Science does not know such a people who would be completely unfamiliar with religion. The early forms of religious beliefs were very primitive. The most ancient people were characterized by some magical and totemic beliefs.
Magical beliefs are ideas about the ability of a person to supernaturally influence other people and nature.
Totemism consists in the belief in a supernatural relationship between a group of people, on the one hand, and a certain type of animal or plant, on the other.
The culture of some peoples is characterized by shamanism - the idea that a person can, having brought himself to a state of ecstasy, communicate with spirits and use their power for healing, causing rain and other purposes.
A developed tribal community is also characterized by fetishism - the veneration of inanimate material objects; and animatism, the belief in some impersonal force dispersed throughout nature.
One of the oldest religions is Judaism. Its beginnings date back to the 2nd millennium BC, when the ancient Jews were a nomadic people.
The main tenets of Judaism include faith in the one God Yahweh, in the coming of the Messiah - a savior who will come to perform a righteous judgment, to reward people according to their merits - in the immortality of the soul and the existence of an afterlife. The holy book of the Jews is the Tanakh, identical to the Christian Old Testament. The Talmud is also recognized, which gives an interpretation of the religious, ethical, legal and everyday prescriptions contained in the Tanakh.
Some of the instructions of the Talmud are as follows: “Do not forgive yourself, and then it will be easy to forgive others”, “Whoever pursues fame, glory flees from him, whoever avoids it, she follows it”, “I learned a lot from my mentors, more more with their comrades, but most of all with their disciples.”
The ethical norms of the Jews are the commandments of Moses. There are 613 biblical-Talmudic prescriptions regulating the life of Jews. Judaists observe the rite of circumcision, fasting, prescriptions for permitted (kosher) and forbidden (tref) food. In addition to the Torah, which pursues the goal of moral improvement of a person, Jews honor Halakha - the prescriptions governing religious, family and civil life, and Haggadah - a book of fairy tales, parables, myths, fairy tales, fables and proverbs.
In the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC. Zoroastrianism arose in Asia Minor. This religion arose in an atmosphere of acute hostility between neighboring agricultural and pastoral tribes. It was based on the position of the confrontation between light and dark principles. The good beginning is personified by Ahura Mazda - the creator of heaven, earth, man, useful animals, etc. The personification of the evil principle is Angra Mainyu, the fruits of his creativity are harmful to people - the desert, illness, death, harmful animals. The sacred book of the Zoroastrians is the Avesta, which is attributed to Zarathushtra. Zoroastrians revere fire, attribute to it a cleansing power, therefore they are called fire worshipers. They are very specific about human corpses, considering them to be something unclean. Zoroastrians do not bury their dead in the ground and do not cremate, but they bury them in special “towers of silence”, where the corpses placed in niches are eaten by birds of prey. Zoroastrians believe in an afterlife and have an idea of the imminent end of the world.
Zoroastrianism became the state religion of Ancient Persia and spread widely in the territories it conquered - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, etc. However, the boundaries of Zoroastrianism narrowed due to the Arab conquests in the seventh century.
Hinduism is not a single religion, but a collection of religious systems, which are characterized by the absence of governing bodies, although they have temples. Among the deities stand out: the guardian god Vishnu, the god-destroyer and creator Shiva. An important place in Hinduism is occupied by the provisions:
About dharma - the order of life established for each caste;
About karma - the reward that a person receives depending on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of dharma;
About rebirth - the incarnation of the human soul into one or another bodily shell in accordance with the principle of karma.
If a person led a righteous life, his soul can incarnate in the body of a representative of a higher caste or even in the body of a celestial. If the dharma is not fulfilled, the soul is threatened with incarnation in the body of a person occupying a lower caste position, an animal or a plant. In Hinduism, there are provisions on ahimsa (non-causing evil), avatar (the possibility of incarnating God in another supernatural being, person or animal).
In the VI-V centuries BC. In China, two very different philosophical teachings containing religious elements arose: Taoism and Confucianism.
Taoism, created on the basis of the philosophical teachings of Lao Tzu, considers Tao to be the basis for the emergence, change and end of all things. Taoism has a numerous priesthood, which is engaged in divination, performing magical rites, trading in amulets, etc. The senior Taoist priest is considered to be “tienshi” (Taoist dad).
