Free Religion and Term Identification Essay Sample
Term Identification
Religion is the main and the leading power for the entire nations throughout the history of human existence. However, the reason for increased religiosity may be illiteracy and low education rate. The religions mentioned in the current paper influence the ethical and moral principles of their followers. The current paper describes the difference between the religion and the cult, compares the aspects of different convictions, and presents the main religious figures.
Guru Nanak spent time with Yogis, learning their practices. The principles and philosophies that he has developed for years turned into a new form of religion. It has rejected the old vision on the religion. For him, old beliefs and practices had no more the value; thus, he claimed that they have to be denied. He came to such conclusions after years of touring the country. Guru spent almost twenty-five years wandering from region to region. During his travels, he composed different hymns and learned the surrounding. The main themes of his studies included Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In his works, Guru Nanak declared a few principles. The main aspect of his education is the principle of the brotherhood. The life lead with the principle received the new vision and recognition. Brotherhood changes the understanding of a human in the society and the notion of love. The Guru’s principle proposed the hint of the social status influence. The philosophy offers a tremendous change for the country that was built on the basis of the castes principle. Moreover, his religion proclaims spiritual perfection. The second principle is the idea of the sanctity of life. The third principle is the claim that everyone deserves respect and equality. For Guru Nanak, human life is not a burden, but the privilege that everyone graciously received. The fourth important principle is the work. Despite the fact that Guru Nanak developed a new culture and dedicated a lot of time to spiritual search, he continued working on the land. The work is a blessing for people. His fifth principle is that the moral life with the combination of the spiritual progress. The belief grounds on the common social problem of hunger. At the time of Guru Nanak’s teaching, there was often not enough of food. The last principle established the decrease of evil. Guru believed that every human being is able to control the evil. Thus, is the human responsibility to make less bad things in the world and spread the good. The advantage of the Guru teaching is the language. He spoke Panjabi language, which was very common among the people.
The Islamic culture underwent though a split of religion. The religion divided into the majority of the Sunnis and a minority of the Shiites. The first mentioning about the division dates back to the 7th century. The Prophet Mohammed died in 632. The leadership in the Islamic religious culture passed to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Some representatives of Muslim religion believed that the succession was not legitimate. Moreover, the caliph title should have belonged to Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the adopted son of Mohammad and his cousin. In the conditions of doubt, the caliphate went from hands to hands. Firstly, Umar took the leadership from Abu, and then it went from Umar to Uthman. Uthman passed the power to Ali, who was killed in 661.
The Sunni (or sunny) represent the oral traditions of the Quran. According to their belief, the person for the position of caliph should be elected by the religious leader of the Islamic community. On the contrary, Shiites (the word means “the party”) believed that the follower of Ali is Imam, who is the true inherent of Mohammad. The majority of Shiites and Sunnis are liberal in Eastern standard. Most periods are the peaceful times, as there are only a few conflicts between the two canons. However, there are times when the conflicts achieve their apogee. Usually, the reason is the understanding that there is no other God than Allah, and no one can proclaim himself as a prophet. Moreover, they agree that Quran is the only rule and source of law.
Zionism is the religious movement developed by Nathan Birnbaum. The general definition is the idea of returning Jewish people to their homeland. The term was used for first time in 1890. In 1948, the state of Israel was established. Zionists came to the country to contribute towards its development. Moreover, their main goal was the protection of the country with the help of Israel Forces. Despite the common meaning of the word, there are different types of Zionism in the world. Scientists distinguish American, Christian, Messianic, Political, and even Practical Zionism. Additionally, the term can define different things depending on the person that speaks about it. Some people, nevertheless, use Zionism as secularism. The primary goal of Zionism is the rise of the nation, emancipation from the shadow, and the idea that there is no need to wait for a new messiah. Consequently, there is an opportunity to establish the state and Jewish government in the Holy Land today.
Baha-ullah belief is the principle of required education of the human character. The main stress is allocated to the self-discipline, heroism and devotions. The theory organizes and structures the majority of the moral principles into the patterns of conduct. The aim of the approach is to leverage the human being relationships and develop the positive impact on the society. The manifestation of God is in the inspiration for the next waking and human progress in the world. The human being’s aim is to become the mouthpiece of God. The Baha-ullah belief appeared in the 19th century. It directly translates as the glory of God. The initiator wrote a lot of books and verses during the four decades, as he was imprisoned and tortured for forty years. Thousands of people are learning and applying his beliefs in the everyday life.
Gnosticism is the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by intuitive means. According to gnostics, the world was created for a particular reason and everything is connected. People are aware of the events and factors that cause pain and suffering. Everything in the world is in the harmony and has the purpose. In the belief’s doctrine, the cosmos plays an important role. The gnostic perception of the deity is monotheistic. The God is beyond everything that is created or destroyed, including nature. The God’s appearance refers to the ultimate existence in the worlds of Aeons. Another cornerstone of the religion is Sophia that has the meaning of wisdom. It is the concept of consciousness. It has the definition of a creator of the physic and material cosmos. The human being in the Gnosticism reality is the reflection of the duality, as it includes the psychic and physic components. Everything is developed within the essence of the divine power and influence. The divine essence is named a “divine spark”. The worldview provides that people are ignorant when it comes to the divine spark, because they try to omit it in the life. According to gnostics, the solution to ignorance and the revelation of the divine spark is the death of the human. It is the start of salvation. Therefore, the salvation is not the result of the sin, but rather comes from ignorance that created the sin. Furthermore, the belief states that the code of ethics and morality is a system structured into the rules. The system originated from Demiurge and the aim is to serve him. Gnostic rarely speak about the destiny, as the main appeal is not what will happen after the death, but rather how to live the present life. They follow the idea that death is not the salvation. On the contrary, salvation must be earned during life with the decisions, choices, and activities. The soul is transcendent. Thus, there will be another existence and another life till the life lessons will be learned.
