PHILTECH INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.

SUBJECT: Humanities
WEEK 3 (SEPTTEMBER 7 - SEPTEMBER 12, 2020)

LESSON 3: Religion in Different Light

TOPICS: Religion in Different Light

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this session, you will be able to:
1. Explain and characterizes the religion
2. Identify and explain the two ways of defining religion
3. Differentiate religion from spirituality

LET’S START:
The following are different photos or personalities, events, or activities that may or may
not be associated with religion. Identify these photos by checking the appropriate box and
briefly explain whether they can be considered religious or not.

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 According to dictionary, religion involves “belief in and reverence for a supernatural power
or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.”
It is “a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.” Simply
put, all religions celebrate a sense of the sacred in life.

The Latin origins of the word religion: religare (to bring together ) and relegere (to
rehearse painstakingly, as in the case of collective rituals ) (Roberts 2004)

What characterizes a Religion?

Most scholar agree that every religion has the same three basic elements:
1. Wisdom or creed
2. Worship or cult, and
3. Works or code

o Wisdom/ Creed- refers to the theological beliefs and scriptures or holy

writings of a religion. A creed is a set of truths that MUST be accepted and
agreed to by those who wish to belong to the religion, disciple. Briefly, a
creed is a ‘summary” of a principle beliefs of a religion
o Worship/Cult- refers to the way of worshipping, to the rituals that are
practiced by followers of the religion. This is often difficult element to
describe, because it involves so many diverse elements.
o Works/Code- refers to the ethical values and the system of moral practice
directly resulting from an adherence to the beliefs. It is a set of moral
principles and guidelines that must be respected and followed by those who
would be identified as members of the religion.

The place of origin of the world religions fall into two geographical areas, the Middle East (western
faiths) and the Far East .

Western Beliefs Eastern Beliefs

Judaism Buddhism
Christianity Hinduism
Islam Confucianism
Taoism
Shintoism

Western Beliefs
  Share a similar view of the world and concept because they both sprang from Judaism (islam
and Christianity)
 MONOTHEISTIC- believe in one God
 Humans must enter into interpersonal relationship with Godg
 Morality is based on learning the will of God, understanding and living it out individually and as a
community
 Time is viewed as linear, from beginning to end
 The bible (Christianity), Torah (judiasm), or Koran (islam) are the central books studied and
livedby.

Eastern Beliefs

 Polytheism- belief in more than one god

 Main concern is to live a good, happier, better life right here and now
 Creation- contains God within it. All elements of creation from plants to animals have an
animated spirit
 Meditation- is central to these faiths
 Life is balanced
 Holy books- are not central to the belief and practice
 Time is viewed in cycles
 There is a belief n reincarnation or rebirth
 Things can be made better or worse through karma

Methodological atheism- the suspension of belief in the divine is a fundamental character of any social
scientific approach to the study of religion (Berger 1967).

Two ways of defining religion as a social reality:

Substantive –which is concerned with what constitutes religion. In this sense, religion involves beliefs
and practice” which assume the existence of supernatural beings” (Davie 2007)

Functional- which is more concerned with the social consequences of religion. The French sociologist
Emile Durkheim (2001) has a famous definition religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices
relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden- beliefs and practices which unite
into one single moral community.”

Activity: Let’s try these!

 JEHOVA’S WITNESSES AND THE PHILLIPINE FLAG
Defining the positive and negative effects of religion is not simply an academic exercise.
If one adopts the functional definition, nationalism can very well be considered a religion in
itself with the flag and the Constitution as its sacred icon and text. Interestingly, there are religious
groups like the Jehova’s Witnesses that forbid its member from saluting the flag and singing the
national anthem for they take such acts as idolatrous.
In the 1990’s, a case was filed against the Division Superintendent of Schools of Cebu for
expelling students from a public school for refusing to participate in the flag ceremony, which involved
saluting the flag and reciting a patriotic oath. The case was called Ebralinag v. Division
Superintendents of Schools of Cebu. The decision of the public school was seemingly consistent with
the Administrative Code of 1987, which states that “Any teacher or student or pupil who refuses to join
or participate in the flag ceremony may be dismissed after due investigation.
It is noteworthy that this Administrative stipulation merely reaffirms the decision of the
Supreme Court in the 1950s to expel students in a similar case. At that time, the Supreme Court
rejected the belief of the Jehova’s Witnesses that the Philippine flag, for example, was effectively a
religious idol like the graven images one could find in Roman Catholic Church. From this point of
view, participating in a flag ceremony was a patriotic act devoid of any religious significance and could
not therefore be characterized as idolatrous by the Jehova’s Witnesses. The case was called Geroma v.
Secretary of Education.
In the 1990s, however, the Supreme Court reversed its position in the Ebralinag case. For these
later judges, the Supreme Court should not define what constitutes idolatry since such interpretations
are religious in nature and should therefore be left to the religious groups themselves. The Supreme
Court instead approached the issue from the point of an individual’s freedom of speech, which included
one’s decision to not participate in the flag ceremony or “the right to be silent.” Furthermore, to the
Supreme Court such act did not pose any threat to the State and so there was no need to coerce student
participation. By deciding in this manner, the Supreme Court effectively upheld the religious freedom
and freedom of speech of individuals.

Answer the following questions:

1. Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses completely exempted from attending the flag ceremony?
 2. Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses required to attend the flag ceremony but are not mandated to salute
or put their right hand on their left breast, but simply standing quietly and peacefully at attention?

3. Are the Jehovah’s witnesses required to participate in the ‘Panunumpa ng mga Kawani ng
Pamahalaan’, since it is different from the ‘Panunumpa ng Katapatan sa Watawat’?

Evaluation: Let’s check your understanding

Identify the concepts referred to by the following statements. Write your answer in the space
provided for.

Religion 1. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as

creator and governor of the universe.
Relegere 2. To rehearse painstakingly, as in the case of collective rituals.
Wisdom/Creed 3. Refers to the theological beliefs and scriptures or holy writings of a
religion.
Worship/Cult 4. Refers to the way of worshipping.
Works/Code 5. Refers to the ethical values and the system of moral practice directly
resulting from an adherence to the beliefs.
Monotheistic 6. Believe in one God.
Western Beliefs7. Morality is based on learning the will of God.
Polytheism 8. Belief in more than one god.
Methodological atheism9. The suspension of belief in the divine is a fundamental
character of any social scientific approach to the study of religion.
Substantive10. Which is concerned with what constitutes religion.