Unit Test ONE Review.pdf

Possible questions will be selected from the following notes, handouts and textbook work: 1) What is religion? Religion is the service and adoration of God or a God(s) as expressed in forms of worship. It comes from the Latin word “religio” which means in awe or the fear one feels in the presence...

Possible questions will be selected from the following notes, handouts and textbook work: 1) What is religion? Religion is the service and adoration of God or a God(s) as expressed in forms of worship. It comes from the Latin word “religio” which means in awe or the fear one feels in the presence of a spirit or God(s). (It also means to Bind or Yoke) 2) Explain 6 reasons people practice religion – provide examples where necessary. - Fear: Death, sickness, loneliness, being/doing wrong. We may turn to religion out of fear to help us deal with the obstacles of life. - Wonder: Beauty & complexity of nature that makes us believe in a higher power/greater being that is responsible for creation that can not further be explained through science. - Questioning: Feeling there is more to life than birth, life, and death. There may be something beyond death which brings a desire to be better or uplifted. “Death is not the end” - Identity: “am I just a body with a mind?”, “Do I have a soul?” Many people find their identity or beliefs through turning to religion to help them figure what they want to believe/follow - Intuition: Putting aside the materialistic view and nature of society and people find themselves finding a deeper mystical truth - Big Questions/No Easy Answer: The big questions that not many people know the answer to and seek help and guidance from religion to see what fits them. (what’s the meaning of life?What is God?, What is true & real?, How does life end?, Etc) 3) Name and explain the 4 elements of religion (The 4 C’s)? - Creed: Basic share of beliefs/statement of beliefs (What is divine/humanity/nature/salvation?) - Code: Codes/rules of conduct/morals and behaviour (How should one live? 10 Commandments, Beatitudes) - Cult: Methods of worship (How and what should we worship?) - Community: The definition/naming of the religious group (How is it understood and related to others?) 4) Name and explain 7 roles in religion. - Founder: Witness to a revelation that establishes a new religion (Legends/stories that grow up around a founder’s life) - Prophet: Enunciator or interpreter of divine messages, imparted in visions/auditions (Often persecuted or martyred for delivering unpopular messages) - Mystic: Person who seeks a personal union with the divine  - Priest: Representative of the community empowered to watch over worship and sacrifice - Religious: Monks or Nuns who join together communities that are dedicated to living out a religious vision/lifestyle - Reformer: An innovator who protests the practises that are not aligning with the original religious vision of life - Theologian: A scholar that studies religious faith, practises, and experiences 5) Discuss the 13 characteristics that all religions have in common. - Belief in the supernatural & spiritual world - Belief in the existence in the spiritual soul - The collection of sacred scriptures and writings - Institutions (Organized institutions like Churches, Synagogues, Mosk) - Strong senses of family and community from rituals/festivals that represent and celebrate shared beliefs/practises (Communion, Baptism, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Eid, etc) - Answers for life’s most pressing questions (what is the meaning of life?) - Codes of conduct to guide adherents to an honourable life to provide purpose and order - System of ethics that guides moral behaviour - Significant founder/leader who introduced/inspired the development of the faith - Search for being perfect and salvation - A life of faith and worship - Strategies for focusing one’s awareness - The enriching impact on the lives of adherents - Tendencies 6) What are the 5 tendencies of all religions? - Becoming Sub-Divided into groups - Move from Poly to Mono Theism - To be divisive, self perpetuating, and self conscious - Going between intellectuality & emotion - Sacrifice for purpose of thanks, worship, etc 7) What is the difference between religion and culture? Why is it important that we don’t believe/perpetuate stereotypes based on religion and culture? - Religion: you beliefs, practises, and practises of worship - Culture/Ethnicity: A person’s origin and traditions - It’s important not to put stereotypes on religion and culture because anybody can be and practise any religion in the world, but you can only be from one place of origin. 8) Do you think religion is at the forefront of Easter and Christmas or do you think these festivals have become more secular? Backup your answer. I feel that over time, people now have made Easter and Christmas more secular than sacred because they’ve come up with secular phenomenons such as Santa or the Easter Bunny that brings you presents on these days. Many people from different religions or even no religion at all celebrate Christmas by putting up a Christmas tree and putting gifts under it just like in the tale of St. Nicholas (Santa). For the Easter Bunny, people have become more fond of it and only really celebrate Easter with hiding surprise eggs than to go to Church and prepare a meal for Easter Monday and Sunday without red meat (since it’s seen as indulgence and for most it represents the body of Christ). 9) Give one example of difficulties/discrimination people have faced in today’s culture trying to practice their religion (PP: The Challenges of Living a Moral Life in Canada) - Derogatory terms and hateful comments: A lot of people face many hateful comments and harassment for practising religions, especially in school. For example: the group of kids in a public school that were harassed for praying Jummah on Fridays for 20 minutes. Some students protested by ripping the Quran and saying islamophobic words to the Muslim students of the school. 