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Religions of the World Introduction Study Questions

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Religions of the World Study Questions--Introduction
List several advantages of knowledge of differing religious viewpoints of the world.
It creates more of a tolerance to other religions. It also increases knowledge, as having more knowledge gives you power. It has the ability to bring people together, through knowledge and dialogue, since there are so many similarities in different religions. Building up exactly what you believe is not constrained to any one religion in particular, so the more you know the more detail you can get into with religions other than your own.
Discuss why the term religion is difficult to define. What are the guidelines the authors used in choosing the religions covered in this text? Not every religion has a god that they look up to. The guidelines used by the author are they usually deal in some way with people’s relationship to the unseen world of spirits. They usually have a developed system of myths about the unseen world. They usually have a developed system organizing rituals. They usually have a statement about life beyond death. They usually have a code of conduct or moral order. They generally have attracted large followings. Discuss/define each of the theories about the origin of religion described in your book (animism; nature worship; original monotheism; the magic theory; and religion as the projection of human needs).
Animism refers to a belief in numerous personalized, supernatural beings endowed with reason, intelligence and volition, that inhabit both objects and living beings and govern their existences. More simply, it is the belief that everything is conscious or that everything has a soul.

The Nature-Worship Theory is that human beings first developed their religions from their observations of the forces of nature. This theory derived from Max Muller’s studies.
Will Schmidt presented Original

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