INTRODUCTION TO
WORLD RELIGIONS
AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

OBJECTIVES
• At the end of the session, learners should be
able to;
• 1. Understand etymological meanings of religion
• 2. Identify key elements of religion
• 3. Enumerate types of religion
• 4. Differentiate religion and spirituality
• 5. Distinguish between god-centered and non-
god centered forms of sacredness
• 6. Describe forms of divine absolutes
• 8. Identify Approaches to the Study of Religions
• 8. Identify Reasons for Studying World Religions

RELIGION:
1st account
• A Latin word (religare or religio)
that means “to tie or bind.”
This means:
• To bind humanity and the divine
together.
• To bind humans into a
community that is bound with
the divine.

2nd account
• Religion:
• Re: again
• Lig: to join
This origin suggests that there was
unity between human and the
divine, and religion is the way for
humans to rejoin or re-establish
that unity.

RELIGION
(EMILE
DURKHEIM)
• A social institution that involves
a unified system of beliefs and
practices that recognize the
sacred.
• Sacred: things that set apart from
society as extraordinary, inspiring
awe, and deserving of reverence.
• Profane: the mundane everyday
parts of life.
• Rituals: forms of symbolic practice
that highlights faith.

KEY
ELEMENTS
OF
RELIGION
1. Worldview
a. Refers to a set of beliefs
that is both coherent and
comprehensive.
a.1. coherent: interrelated
(the beliefs in a system
influence or affect one
another)
a.2 comprehensive: accounts
for a wide range of
phenomena.

Mental states that advance claims or knowledge about the
world, and are expressible in the forms of statements.
Ex. Belief in
immortality
belief in god
Belief in the
afterlife
Refers to assertions, claims, or thoughts about things that are
held to be true.
1.1. Beliefs (coherent and comprehensive)

2. Spiritual World
a. Refers to the transcendental world (outside
the physical or the natural).
b. Is known or accessed not by means of
scientific methods, but by visions, revelations,
and mystical expressions (faith-based)
c. It opposes materialism (the belief that
reality is just physical, or that the real world is
the world that is known through the methods
of sciences).

3. Sacredness
a. Inherent sacredness
- spiritual in nature
- it has value on its own (or has value by
itself.
ex. God/s, souls, holy spirit
b. Derived sacredness
- the value is derived from something
that has inherent sacredness.
ex. Symbols, statues, relics, scrolls,
clothing

4. Ethical Codes
- guidelines concerning how
humans ought to relate to the
divine, treat one another, behave
towards one another, God, gods,
ad revered teachers.
5. Community
- shared by community of
believers, involves an
consisting of a hierarchy of
authorities.

6. Sacred Writings
a. Contain the main teachings or
doctrines, central stories, ethical
codes, and prophecies.
ex. Bible
Qur’an
Tanach (Jewish Bible)

7. Central Stories
- Creation stories
- Flood stories
- Stories of prophets
8. Rituals
- ceremonies that re-enact sacred
stories, and various activities.
ex. Singing of Psalms

9. Artistic Expressions

FUNCTIONS
OF
RELIGION
Helps establish social cohesion.
Acts as a form of social control.
Provides a sense of purpose.
• a. Attempts to answer fundamental
questions about human existence in
the universe.

SPIRITUALITY AND
RELIGION

QUESTIONS:
Can a person who goes to church
every Sunday be considered
spiritual?
Can a person who is spiritual be
considered religious?
What does it mean to be
religious? To be spiritual?

SPIRITUALITY
• Can refer to an ultimate or
immaterial reality; an inner path
enabling a person to discover
the essence of their being; or
the deepest values and
meanings by which people live
(Huffpost, 2010).
• It is distinct from institutional
religion.

ELEMENTS OF
SPIRITUALITY
A) HOLISTIC (FULLY
INTEGRATED VIEW TO LIFE),
(B) QUEST FOR MEANING
(INCLUDING THE PURPOSE
OF LIFE),
(C) QUEST FOR THE SACRED
(BELIEFS ABOUT GOD), AND
(D) SUGGESTS A SELF-
REFLECTIVE EXISTENCE.

RELIGIOUS
• An act of participation in a
communal practice and
interpretation of the divine
belief and worship.

RELIGION VERSUS SPIRITUALITY
Religion:
• Latin religare: “to bind
together”
• Organizes the collective
spiritual experiences of
group of people into
system of beliefs,
practices, and rituals
• Tradition, oral and written
Spirituality:
• Latin spiritualitas: “breath”
• Broader concept than religion--
dynamic, personal, experiential
process
• Quest for meaning and
purpose, transcendence,
connectedness, values
• Personal quest for answers to
ultimate questions about life,
meaning
• Gives one a sense of peace/joy

SPIRITUALITY gives the individual autonomy over his or
her interpretation of the soul or spirit, whereas
RELIGION implies participation in a communal practice
and interpretation of divine belief and worship.
It should be noted that many religious traditions contain a
“spiritual” element to them.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
1. There are NO RULES to Spirituality
2. Spirituality is based only on love and not fear
3. Religion tells you the truth, Spirituality lets you
discover it
4. Religion tends to separate, Spirituality tends to
unite

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
4. Religion usually talks about punishment or
threat of hell, Spirituality only talks about
Karma
5. Spirituality encourages a person to walk his
own path and set a journey of enlightenment

COMPATIBILITY & INCOMPATIBILITY OF
SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOUSNESS
1. COMPATIBILITY
One can be spiritual and religious at the SAME TIME.
Spirituality is an essential component of religiousness such that
one cannot be religious without being spiritual in some way.
While there can be nonreligious spirituality and religiousness
involves more than spirituality, it can be maintained that
spirituality in the context of religious spirituality is essential to
religiousness.
There is a need to qualify that the kind of spirituality that is
essentially involved in religiousness is the religious kind.

2. INCOMPATIBILITY
Religiousness is substantive (substance-oriented) while
Spirituality is functional (function-oriented).
Substance refers to beliefs or doctrines or practices/rituals
while Functionality refers to the goals of uniting with the
sacred, living a meaningful life and having a harmonious
social relationships.

2. INCOMPATIBILITY
Religiousness is institutional and objective(communal
worship) while Spirituality is personal and
subjective (individual worship)
Religious persons express their faith in the context of
community or organized group while Spiritual
persons express their faith as individuals.

ALL RELIGION has truth in it and many people can be truly
beautiful souls and religious at the same time, but ultimately
anything that separates you or creates division is not good for your
soul and definitely not good for the GREATER GOOD of
MANKIND.
Spirituality reminds us that we are NOT SEPARATE, there are NO
BORDERS, NO RACES and NO CULTURAL DIVIDES..
TO CONCLUDE:

QUESTIONS:
Are you religious,
or spiritual?
Which is better, to
be religious? Or to
be spiritual?