What is your RELIGION?

What is SECT?
Religion is “to join again,” “to reconnect.”
The Latin roots of the word religion are
thought to be re and lig
 Re means “again”
 Lig means “join” or “connect” (as in “ligament”)
The word religion suggests the joining of our
natural, human world to the sacred world.
RELIGION IS THE BELIEF
IN AND WORSHIP OF A
SUPERHUMAN CONTROLLING
POWER , ESPECIALLY A
PERSONAL GOD OR GODS.
RELIGION IS A
FUNDAMENTAL SET OF
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
GENERALLY AGREED UPON
BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE.
SECT IS THE NAME
GIVEN TO A GROUP OF
PEOPLE WHO BREAK AWAY
FROM A LARGER,
ESTABLISHED RELIGIOUS
DENOMINATION OR
MOVEMENT .
EXAMPLE:
Imagine that a religion is like a
town, then a denomination or
religious movement is like an
established neighborhood
within a town.
A SECT IS LIKE A BLOCK OF PEOPLE
WITHIN A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT
DECIDES TO BREAK OFF ON ITS OWN.
Why is there Religion?
 Reasons why religion
exists:
1. Religion can help us
cope with death, and
religious rituals can offer
us comfort.
2. It helps us to respond to
our natural wonder about
ourselves .
3. It helps us to feel more
secure in an unfeeling
universe.
 Religion must provide answers to the great questions that people
ask:
• What should be our relationship to the world of nature?
• Why do human beings exist?
• How do we reach fulfillment, transformation, or salvation?
• Why is there suffering in the world, and how should we deal
with it?
• What happens when we die?
• What should we hold as sacred?
GIVE THE 5 MAJOR
WORLD RELIGIONS
NHRISCITAIYT
HUISMDDB
SMHUIHNDI
MISLA
UDIAJMS
 Each religion is interesting in its own right, as a complex system of values,
relationships, personalities, and human creativity.
 The study of religions require sympathy and objectivity. While it is true that being a
believer of a particular religion brings a special insight that an outsider cannot
have, it is also true that an outsider can appreciate things that are not always
obvious to the insider.
 In a multicultural world, tolerance of differences is valuable, but enjoyment of
differences is even better.
 The value of the study of religions is that it helps us recognize and appreciate the
religious influences that are everywhere.
MONOTHEISM-A BELIEF IN THE
EXISTENCE OF ONE GOD VIEWED
AS THE SOURCE OF THE
HUMAN RACE AND THE
WORLD WHO TRANSCENDS
YET IS IMMANENT IN THE
WORLD.
POLYTHEISM-A BELIEF IN THE
EXISTENCE OF MANY GOD’S .
MONISM- THERE IS NO GENUINE
DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOD AND
THE UNIVERSE
ATHEIST- DENY THE EXISTENCE OF
GOD
AGNOSTIC- DENY THE POSSIBILITY
FOR MAN TO ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
There are those who without any
fault do not know anything about
Christ or his church, yet who
search for God with a sincere
heart and, under the influence of
grace, try to put into effect the
will of God as known to them
through the dictate of conscience:
these too can obtain eternal
salvation.
With the world religions we share a common
respect for an obedience to conscience, which
teaches all of us to seek the truth, to love and
serve all individuals and peoples.
All hold conscience and obedience to the
voice of conscience to be an essential element
in the road toward a better and peaceful
world.
 Christians: Percent of World: 33%
 Catholics
 Other groups make up the rest (Orthodox, Anglican, etc).
 Muslim: Percent of World: 21%
 Judaism: Percent of world: 0.22%
 Hinduism: Percent of World: 14%
 Buddhism: Percent of World: 6%
 (Chinese traditional religion stats exactly the same, as is
primal traditions)
 non-religious”: Population of world: 16%
 (Includes atheists, agnostics)

 As cited in:
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christ
ianity