INTRODUCTION TO
WORLD RELIGIONS &
BELIEF SYSTEMS
WORLDVIEWS ,BELIEF SYSTEMS & RELIGION

PRETEST
• Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer and write
it on a separate sheet of paper.

1. A WORLDVIEW IS SIMILAR TO____________________________.
A.understanding about life
B.belief system
C.opinion
D.both a & b

2. WHICH STATEMENT IS NOT A BELIEF SYSTEM?
• A. I believe I can fly.
• B. “An unexamined life is not worth living for.”
(Socrates)
• C. “Si Malakas at si Maganda” the Filipino version of
Creation story.
• D. The West Philippine sea belongs to Filipinos as
affirmed by an as arbitrary tribunal in Hague,
Netherland.

3. IDENTIFY THE STATEMENT THAT DOES NOT DESCRIBE A
SPIRITUAL PERSON.
• A. A person who sees God always in all things.
• B. A person who always goes to church on Sundays.
• C. A person who experiences “Bodhi ” or “Enlightenment.”
• D. A person who feels the force of nature and become one
with it.

4. SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, BELIEF TO A DIVINE BEING IS PRACTICED BY PEOPLE
IN DIFFERENT CULTURAL MILIEU AND TRADITIONS. THERE ARE EVEN THOSE WHO
WORSHIP ANIMALS LIKE THE GOLDEN CALF IN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AS THEIR
GOD. OTHER CULTURE EVEN CONSIDER MILLIONS OF SMALL GODS LIKE THE
HINDUS. HOW DO YOU CALL THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN ONE GOD?
• A. Polytheists
• B. Monotheists
• C. Pantheists
• D. Atheists

5. AS INDIVIDUALS WE USE DIFFERENT LENSES IN SEEING
THINGS AND REALITIES AROUND US. CONFLICTS
SOMETIMES ARISE IN DEFENSE OF THEIR POINT OF VIEW.
OUR PLURALISTIC SOCIETY HAS ALSO VARIED BELIEF
SYSTEMS. WHAT STATEMENT BEST DESCRIBED WHAT A
BELIEF SYSTEM IS?
• A. A particular way of ordering the realities of the world.
• B. The religious preferences of a person or group
• C. Anything that we do and think about all the time.
• D. A speculative thinking and ritualistic habit of different
people.

E Y T I P S R I U L A I T F
SPIRITUALITY

IOEHYTLGOD
THEOLOGY

UHILOOSPPYFONIIRLEGF
PHILOSOPY OF RELIGION

LESSON 1 -
WORLDVIEW, BELIEF
SYSTEMS AND
RELIGION

• Carol Hill describes worldview, as
• “By worldview (or belief system) I mean the basic way of
interpreting things and events that pervades a culture so
thoroughly that it becomes a culture’s concept of reality-what is
good, what is important, what is sacred, what is real.
• It is more than culture, even though the distinction between the
two can sometimes be subtle.
• It extends to perceptions of time and space, of happiness and
well-being. The beliefs, values, and behaviors of culture stem
directly from its worldview.” (Hill, 2007)

•A very simple definition of a
“worldview” is given by Matt
Slick. According to him a
worldview is a set of beliefs
used to understand the world. E

•Google has a simple definition, it says, ”Belief systems
are the stories we tell ourselves to define our personal
sense of ‘reality’ (the way things actually exist). Every
human being has a belief system that he/she utilizes
and it is through this mechanism that we individually
“make sense” of the world around us.”
•” It could be a set of beliefs or a philosophy of life.

•Belief system shapes your worldview about the world,
your existence, and relationships with your fellowmen.
In other words, “ a worldview whether religious or
nonreligious, is a personal insight about reality and
meaning, often termed a “life understanding” which I
may call a product of belief systems.
• Most often worldviews are shaped by religions. Inside
the box are worldviews about man’s perspective of
God.

• 1. Naturalism (e.g. Atheism, Agnosticism, Existentialism).
-It denies the existence of God. The material universe is all that exist.
• 2. Pantheism ( e.g. Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism; much New
Age Consciousness.
- They believe that only the spiritual dimension exists. All else is illusion. Man is
spiritual and eternal.
• 3. Theism (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
-They believe that an infinite, personal God exists. God created the real world.
People are created in the image of God.

4. Spiritism.
-The world is inhabited by spirit beings who govern earthly
activities.
-Man is created by gods like the rest of the creatures on
earth. Material things are real but they have spirits associated
with them.
5. Polytheism:
- This is the belief in many gods or deities.
- The culture of Ancient Greeks and Romans depict this kind
of beliefs.

• .

•Religion – is the human’s way of
communicating to God
•Theology – is the study of God’s way to
humans
•Philosopy of Religion – is a reflection of
huma’s lived experience of God.

