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Introduction to the Study of Religion
(Please read the "welcome letter" before going on)

What is Religion?
History of Religion
Major Religions of the World
Ultimate Reality
Spiritual Paths
Symbolism
Science,  Religion & Philosophy 
Sacred Stories
Scripture
Can God be Proven?
Evil & Suffering
Death & the Afterlife
Values
Women & Religion
Church & State
 Mysticism & Spirituality
Holy Rites & Rituals
Modern Spirituality

What do all religions have in common?

 

If we are focusing on details, we will see differences.
It is when we focus on basics that we see the commonalties. And they are more than just the "Golden Rule":

Religions take us beyond the merely immediate, apparent superficialities of life in this physical world.

Beyond physical life: every religion has some sense of a continuation of personal existence or consciousness after death.

To a deeper meaning of life: every religion directs us to live our lives with more than just a focus on what will serve our basic, physical lives in this world and personal, material gain in human society.

To something higher and mightier than this world: most every religion believes in some kind of "Higher Power" be it a personal god or gods or some impersonal, abstract concept or just some all pervading energy. And every religion is designed to help us connect with that Power.

To become more than we are: every religion is an attempt to improve us as persons, to transform us, to help us reach deep inside to the core of our existence and achieve a potential we do not even begin to imagine the full extent of. In some cases, trust in a god helps us do this. In other cases, it is meditation, or a philosophical understanding of the nature of the self and reality, or just doing goods works and selfless deeds... all of these are ways of expanding our sense of our self and our place in the scheme of things.

 

These are some of the very basic and most important things that all religions have in common.

 

The material in these lectures parallels material found in Exploring Religion by Rodger Schmidt

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Created by Laura Ellen Shulman 
Last updated: March 2003