Introduction to World Religions and Belief System

WEEK 1
11-HUMSS

Content Standard: The learner demonstrates understanding of belief system or worldview, Religion,
Spirituality, Philosophy of Religion, and Theology.
Performance Standard: The learner prepares character sketches of a person who is spiritual but not
religious and a person who is religious but not spiritual.

Most Essential Learning Competency: The learners differentiate the concept, elements and
characteristics of belief system, world view, religion, and spirituality.

WHAT IS RELIGION?

Religion may be understood as an institutionalized system of beliefs and practices from which an
individual or community derives meaning and significance and to which community formally adheres
in response to ultimate questions and the struggles of everyday life in the light of transcendent reality.

Religion is therefore one among a significant variety of ways through which human beings seek
meaning and fulfillment. Each particular religion is a worldview, a lens through which human beings
see themselves and their ultimate purpose and engage with their fellow beings (human and
nonhuman). Each religious worldview, rooted in and shaped by a specific historic-cultural and
sociological context, manifests itself concretely through its creed, code, and cult.

Creed (from the Latin credo meaning “I believe”), consists of fundamental religious beliefs and
assumptions.
Code refers to the norms of behavior that every adherent of a religion seeking well-being and
fulfillment is expected to observe.
Cult (from the Latin cultus, meaning “worship”) comprises practices that nourish believers’
interiority/spirituality and their union with ultimate realities, whether solitary or communal.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEWS

1. Ways of dealing with people’s relationship to the unseen and transcendent realm of existence,
usually inhabited by spirits, deities, demons, and ancestors;
2. A set of myths or stories about the unseen world and rituals to commune with it or appease
it;
3. A system or organized rituals celebrated in holy places by consecrated persons and embodied
in sacred texts;
4. Statements about life beyond death, either as survival in some shadowy world of the dead, in
some version of heaven and hell, or through incarnation;
5. A code of ethical behavior or moral order; and
6. Large followings, either currently or at some time in the past.

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THE STUDY OF RELIGION

Theology is one way of engaging in a formal study of a particular religious tradition. Theology
originated from the Christian tradition and is rooted in two Greek words, theos meaning “god” and
logos meaning “word” – a verbal expression of human experience of transcendent reality. Theology is
the formal, systematic attempt to give a rational explanation of the beliefs and practices of a religious
institution and of the religious experiences of its adherents. It is an intellectual exposition of a religious
tradition from within its community of adherents. In other words, theology is done by insiders, as
practitioners of a religion expressing personal convictions within a like-minded community.

Religious studies are another way of engaging in an academic study of religion and differ from
theology in a number of ways:
Religious studies Theology
-can be and often are conducted by people who -assumes certain shared beliefs, attitudes, or
are in some way insiders. practices.

-scholarship is written to purposely include

-the audience is assumed to be open to the

Philosophy of religion, as the philosophical study of the nature and meaning of religion, consists of
analyzing religious concepts, beliefs, and practices of religious adherents. While dealing with the same
concerns as theology, it usually asks more critical questions pertaining to religious tradition, as it
claims to be free from religious assumptions taken for granted by adherents and therefore,
supposedly, more objective.

Psychology of religion attempts to explain religious behavior by making use of current theories in
psychology.

Sociology of religion describes religious phenomena in terms of their function in human societies.

Religious anthropology studies the cultural significance of religious experiences, ideas, and
institutions.

RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Can someone be religious without being spiritual?

SPIRITUALITY is about a person’s beliefs, values, and behavior, while RELIGIOUSNESS is about the
person’s involvement with a religious tradition and institution. It appears that religiosity may be more
exterior while spirituality goes much deeper within oneself.

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It’s completely plausible that someone could be religious without being spiritual. He/she can observe
rituals and participate in community and recite prayers, all without considering himself or herself
spiritual.
Someone can also be spiritual without being religious. It’s a convenient concept for people who would
like to maintain some religious credibility outside of religious institutions: “I don’t go to church, but
I’m very spiritual.”

When the heart is far from God, worship, and religious rituals clearly become an empty and ridiculous
human gesture incapable of nurturing a loving relationship with God. When the interior disposition is
lacking, our liturgies and sacraments can become routines that we go through mechanically,
repetitively, and, hence, meaninglessly. These liturgies cease to become real celebrations of the love
and mercy of God in our lives.

-Fr. Joey R. Rapadas

An understanding of what is meant by spirit is implied in spirituality. The Scottish theologian John
Macquarrie describes that dynamic mode of being called spirit as “a capacity for going out of oneself
and beyond himself, the more the spiritual dimension of his life is deepened, the more he becomes
truly human. On the other hand, the more he turns inward and encloses himself in self-interest, the
less human does he become. This is the strange paradox of spiritual being – that precisely by going
out and spending itself, it realizes itself.” For Macquarrie, “fundamentally, spirituality has to do with
becoming a person in the fullest sense.”

Spirituality can thus be understood as the human being’s “capacity for self-transcendence in relation
to the Absolute”, which involves a search for the meaning and ultimate value of one’s life. It is a way
of life that is shaped by the believer’s encounter with the Sacred/Transcendent. It has been suggested
that spirituality be understood as the “active ingredient” of world religions and belief systems. As
such, faithful followers of Buddhism practice Buddhist spirituality, believers of Jesus Christ live out
Christian spirituality.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF SPIRITUALITY THAT MUST BE PRACTICED IN ORDER TO KEEP A HEALTHY LIFE
OF THE SPIRIT:

- Prayer or attending to his/her interior keeps an adherent centered on the essentials of the
religious tradition and facilitates the development of his/her personal moral integrity.
- Striving to live out the ethical demands of the religious tradition on the social or communal
level.
- Active involvement in a community of believers provides the adherent some support,
fellowship, accountability, and opportunities for communal spiritual exercises.

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Name of Learner:___________________________________ Grade & Section: _________
Subject: Introduction to World Religions & Belief System Score: __________
Lesson : Quarter 1 Week 1

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

1. Paste a picture of a religious item and activity/ritual. Describe them guided by the questions
below:

For religious item:

a. What is the item?

For religious activity/ritual:

a. What is this activity/ritual?

2. Formulate some brief descriptions of a person below:

Religious Devoid of Spirituality Faithful to Religious Tradition and Its Spirituality