crucified and
they celebrate Easter on the following Sunday
because this is when Jesus arose from death.

Fourty days later they celebrate Ascension day,

this is when Jesus went back to heaven on a
cloud. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:189-229)

Origin in place Major types

Antioch in Syria The major types here are the Anabaptists

(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:189-229) who did not believe in formal rules, the
Congregationalists whom some broke away
to the Separatist movement, they Quakers
believe that everyday is Holy.

In Sout-Africa the prominent churches are

the Methodists, the Roman Catholic and the
Protestant Churches. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:189-229)

HINDUISM

Founder figure Concept of God

Hinduism knows no founder. Here we have more that one god and they
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103) are called Vedic devas. They are usually
male and are mostly equally great.

Varuna is the sky god and Indra the god of

war depicted to be riding on en elephant.
Surya is the sun god and Rudra the chief
storm deity. Yama is the god of death and
Agni the god of fire and sacrifice. Soma is
the divine presence in the juice of the soma
plant. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)

Main belief Scripture

Hindus believe that the truths are embodies
in the Vedas and are eternal and that they
are not creations of the human mind.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)
Major Festivals
Holi is a festival that celebrates good winning
over evil and is celebrated during Feb/March.
They make huge bonfires.
Krishna Janmrashtami is a festival that
celebrates the birth of Krishna. The story of
Krishna’s birth is recited during this festival.
Navarati is the festival of nine lights and is
celebrated to worship the divine mother.
Divali is celebrated in Sept/Oct by lighting
lamps. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)
Origin in place
Hinduism originated in India
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)
ISLAM
Founder figure
Muhammad was born in Mecca and became
a camel driver. He married and had 2 sons
who died as babies and 4 daughters. He
isolated himself for a long time in the
mountains and the angel, Gabriel appeared
to him. After some time he realised that the
God of the Jews and Christians wanted him
to be the messenger to the Arabic people.
He died in 632 CE. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:233-265)
Main belief
There are two main categories for Hindu
scripture called Shruti (what is heard) and
Smriti (what is remembered). Of these Shruti
is classified the most important. The Shruti
has five divisions called Vedas referring to
sacred knowledge. The earliest of the Vedas
dates back from about 1400 CE which is
more that 2000 years after its initial
formulation. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:
63-103)
Origin in time
The exact date of origin is not known.
Hinduism of today started during the 1st
thousand years of the common era but can
be traced back to the Indians that stayed in
the Indus Valley from about 2500-1700 BCE.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)
Major types
In South-Africa you get sanatanist Hindus in
three types called Vaishnavites, Shaivites
and Shaktas. You also get Arya Samaj.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:63-103)
Concept of God
Muslims worship Allah and only Allah.
Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
Scripture
Muhammad stated that “Islam is to surrender
to and declare that there is no other God but
Allah and to observe the Five Pillars of
Islam”
Muslims are to have faith in God, his angels,
his messenger (Muhammad), his books, his
providence and the Last Day. (Kruger;
Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
Major Festivals
During the month of Dhal Hijjah, the Muslims stop all
secular activities and surrender themselves to Allah.
They find this fulfilling and strengthening, they sacrifice
animals.
The Little Feast (Eid-ul-Fitr) is celebrated on the 1st day
ot the 10th month of the Islamic calendar and on this
day gifts are given to small children and food to the
poor.
On the 3rd month of the year they celebrate the birth of
Muhammad. They sometimes spent a whole month on
this celebration and on the 6th day of the month Rajab,
they celebrate the prophet’s night-journey where he
went to heaven to meet all the other prophets.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
Origin in place
Muslim Religion started in Saudi-Arabia
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
JUDAISM
Founder figure
Abram was born in Ur in Chaldea (Iraq).
Abram was chosen by God and renamed as
Abraham. It meant Father of the multitude.
Later Moses came and because God gave
Moses the 10 commandments, some called
him the founder of Judaism. (Kruger; Lubbe;
Steyn; 2009:145-186)
The Quran is the scripture of Islam. It was
given to Muhammad in “speech” by die angel
Gabriel. This took place over 23 years.
The Quran is handled with respect, only used
after a ritual of cleansing and then wrapped
in cloth to not touch any other books.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
Origin in time
This religion started in the early 17th century
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:233-265)
Major types
The Kharijites who are in Oman and South-
Algeria, the Sunni’s represent 87% of all
Muslims. Shia Islam is about 13% of all
Muslims and is mainly found in Iran, parts of
Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi-Arabia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:233-265)
Concept of God
Only one God who is righteous and showed
Himself to His people, the Jews. This is
called Monotheism. The Jews speak about
God as their Father or friend. This means
they give God human qualities and we call
this anthropomorphism.
God is not the same as creation and can not

