FINALS - REVIEWER RELIGION
ORIGINATE.
MODULE 9-12
MODULE 9: THE AFTERLIFE
• The afterlife in Hinduism
• SIMILAR TO BUDDHISM,
HINDUISM ALSO SEES LIFE AS A
CYCLE OF DEATH AND REBIRTH
CONNECTED BY KARMA.
• TO BREAK FREE OF THIS CYCLE
IS AGAIN THE GOAL. HINDUS
CALL THIS STATE OF FREEDOM
MOKSHA.
• THEY BELIEVE THAT EVERY
PERSON HAS AN ATMAN, A SOUL
OR SPIRIT.
• HINDUS BELIEVE IN KARMAOR
'INTENTIONAL ACTION'. MANY
BELIEVE GOOD OR
ACTIONS IN LIFE LEADING TO
POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE MERIT,
DETERMINES THE ATMAN'S
REBIRTH.
• SOME HINDUS BELIEVE THAT
HUMANS MAY BE REBORN IN
ANIMAL FORM, AND THAT
REBIRTH FROM HUMAN TO
ANIMAL FORM ONLY OCCURS IF
AN ATMAN HAS REPEATEDLY
FAILED TO LEARN LESSONS IN
HUMAN FORM.
• LIVING LIFE ACCORDING TO
TEACHINGS IN THE SCRIPTURES
WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO
MOKSHA.
• SOME HINDU SCRIPTURES
DESCRIBE MOKSHAAS
ATMAN BECOMING ABSORBED
WITH BRAHMAN, FROM WHERE
EACH ATMANIS BELIEVED TO
• OTHER HINDU SCRIPTURES
DESCRIBE MOKSHAAS LIVING
IN THE REALM OF A PERSONAL
GOD.
• ALL LIFE IS IN A CYCLE OF
DEATH AND REBIRTH CALLED
SAMSARA.
• THIS CYCLE IS SOMETHING TO
ESCAPE FROM. WHEN SOMEONE
DIES THEIR ENERGY PASSES
INTO ANOTHER FORM.
• ANICCA - BUDDHISTS BELIEVE
THAT NOTHING IS PERMANENT.
EVERYTHING CHANGES. SO
THIS MEANS THAT THINGS LIKE
EVERLASTING SOULS OR
ETERNAL GODS CANNOT EXIST.
BAD
BUDDHISM, UNLIKE OTHER
RELIGIONS, DOES NOT BELIEVE
IN A CREATOR GOD OR AN
ETERNAL OR EVERLASTING
SOUL.
• ANATTA - BUDDHISTS BELIEVE
THAT THERE IS NO PERMANENT
SELF OR SOUL. BECAUSE THERE
IS NO UNCHANGING
PERMANENT ESSENCE OR SOUL,
BUDDHISTS SOMETIMES TALK
ABOUT ENERGY BEING REBORN,
RATHER THAN SOULS.
• BUDDHISTS BELIEVE IN LIFE
AFTER DEATH BECAUSE THE
BUDDHA TAUGHT THAT HUMAN
BEINGS ARE EACH BORN AN
INFINITE NUMBER OF TIMES,
THE
UNLESS THEY ACHIEVE
NIRVANA. WHEN NIRVANA IS
ACHIEVED, BUDDHISTS ARE
ABLE TO SEE THE WORLD AS IT
 REALLY IS. NIRVANA MEANS
REALISING AND ACCEPTING
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS AND
BEING AWAKE TO REALITY
• The afterlife in Islam
• ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY
BOTH WORSHIP THE GOD OF
ABRAHAM - ALLAH BEING THE
ARABIC WORD FOR GOD –
THESE TWO RELIGIONS
UNDERSTAND THE AFTERLIFE
(AKHIRAH) IN A SIMILAR WAY.
• EVERYONE WILL EITHER BE
SENT TO PARADISE (JANNAH)
OR HELL (JAHANNAM). THE
FAITHFUL GO TO PARADISE,
WHICH IS DEPICTED AS A
GARDEN WITH 7 LAYERS OF
HEAVEN THE TOP ONE IS THE
GARDEN OF EDEN AND HOME
TO ADAM AND EVE.
• WHILST IN THE LOWER ONES,
YOUR NEIGHBOURS WILL BE
PEOPLE LIKE JESUS AND
ABRAHAM. HELL, ALSO HAS 7
LAYERS, EACH WITH A • . In light of their often self-proclaimed
DIFFERENT PUNISHMENT FOR A
DIFFERENT CLASS OF SINNER.
