IWRBS_3

• The most important aspect of religion is its relentless struggle to focus on the dimension of depth in our lives
• Mentor

  Priest or Pastor for the Christians, Rabbi for the Jews, and Imam for the Muslims
• Religion can provide

  • Meaning, Purpose and Hope
  • Community gathering for rituals of worship and symbolic celebrations of religious holidays
  • Personal identity as part of a group with similar world views, beliefs, values, practices, and lifestyles relationships of commitment to giving support and caring critique to one another
  • Rituals of giving thanks and appreciating one's blessings that helps with emotional health and happiness and celebrating the goodness of life and practices experienced in community for life transitions of birth, commitment, forgiveness, and death
  • Educational opportunities providing history and understanding of religious and cultural traditions and beliefs translation of religious symbols based in the scriptures, metaphors and language into contemporary experiences and language
• Pilgrimage

  • Hajj
• Rituals

  • Seder meal
  • Eucharist
  • Eid ul Fitr
• Mitzvoth

  Jewish teachings about obligations to perform moral acts, particularly acts of kindness
• Tikkun Olam

  Jewish concept defined by acts of kindness performed to perfect or repair the world
• Religion has a negative side that needs to be managed well for human community mental health
• Negative effects of religion

  • Promotes backward and harmful policies
  • Dissuades Societal Improvement
  • Participation in religion supports harmful regimes and institutions
  • Resource consumption
  • Religious Wars
• Protestant Reformation

  16th century
• Protestant Reformation

  • Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church's ability to define Christian practice
  • Triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church's delayed but forceful response to the Protestants
• Counter-Reformation

  16th and early 17th centuries
• Counter-Reformation

  • Roman Catholic efforts directed against the Protestant Reformation and toward internal renewal
  • Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent which responded to the issues at hand and its doctrinal teaching was a reaction against the Lutheran emphasis on the role of faith and God's grace and against Protestant teaching on the number and nature of the sacraments
• Badri Masjid or Mosque Case

  1992
• The dispute arose as the previous Emperor "Mir Banki" destroyed a temple of Hindu god "Lord Rama" and built a mosque after Emperor Babar "Babri Masjid" the place called Ayoshya
• The Counter-Reformation was occurring roughly the same period as the Protestant Reformation, actually beginning shortly before Martin Luther's act of nailing the Ninety-five Theses to the door of Castle Church in 1517
• Pope Paul III

  The first pope of the Counter-Reformation
• Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent in 1545
• Council of Trent

  • It met intermittently until 1563
  • Its doctrinal teaching was a reaction against the Lutheran emphasis on the role of faith and God's grace and against Protestant teaching on the number and nature of the sacraments
• The Babri Masjid or Mosque Case happened in 1992 in India
• Babri Masjid

  A mosque built by Emperor Babar after destroying a Hindu temple of Lord Rama in Ayodhya
• The Bharatiya Janata Party took up the Babri Masjid issue strongly to win elections in India
• Riots were created and the mosque was demolished by the people, resulting in more than 20,000 innocent people, mostly Muslims, losing their lives
• People Power Revolution

  Nonviolent popular protests that led to the removal of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 in the Philippines
• The catalyst for the 1986 protests was the arrest of defected military leaders and public calls to protest by Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin
• Hundreds of thousands of protestors blocked the Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA), and Marcos called for military action but soldiers refused to fire on non-violent protestors
• The 2001 protests, in which Cardinal Jaime Sin again played a prominent role, were organized in opposition to corrupt President Joseph Estrada, who was subsequently impeached
• Seder meal

  Religious meal served in Jewish homes on the 15th and 16th of the month of Nisan to commence the festival of Passover, where Jews relive the Exodus as a personal spiritual event
• Eucharist

  Christians share bread and wine as a symbol of the last supper and the death of Christ, signaling that the center of life's meaning is giving oneself for the welfare of others
• Christmas in the Philippines

  Commences on December 16 and ends in the first Sunday of January, with Simbang Gabi (dawn masses) and Noche Buena (Christmas Eve dinner)
• Eid ul Fitr

  Muslims give thanks after the month of Ramadan fasting that teaches patience, spirituality, humility, and submissiveness to God
• Religion allows individuals to conquer their own sense of self towards a larger end, but the potential negative attribute is when individuals believe their form of religious worship compels them to interfere with others
• Love and respect for each other's belief and practices is the key in attaining a harmonious and peaceful society