COMMON FEATURES OF RELIGION AS A

GENERIC AND UNIQUE PHENOMENON

Term 3: Week 1-3

RELIGION STUDIES
GRADE 10
S MAKWEYA
 Overview of the topic
TERM 3: WEEKS 1
ASPECTS OF
UNDERSTANDING RELIGION

BASIC FACTS OF RELIGIONS

Understanding religions
Learners’ self-discovery
from the point of view of
as an ongoing process
the adherents
 New concepts
Term/concept Explanation

Feature Aspect of something or characteristics

Unique Being the only one of its kind/unlike anything else

Adherents A group of people supporting/that is committed to a

particular set of ides
Distinction A difference/contrast between similar things

Eternal Lasting/existing for ever/without end

Cosmic The universe as a whole

Intangible Describes something that cannot be touched

 Introduction

• Religion plays an important

role in people’s everyday lives
• It is essential to understand
religion as a private matter
concerned only with a person’s
spiritual life, it should not be
confused with social, economic
or political
 Aspects of understanding religion

Religious knowledge is
expressed in relation to the
various religious deities.
It is sometimes difficult to
express this religious
knowledge due intangible
(cannot be touched) state of
the divines
 Aspects of understanding religion

In order to express these

realities that one cannot touch,
then a different kind of language
is required
Religious language helps
humans to close/narrow the big
gap between daily life and the
eternal or the cosmic
 Aspects of understanding religion

It is for this reason that

religious symbols are used
The religious symbols help the
adherents of the particular
religion to express connection
between themselves and things
that are greater than
themselves
 Aspects of understanding religion

Religious symbols can be

objects, writing, sounds,
gestures or anything that
expresses something important
about a particular religion

A symbol has value in what it

represents
 Aspects of understanding religion

The religious adherents need to

connect and access the deep truth
their deities

They do these through prayer and

rituals

Religious rituals are specific sets of

actions performed in particular
situation for various purposes
 Aspects of understanding religion

Adherents of a religion perform

rituals for various purposes such as
the following
• To bring followers of a religion
closer to God example: through
prayer
• Followers involve God in important
events in their lives for example:
birth and death
 Aspects of understanding religion

• Teach followers about the

religion even creating
passages from their various
holy books
• Bring members of a religion
together as a community
examples through festivals
and collective worship
 Aspects of understanding religion

Basic facts of religion indicate

that:
Religions differ from region to
region, from country to country,
from religious community to
religious community
For the identified religions some
basic facts will be discussed
 Aspects of understanding religion

Buddhism
• Was founded in India 2500 years
ago . Beliefs and practices are
based on Buddha’s teaching to
reach: Enlightenment
Hinduism
• Major religion in India without a
founder. Began in 500 -1000
BCE. They believe in many
gods and in reincarnation
 Aspects of understanding religion

Christianity
• Based on the life of Jesus and
his teachings. Began when
Jesus was 30 years. They
believe in God the father Jesus
the son and in the Holy Spirit.
They believe that Jesus died for
humans and rose again from the
dead

Bahá’i Faith
• Was founded in Iran in 1844 by
Bahá’u’llah. Hey believe in one
God. That God revealed himself
to humans through the prophets
 Aspects of understanding religion

Islam
• Began in 622 CE when Prophet
Muhammad fled Mecca. They
teach that there is only one all-
powerful God, Allah. Muhammad
was the prophet of Allah who
gave him the Qur’an

Taoism
• Established by Lao Tzu in the 4th
century BCE. They aim to follow
the Tao (way) of the universe
and try to be true to the nature
and not fight against the flow of
the universe
 Aspects of understanding religion

ATR
• They have a strong belief in the
supernatural being or god. God is
seen as powerful and people can’t
approach him directly so they call
ancestors to communicate with him
on their behalf. It is an oral tradition,
myths, stories and rituals are passed
from down from elders to younger
generation

Judaism
• It began in 3500 years ago in the
Middle East. Abraham is believed to
be the founder. They believe in one
al-powerful God, who gave his laws
to Moses which form part of their
Torah
 Aspects of understanding religion

Understanding religion from the point of

view of the adherents
• In order to understand why people and
how people believe what they do
• In order to make sense of beliefs and
practices that might seem strange to the
outsider’s own religion some questions
are asked:
• Why the adherents believe it?
 Aspects of understanding religion