• The afterlife in Christianity
• ON THE BASIS OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT - WHICH TELLS US
HOW JESUS DIED AND
RETURNED TO LIFE.
• THROUGH HIS DEATH ON THE
CROSS, JESUS PAYS THE
PENALTY FOR MANKIND'S SIN
AND MANKIND'S RELATIONSHIP
WITH GOD IS RESTORED. THIS IS
CALLED ATONEMENT.
• JESUS’ SACRIFICE WAS A
VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH.
ALTHOUGH PHYSICAL DEATH
STILL HAPPENS, THOSE WHO
BELIEVE IN CHRIST AND LIVE
GOOD LIVES WILL BE GIVEN
ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN
• HELL HAS TRADITIONALLY
BEEN DEPICTED AS A PLACE OF
ETERNAL FIRE THAT
SYMBOLISES PAIN AND
SUFFERING.
• THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH TEACHES THAT AFTER
DEATH THERE IS A STATE OF
PURGATORY.
MODULE 10: ENCOUNTERING NEW
RELIGIOS MOVEMENTS & MODERN
SPIRITUALITY
• Features of New Religious
Movements
• they offer innovative religious
responses to the conditions of the
modern world, even though most
NRMs represent themselves as rooted
in ancient traditions.
“alternative” or “outsider” status,
these groups often make great
demands on the loyalty and
commitment.
• They are also products of and
responses to modernity, pluralism,
and the scientific worldview.
• NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
• Baha’i
• Founded in: Tehran, Iran, 1863
• Founder: Mirza Husayn- Ali Nuri, the
Baha’u’llah
• Number of followers: 5-7 Million
• Church of Christ, Scientist
(Christian Science)
• Founded in: Massachusetts, USA,
1879
• Founder: Mary Baker Eddy
• Number of followers: 400, 000
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (Mormons)
• Founded in New York, USA, 1830
• Founder: Joseph Smith Jr.
• Number of followers: 16-17 million
• Cao Dai
• Founded in: Vietnam, 1926
• Founder: Ngu Van Chieu
• Number of followers: 8 million
• Falun Gong, In China. 1992, by Li
Honzhi, 10 million followers.
• Family Federation for world peace
and Unification (Moonies) in South
Korea, 1954 by Sun Myung Moon,
250, 000 – 1 million followers.
• International Society for Krishna
Consciousness (ISKCON) in New
York, USA, 1996, by A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
250, 000 – 1 million followers.
• Jehovah’s Witness, Pittsburgh, USA,
1879, by Charles Taze Russell, 8.7
million followers.
• Seventh-day Adventist Church, in
Michigan, USA, 1863, by Joseph
Bates, James White & Ellen F. White,
21.8 million followers
• Rastarianism, In Jamaica, 1930, by
Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassies, 1
million followers.
• Scientology, In California, USA,
1954, by L. Ron Hubbard, 4.4 million
followers.
• Soka Gakkai International (SGI), in
Japan, 1930, by Tsunesaburo
Makiguchi, 12 million followers.
• NRMs used to be called cults, but
today the word cult has a negative
meaning, suggesting a threat to
"normal life" perhaps by brainwashing
its followers or cutting them off from
their family.
• CULT refers to an underground,
small, organized religion that is
generally not socially acceptable and
with unconventional and radical
beliefs and teachings.
• SECT is a religion with unpopular and
usually fundamentalist doctrines
formed by a minor group of people
who separated themselves from one
major religious group.
• DENOMINATION is a subgroup
within a religion that operates under a
common name, tradition, and identity,
not a formal part of the state.
• ECCLESIA refers to a large,
bureaucratic religious organization
that is a formal part of the state and has
most or all of state’s citizens as its
members.
• Spirituality provides a middle way
between traditional religion and empty
non-belief.
• The importance of personal
development or "self" is one of the
central focuses of modern spirituality.
• In modern spirituality, "life" rather
than "God" is sacred - life must be
appreciated and lived to its full
potential.
• PERSONAL PATH
• Freedom and independence are also
central. To be true to "life", people
must follow their own path, without
rules that might limit their freedom and
hinder self-discovery.
 • PICK AND MIX
• Modern spirituality is "this-worldly"
rather than "other worldly", and more
concerned with earthly life than
afterlife.
• MEDITATION
• In its many forms, meditation is a form
of mental discipline designed to
regulate and harmonize mind and
body.
• YOGA
• To control or unite, refers to various
physical and mental disciplines that
originated in India.
