Religion as communication
Abstract: Religion grows out of one’s personal need. Faith is communicated through various media. Religious communication is born out of communication events such as religious gatherings, individual rituals, and prayers. Religious communication has three important components such as information, transmittal of this information, and understanding this transmittal. Canonical texts, Song, Music, Dance, Drama, Architecture, Plastic Arts, Pictures, Odour, Signs, Symbols, Gesture, and Rituals are important media for communicating religious information.
Key Words: Freud, Dreaming, Aboriginal, Al-haram, Teyyam festival, Artistic Communication,
. INTRODUCTION:
Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud described religion as a “universal obsessional neurosis” which depicted religion as a cosmic projector of our good and bad relationship with our parents or loved ones. Religion grows out of one’s personal necessity such as longings for mortality, meaningfulness, personal growth, happiness, peace, perfection, isolation, understanding, gratitude and so on. The substance of faith is communicated through various religious practices.
Religion is ‘ethics’: a store of ethical maxims and axioms.1 French sociologist Emile Durkheim states: Religion does not exist in a ‘vacuum’, but always a social ‘act’. Being a part of societal activity, religion through its various media (language, clothing, art) always acted as a vehicle of cultural information. During the initiation
Durkheim possets that there exists a distinct division between the sanctity of religious life and the secularism of the profane (Durkheim 13). However, the “sacred” and the profane” become enmeshed together, completely entrenched in religious belief and social expression. Moreover, the individualistic nature of magical gift is utilized by shamans in a manifestation of what Durkheim refers to as the “communal character” of shared religion (Durkheim 12). Magical ability and ritual knowledge might be traits and abilities available to a select few enlightened individuals, but the rituals they perform affect and benefit the surrounding family and social circles directly.
Religion often times is depicted as a specific institution that follows the teaching of the Bible, Torah, or the Quran. People fail to realize that religion can stand as anything for any particular person depending on their values. These values bring about sacred symbols, object, or systems to
Heavily influenced by Max Weber, Peter Berger was interested in the meaning of social structures. Berger’s concern with the meaning societies give to the world is apparent throughout his book The Sacred Canopy (1967), in which he drew on the sociology of knowledge to explain the sociological roots of religious beliefs. His main goal is to convince readers that religion is a historical product, it is created by us and has the power to govern us.
Society is a human product. Berger made it very clear from the beginning, that society is a dialectic phenomenon; it was produced by us and in return, produced us too.
Like most things that are society based, religion has evolved alongside our own culture. America is a melting pot of different ethnic backgrounds and cultures making it a perfect place for religion to adapt and flourish. For this analysis, I am drawing from “Civil Religion in America” by Robert N. Bellah (1967) on his ideas of American civil religion. In the text Bellah (1967) argues that civil religion is an important dimension that needs to be recognized in sociology. While Bellah focuses specifically on the United States of America, he still gives a valuable perspective on civil religion and how it plays a part in religion as a whole.
It is the purpose of this essay to explore what Western Esotericism is, through its seemingly debated definitions, in specific reference to its place within the study of Religion. It will be argued that Western Esotericism should be studied within Religious Studies due to the fact that it provides a re-conception of religious study from a sociological, psychological and philosophical lens. Through the exploration of repressed and censored esoteric features marginalised throughout history, we see a promotion of personal faith and religious experience explored through a new-found abandonment of scripture and ritual. This essay will feature works by Faivre, Stuckrad, Bergunder and Hanegraff as the main forms of literature which will support
What is religion? Why is mankind addicted to this conception unlike other species? Why does humanity submit to one, or multiple super powerful entities? Is there a neurological component that drives humans or is part of the societal construction? Such overwhelming questions have subjective answers due to varying descriptions of entities and research.
Religion–it is something that has been in existence since the beginning of time. It brings meaning to life and death. It creates a sense of belonging in the world. On the other hand, religion, or lack thereof, has also been, in many instances, the cause of oppression, warfare, and even terrorism. Sometimes religion is used to the advantage of one’s self.
A common questioning of a higher power beyond the physical realm lingers in society: Who and what is God?. However, many of these theological questions cannot be answered until we, of course, die. Due to human’s innate curiosity to understand the forces beyond their own, especially in terms of religion, humans find their own reasons to believe in God in the process of discovery. Religion is a sense of belief and worship to praise a higher power (God), and it provides a guide for human beings to have the opportunity to come together and live as one image of God’s children.
“Imagine There’s No Heaven” is an article in which Salman Rushdie, the author, presents an atheistic view where religion is pointless, and a higher being is non-existent.
Religion in Western civilization has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in shaping and developing Western society. Regardless of the form of religion, such as polytheism or monotheism, people in ancient societies believed in a God or Gods. This belief in a higher power was an important part of human progression and expansion. Religion was the backbone of Western civilization and has always been a very important foundation of culture, schooling, philosophy, art, and social interaction. Before Judaism and Christianity, philosophers such as Aristotle ponder the thought of a higher power and in his book Metaphysics wrote about eternal motion was an unmoved mover.
The human mind’s ability and innate desire to justify and explain the world and its phenomena has led to some of the most significant and world-altering discoveries and inventions, illustrated throughout the renaissance, enlightenment, scientific revolution, and industrial revolution. Logical pursuits comprise a significant capstone of human nature and progress. However, according to Rudolf Otto in The Idea of the Holy, these tendencies have created different dimensions of religion; the rational and non-rational, with the latter often times overlooked. The most significant difference between the rational and non-rational aspects of religion deal with their respective emphasis on reason and feeling. Rudolph Otto prioritizes the non-rational as offering a truer understanding of religion because he claims the core of all religious life revolves around experiences and feeling, not simply rational thought.
“There is no gulf between the logic of religious thought and the logic of scientific thought, both are made up of the same essential elements”. Ultimately, religion gave the people a way to create a division from what is considered sacred and profane in
Believe it or not, religion, which is “the service and worship of God or the supernatural” (Webster) is far more common than the average Joe notices on the surface. A large amount of people wouldn’t see religious aspects in their everyday life except for those they practice and even then, most are limited to a single day if even that. With the proper lens it is possible to gaze deeper into everyday occurrences and see factors such as subliminal meanings and blatant themes that have religious values to accompanying them. This theme of religion in popular culture can be seen popular aspects of everyday life. Many religious institutions see media within popular culture as an avenue to communicate to the mass their message and/or vision.
Week Outline
Preliminary Thesis Statement: Religion is an essential constituent of any civilization with a unique spiritual pathway.
Main Point: Religious spirituality establishes the framework for human social and cultural development.
1. Topic Sentence:
Jurak Una PS190
Argumentative analysis essay
In the past few years, there has been much discussion on whether religious teaching should be part of the public school curriculum.
Religion is a constant element shaping our political, economic and social lives. It pinpoints the set of beliefs, dogmas and practices defining the relation between human beings and the so called “divinity”. The notion of religion has always been a very important element of the world’s history.
As noted by Parvati Raghuram "For many, religion relates primarily to belief systems with a commitment to some normative values and some social order" (Skeleton & Allen, 1999) . Religion offers a structure that facilitates honourable thinking and encourages individuals to act sincerely in a formidable
