Abrahamic Religion

Religion has played a fundamental role in determining not only social structures but also individual behavioural patterns throughout much of the known world. Pagan nations, before the advent of the Abrahamic religions, viewed their gods as primal beings, possessive of many human traits, such as cunning, wiliness, and, as such, they tended to act in a manner that reflected this, offering up physical gifts to the gods, rather than requesting help through abstract rituals. However, the Abrahamic religions changed much of this, with the concept of god changing to being a more spiritual deity; an abstract entity, rather than a physical being. In Christianity, the concept of God has changed over time, branching out, and allowing for different interpretations,

He is viewed, as a result of the harsh times during which the Abrahamic religions were originally created, as a fundamentally human deity; both cruel and vengeful. As a result of their fear of God, many Orthodox Christians allow their worldview and the conclusions they reach to be outlined for them in the Bible. An example of their conclusions being determined by how they define the concept of God would be the modern debate regarding if homosexual marriage should be legalised. Orthodox Christians, in particular, believe that God is against homosexuality, as is outlined in the Bible, and would punish humanity should his will be disobeyed, so they believe it should not be legalised. These Orthodox Christians are, as a result of their perspective on knowledge, difficult to reconcile with modern technological, societal, and medical advancements, for example. Their primary way of knowing is faith, and the area of knowledge from which they draw their conclusions, which is known as a religious knowledge structure, is diminishing in significance when determining the conclusions that people reach an era where reason and the natural sciences are becoming more widespread and prevalent. Faith and religious knowledge systems did provide much of the ancient world with the foundations for ethical structures that are currently in use in modern times. Much of modern legislature and ethical principles are seen as being based on

This concept is prevalent in more liberal Christian subgroups, as it is easier to reconcile with more modern areas of knowledge, such as the natural sciences, and ways of knowing, such as reason, than the orthodox view, since they give God the identity of being the driving force behind everything in the universe; ascribing the same divine plan to everything as the Orthodox Christians, but at the same time removing the element of divine sentience. This concept of God makes them aware of the value of reason as a way of knowing, but their adherence to faith as a way of knowing leads to a sort of amalgamation of traditional and modern thinking. As a result of the interpretative nature of the concept of God, there is room for personal freedom in determining how they are to live their lives. Therefore, liberal Christian subgroups allow an element of personal knowledge into the conclusions reached by their members. On the other hand, their adherence to the belief that there is a God, and subsequently the significance they attribute the bible despite not necessarily taking it literally, indicates that shared knowledge still plays a major role in determining what conclusions they reach. An example of how the relationship between personal and shared knowledge, as a result of their definition of the concept of God, affects the conclusions they reach would be the issue of