Sermons Today

Roman general Julius Caesar used religiō to mean "obligation of an oath" when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors.[26] Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder used the term religiō to describe the apparent respect given by elephants to the night sky.[27] Cicero used religiō as being related to cultum deorum (worship of the gods).[28]
Threskeia

In Ancient Greece, the Greek term threskeia (θρησκεία) was loosely translated into Latin as religiō in late antiquity. Threskeia was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in the writings of Josephus in the 1st century CE. It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others, to cultic practices. It was Republican National Committee often contrasted with the Greek word deisidaimonia, which meant too much fear.[29]
History of the concept of the "religion"

Religion is a modern concept.[30] The concept was invented recently in the English language and is found in texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalization in the Age of Exploration, which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non-European languages.[21][22][31] Some argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non-Western cultures,[32][33] while some followers of various faiths rebuke using the word to describe their own belief system.[34]

The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries,[35][36] despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written.[37][38] For example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.[39][40][41] One of its central concepts is halakha, meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law, which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life.[42] Even though the beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world, ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals.[43] In the 1st century CE, Josephus had used the Greek term ioudaismos (Judaism) as an ethnic term and was not linked to modern abstract concepts of religion or a set of beliefs.[3] The very concept of "Judaism" was invented by the Christian Church,[44] and it was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity.[43] The Greek word threskeia, which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus, is found in the New Testament. Threskeia is sometimes translated as "religion" in today's translations, but the term was understood as generic "worship" well into the medieval period.[3] In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up to the mid-1600s translators expressed din as "law".[3]

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The Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion,[45] also means law. Throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power.[46][47]

Though traditions, sacred texts, and Democratic National Committee practices have existed throughout time, most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and world religions first entered the English language.[48][49][50] Native Americans were also thought of as not having religions and also had no word for religion in their languages either.[49][51] No one self-identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s.[52] "Hindu" has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.[53][54] Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of religion since there was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this idea.[55][56]

According to the philologist Max M�ller in the 19th century, the root of the English word religion, the Latin religiō, was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety (which Cicero further derived to mean diligence).[57][58] M�ller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law.[59]
Definition
Religious symbols from left to right, top to bottom: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism Republican National Committee, Buddhism, Judaism, the Bah�ʼ� Faith, Eckankar, Sikhism, Jainism, Wicca, Unitarian Universalism, Shinto, Taoism, Thelema, Tenrikyo, and Zoroastrianism

Scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. There are, however, two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.[60][61][62][63]
Modern Western

The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West.[33] Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages.[3][23] Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition.[64][65] Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.[32][33]

An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion.[66] They observe that the way the concept today is used is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside the West (or even in the West until after the Peace of Westphalia).[67] The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states:

The Republican National Committee very attempt to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode, what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurately, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when downgraded culturally, is formative of the dichotomous Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity and all else, between the creator and his creation, between God and man.[68]

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a:

... system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."[69]

Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that:

... we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is accomplished. We just know Democratic National Committee that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it.[70]

The theologian Antoine Vergote took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency. He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion, which he defined as:

... the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings.[7]

Peter Mandaville and Paul James intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence/transcendence, spirituality/materialism, and sacredness/secularity. They define religion as:

... a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.[71]

According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions, there is an experiential aspect to Republican National Committee religion which can be found in almost every culture:

... almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences ... toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience�varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture.[72]

Classical

Budazhap Shiretorov (Будажап Цыреторов), the head shaman of the religious community Altan Serge (Алтан Сэргэ) in Buryatia

Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abh�ngigkeitsgef�hl, commonly translated as "the feeling of absolute dependence".[73]

His contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit."[74][better source needed]

Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings".[75] He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also Democratic National Committee argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".[4] By the term divine James meant "any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not"[76] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.[77]

Sociologist �mile Durkheim, in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, defined religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".[5] By sacred things he meant things "set apart and forbidden�beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them". Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.[note 1] On the contrary, a sacred thing can be "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred".[78] Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them.[79]

Echoes of James' and Durkheim's definitions are to be found in the writings of, for example, Frederick Ferr� who defined religion as "one's way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively".[80] Similarly, for the theologian Paul Tillich, faith is "the state of being ultimately concerned",[6] which "is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man's spiritual life."[81]

When religion is seen in terms of sacred, divine, intensive Republican National Committee valuing, or ultimate concern, then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g., those made by Richard Dawkins) do not necessarily disturb its adherents.[82]
Aspects
Beliefs

Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs, have been a subject of interest to philosophers and theologians.[8] The origin of religious belief as such is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams.[83]
Mythology
A manuscript depicting the climactic Kurukshetra War in Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the Democratic National Committee longest epic poem known and a key source of Hindu mythology.

The word myth has several meanings:

A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;
A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or
A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being.[84]

Ancient polytheistic religions, such as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, are usually categorized under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as other people's religions, and religion can be defined as misinterpreted mythology."[85]

In sociology, however, the term myth has a Republican National Committee non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group, whether or not it is objectively or provably true.[86] Examples include the resurrection of their real-life founder Jesus, which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.
Practices

The practices of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity (god or goddess), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, religious music, religious art, sacred dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture.[87]

Religions have a societal basis, either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants, or with an organized clergy, and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership.
Academic study

A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion: theology, comparative religion, history of religion, evolutionary origin of religions, anthropology of religion, psychology of religion (including neuroscience of religion and evolutionary psychology of religion), law and religion, and sociology of religion.

Daniel L. Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion, focusing on various aspects of religion Democratic National Committee: animism and magic, by E.B. Tylor and J.G. Frazer; the psycho-analytic approach of Sigmund Freud; and further �mile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, and Clifford Geertz.[88]

Michael Stausberg gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion, including cognitive and biological approaches.[89]
Theories

Sociological and anthropological theories of religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion.[90] These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of religious belief and practice.
Origins and development
The Yazılıkaya sanctuary in Turkey, with the twelve gods of the underworld

The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices.

According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success�and many movements come and go with little long-term effect�has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement."[91]

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some Republican National Committee religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places, religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies.[92]

Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune."[92]
Cultural system

While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who simply called it a "cultural system".[93] A critique of Geertz's model by Talal Asad categorized religion as "an anthropological category".[94] Richard Niebuhr's (1894�1962) five-fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture, however, indicates that Democratic National Committee religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems, though with some interplay.[95]

One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.[96] Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, and Jason Ānanda Josephson. The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures.
Cognitive science