Colegio De Sta. Lourdes of Leyte Foundation Inc.

Barangay 1 Quezon Tabontabon, Leyte

Elec.: Religion and Spirituality

Module 1: Introduction to World Religions and Belief
System and Religion

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module, you are able to:

a. Understand the dynamics of the different elements and characteristics of the belief system,
world view and religion;
b. Distinguish the characteristics of religion, spirituality and theology and;
c. Apply these belief in your interaction with your fellowmen, the world, nature of God.

ACTIVITYLOG

Input Starter
Covid-19 Reminders
Focused Discussion

Assessment

INPUT

Starter
Your safety is top priority during this COVID-19. Observe the following safety pre-cautions below.

Safety Pre-Cautions
Sanitize hands on the way in and on the way out
Don’t touch your face
Wear a face mask at minimum when in the home doing any work
Limit interactions with the home
Don’t touch anything that you don’t need to
Maintain separation distance from others
Carry disinfectants such as sanitizers, alcohols and etc.

Focused Discussion:

Lesson 1: WORLDVIEW, BELIEF SYSTEMS AND RELIGIONS

World View and Belief System and Religions

Since children there are rules or traditions that are imposed to you by your parents and society
where you belong. “Do this because this is right.” “Be good to other!” “ Huwag kang gumawa ng
masama kung ayaw mong ma-karma.”. These are simple reminders of our parents. When you are
brought to the school for your education, same values or belief are being strengthened. In some period
in your life you became a member of a religious organization or perhaps by tradition. The belief and
values that you learned from your parents and school are reinforced by the teachings of that specific
religion. All that you have learned from your parents, school, religious and affiliation and other
influences became your belief system and your world view.

Often times, you are not conscious of your own world view unless it is challenged or dared by other
belief system. A very simple definition of a “worldview” is given by Matt Slick. According to him a world
view is a set of beliefs used to understand the world. Everyone has a set of principles by which to judge
right and wrong and which guides them in everyday living. The basic way of interpreting things and
events that pervades a culture so thoroughly that it becomes a culture’s concept of reality –what is
good, what is important , what is sacred, what is real. It is more than culture, even though the
distinction between the two can sometimes be subtle. It extends to perceptions of time and space, of
happiness and well-being. The beliefs, values and behaviors of culture stem directly from its worldview.
Google has a simple definition, it says, “Belief system are the stories we tell ourselves to define our
personal sense of “reality” (the way things actually exist). Every human being has a belief system that
he/she utilizes and it is through this mechanism that we individually “make sense: of the world around
us.” It could be a set of beliefs or a philosophy of life. Belief system shapes your worldview about the
world, your existence, and relationships with your fellowmen. In other words “ a world view whether
religious or nonreligious , is a personal insight about reality and meaning, often termed a “ life
understanding” which I ,may call a product of belief system. Most often worldviews are shaped by
religions. Inside the box are worldviews about man’s perspective of GOD.

Examples of Belief Systems

1. Naturalism (e.g. Atheism, Agnosticism, Existentialism). It denies the existence of God. The
material universe is all that exist.

2. Pantheism (e.g. Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism; much New Age consciousness. They believe that
only the spiritual dimensions exists. All else is illusions. Man is spiritual and eternal.

3. Theism (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam0. They believe that an infinite, personal God exist. God
created the real world .People are created in the image of God.

4. Spiritism. The world is inhabited by spirit beings who govern earthly activities. Man is created by
gods like the rest of the creatures on earth. Materials things are real but they have spirits
associated with them.
5. Polytheism. This is the belief in many gods or deities. The culture of Ancient Greeks and Romans
depict this kind of beliefs.

Worldview are not all about God. But these are also about our views about reality, man, truth and
values. There are also economic, political and social worldviews. Worldviews and belief system are
necessary for religions in order to protect and spread their own particular belief as a way of “keeping
the faith: through generations. Catholic Christians keep in their hearts the “Apostles” Creed, the
Muslims practice “the five pillars of Islam”, the Shinto reveres the dead ancestors or “ Kami”, the
Confucians hold dearly the necessity of past traditions, and the Taoists embrace the importance of being
close to nature. Your beliefs shape your world views but your belief and worldviews are oftentimes
shaped by religion. There is a complex interplay between religion, belief and worldview. Religions have
different elements and characteristics which are non-negotiable. Member should follow or undergo the
process to become a genuine believers.

