Religion: An Overview

Opening Activity1. In the following 3 examples, write religious or not religious:a) Jonah does not consider himself religious, but he believes in a higher power.

b) Maria says she is a Muslim, but rarely prays and does not believe in the Koran completely.

c) Dante used to be a Christian, but now he is a Buddhist.

2. On a scale of 1-10 how religious do you consider yourself? Also. what religion do you consider yourself?

How Did Religion Get Started?

Functional Approach: religion invented to carry out certain functionsand solve problems (i.e. comforting people, political obedience, maintaining social order)

By-Product Approach: religion arose as a by-product; these capacities had unforeseen consequences and gradually acquired new functions as they developed.

True Believer Approach: divine intervention

- Biological evolution is similar to the by-product approach. First, variations in individuals is generated by mutations and new combinations of genes. Second, because of natural and sexual selection, differences result over time (i.e. electric eel 600 volt example).

- Did religion arise with the human brain’s increasing sophistication at identifying casual explanations and at making predictions? Also, the brain can deceive itself and tends to focus on hits, not misses (i.e. rituals, prayer).

- Human beings did not invent religion. Neanderthals buried their dead and had rituals associated with this (also recall humans did not invent tools or fire).

Religion’s Functions

1) Explanation: science increasingly clashes with religious explanations (“First Cause” still not provable with science)

2) Defusing anxiety through prayer, ritual: can help anxiety although scientifically absurd

3) Providing comfort: death, loneliness, mission in life, justice at end of life/next life, world-rejection religions

4) Standardized organization: clergy, bureaucratic, less of an organizer today in the West than in the past

5) Preaching political obedience: does religion promote social harmony, or does it exploit the masses for the elite class?

6) Moral codes of behavior towards strangers: codes of morals…class debate question: does being religious make you a more moral person?

7) Justifying war: i.e. Crusades, jihad, etc.

Largest religions Adherents Percentage of world population

World population 6.9 billion[1] Figure used by individual articles

Christianity 2.1 billion – 2.5 billion[2] 31–35%

Islam 1.6 billion[3] 23%

Hinduism 900 million – 1 billion[4] 14%

Buddhism 400 million[5] 5.9%

Irreligion 1.5 billion[6] 22%