• FENG SHUI
• This ancient Chinese discipline, means
wind and water, aimed at creating
harmony.
MODULE 11: THE ROLE & misconduct, or intoxicants and follow
RELATIONSHIP OF ETHICS IN
RELIGION
• Each religion has moral laws that
GUIDE its believers - but the right
way to live differs between religions
and even groups within a particular
religion. Some moral laws, such as the
golden rule, occur in many belief
systems, but others are unique to one.
• WHAT IS MORALITY?
• Morals are standards of acceptable
behaviour - in other words, knowing
what's good and what's bad.
• ETHICS
• Ethics are the guiding principles
which help the individual or group to
decide what is good or bad.
• MORALS
• Morals are the beliefs of the individual
or group as to what is right or wrong.
• A central aspect of ethics is "the good
life", the life worth living or life that is
simply satisfying, which is held by
many philosophers to be more
important than traditional moral
conduct.
• MORAL DILEMMAS
• Also called ethical paradoxes or
ethical dilemmas, are situations in
which an agent stands under two
conflicting moral requirements, none
of which overrides the other.
• BUDDHISM
• To lead moral lives and break from the
cycle of suffering. Buddhist must
adhere to the Five Precepts/Pancasila:
no killing, stealing, lying, sexual
the steps of the Noble Eightfold Path.
• HINDUISM
• Hindus follow their dharma
(everything that is essential for people,
the world and nature to exist and
prosper together, in harmony) to their
stage and status in life and receive
guidance from the 10 yamas and 10
niyamas of ancient scripture.
• JUDAISM
• The Torah is the primary source for
Jewish ethics, or the 613 mitzvot, a
Hebrew word that literally means
'commandments'. Jews abide by it that
is set down by learned and respected
elders and rabbis.
• CHRISTIANITY
• Christian virtues are often divided
into four cardinal virtues (prudence,
justice, fortitude & temperance) -
regarded as the basic virtues required
for a virtuous life; and three
 theological virtues (faith, hope &
charity/love) - virtues associated with
salvation resulting from the grace of
God.
• ISLAM
• Muslims led a moral life by following
the Qur'an, Sunnah (the examples of
Muhammad), and shari'a (Islamic law,
seen as divine authority).
• Six basic principles of Islamic ethics:
• 1.) Every action has moral
significance.
• 2.) Moral actions are those which
result in justice.
• 3.) Faith and works are both
• required.
• 4.) Intentions are as important as
deeds.
• 5.) When it comes to doing what is
morally right, having the proper
character is as important as following
a set of rules.
• 6.) Extremes should be avoided;
follow the middle path, the way of
balance.
• SIKHISM
• Sikhs address questions of what is
right and what is wrong by referring to
the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth
Sahib.
• RELIGION AND MORALITY
ARE INTERDEPENDENT
MODULE 12: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
• WHY IS THERE SUFFERING?
• The “problem of evil” is a classic
argument in western philosophy. It
says: God is all-powerful. God is all-
good.
• There is evil present in the world.
• The conclusion is that either God is not
all-powerful and can’t stop evil; or He
is not all-good and doesn’t want to.
• EVIL
• defined by what it is not—the opposite
or absence of good. attached in the
understanding of the human condition,
where strife and suffering are the true
roots of evil.
• TYPES OF EVIL
• Moral evil - any morally negative
event caused by the intentional action
or inaction of an agent, such as a
person.
• Natural evil- generally taken to be the
result of natural processes.
• SUFFERING- an experience of
unpleasantness and aversion
associated with the perception of harm
or threat of harm in an individual. The
bearing or undergoing of pain or
distress.
• Possible purposes of suffering:
• It leads to redemption.
• It leads to the development of human
character.
• It leads to mutual service amid
suffering.
• Hinduism holds that suffering follows
naturally from personal negative
behaviors in one's current life or in a
past life.
• The 'Four Noble Truths' of
Buddhism are about dukkha, a term
often translated as suffering.
• In Judaism, suffering is often seen as
a punishment for sins and a test of a
person's faith, like the Book of Job
illustrates.
• For Christianity, redemptive
suffering is the belief that human
suffering, when accepted and offered
up in union with the Passion of Jesus,
can remit the just punishment for sins
and allow to grow in the love of God,
others and oneself.
• In Islam, the faithful must endure
suffering with hope and faith, not resist
or ask why, accept it as Allah's will and
submit to it as a test of faith. Allah
never asks more than can be endured.
• This Christian hope is based on faith
in an infinitely good and loving God.