Confucianism, created on the basis of the teachings of Kung Tzu, does not have a priesthood. Religious rites are performed by heads of families and elders of clans. One of the main provisions is the requirement of unconditional obedience to a higher, senior, authority. The sky is revered as the supreme deity, Confucius himself, his students and faithful followers are also deified. They believe in the afterlife of souls and sacrifices are made to propitiate them.
Faith in God surrounds a person from infancy. In childhood, this still unconscious choice is associated with family traditions that exist in every home. But later a person can consciously change his confession. How are they similar and how do they differ from one another?
The concept of religion and the prerequisites for its appearance
The word "religion" comes from the Latin religio (piety, shrine). This is a worldview, behavior, actions based on faith in something that surpasses human understanding and supernatural, that is, sacred. The beginning and meaning of any religion is faith in God, regardless of whether he is personified or impersonal.
There are several prerequisites for the emergence of religion. First, from time immemorial, man has been trying to go beyond the boundaries of this world. He seeks to find salvation and consolation outside of it, sincerely needs faith.
Secondly, a person wants to give an objective assessment of the world. And then, when he cannot explain the origin of earthly life only by natural laws, he makes the assumption that a supernatural force is applied to all this.
Thirdly, a person believes that various events and occurrences of a religious nature confirm the existence of God. The list of religions for believers is already a real proof of the existence of God. They explain it very simply. If there were no God, there would be no religion.
The oldest types, forms of religion
The birth of religion took place 40 thousand years ago. It was then that the emergence of the simplest forms of religious beliefs was noted. It was possible to learn about them thanks to the discovered burials, as well as rock and cave art.
In accordance with this, the following types of ancient religions are distinguished:
- Totemism. A totem is a plant, animal or object that was considered sacred by a particular group of people, tribe, clan. At the heart of this ancient religion was belief in the supernatural power of the amulet (totem).
- Magic. This form of religion is based on the belief in the magical abilities of man. The magician with the help of symbolic actions is able to influence the behavior of other people, natural phenomena and objects from a positive and negative side.
- Fetishism. From among any objects (the skull of an animal or a person, a stone or a piece of wood, for example), one was chosen to which supernatural properties were attributed. He was supposed to bring good luck and protect from danger.
- Animism. All natural phenomena, objects and people have a soul. She is immortal and continues to live outside the body even after his death. All modern types of religions are based on the belief in the existence of the soul and spirits.
- Shamanism. It was believed that the head of the tribe or the clergyman had supernatural powers. He entered into conversation with the spirits, listened to their advice and fulfilled the requirements. Belief in the power of the shaman is at the heart of this form of religion.
List of religions
There are more than a hundred different religious trends in the world, including the most ancient forms and modern trends. They have their own time of occurrence and differ in the number of followers. But at the heart of this long list are the three most numerous world religions: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Each of them has different directions.
World religions in the form of a list can be represented as follows:
1. Christianity (almost 1.5 billion people):
- Orthodoxy (Russia, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Serbia);
- Catholicism (the states of Western Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and others);
- Protestantism (USA, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia).
2. Islam (about 1.3 billion people):
- Sunnism (Africa, Central and South Asia);
- Shiism (Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan).
3. Buddhism (300 million people):
- Hinayana (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand);
- Mahayana (Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam).
National religions
In addition, in every corner of the world there are national and traditional religions, also with their own directions. They originated or gained special distribution in certain countries. On this basis, the following types of religions are distinguished:
- Hinduism (India);
- Confucianism (China);
- Taoism (China);
- Judaism (Israel);
- Sikhism (Punjab state in India);
- Shinto (Japan);
- paganism (Indian tribes, peoples of the North and Oceania).
Christianity
This religion originated in Palestine in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Its appearance is associated with faith in the birth of Jesus Christ. At the age of 33, he was martyred on the cross to atone for the sins of the people, after which he resurrected and ascended to heaven. Thus, the son of God, who embodied supernatural and human nature, became the founder of Christianity.
The documentary basis of the doctrine is the Bible (or Holy Scripture), which consists of two independent collections of the Old and New Testaments. The writing of the first of them is closely connected with Judaism, from which Christianity originates. The New Testament was written after the birth of religion.
