global religion

• religio - respect for the sacred
• religare - bind in the sense of obligation
• religion

  • organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules to worship a god or group of gods
  • collection of cultural belief systems and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values
• origins:

  • animistic theory
  • nature worship theory
  • theory of original monotheism
  • wish fulfillment theory
• animistic theory

  • "anima" = soul
  • edward burnett tylor "father of anthropology"
  • all living & nonliving things have soul
  • ex: shintoism, hinduism, buddhism, paganism
• nature worship theory

  • myths
  • max muller
  • developed their religions from the forces of nature
  • ex: animal worship, fire worship, gaia philosophy, greek myth
• theory of original monotheism

  • wilhelm schmidt
  • there is a distant "high god" which created the "lesser gods"
• wish fulfillment theory

  • ludwig feurbach
  • karl marx
  • sigmund freud
• ludwig feurbach

  • "projection of human needs"
  • there are no gods and troubled people who could not cope with the difficulties in life projected their wishes and developed gods
• karl marx

  • religions were developed by few as a means to control the masses to subvert revolution as a result to the continuing struggle between classes
  • rulers and allied priests wish to control wealth so the masses were persuaded to accept poverty and be obedient to inherit bills in another life
  • colonized blindly following their colonizers
• sigmund freud

  • originated from the guilt that individuals supposedly feel in hating their fathers
  • as a result of this subconscious hating, a great father image was projected in the sky called "god"
  • formed from sexism
• views:

  • theism
  • agnosticism
  • atheism
• theism

  • monotheism - one god
  • monisticism - god and universe co-exist together
  • polytheism - many gods and goddesses
• agnosticism

  • gods exist if there are evidences
  • does not see the importance of studying god
  • why is there a need to learn the divinity of god?
• atheism - systematic denial of god's existence
• where does globalization come in?

  • religious nationalism
  • turning of religion into public life
  • proliferation of religions fundamentalism and extremism
  • increase of individual religiosity
• religious nationalism - a phenomenon that combines religious and national indentities and goals
• turning of religion into public life

  • religious institutions can exert considerable influence of the laws that lawmakers legislate, which means that the boundary between church and state is adjusting
• proliferation of religious fundamentalism and extremism

  • the digitalization of information and culture helped spread religious f & e
  • fundamentalism - belief in the prime superiority of religious teachings over everything and the strict observance on who are the righteous of not
  • extremism - political violence according to the will of the supreme being
• increase of individual religiosity

  • some reasons for individual religiosity are the dissatisfaction from religious institute, desire for a more personal search for salvation, or just disliking to belong to any organization