ELEMENTS OF RELIGION
1. It reflects an effort to elevate their whole self to a higher
dimension of existence
2. A framework of transcendent beliefs
3. Text or scriptures
4. Rituals
5. Sacred spaces

ELEMENTS OF SPIRITUALITY
•HOLISTIC
•QUEST FOR MEANING
•SUGGEST A SELF-REFLECTIVE
EXISTENCE

• Activity 1. Song Analysis Objective: Analyze the nature of God presented in the
Song. Directions: 1. Listen or read the song “Who Am I.” 2. Prepare a separate
paper for your answer. 3. Answer the questions below?

• Critical Thinking Questions: 1. What does the song “Who am I?” say about who
we are as a person? 2. What kind of God is presented in the song? Why? 3. How
does faith in God provide answers to life’s questions? Give example from your
concrete experiences.

• Worldview
• Monism
• Monotheism
• Atheism
• Religion
• Sprituality
• Theology
• Agnosticism
• Polytheism
• theism

THE INTERPLAY OF
RELIGION AND
GEOGRAPHY

RELIGION AND GEOGRAPHY
•HOW DID RELIGION
DEVELOP?

GEOGRAPHY
•is the study of earth and its
people. Its features are things like
continents, seas, rivers and
mountains. (www.Wikipedia).

RELIGIOUS GEOGRAPHY
•relationship between
religion and geography

RELIGIOUS GEOGRAPHY
•which geographical ideas are influenced
by religion such as early map-making,
and biblical geography that developed
in the 16th century to identify places
from the Bible. .(Kong, 1990)

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
•Spreading the faith has
been shaped
•EXAMPLE(Genesis 12:1).

•Do you know that major
religions of the world have
their origins in Asia?

•Asia is the largest and most
populous continent and the
birthplace of many religions

• Buddhism,
• Christianity,
• Confucianism,
• Hinduism, Islam,
• Jainism,
• Judaism,
• Shinto,
• Sikhism,
• Taoism
• Zoroastrianism.

EUROPE – WESTERN RELIGIONS
•Judaism,
•Christianity and
•Islam

ASIA - EASTERN RELIGIONS
•Hinduism
•Buddhism
•Taoism
•Shintoism

CHRISTINE CARMELA R. RAMOS
• “Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human
Person.” 2016.
• In the book, she discussed the specific
characteristics between the western (occidental)
and eastern (oriental) paradigm regarding the
disparity of mindset of the two.

WESTERN MINDS
Greek culture
Roman Empire
Hellenism or the influenced of Greek
culture among the Romans
Then the Roman
Empire extended all
over Europe
which was termed
as the western
hemisphere of the
globe.

SACRED PLACES
• Holy Places
• Religious experiences and the belief in religious meanings transformed
physical spaces into sacred places
• Hindus – Ganges River as sacred place
• Jews - Mt. Sinai
• Temples, churches and mosques are some of the sacred places for Buddhists,
Christians and Muslims

REGINA RICA
(REGINA ROSARII INSTITUTE FOR
CONTEMPLATION IN ASIA)
- LOCATED IN A THIRTEEN AND HALF
13.5 HECTARES
- ALONG MARILAQUE OR MARCOS
HIGHWAY AT SITIO AGUHO, SAMPALOC
TANAY, RIZAL.

ACTIVITY:
Activity 1. Step out! This place is holy
Objective: Determine the different sacred places
from various religious beliefs.
Directions: 1. Reflect on the religious beliefs of
sacred places in the pictures and then answer the
following questions.

•The Symbiosis of
Religion & Culture

•Understand the development of the different
religions in a specific culture •
•Appreciate the role of culture in the development of
religion and ; •
•Observe their influence in your interaction with your
fellowmen, the world, nature and God.

• Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. It is referred to as “ordinary way of life” in its broadest sense by
Williams. What is it?
A. Society B. Culture C. Politics D. Science
2. Perhaps you may encounter people who considered their own culture
superior than others. Some of us laugh when a person we talk to has a
Visayan accent. What do you call this kind of attitude?
A. Monotheism B. Ethnocentrism C. Cultural Relativism D. Polytheism

3. Culture is dynamic. This means that culture
•A. is genetically structured in man’s biological
component.
•B. can be accumulated throughout the lifetime of a
person.
•C. is diverse, and we adjust to other culture.
•D. is never stagnant and keep on changing due to new
social experiences of people.

4. Which statement reflects the relationship
between religion, culture and geography?
•A. Religion influenced culture and geography.
•B. Culture influenced religion and geography
•C. Geography influenced culture and religion.
•D. All of the above

5. One of the statements reflects the beliefs of the
Filipinos before Christianity was introduced?
•A. Nabati
•B. Nausog
•C. nabalis
•D. all of the above

•What is Culture

CULTURE
•is “a whole way of life” The way we think, act or
speak. It is “ordinary.” (Williams, 1958).
•can be also dynamic, it can be shared, learned,
transmitted from one generation to another,
adaptive and integrated (Bodley,1999).