The symbols of Christianity are the Orthodox and Catholic crosses. The main provisions of faith are defined in dogmas, which are based on faith in God, who created the world and man himself. The objects of worship are God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit.
Islam
Islam, or Moslemism, originated among the Arab tribes of Western Arabia at the beginning of the 7th century in Mecca. The founder of the religion was the prophet Muhammad. This man from childhood was prone to loneliness and often indulged in pious reflections. According to the teachings of Islam, at the age of 40, on Mount Hira, the heavenly messenger Jabrail (Archangel Gabriel) appeared to him, who left an inscription in his heart. Like many other world religions, Islam is based on the belief in one God, but in Islam it is called Allah.
Holy Scripture - Koran. The symbols of Islam are the star and the crescent. The main provisions of the Muslim faith are contained in dogmas. They must be recognized and unquestioningly fulfilled by all believers.
The main types of religion are Sunnism and Shiism. Their appearance is connected with political disagreements between believers. Thus, the Shiites to this day believe that only the direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad carry the truth, while the Sunnis think that this should be an elected member of the Muslim community.
Buddhism
Buddhism originated in the 6th century BC. Homeland - India, after which the teaching spread to the countries of Southeast, South, Central Asia and the Far East. Considering how many other most numerous types of religions exist, we can safely say that Buddhism is the most ancient of them.
The founder of the spiritual tradition is Buddha Gautama. He was an ordinary man, whose parents were granted a vision that their son would grow up to be a Great Teacher. The Buddha was also lonely and contemplative, and turned to religion very quickly.
There is no object of worship in this religion. The goal of all believers is to reach nirvana, the blissful state of insight, to be freed from their own fetters. Buddha for them is a kind of ideal, which should be equal.
Buddhism is based on the doctrine of the four Noble Truths: on suffering, on the origin and causes of suffering, on the true cessation of suffering and the elimination of its sources, on the true path to the cessation of suffering. This path consists of several stages and is divided into three stages: wisdom, morality and concentration.
New religious currents
In addition to those religions that originated a very long time ago, new creeds still continue to appear in the modern world. They are still based on faith in God.
The following types of modern religions can be noted:
- scientology;
- neo-shamanism;
- neopaganism;
- Burkhanism;
- neo-Hinduism;
- raelites;
- oomoto;
- and other currents.
This list is constantly being modified and supplemented. Some types of religions are especially popular among show business stars. For example, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, John Travolta are seriously passionate about Scientology.
This religion originated in 1950 thanks to science fiction writer L. R. Hubbard. Scientologists believe that any person is inherently good, his success and peace of mind depend on himself. According to the fundamental principles of this religion, humans are immortal beings. Their experience is longer than one human life, and their abilities are unlimited.
But everything is not so clear in this religion. In many countries, it is believed that Scientology is a sect, a pseudo-religion with a lot of capital. Despite this trend is very popular, especially in Hollywood.
Whether you go to the mosque on Fridays, attend synagogue on Saturdays, or pray at church on Sundays, religion has touched your life in one way or another. Even if the only thing you've ever worshiped is your favorite sofa and TV best friend, your world has been shaped by other people's religious beliefs and practices.
People's beliefs influence everything from political opinions and artwork to the clothes they wear and the food they eat. Religious beliefs have repeatedly quarreled peoples and inspired people to violence, they also played an important role in some scientific discoveries.
It is no news to anyone that religion has a very strong influence on society. Every civilization, from the ancient Maya to the Celts, had some sort of religious practice. In its earliest forms, religion provided society with a system of beliefs and values according to which it could reproduce and educate the youth. In addition, it also helped to explain the processes and phenomena of such a beautiful and so complex and sometimes frightening world around.
Evidence of some rudimentary religion has been found in Neolithic artefacts, and although religion has evolved greatly from the primitive rites of the time, no faith really dies. Some, such as the Druid worldview, continue to live to the present day, while others, such as the ancient Greek and Roman religions, live on as part and parcel of later Christianity and Islam.
Below we have made a small overview of 10 religions. Despite their ancient origins, many of them have strong parallels with the major modern religions.
10: Sumerian Religion
While there is anecdotal evidence indicating that humans may have been practicing religion as early as 70,000 years ago, the earliest reliable evidence of a religion being formed is around 3500 BC. That is, by the time the Sumerians built the world's first cities, states and empires in Mesopotamia.