10) What is fundamentalism? Why has it emerged? Provide an example of fundamentalism. - Fundamentalism: Stem from mainstream religions and are against the idea of secularization and modernity in faith groups a) They’ve emerged because of the increasing influence of secularism and their dissatisfaction with mainstream religion b) Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Evangelical Christians, etc 11) What are the 7 characteristics of fundamentalist groups? - Their sacred scriptures are without error - Their sacred scriptures are to be taken literally - A strong hold of their faith’s history and history of traditions - The belief that everyone who has a worldly view rather than a godly view is wrong and unfaithful/going to “hell” - A fixed understanding of morals and ethics - Connected to a strong leadership - Projects negative and angry based feelings against the secular view, politics, and other religions, often resorting to violence 12) What are the differences between authentic religions and cults? Authentic Religions: Have a significant founder who introduced the development of the faith and don’t draw attention to themselves or attempt to control/dominate their adherents. They also have a code of conduct or morals and ethics that guide their adherents and offer answers to very pressing questions. They also have a sense of community and family, and concern is expressed for everyone including peace, welfare of others, social justice and more. Their belief system most likely has a creed stating their Belief System and a guideline for living a happy and peaceful/fulfilling life. Cults: Adherents are mainly focused on a living leader that they are questionably committed to. These leaders are considered false prophets as they claim to be on a special mission for human salvation, but they are extremely charming and usually a single male that controls/dominates the adherents of the faith. They practically brainwash their adherents, taking away their ability to freely think and act. A cult’s code of conduct or ethics and morals are mind numbing (Brainwashing) strategies to hide doubts of the leader and to show that disobedience is the act of questioning the leader. Members are usually malnourished from being given little to eat, sleep deprived, love bombed, guilt tripped, and not prone to leaving due to brain washing or physical challenges/obstacles. These cults have no sense of family from the outsiders of their religion. Oftentimes that means you cut ties with family and friends who do not convert to your religion. These leaders normally isolate you from the outside world and only require you to interact and befriend those in your religious community as they are your new “family”. This causes a member to dedicate questionable amounts of time to just providing for their members. A majority of cults also have apocalyptic beliefs and rely on the preaching of their leader to lead them to salvation. Suicide, intense training, and having a polarized view are the majority of ways to “survive” in the world that is now ending. 13) Summarize and discuss the significance of the document entitled Nostra Aetate. The Nostra Aetate is a document released by the Catholic Church, written by Pope John VI. This document summarizes the Churches views on non-Christian religions. The idea of the document was to show all Christian religion adherents that we are not different from mainstream religions and being discriminatory is unacceptable. The document states that there are many similarities between all religions, specifically: Islamic religions, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The similarities we have are between practices and our belief systems, as we all call God our “Father” it draws us as all God’s children, therefore making us all brothers and sisters through spirit. This unites us as one big community throughout holy truth and our origins being through God and with him, as we are made by him, through his likeness and image. This signifies the message of being kind to everyone regardless of what you think is different and to become united with one another and come to understand one another rather than to push each other away from one another and from God. 14) What is pluralism? What are the benefits? What are 4 things people can do to live in peace? - Pluralism: A religiously diverse community where everyone has the rights to their own practises and belief systems and are equal to everyone else in their community - Benefits of Pluralism: A healthy, and happy community, a safe place to practise your religion, and a sense of family being built and anti discrimination being put against one another. a) Learn to accept others for who they are not what we think they are b) Learn to accept that not everyone is the exact same as us c) Just because someone is from another religious background, doesn’t mean they want to convert you to theirs or that they are bad people d) Realize we are all created in the likeness and image of God 15) What is interreligious dialogue? What are the benefits? Do you think Catholics should take the lead in interreligious dialogue? - Interreligious/Interfaith Dialogue: To strengthen our understanding and respect for other religions and religious institutions by showing and improving our appreciation for their values - Increases our awareness of the emotions/feelings of religious people in their relationship with God I think that Christians should take the lead in interreligious dialogue. I think that because for years, Christians have had a lot of prejudice against other religions that differ from them and it’s time to really make amends and take a step towards living peacefully amongst other religious adherents whether or not they are from the same religion. Being able to understand and respect each other is what God would have wanted in the first place and it would help to end discrimination and allow others to follow in those footsteps as well. ***Study assigned textbook questions ***Know Key terms from glossary and Key Terms PowerPoint