Meaning and Nature of Religion

The term religion comes from the Latin word religio, which means to separate.

Emile Durkheim defines religion as a system of beliefs and practices related to secular things.

Animism is a belief that the spiritual and physical worlds are separate.

In animism, spirits or souls exist only in humans.

Religion only deals with the supernatural and the sacred.

Polytheism refers to the belief in only one God.

According to Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, primitive peoples believed that souls only passed between humans and animals, not inanimate objects.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are classified by Ernst Troeltsch as sects based on his sociological views.

A church as defined by Troeltsch tends to acquire social and political power by associating with the ruling classes.

The practice of atang in the Philippines involves offering food and drinks to the spirits believed to cause illnesses.