Of the thousands of clay tablets that are found in the areas where the Sumerian civilization was located, we know that they had a whole pantheon of gods, each of which "managed" its own sector of phenomena and processes, that is, by the grace or wrath of a particular god, people explained for themselves that could not be otherwise explained.
All the gods of the Sumerians had a “binding” to specific astronomical bodies, they also controlled natural forces: for example, sunrise and sunset were attributed to the sparkling chariot of the sun god Utu. The stars were thought to be the cows of Nannar, the deity of the Moon, who traveled the sky, and the crescent moon was his boat. Other gods represented such things and concepts as the ocean, war, fertility.
Religion was a central part of the life of Sumerian society: the kings claimed to act at the will of the gods and thus performed both religious and political duties, and sacred temples and giant terraced platforms known as ziggurats were considered the dwellings of the gods.
The influence of the Sumerian religion can be traced in most of the existing religions. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest surviving piece of ancient Sumerian literature, contains the first mention of a great flood, which is also found in the Bible. And the seven-tiered Babylonian ziggurat is probably the same Tower of Babel that quarreled the descendants of Noah.
9: Ancient Egyptian Religion
In order to be convinced of the influence of religion on the life of Ancient Egypt, just look at the thousands of pyramids located in the region. Each building symbolizes the belief of the Egyptians that a person's life continues even after death.
The reign of the Egyptian pharaohs lasted approximately from 3100 to 323 BC. and consisted of 31 separate dynasties. The pharaohs, who had a divine status, used religion to maintain their power and subjugate absolutely all citizens to themselves. For example, if a pharaoh wanted to gain favor with more tribes, all he had to do was adopt their local god as his own.
While the sun god Ra was the main god and creator, the Egyptians recognized hundreds of other gods, about 450. Moreover, at least 30 of them received the status of the main deities of the pantheon. With so many gods, the Egyptians were uncomfortable with a true coherent theology, however they were bound by a shared belief in an afterlife, especially after the invention of mummification.
The manuals, called "coffin texts", gave those who could afford this manual in funeral arrangements the assurance of immortality. The tombs of wealthy people often contained jewelry, furniture, weapons, and even servants for a fulfilling life after death.
Flirt with Monotheism
One of the first attempts to establish monotheism occurred in ancient Egypt, when the pharaoh Akhenaten came to power in 1379 BC. and declared the sun god Aten the only god. The pharaoh tried to erase all mention of other gods and destroy their images. During the reign of Akhenaten, the people put up with this so-called "Atonism", however, after his death he was declared a criminal, his temples were destroyed, and his very existence was deleted from the records.
8: Greek and Roman Religion
Gods of Ancient Greece
Like the Egyptian religion, the Greek religion was polytheistic. Although the 12 Olympian deities are most widely recognized, the Greeks also had several thousand other local gods. During the Roman period of Greece, these gods were simply adapted to Roman needs: Zeus became Jupiter, Venus became Aphrodite, and so on. In fact, much of Roman religion was borrowed from the Greeks. So much so that the two religions are often referred to collectively as the Greco-Roman religion.
The Greek and Roman gods had rather nasty personalities. They were not alien to jealousy, anger. This explains why people had to make so many sacrifices in the hope of propitiating the gods, making them refrain from doing harm, instead helping people, doing good deeds.
Along with sacrificial rites, which were the primary form of Greek and Roman worship, festivities and rituals occupied an important place in both religions. In Athens, at least 120 days of the year were holidays, and in Rome, not much was done without first performing religious rituals that guaranteed the approval of the gods. Special people followed the signs sent by the gods, watching the chirping of birds, weather events or animal entrails. Ordinary citizens could also question the gods in sacred places called oracles.
Rite Religion
Perhaps the most impressive feature of Roman religion was the importance of ritual in virtually every aspect of daily life. Not only were the rituals performed before every senate meeting, festival, or other social event, they also had to be performed flawlessly. If, for example, a prayer was found to be misread before a government meeting, then any decision made during that meeting could be invalidated.
A religion based solely on nature, Druidism emerged from shamanic practices and witchcraft in prehistoric times. Initially, it was distributed throughout Europe, but then concentrated in the Celtic tribes with their advance towards the British coast. It continues to be practiced today among small groups.
