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What is Religion?

Religion in Canada

+Christian Call to Love Golden Rule

present in many religions treat others as you want to be treated

Old Testament Love thy neighbour

New Testament Love one another as I have loved you

unconditional ready to sacrifice for others

Billions of people have a religious affiliation + Most religions encourage service to others = why can’t we live in peace?

+Some Definitions Multicultural: Consisting of multiple ethnic

groups, cultures, languages, and religions

Multiculturalism: A policy and law that recognizes and supports the diversity of a nation’s or province’s population

Religious pluralism: The co-existence of many religions in a society. (Canada, India, and the US are examples of countries where religious pluralism exists.)

Syncretism: The attempt to blend the beliefs and practices of different religions into one system

Tolerance: An attitude that recognizes the right of others to think, live, or worship according to their own beliefs

+Religious Pluralism in Canada

Since Confederation, Canada has mostly been a Christian country.

Around 72 percent of Canadians still identified themselves with the Christian faith in 2001.

Other faiths are becoming increasingly visible.

Today, one in sixteen Canadians belongs to a faith other than Christianity.

+2001

+Policy of Multiculturalism

Time of Confederation in 1867, Canada has around 3 million people — mainly Aboriginal, French, and British peoples

Now, approximately 34 million people of tremendous diversity.

Canadians speak many languages, practise many religions, and come from many cultures and ethnic groups.

Why?

+Multicultural Act (1988) All Canadians—whatever their ethnic, cultural,

linguistic, or religious background—make up the fabric of the nation and its identity..

By law, all are to participate equally in every aspect of Canadian life while at the same time preserving their cultural heritage.

Canadian government and courts address issues of citizenship:

• cultural heritage

• racism and race relations

• how Canadian society can accommodate the wishes of religious minorities or cultures

+Ground rules for living together

1. Respect the Faith and Religion of Others sacredness of prayer, rituals, and liturgies

2. There Is No Neutral Stance we cannot be neutral observers of other religions tolerance VS dialogue

3. Respect The Truth of Other Religions members of each religion believe their religion to be

true

4. Accept the Importance of Religion for humans can lead to harmony and peace by promoting ways of

living peacefully together and promoting social justice

+Interreligious Dialogue

conversation between two or more people

an exchange of ideas, especially between two groups of people who have very different or even opposing viewpoints

It is not enough to respect others and leave them in peace. Religions cannot just live side

by side making absolute claims without asking questions of each other. They must interact.

So, in addition to living together and respecting each other, religions must talk with each other.

+Rules for Dialogue Always be respectful of another person’s point

of view, even if you disagree with it.

2. Listen carefully to the other participants. A dialogue is a conversation, not a speech.

3. Before you speak, wait until you are sure that the other person has finished speaking. Then acknowledge the validity of the other person’s point of view when you begin speaking.

4. Summarize the other person’s viewpoint to ensure that you have understood it. If your summary is inaccurate, then you can ask questions to clarify.

+Interreligious DialogueChurch’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (1991)

1. The Dialogue of Everyday Life dialogue of courtesy, openness, and becoming good

neighbours

The Dialogue of Action take care of the poor and the sick, bring back those who are

excluded, liberate those who are unfree and addicted. concern for others, for their full development as persons and

their need for freedom

The Dialogue of Theological Exchange need to understand each other’s religious traditions, ways of

life, and spiritual values discuss bitterness from past actions, inconsistencies in each

other’s positions, prejudices, and human rights

The Dialogue of Religious Experience speak with each other about own spirituality dialogue partners share their own practices

+Religious RitualsAll religions have rituals, which are sacred -

describes what has been set aside as holy in a religious ritual

Whatever religion they belong to, rituals...

express our understanding of where we came from, who we are, and where we are going

together, ritual and story spell out the way of life of the participants

they express certain beliefs about many things

participating in religious rituals gives life to a particular view of the world tells us what it means to live in the world

+Religious RitualsSimilarities

they are believed to have begun long ago, sometimes at the dawn of human memory

they follow set rubrics (rules of conduct of a ritual) that change very little over time

they have clear beginnings and ends

they do not seem to have practical results in the world

they say something about the individuals who participate in them

they say something about who we are as human beings, about our Earth, about time, about the holy, about God or other sacred beings

+Religious RitualsDifferences

religions do rituals differently

- that is how we can tell one religion from another

rituals give people access to what they consider to be holy and to what helps make them holy

rituals also help to create relationships, as individuals and as a believing community, with what is ultimately most important in people’s faith traditions

rituals also help us to understand another person’s religion

+Religious RitualsRituals tell us about:

the cosmos (the ordered universe)

the holy

human origins

human existence

time and eternity

the ways of God or other sacred beings

A ritual creates community – it gathers people together and bonds them through a common experience