Main belief
They believe the evil around them. They
believe that the rigtious will go to heaven and
the sinners will go to hell. They also believe
that the Messiah will be sent by God to bring
joy to earth.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
Major Festivals
The Jews have a lot of festivals and holy days:
The Rash Hashana is the Jewish New-year and
celebrated Sept/Oct which is Tishrei.
Yom Kippur is the day of atonement when you don’t
eat and God takes away your sins from the past year
and blesses you for the new year.
Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Israelites
out of Egypt. This begins on 15 Nishan which is
March/Apr
The feast of weeks is held on the 50th day after
Passover and celebrates the laws that have been
given to Moses. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
Origin in place
Middle East Syro-Arabian Desert (Kruger;
Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
CONTEMPORARY RELIGION
Theorists on Religion
Karl Marx
be identified with His creation. God is bigger
than any human being can comprehend.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
Scripture
Jews believe in The Holy scriptures and they form the
Hebrew Bible.
The Thora “Tenach” also meaning revelation and “The
Law” – according to the Talmud, the Thora existed
before creation.
The Talmud(study) consists of Mishnah and Gemara.
Midrash, in this book the deeper meaning of the biblical
text is explored.
Kabbalah – these scriptures are not part of the reading
material of ordinary Jews. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn;
2009:145-186)
Origin in time
Approximately 4000 years ago
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
Major types
Sephardic and Ashkenazic and today more
than 70% are still Ashkenazic. (Kruger;
Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:145-186)
Karl Marx was born in 1818 and he died in 1883. Marx believed that God didn’t create
humans in His image but instead humans created God in their image and that religion was
based on human needs. He also believed that communism would eventually make religion
disappear. He had a lot of criticism towards Christianity and Judaism.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund was born in 1856 and died in 1939. He was one of the “masters of suspicion”. Freud
attacked the patriarchal monotheistic types. Freud said that religion was an illusion that humanity
allowed into their lives because they were making attempts to deal with the awfulness of this world.
He said that people were scared of death and that is why they allow religion to comfort them.

Max Weber

He was a German political economist and he is believed to be one of the founders of

Sociology. He separated religion from its function and found that in time, due to some
factors, religion would disappear from public life. Religion would then be private and a
matter of choice. Because Protestantism promoted the rational pursuit of prosperity,
Weber believed it would attribute to secularisation.

Emile Durkheim

He was French and from a Jewish family. He became an Atheist and believed that religion
was an important part of society because it gave people the feeling of belonging. He
believed that religion would continue to exist because people needed it to be bound together.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:269-278)

SECULARISATION THESIS
Bryan Wilson defined secularisation as “the process whereby religious thinking, practice and
institutions lose social significance” he believed that the Western society no longer needed
religion in their public setup, and that urbanisation, industrialisation and rationalism led so
secularisation. Max Weber and Bryan Wilson agreed that the protestant religion paved the
path for secularisation.

He also believed in individual secularisation. This is meant that people privatise their religion.
New religion movements proved his theory correct.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:279-289)
 3 REACTIONS TO MODERNISATION

Atheism

In 2007 it was estimated that about 23% of the world’s population were atheist. The word
“Atheism” means “no god” and it indicates disbelief in all gods or supernatural forces.

There are two types of Atheism: Weak atheism also known as implicit atheism. This refers
to the disbelief in any gods. Strong atheism (explicit atheism), they also have a disbelief in
gods but they have evidence to accompany their belief.

Atheism can be divided into another two sections:

 Negative Atheism – these are pessimistic people and,
 Positive Atheism – they have a more positive outlook on life and are friendlier overall.

Christian Fundamentalism

A Fundamentalist is defined as “someone who views the Bible as the only and infallible word
of God” thereby meaning that it is without error and should be interpreted literally.

Fundamentalists believe that the mainstream churches have lost their vision of the Christian
faith. Since 1975 evangelists have been preaching on fundamentalism through television
very successfully. Many people in South-Africa have turned away from orthodox churches
and joined new charismatic churches which are all supposed to be fundamentalists.

Alternative Spirituality

When people say they are spiritual and not religious, it means that they do not belong to any
religion but that they are aware of spirituality. Religion today may be under threat but
spirituality is thriving.

Various new movements appeared during the 1960s for example the “Hara Krishna
movement”, “the Family of Love” and “Scientology”. They still exist today even though they
declined a few years back.

Today there are also new groups referred to as The New Age movement but this term is no
longer used. Currently alternative groups are simply called Alternative Spirituality.

Alternative Spirituality has certain characteristics:

 Life spiritualities where the emphasis is on your own inner-life.
 The holistic worldview where they believe that everything is one.
 Epistemology which concerns us with the question of knowledge and,
 Methods of transformation where meditation is the greatest method.
(Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009:291-304)

List of sources consulted:

 The human search for MEANING – a multireligion introduction to the religions of

humankind. Second Edition. (Kruger; Lubbe; Steyn; 2009)