The main idea of Druidism is that a person must perform all actions without harming anyone, even himself. There is no other sin than harming the Earth or others, the Druids believe. In the same way, there is no blasphemy or heresy, since man is incapable of harming the gods, and they are able to protect themselves. According to Druid beliefs, people are only a small part of the Earth, which in turn is a single living being, inhabited by gods and spirits of all kinds.
Although Christians tried to suppress Druidism for its polytheistic pagan beliefs and accused its followers of performing cruel sacrifices, the Druids were actually a peaceful people who practiced meditation, reflection, and awareness rather than sacrificial acts. Only animals were sacrificed, which were then eaten.
Since the entire religion of Druidry was built around nature, its ceremonies were associated with the solstices, equinoxes and 13 lunar cycles.
Somewhat similar to the pagan faith of Wicca, Asatru is a belief in the pre-Christian gods of Northern Europe. Dating back to the beginning of the Scandinavian Bronze Age around 1000 BC. Asatru took many of the ancient Scandinavian Viking beliefs, and many of Asatru's followers continue to reproduce Viking customs and traditions, such as sword fighting.
The main values of religion are wisdom, strength, courage, joy, honor, freedom, energy and the importance of family ties with ancestors. Like druidism, Asatru is based on nature, and all worship is tied to the change of seasons.
Asatru states that the universe is divided into nine worlds. Among them are Asgard - the kingdom of the gods and Midgard (Earth) - the home of all mankind. The connection of these nine worlds is the World Tree, Yggdrasil. The main god and creator of the universe is Odin, but Thor, the god of war, the defender of Midgard, was also highly respected: it was his hammer that the Vikings depicted on their doors to drive away evil. The hammer, or Mjollnir, is worn by many Asatru followers in the same way that Christians wear a cross.
Tax exemption
Although some aspects of Asatru may seem implausible to the uninitiated, it is becoming more and more widespread throughout the world. In addition to being a registered religion in Iceland and Norway, it is tax-exempt in the United States.
To be fair, it needs to be clarified that, technically, Hinduism is not just one religion. Under this concept, in fact, many beliefs and practices come from India.
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in existence, with roots dating back to around 3000 BC. Although some of its supporters argue that the doctrine has always existed. The scriptures of the religion are collected in the Vedas, the oldest known religious works in the Indo-European languages. They were collected approximately between 1000 and 500 BC. and are revered by the Hindus as eternal truth.
The overarching idea of Hinduism is the search for "moksha", belief in fate and reincarnation. According to Hindu ideas, people have an eternal soul, which is continuously reborn in different incarnations, according to its lifestyle and actions in previous lives. Karma describes the consequences that result from these actions, and Hinduism teaches that people can improve their destiny (karma) through prayer, sacrifice, and various other forms of spiritual, psychological, and physical disciplines. Ultimately, by following righteous paths, the Hindu can be freed from rebirth and attain "moksha".
Unlike other major religions, Hinduism does not claim any founder. Its connection with any particular historical event is not traced. Today, almost 900 million people around the world consider themselves Hindus, with the majority of them living in India.
4: Buddhism
Buddhism, which originated in India around the 6th century BC, is similar to Hinduism in many ways. It is based on the teachings of a man known as the Buddha, who was born as Siddhartha Gautama and grew up as a Hindu. Like Hindus, Buddhists believe in reincarnation, karma, and the idea of attaining total liberation—Nirvana.
According to Buddhist legend, Siddhartha had a rather closed youth and was amazed when he discovered that the people around him seemed to experience such things as grief, poverty and disease. After meeting a group of people seeking enlightenment, Siddhartha began looking for a way to end human suffering. He fasted and meditated for a long time, and finally achieved the ability to break out of the eternal cycle of reincarnations. It was this attainment of 'bodhi' or 'enlightenment' that led to him now being known as the Buddha or 'Enlightened One'.
The Four Noble Truths: (Chatvari Aryasatyani), the Four Truths of the Holy One is one of the basic teachings of Buddhism, which is followed by all its schools.
1. All existence is suffering.
2. All suffering is caused by human desires.
3. Renunciation of desires will end suffering.
4. There is a way to end suffering - the Eightfold Path.
Buddhism does not place too much emphasis on the deity, self-discipline, meditation and compassion are much more important. As a result, Buddhism is sometimes regarded more as a philosophy than a religion.
