[lbo-talk] Religion, spirituality and the supernatural

Charles Brown cb31450 at gmail.com
Fri Feb 21 15:05:12 PST 2014


Religion - an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere of human life or the supernatural, supernatural beings, along with associated ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control and beyond the material and natural world.

spirituality concern with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters. In contrast, to religion, spirituality is often individual rather than collective and does nott require a distinctive format or traditional organization.

Religion is also a worldview, the collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality. Religion is a culture's self-consciousness of itself, awareness that as a human society a culture is more than natural; it is natural and more than natural., supernatural, super organic.

Natural History of Life proposes that by complying with nature's laws at a higher level than other species, humans transcend some of the limits of natural laws. The mastery of natural necessity is key to freedom to transcend nature's laws. So, natural history , too, seeks the super natural, the super organic, extension of life beyond past limits, death limits.

Religion is 1) The general theory of that worldview , its theology. orderly system of ideas, taxonomy ,including supernatural beings , gods, bodyless spirits, immortal beings, souls; and natural beings. 1a)Much valid natural scientific knowledge 2) its encyclopedic compendium 3) its logic in a popular form 4) its spiritualistic point d'honneur 5) its enthusiasm ! what's it all about, Alfie. 6) its moral sanction; kinship; how other people are treated; do and don'ts, good and bad; ethics; rules of social practice; tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the like. 7) its solemn completion 8) its universal ground for consolation for suffering and death and justification despite suffering and death. 9) it is the sigh of the oppressed creature (!) 10) it is the heart of a heartless world 11) it is the spirit of a spiritless situation including suffering and death. 12) Maybe Universal in human society; intentional burial of dead suggesting conception of afterlife and supernatural found in human remains from Middle Paleolithic human historical period of Mausterian tool tradition tens of thousands of years ago.

Essay

101. Religion may serve to maintain an existing social order. A standard argument being, "while you might suffer in this life, you will be rewarded in the next one." This logic prevailed throughout much of the early history of the Catholic Church in the New World. However, starting in the 1960s, many priests working in Latin America adopted a more critical perspective of the social order and their job of challenging a system of social inequality. This movement was known as Liberation Theology. Discuss the role that religion plays in the social order and how it can be used as an agent of change.

ANS: Will vary

102. While religion tends to be more structured and associated with the collectivity, spirituality exists on an individual, somewhat idiosyncratic, level. Discuss how religion and spirituality merge in many people's lives and the effect that each may have on the other.

ANS: Will vary

103. As the anthropological definition of religion is relatively broad, actively reflect on your life and any rite of passage you may have gone through. What was the cultural significance and what was the personal significance of this transition?

ANS: Will vary

104. What is a revitalization movement? Choose an example from the United States and discuss the effects that religion played in the movement's success or failure. Do you think the same movement could have occurred in a society different from the United States?

ANS: Will vary

105. On what issues do Judeo-Christian (Genesis) Creationism and Natural Historical evolutionism agree and disagree concerning the origin of human beings ? What are the implications of those origins for how human treat each other today ? Do Genesis creationists and Life Science evolutionists differ on humans all being descendents of a common ancestor individual somebody ? On the mortality of human individuals ?

ANS: Will vary



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