• How do the adherents express

their believe?
• It is important then to understand,
respect and appreciate the
religious point of view of the
adherents
• It will also assist to avoid to reject
or feel superior to the adherents
because of prejudice
Aspects of understanding religion

Learners’ self-discovery as an ongoing

process without external expectation to
conform
• It is normal to have your point of view
as an individual to know where you
come from. That will help you to
understand why other people are the
way they are
Aspects of understanding religion

Learners’ self-discovery as an ongoing

process without external expectation to
conform
• Through self-discovery you learn to be
open to understanding religions without
judging them, you respect the belief of
others and you are able to engage with
people from different religions
 Correlations and patterns

TERM 3: WEEKS 2
CORRELATIONS AND PATTERNS

RELIGION STUDIES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Correlations and patterns
Religious Studies Religious Education
 Correlations and patterns
Religious Studies Religious Education

• Designed to teach people about all • Designed to teach the beliefs and practices
religions and ways of beliefs in the of one religion
country

• It does not promote a particular religion • Focus on creating supporters of one

religion
• In South Africa it is designed to give
learners a wide overview of what • In South Africa before democracy
different people believe in Religious Education was taught as a
subject in schools and Christianity was the
only religion taught
• There are different religions that make
up the nations so it is important to
• Its instructions start with the family, then
communicate in order to understand
the Priests/Imams/Elders/Rabbis in that
each religion better. Religions do not
particular religion
compete but make the nation to be
• Young people continue with the training to
more interesting
become adults
 Correlations and patterns

TERM 3: WEEKS 3
MAJOR DIMENSIONS COMMON TO ALL RELIGIONS
 Major dimensions common to all religions
These dimensions are common to all the religions

• Divinity • Narrative and Myth

• Cosmos • Ethics
• Humanity • Rituals
• Knowledge • Symbol
• The Good And The • Spiritual experience or
Beautiful Spirituality
• Sacred and Normative • Faith Organisation
Tradition
Major dimensions common to all religions

Divinity: Most of the religions

believe in some divine force/higher
power
• Monotheism: The belief that
there is only one God who created
the world. Islam, Judaism
Christianity believe humans are
created to worship ONE GOD
Major dimensions common to all religions

Polytheism: Believe in the existence

of more than one god.

Monism: The belief that everything

in the universe is part of greater
ultimate power BUT it is not god.
Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism
Major dimensions common to all religions

Cosmos, humanity and knowledge

Most religions share an understanding of:
• cosmos (universe) as a single whole
composition which works on the basis of
rules, order and harmony
• God stands outside the cosmos and is
separate from the humans for example:
Abrahamic religions perceive the cosmos
as such, whereas in the ATR, Hinduism
etc the divine is seen as part of the
cosmos that is also present in humanity
Major dimensions common to all religions

Knowledge
• Quest for knowledge is a universal
religious phenomenon
• Most religions that have sacred texts
gain their knowledge from these texts
hence they place emphasis on the study
of these texts
• The religions without sacred texts rely on
experiential knowledge that can be
gained through the way one experiences
the divine on his own
Major dimensions common to all religions

The good and the beautiful

• Different religions agree on what basic good or
bad behaviour is
• Hence interfaith communities are able to come
together around an issue of common good for
example negotiating for peace/solve problems
of poverty
• Most religions also agree that humans are
inherently good
• Religions differ in their understanding why there
is evil and bad in the world
Major dimensions common to all religions
SACRED NORMATIVE

• Adherents of religions believe

• Traditions set the standard
their religion is a revelation.
For example: /norm of how the
• Qur’an is the word of God
revealed to Prophet adherents should behave
Muhammad, Ten
• Some norms are specific
Commandments were
revealed to Moses, Christians to clothing requirements
follow these sets of
commandments as norms to and food restrictions
live by
 Major dimensions common to all religions
Narrative Myths

Stories that deal with the deepest truth

Stories based on but they are not literal

actual events in Most religions communicate their beliefs

and teachings in the form of Myths
which the teachers of because it is sometimes difficult to

the past proclaimed express religious beliefs and experiences

in ordinary everyday language
their beliefs through
Myths communicate beliefs about after-
words and deeds life and the end of time
Major dimensions common to all religions

The three monotheistic traditions

• Islam, Christianity, Judaism share a
similar myth of endings because they
all teach that the world was created
at a specific time and will end at a
particular time
• Hinduism myth say the when the
world dies it will be replaced by
another world in an endless cycle of
destruction and creation
Major dimensions common to all religions

