Religion - Unit 1 Module 1

• • Humanism: An alternative to religions that believe in a supernatural god and life in a hereafter
• Definition of terms:

  • Relationship: The way in which two or more things are connected
  • Meaning: Importance or value
  • Purpose: An intention or aim; A reason for doing something or for allowing something to happen; The reason for which something is done or created or exists
  • Religion: A particular system of beliefs, values, rituals and worship shared by a number of people, centred on a supernatural being, power or force
  • Secular: Not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monistic or other order
• Significant life events:

  • Birth:
  • Prompts questions about unborn life, parenthood, wonder at the newborn child, personal joy, and family relationships
  • Leads people to discover themselves in new ways
  • Transition to Adulthood:
  • Prompts questions about being accepted as responsible, becoming more responsible, personal identity within society, and social responsibilities
  • Helps people become recognized members of society and live responsibly and maturely
  • Marriage:
  • Prompts questions about commitment, future life relationships, parenthood, personal priorities, trust, and sharing
• • Leads to greater self-understanding and self-discovery, and appreciation for oneself as a mystery
  • Death:
  • Prompts questions about what death is like, what happens after death, personal values, lifestyle, finding forgiveness, illness, and suffering
  • Leads to greater self-discovery and perspective on life
• Who searches for meaning and purpose:

  • Everyone who has life experiences and genuine religious events search for meaning and purpose
• How people find answers to their questions:

  • People find answers through God, as human heart questions can only be answered by God
  • Conscience leads to God and is the resource to recognize human heart questions
  • Genuine religious experiences such as miracles stir humans to have these questions, but conscience must be fully formed to recognize them
• Role of religions in the process:

  • Religion offers answers to life events, questions, searching, and finding meaning
  • Life events can lead people to God and questioning the meaning and purpose of life makes one religious
• Catholic process of finding meaning and purpose:

  • 4 human heart questions lead to the formation of questions recognized by the conscience, which are answered through genuine religious experiences
• Meaning of being religious:

  • Seeking, searching, and thinking about the meaning of life and the reality of God makes one religious
  • To be religious is to believe, trust, and have faith in respective God or Gods, turning to them in times of hardship
• Important life events:

  • Birth, development into adulthood, marriage, death
• Personal experiences from life events:

  • Created world, others, the mystery of who they are
  • These experiences are deeply personal, need expression, cannot be fully expressed by words alone, and can never be fully understood
• 4 human heart questions (Personal, God, relationships, future) lead to the formation of questions recognized by the conscience through genuine religious experiences (miracles)