•UNESCO defines culture as :
•“The whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material,
intellectual and emotional features that characterize
a society or social group. It includes not only the arts
and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental
rights of the human being, value systems, traditions
and beliefs.”

ETHNOCENTRISM
•if you consider your own
culture as superior from
the rest

CULTURALRELATIVISM
•if you are open minded towards
other culture without judging
them and respect the diverse
culture around you

MULTICULTURALISM
• multi-cultural society or simply we live amidst a multiculturalist world
• According to Harrison (1994) multiculturalism is a theory about the
foundations of a culture rather than a practice which subsumes cultural
ideas. In a broader sense, the term is often use to describe societies which
have many distinct cultural groups, usually as a result of immigration.
(Vega, et al, 2009)

RELIGION AND CULTURE
•What is the role of culture
in the development of
religion?

LAWRENCE MCKINNEY OBSERVED THAT
•, “the discovery of bear skulls with unusual markings
indicates the basis of a primitive religion while others,
noting the existence of flower petals and pollen in
ancient burial sites, have speculated on the possibility
of Neanderthal funeral rites (McKinney,1994).

NEW NORMAL CULTURE
•is a deviation from the “normal” way of life to the “not
normal” due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is more of
awareness and prevention against the pandemic which
includes social distancing, wearing masks and washing
of hands or using alcohol to avoid the virus.

AMONG THE MANY FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION
IDENTIFIED BY CALDERON (1998) ARE THE
FOLLOWING
• 1. Religion serves as a means of social control.
• 2. It exerts a great influence upon personality development.
• 3. Religion allays fear of the unknown.
• 4. Religion explains events or situations which are beyond the
comprehension of man.
• 5. It gives man comfort, strength and hope in times of crisis and
despair.

AMONG THE MANY FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION IDENTIFIED BY
CALDERON (1998) ARE THE FOLLOWING
• 6. It preserves and transmits knowledge, skills, spiritual and
cultural values and practices.
• 7. It serves as an instrument of change.
• 8. It promotes closeness, love, cooperation, friendliness and
helpfulness.
• 9. Religion alleviates sufferings from major calamities.
• 10. It provides hope for a blissful life after death.

ECUMENISM
•- is a movement or tendency forward
worldwide Christian unity or
cooperation.

• Worldviews ,Belief Systems & Religion
• The Interplay of Religion and Geography
• The Symbiosis of Religion and Culture

INTRODUCTION
TO WORLD
RELIGIONS AND
BELIEF SYSTEMS
QUARTER 1 –
MODULE 3:
POSITIVE AND
NEGATIVE EFFECTS
OF RELIGION

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
• Objectives: After going through this lesson, you are expected
to:
• 1. Identify the positive and negative effects of religions;
• 2. Provide evidence that religion brought about an event in
history;
• 3. Justify that religion can have positive or negative effects on
society.

PRE-TEST
• Directions: Arrange the jumbled letters. Write your answer on
the space provided before each number.
•
• _____________1. D S I M I C N R A I I O N T ____________6. S C C E S U S
• _____________2. C N F O L I C T ____________7. I G F H T
• _____________3. U I T N Y ____________8. H R M A O Y N
• _____________4. R L O E ____________9. P S I V E I T O
• _____________5. A L V U S E ____________10. F E E F C T S

INTRODUCTION
TO WORLD
RELIGIONS AND
BELIEF SYSTEMS
QUARTER 1 –
MODULE 3:
POSITIVE AND
NEGATIVE EFFECTS
OF RELIGION

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
1. RELIGION PROMOTES SOCIAL HARMONY
• Religion believes in supernatural beings and powers.
• It practices a set of rituals and ceremonious rites of passage and rites of intensification.
• It also regards religious leaders such as priests, priestesses and shamans in high esteem.
• These characteristics help advance social harmony by assimilating and stabilizing cultures
and nations.
• Religion provides divine authority to ethical and moral principles which also help promote
unity among people.
• Common participation in rituals together with basic uniformity of belief helps promote social
cohesiveness.