ETHICS
• Values or moral principles that determine good and
bad actions
• Religious ethics should be followed by its adherents

• Most religions practice these values: justice, honesty,

compassion, respect, caring and generosity
• These values are contained in the set of rules such
as: Ten commandments, Five Precepts of Buddhism,
Islamic law - Shari 'a
Major dimensions common to all religions

ETHICS
• Adherents call their religions way of life because
their beliefs affect every aspect of how they live
their lives
• One does not have to belong to a religion to
have ethics hence there are secular ethics
Major dimensions common to all religions

RITUALS
• All religions practiced rituals
• Rituals are accepted and
respected as events with meaning
to those who perform them
• Rituals include special behaviour
in sacred places and at sacred
times
Major dimensions common to all religions

RITUALS
• They bring a religious community
closer together to affirm shared
beliefs
• They create a sense of belonging
within the religious community
• They can mark the stages of life
(rites of passage) such as birth-
adulthood-marriage
Major dimensions common to all religions

SYMBOLS
• They stand for/represent something

• They can be more powerful than

words because they bring about
strong feelings in the person/groups
• They can be word images, signs
that have special sacred meaning
• They can represent the history of a
religious community
Major dimensions common to all religions

SYMBOLS
• Some people wear symbols of their
religions to communicate to others that
they are part of the religious community
• They can be incorporated into
rituals/places of worship to help bind
people together
• They can take the form of action
example: in ATR offering of food and
drink to the ancestors represents
connection of
Major dimensions common to all religions

SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE/SPIRITUALITY
• This refers to the mental and emotional state that
people experience when they come into contact
with what they believe to be God/ultimate reality
• Experience is a personal feeling of being in contact
with the Supreme Being/God
• Feeling of awe in the presence of a superhuman
force, personal development or healing
• Members of a religious community may experience
belonging to that community in various ways
Major dimensions common to all religions

SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCE/SPIRITUALITY
• Spirituality is important in the
religious lives of people because it
is about feeling and experiencing
rather than just learning a set of
rules or reading a certain text
• There are three ways of
categorizing people’s spiritual
experience
Major dimensions common to all religions

Three ways of spiritual experience

Transcendent
• All-powerful creator separate from
human beings and reality that we
experience
• The followers experience
spirituality in which they feel God’s
love and protection
Major dimensions common to all religions

Immanent
• Comes about when the person
connects with the divine within
themselves
• The followers have developed
meditation practices to help the
members experience the divine
within example: Hinduism and
Buddhism
Major dimensions common to all religions

Mystical
• Direct immediate union with
the divine
• Such experienced is seen as
being powerful and life
changing for the person who
had such spiritual experience
• This experience is universal to
all the religions
Major dimensions common to all religions

FAITH
• To strongly believe I
something and to be
committed to it
• Adherents of a particular
religion have faith in it even
when there is no proof that it
exists or it is true
Major dimensions common to all religions

FAITH
• The followers’ faith is
strengthened through belonging
to a community/family that shares
the same faith
• The fact that there sacred texts
are available is enough proof for
the followers to have faith
example the Qur’an, The Torah,
The Bible
Major dimensions common to all religions

ORGANISATION
• Followers of a religion
organize themselves into a
(social) organization
• They have particular
leader/leaders who have
particular duties and special
privileges
Major dimensions common to all religions

ORGANISATION
• Members of the organization
know how their organization
works
• They know who is in charge of
certain rituals, who looks after
the sacred place, who has
power to make decisions
about the religious matters
Major dimensions common to all religions

Answer the following questions

1.1 Explain the following terms in the context of religion
• Ritual (2)
• Divinity (2)
• Myth (2)
• Ethics (2)
• Faith (2)
1.2 Discuss the purpose of the symbols in religion (4)

1.3 Why do religions express their teachings in Myths? (2)

1.4 Illustrate how the adherents of a religion experience spirituality? Give

examples of a religion for each experience (12)

1.5 Differentiate between Religion Studies and Religious Education

demonstrate how these subjects were treated before democracy
Major dimensions common to all religions

1.6 Critically discuss why should religion be understood

from the adherents point of view?
(8)

1.7 Why is it important to have your own point of view or

a different position from others with regard to religion. (4)

Total Marks: (50)