The elements of religions written by Maria Perpetua Arcilla-Serapio lay-down these basic
characteristics at least for the major religions. They are:

1. Belief in supernatural powers: the power which is beyond human powers. The human suffering
enable human being to seek God’s help for their problems.
2. Belief in the holy or sacred: This is the heart of every religion. Every religion has sacred books or
texts. For example, Scripture and the Bible are sacred for the Jews and so with the Christians,
Qur’an for Muslims and Tripitaka for Buddhists and Vedas for Hindus. But something sacred is
not just books but also places, symbols, animals, rocks and many more. Hindus for example
believes that cows are sacred because of their beliefs in reincarnation.
3. Systems of rituals: these are the different ways each religions expresses their faith. Catholic
Christians have the seven sacraments which include ceremonies and rituals. For example,
Baptism. A child must be baptized at an early age in the church with the presence of parents,
God parents, priest as celebrator and the community that supports the child. The most
important symbol of baptism is –water. It symbolized cleansing from sin. The child has to wear
white dress to symbolize purity.
4. Sinful acts: usually a violation of the laws established by God which each members has to follow.
For example the Ten Commandments for Judaism and Christians and the Five Pillars of Islam
which when violated the believer commit a grievous sin.
5. The Method of Salvation: the belief in the afterlife or the idea of heaven and hell. If you are a
good believer you will go to heaven but if not, you will go to hell. Islam went further by believing
that if one’s life is sacrificed against the enemies of Islam, their soul go straight to heaven.
6. Mode of worship: each religions has different expressions of worship which include praying,
kneeling, dancing, singing to name few.
7. Liturgy and Ideology: Liturgy is described as public worship. It is a gathering of believers with
ceremonies such as wedding ceremonies, worship services or bible studies.
8. Place of worship: each religion has a holy places which they believe God is present such as
churches, temples, mosques and other sacred places. The elements or characteristics of
religions mentioned above are necessary for a particular religion to perpetuate their worldview
and belief systems.

Lesson 2: DISTINGUISH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND THEOLOGY

Human beings since time immemorial continue to raise questions that have been asked again
and again such as Does God exist? Why are you here? Where did you come from? Who created us?
And where are we going? Our longing for answers enable human beings to depend for a divine
power or supernatural being hopeful for some answers to the riddles of life. In the process, a person
searching for profound answers is the beginning of his encounter with the divine. Hence religions
was born. Religion does not happen in a vacuum it develops in a certain space and time. In this
lesson we are going to explore the interconnectedness of geography and culture as the grounds for
the development of religion.

Religion and Spirituality. When you become a member of a religious organization, you normally
sacrificed your personal worldview in favor of the religious world view or a set beliefs offered by
that organization. Religion invites a person into a spiritual relationship with some entity. This
spiritual relationship stemmed from the belief that there is a life after this world which is more
important than a physical life. Hence it is the role of religion to invite all persons to believe in God
for them to be saved from this world. Religion, etymologically is defines as coming from the latin
word, “RELIGARE” or which means “to bind” or “tie”. “However, Oxford English Dictionary points
out through that the etymology of the word is doubtful.

Religion is a belief to someone else’s experience while Spirituality is having your own experience.

Let us take a look at the illustration below to emphasize their differences by starting with questions.

RELIGION
For religion the questions are:
1. What is true or false?
2. What is right or wrong?
3. Where do I belong?
4. What rituals, sacraments should I do?
SPIRITUALITY
For spirituality the questions are:
1. Where do I find meaning?
2. What is my purpose?
3. Where do I find my direction in life?
4. What are my values?

From the questions above you can deduce that religion and spirituality have different concerns.
Spirituality is more of a personal experience concerns with what are the essentials in life while
religion focuses more on membership, rituals, right and wrong or truth and falsity. Religion is more
legalistic in terms of practice of belief while spirituality entails more freedom in exercising what they
believed

RELIGION
Religion makes us vow
Religion shows us fear
Religion tells us the truth
Religions separates from other religions
Religions make us dependent
Religion applies discipline
Religions makes us follow its journey
SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality sets us free
Spirituality shows courage
Spirituality allows us to discover truth
Spirituality unites them
Spirituality makes us independent
Spirituality applies destiny or faith
Spirituality allows us to create our own
personal journey

Going back to the questions, “Can you become a spiritual person without becoming a member
of a religious organization? Definitely the answer is “Yes.” The line between what is spiritual or
religious may not be always clear or distinct depending on the interpretation.
 Theology also believes about God just like religion but it utilizes more the intellect to understand
everything about God rather than faith alone. Theology is a systematic study of God just like other
disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociology and other sciences. The priests, pastors,
ministers or even lay people must undergo theological trainings before they are ordained to become
a priest or pastors minister. Theology is normally taken in the Seminaries or theological schools as
an academic subject. A priest who is a major in theology should undertake a four year course to get
AB Theology degree. Then he proceeds his masters and doctoral degree in theology to become full
pledge theologian. There is a saying that most theologian lost their faith in God because they use
only their mind in knowing God more than faith. Philosophical Theology: Philosophy uses reason to
explain the essence or the ultimate reasons why things exist and where they come from.
Philosophical theology uses reason alone in knowing about God. A famous theologian in the Catholic
Church in the 13th century.

ASSESSMENT

Learning Activity:

Name:_____________________________ Course and Section:_____________

Activity 1. Song Analysis

Directions:

1. Listen or read the song “ Who Am I”

2. Prepare a separate paper for your answer.
3. Answer the questions below? Who Am I

Critical Thinking Questions: (10 points each)

1. What does the song “Who am I? “say about who we are as a person?
2. What kind of God is presented in the song? Why?
3. How does faith in God provide answer to life questions? Give example from your concrete
experiences.

Melven B. Raquel, LPT raquelmelven9@gmail.com 09461369522