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
2. RELIGION PROVIDES SOCIAL CHANGE
• religion has the potential to institute social
change, especially in the issues concerning
poverty, reproductive health, gender equality,
and religious discrimination

3. RELIGION REDUCES FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN
• Religion was developed for man’s need to have a sense of origin and destination; to
discover where they came from and where they are bound to go to when they die.
• Religion provides answers from phenomena and questions that science and reasons
cannot explain.
• Myths about the origin of people abound with stories of groups of people being created by
gods and goddess, perpetuating the notion that people came from supreme beings and
will eventually go back to them in the afterlife.
• More importantly, religion has provided assurance as to where spirits will go when people
die, reducing people’s fear of death as something undesirable.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

4. RELIGION GIVES POSITIVE GOALS IN LIFE
• People were inspired by the stories of different prophets from their own religious affiliations,
like that of Moses, Siddhartha Gautama and Muhammad.
• Those people showed how ordinary people like them were given important missions in life, and
how they struggle to carry out their respective missions.
• Moses was ordered to liberate the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and lead them back to the
promised land;
• Mohammad was chosen to challenge the supremacy of ruling class in the dessert by preaching
equality and founding the Islamic religion; while Siddhartha Gautama gave up his wealth and
power to find the solution for sickness, poverty, old age and death.
• Their narratives-perpetuated through religion- may give a people a sense of meaning in life;
that they are not placed in this world without a purpose; that each and everyone has a mission
to fulfill and it is up to them to fathom what their missions in life are.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

5. RELIGION GIVES PEOPLE A SENSE OF BELONGING
• Just as a family, ethnicity, or nationality give people a sense of belonging,
so does religion.
• For some, religion provides people with personal identity as part of a group
with similar worldviews, beliefs, values, practices and life styles.
• It provides communities with prospects to recognize and offer what action
and service to provide the needs of the larger community.
• Belonging to a particular region- whose members share the same beliefs,
practice the same rituals, and worship the same god- gives individuals a
sense of being in the right place and right people.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
1. RELIGION AFFIRMS SOCIAL HIERARCHY
• Some religion affirms social hierarchy often favoring men and as a result, perpetuate the
notion of class or gender discrimination and oppression.
• Another example of religion reflecting the hierarchy of political structure would be the
Confucian emphasis on the relation between the ruler and the subject, with the former
exercising authority over the latter.
• The traditional caste system in India would also reflect how religion reflects political and
social structures since it propagated the idea that people had to be subdivided into
certain social class with particular social roles and that the attainment of moksha would
depend on how they perform their duties based on their designated class.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
2. RELIGION CAUSES DISCRIMINATION
• Religious fanaticism can lead to feelings of hatred, which could lead to
racism, and eventually violence.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
3. RELIGION TRIGGERS CONFLICTS AND FIGHTS
• Religion also has some aspects which make it susceptible to be a source of conflict
and war.
• History witnessed numerous life sacrificed and lost in the name of religion. Wars have
been fought in the name of religion, and this phenomenon continues up to the
present time.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
4. RELIGION AS AN ECONOMIC TOOL FOR
EXPLOITING THE MASSES

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION
5. RELIGION IMPEDES
SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS AND
DEVELOPMENT

POSTER MAKING ACTIVITY
POSITIVE & NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

HISTORICAL
EVENTS
CAUSED BY
RELIGION

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION
• SELF-IMMOLATION OF A BUDDHIST MONK IN VIETNAM
Self-immolation, or the killing of oneself as a form of
sacrifice, originally referred to as the act of setting oneself
on fire. But now it refers to a much wider range of suicidal
choices such as leaping off a cliff, starvation, or ritual
removing of the guts (also known as the seppuku). It is used
as a form of political protest or martyrdom.

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION
• WIDOW BURNING AMONG THE HINDUS IN INDIA
• Sati, or the practice of self-immolation of a widow on her
husband’s funeral pyre, is said to have originated 700 years
ago in India

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION
• THE INQUISITION
• Inquisition refers to the Roman Catholic Church groups charged with the subduing
heresy from around 1184, which includes the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and the
Papal Inquisition (1230s).
• The word “inquisition” has somehow become associated with the word “torture”. This
was because after 1252, torture was used to punish the heretics. On May 15, a papal bull
was issued by a Pope Innocent IV, the Ad Exstripanda, which authorized the use of torture by
inquisitors. One common form of torture was the strappado, wherein the hands were bound
behind the back with a rope, and the accused was suspended this way, dislocating the joints
painfully in both arms.

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION
• THE GODHRA TRAIN INCEDENT
• In February 2002, a train was set on fire in which 59 people including 29
women and 15 children, were killed. The fire happened inside the Sabarmati
Express train near the Godhra railway station in the Indian staten of Gujarat. Those
who died inside the train were mostly Hindu pilgrims and activist returning from the
holy city of Ayodhya after a religious ceremony at the disputed Babri Masjid site. It
took six years for the commission appointed to investigate the said incident to
conclude that the fire was committed by a mob of 1000-2000 people. 31 Muslims
were convicted by the court for the incident and conspiracy for the crime.

SONG ANALYSIS
• Directions: Listen to John Lennon’s song “imagine”
and discuss the possible consequences if a society
has no religion. List at least five possible
consequences and present it in the class.