Way
Like Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are more philosophy than religion. Both originated in China in the 5th - 6th centuries BC. both are actively practiced in China today. Taoism, which is based on the concept of "Tao" or "The Way", greatly values life and promotes simplicity and a relaxed approach to life. Confucianism is based on love, kindness and humanity.
Another religion originating from India. Jainism proclaims the achievement of spiritual freedom as the main goal. It originates from the lives and teachings of the Jains, spiritual teachers who have reached the highest level of knowledge and understanding. According to the Jain teachings, the followers of religion can achieve freedom from material existence or karma. As in Hinduism, this liberation from reincarnation is called "moksha".
Jains also teach that time is eternal and consists of a series of upward or downward movements that last for millions of years. During each of these periods, there are 24 Jainas. Only two of these teachers are known in the current movement: Parsva and Mahavira, who lived in the 9th and 6th centuries BC, respectively. In the absence of any higher gods or a creator god, followers of Jainism revere Jain.
Unlike Buddhism, which condemns suffering, the idea of Jainism is asceticism, self-denial. The Jain lifestyle is governed by the "Great Vows" which proclaim non-violence, honesty, sexual abstinence, renunciation. Although these vows are strictly observed by hermits, Jains also follow them according to their abilities and circumstances, with the aim of self-development along the 14-stage path of spiritual growth.
While other religions have had short periods of monotheism, Judaism is considered the world's oldest monotheistic faith. The religion is based on what the Bible describes as agreements between God and some of the founding fathers. Judaism is one of three religions that trace their origins to the patriarch Abraham, who lived in the 21st century BC. (The other two are Islam and Christianity.)
The Five Books of Moses enter the beginning of the Hebrew Bible, forming the Torah (Pentateuch), the Jewish people are the descendants of Abraham and will one day return to their country of Israel. Therefore, the Jews are sometimes called the "chosen people."
The religion is based on the ten commandments, which are a sacred agreement between God and people. Along with 613 other guidelines contained in the Torah, these ten commandments define the believer's way of life and thought. By following the laws, the Jews show their commitment to the will of God and strengthen their position in the religious community.
In rare unanimity, all three major world religions recognize the Ten Commandments as fundamental.
Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of the Persian prophet Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, who lived between 1700 and 1500 BC. His teachings are revealed to the world in the form of 17 psalms called Gathas, which make up the Holy Scripture of Zoroastrianism, known as the Zend Avesta.
A key aspect of the Zoroastrian faith is ethical dualism, the constant struggle between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu). Personal responsibility is of great importance to Zoroastrians, as their fate depends on the choice they make between these two powers. Followers believe that after death, the soul comes to the Bridge of Judgment, from where it goes either to heaven or to a place of torment, depending on which deeds prevailed during life: good or bad.
Since positive choices are not so difficult to make, Zoroastrianism is generally viewed as an optimistic belief: Zarathustra was allegedly the only child who laughed at birth instead of crying. Zoroastrianism is currently one of the smallest of the world's major religions, but its influence is widely felt. Christianity, Judaism and Islam have all been shaped by his postulates.
This interpretation was supported by many Christian thinkers and was further developed in various theological and philosophical works, including those of domestic researchers. The feeling of connection with the spiritual world, or, in the words of Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov, "the experience of connection with God and the identification of God" constitute the essence of a person's religious experience. At the same time, as the thinker pointed out, “the concept of “deity, god” is taken<...>in the broadest and most indefinite sense, embracing various religions, as a formal category applicable to all kinds of content. The essential feature that establishes the nature of religion is the objective nature of this worship, associated with a sense of the transcendence of the deity.
So, “religion,” another well-known Russian philosopher continues this idea, “is life in communion with God, with the goal of satisfying the personal needs of the human soul. in salvation, in finding the last strength and satisfaction, unshakable peace of mind and joy. , giving a definition of religion, he also noted that “religion is a lifelong (in the sense of the scope) and living (by the nature of the action) connection of man with God; or otherwise: a human subject with a divine Object" .
