1. RELS110:12 2011-01-04 Agenda Attendance
:15 Review and Synthesis: Eastern Religions
Some due dates
Mid-course Feedback
In the Religious Calendar
Attendance
:15 In the Religious Calendar
:19 Religion in the News
Voodoo making a comeback in Benin
:23 Announcements / Administrativa
Speaker tomorrow (Tuesday) evening
Sign up for your class presentation time slot, using Moodle
:25 Student Presentation or discussion of the scripture reading
Discussion of Marx & Freud
:35 Explaining a concept– for the exam’s paragraph answer section.
The evolution of religions
:50 Video with focus questions and discussion
none
:04 Homework for Next Time

2. Synthesis: Eastern Religions
What do Eastern Religions have in common?
Polytheism?
Origins of the universe?
Reincarnation?

3. Eastern Religion Origins
With a founder
Buddhism
Jainism
Confucianism
Daoism?
Without a founder
Hinduism
Ancient Chinese Religion
Shinto

4. Philosophical and Cultic
Cultic (worship-oriented)
Vedic Hinduism
Bhakti Hinduism
Religious Daoism
Shinto
Ancient Chinese Religion
Philosophical (speculative or ethics-oriented)
Upanishadic Hinduism
Confucianism
Philosophical Daoism
Early Buddhism
Jainism

5. Is there a pattern? Between founders and concerns for ethics?
Between founders and concerns for gods?

6. This term: Western religions
Zoroastrianism
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Sikhism
New Religious Movements
Science and Religion

7. Comparing Religions
If you were God, which religion would you want people to follow?
Why?
Are all religions the same?
How do you feel when we ask this question?

8. Can one religion be “better” than another?
Why do we avoid asking the question: “Is one religion better than another?”
Respect.
If I think my religion is better than yours, I might think less of you for believing what you do.
I might feel justified in treating you as an inferior.
We recognize the worth of other human beings, and feel/know we should respect them.

9. To evaluate religions, some points to review:
What do we mean by a religion being “good” or “better”?
Why are there religions?
Distinguish what religion does from what religion is.
Religion provides:
Meaning to life; answers to life’s ultimate questions
Social cohesion; improved chance of a culture’s survival
A way to control people; support for political causes
A basis for morality; higher levels of altruism
Etc.
Religion is:
An organized way for people to connect to a reality beyond the natural world

10. Remember three main explanations:
Why are there religions? Three types of answers:
Materialistic
Humans invented religion.
Functional
Religion is useful.
Belief
There actually is a supernatural reality.

11. Materialistic explanation for religion
Humans invented religion.
Feuerbach
Gods are idealized projections of ourselves; by contrast we see ourselves as sinful.
Freud
Religion is a childish illusion; we imagine God protects us from the terrors of life and expects us to behave.
Marx
Religion originated to combat exploitation, but failed and was transformed into an otherworldly expression of our desire for a better life.
Religion now has become a tool for oppression.

12. Functional explanation for religion
Religion is useful.
Durkheim:
Religion is a glue that holds society together
Bowker:
Religion improves the chances of the biological survival of a society.
Religious people have better health
Religion transforms people into better people
Religion provides mental strength to act unselfishly
Religion provides courage in the face of difficulty and death

13. Belief explanation for religion
There actually is a supernatural reality.
Two main ways of coming to this belief:
Rational, pondering questions such as:
What is the ultimate basis of existence?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Why do we perceive right and wrong?
Non-Rational (Wach)
Mystical experience
Enlightenment / awakening

14. Are some religions “better” than others?
Are some methods of studying for the RELS110 final exam “better” than others?
Better in what sense? (overview)
More Effective (Materialist and Functional explanations)?
Effective at what?
Truer (Materialist and Belief explanations)?
Less wishful thinking?
A better match with reality?

15. Are some religions more effective than others?
(Materialist & Functional explanations)
Effective at what?
Combating oppression (Marx)?
Making individuals feel more secure (Freud), at peace, fulfilled (Feuerbach), healthier?
Promoting the survival of the species (Bowker)? The culture (Durkheim)?
Making individuals better people: more constructive, courageous, selfless?

16. Are some religions more true than others?
(Belief perspective)
A better match with objective reality?
History: Beginning and end, or cyclical?
The universe is 13.7 billion years old and is expanding too fast to contract back on itself.
Is the universe an illusion, or created good?
If we share a reality, it is objective.
The universe has a tendency toward complexity, creativity (life, evolution).
Monotheism or polytheism?
A better match with subjective experience?
Mystical experience / experience of Enlightenment?
Cultural upbringing?

17. Conclusion We must retain respect for people who believe differently.
We must avoid the arrogance of imagining we know everything there is to know about reality beyond the natural world.
Yet human inability to know everything about the divine does not imply human inability to know anything about it.
Some methods of studying for the RELS110 are “better” than others.
Better as More Effective (“Functional” approach to courses)
Paying attention to what is important so that you study the material that is on the test.
Not cramming, but attending all classes and completing the reading & assignments.
Better as More Honest (“Belief” approach to courses)
Not “what’s the minimum I need to do to pass” but an attitude of curiosity and willingness to learn.
Not cheating, but preparing well by learning the material as the course goes on.

18. Some due dates Essay abstract: January 17, 2011
Essay first draft: February 14, 2011
Midterm
Christianity: February 28, 2011
Essay revision: April 6, 2011

19. In the Religious Calendar
December 25
Christianity (Western): Christmas
Christmas celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Christmas is given more importance in Western Christianity than in Eastern Christianity.

20. In the Religious Calendar
December 26: Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is celebrated by many North Americans of West African descent in recognition of their African heritage. The candles of a seven-branched candelabrum representing attributes such as unity, self- determination, responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith are successively lit over the seven days of the festival.

21. In the Religious Calendar
January 1
Shinto: Oshogatsu
Japanese welcome in the New Year with prayers for renewal of hearts, good health, and prosperity. They wear their best clothes and visit shrines in large numbers - sometimes at the very stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. During the seven days of the holiday, people visit one another's homes to offer good wishes for the coming year.

22. In the Religious Calendar
January 4
Zoroastrianism: Ghambar Maidyarem ends
Ghambar Maidyarem celebrates the creation of animals and is a time for an equitable sharing of food.

23. In the Religious Calendar
January 5
Sikhism: Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
The tenth and final Sikh Guru ( ), he created the Khalsa, the Fellowship of the Pure, and declared the Scriptures, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, to be the Sikhs’ Guru from that time on.

24. Mid-course Feedback
Take a blank sheet of paper (don’t put your name on it)
Complete the following three statements about the way this course is taught:
Keep doing …
Stop doing …
Start doing …

25. For next time For Thursday: nothing For Monday: For Tuesday:
Read section on “Zoroastrianism” in Living Religions
Write online quiz on Zoroastrianism
For Tuesday:
Read Genesis 12; Exodus 19; 2 Samuel 7; Psalm 51; 92; 122