This understanding of religion, formulated by the Christian authors cited above, we will adhere to in this edition. At the same time, it should be noted that, trying on such an understanding for Buddhism, the reader may encounter certain difficulties and wonder to what extent it is possible to consider this tradition, one of the world's most numerous and most numerous in terms of the number of its supporters, a religion in the sense of the word about which it was just said.
Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov offers the following answer to this question: “Folk, exoteric Buddhism, to which, in fact, this religion owes the vastness of its distribution, is by no means limited to one “non-trafficking”, but contains elements of concrete polytheism, even fetishism. Moreover - and this is the most important thing - Buddhist nothingness, non-existence, nirvana, the unity of indifference<...>, is by no means only a negative concept, but fits well with our general definition of Deity.<...>This positive nothing constitutes the true, though transcendent for us, reality, in relation to which a typically religious attitude is established.
This image, indicating the Creator's being in direct and constant dialogue with, is at the same time an expression of genuine theology, characteristic of man in that period.
If we apply religious terminology to the religious consciousness of the first people, then it must be said that their ideas were monotheistic. However, an important clarification must be made here: this monotheism was not an abstract philosophical construction, but a living sensation arising from personal spiritual experience.
The drama of sin not only made him a criminal of the Divine commandment, but also distorted his nature and clouded his consciousness. One of the greatest theologians of the Ancient Church, St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, likens what happened to the internal state of a person after the fall to a mirror that ceased to reflect the Creator. The soul, “closing in itself a multitude of crowded bodily lusts, no longer sees what the soul should represent to the mind, but rushes around and sees only that which is subject to feeling” .
A direct consequence of such a distortion was the deviation from the God-given truths of the original religion, the emergence of polytheistic cults, where the Creator of the Universe appeared before people in the most diverse and bizarre cult images. The result was what the apostle Paul famously described in his epistle to the Romans: They replaced the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creature instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever" ().
There have been a great many forms of polytheism (polytheism) throughout the history of mankind. However, in this case, our task will not be to describe all the religious phenomena that have taken place on earth, but to characterize the most widespread and active religions in their manifestations. And in order to be able to give the representatives of these traditions an answer about their faith with meekness and reverence(), it is necessary to clearly represent the main milestones in the history of the religious tradition, as well as the content of its key doctrines, ritual and ethical norms.
Christians, being the heirs and keepers of the God-commanded faith, revealed in all its fullness to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, at the same time are not the only representatives of the tradition that ascends through the Old Testament to primordial monotheism. Before proceeding to the consideration of polytheism, it should be said about two key religions, which, together with m, have a partly common Old Testament root. These are Judaism and Islam. These three monotheistic religions will be discussed in this section.
30.09.2014
Many people, thanks to faith in higher powers, have hope for the future. There are many different religious movements around the world. Each of them has its own origins and teachings. Despite this, some basic patterns of the emergence of religion can be traced.
Why is there a need for religion in people's lives?
It is very difficult to determine the reasons for the emergence of religion, since its origin took place many centuries ago. True, experts are confident that people thus sought to find the reason for their birth, as well as determine their purpose. Considering this point of view, religion can be considered a philosophical foundation, which served as an impetus for the further formation of a person's personality. Initially, the people who inhabited the planet explained their existence with myths and legends, but over time this became not enough. Therefore, a whole system of explaining the world and everything that happens in it appeared. Thanks to religion, people have the opportunity to:
- regulate social relations;
- pull together;
- find the meaning of life.
How has religion affected human existence?
Religion is a kind of regulator of human relations. In those days, when religions were still in their infancy, the social system was completely different and had practically nothing in common with the one that exists now. For people there were no rules, no laws, no prohibitions. The goal of mankind was the formation of both moral and moral convictions that would help regulate relations in society. Such functions were assigned to religion. After all, if a person realizes that he will be punished for his misdeeds, then this will provoke him to comply with the established rules and norms.
The second reason for the emergence of religion was that people needed unity. Even strangers and strangers to each other, people who have the same faith, become one. In this way, hostility could be eliminated. The most obvious example of this is the emergence of Christianity in Russia. The state, which was fragmented, united with the help of religion into one whole.
Also, religion is of great importance in terms of psychology. After all, it is much more for a person to exist with the belief that his life has some purpose and something controls it. Anyone who turns to religion, certainly feels the need for patronage and help.
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