Isis is the Egyptian goddess of fertility and motherhood. She is the archetype of the human creation as a female. The goddess has a lot of different roles and names. The name literary means the Queen of the Throne. The meaning of the hieroglyph of her name is the flesh of female. Isis has had the symbol in the sky. She was the wife of Osiris; and she took the throne after his murder. The chair was empty beside her, as she was worshiping the King. The cult of Isis was very popular throughout the Ancient Egypt, particularly in the delta of Nile and Upper Egypt. Egyptians loved Isis and worshiped her. Moreover, her influence was very powerful; as a result, she was compared and syncretism to Demeter, the Greek goddess. For the majority of the scientists, the Isis worshipping was a cult. From the historical perspective, it was not appropriate for the men society that formed in Greece and Rome. However, Isis has had a lot of temples and worship places throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. According to the myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb and Nut, the gods of Earth and Sky. The goddess was often associated with magic. As a result, there is the symbol called Knot of Isis or Blood of Isis. The symbol is the meaning of welfare and divine support.
Satya Sai Baba is a spiritual leader and teacher, whose ideas inspired a lot of people around the globe. He started his way at age of 14 in 1940. The principles of his prophecy include proclamation of the ideas of truth, righteousness, ethical conduct, peace, love and nonviolence. According to the beliefs, there is only one God for all human beings. Every person has to follow the morality and ethics proclaimed by God in name of God. Moreover, every person has to help others, developing by this love, conduct and with respect follow the laws of the country where a person lives.
Wahhabism is the branch of Islam that appeared in the 18th century. Modern terrorist and extremists are following the system, which has the elements of mysticism and reminds the cult center system. The name of movement comes from the founder Abd al-Wahhab. It has a close relation to the Athari schools of traditional theology. Loyalty to the religion and leaders is the main idea of the belief.
Life after Death
The different religions have varying views on the life after death. However, the common feature in the majority of religious doctrines is the fact that they accept the idea of the life after death. However, the perception of death differs from religion to religion. For Christians, death is salvation, which comes to the person when his or her time has come. The tradition includes calling the priest, who helps the person to confess the sins and leave all bad things in the physical life. After death, the soul of the person is traveling on the earth among friends and relatives for forty days. Christians believe that it is the time for the soul to say goodbye to the beloved one. Contrary to Christian perceptions of death, Zoroastrians believe that it is the preparation for the next life. Consequently, after death, a person stays between the two worlds in getting ready for the next life. The same idea is proclaimed by the Islam for the Muslim people. According to the Islamic religious belief, life is the most precious thing in the world. As Zoroastrians and Christians, Muslim people believe in life after death. Moreover, Jews agree that death is a part of the God’s plan for every human. However, they do not expose the body to family or to friends, as it is a temple. The Jews, who had the good life, will be awarded as soon as afterlife comes.
The Church of Latter Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has many followers and believers. The Church is the restorations church that has the unique holy book that defines few main doctrines. They believe in the idea of cosmos and that for each human being, there is a plan for salvation. The followers have the same rituals as Jew people; however, at some point, it seems that the church is rather the cult than a belief system. The representatives of the Christians and Jews have a lot in common. There are similar rituals, ideas, and point of views. However, there is one major difference between the two doctrines. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church shares the belief that lacks explanation and reasoning. The people of the Church of Latter Day Saints have a different perception of the community and relationship within the group. Religion is an open source that stresses the idea of freedom and fellowship. However, the Mormon Church is the closed society that usually controls the members of the cult and exercise strong influence on the community. Therefore, as the modern church is the well-organized structure that uses its power for centuries to lead the followers through the dark times. On the contrary, the leadership of Mormon Church exercises the power over the people to control their behavior. In my opinion, Mormon Church has many similarities with the restrictive cult with the elements of religion.
Sarvepalli Radakrishnan
Philosopher from India Sarvepalli Radakrishnan used to say that different religions and spiritual traditions are ruled and formed by the same spirit. The church work is done under the control of higher power. It aims for the redemption of both man and the universe. Cosmos is the cornerstone of the salvation according to all religions. There are different names that people gave to the supreme power that leads and guides the people of earth. Most of the names are reflected in the culture and often help to define the nation. For instance, Isis the Egyptian Goddess, is a beautiful fertile woman that remains true to the husband. Most common explanation among the religious doctrines is that there is a cosmic power, the so-called Supreme Being. It exercises controls and establishes the rules for the human life. However, there are physical laws that apply the casual connectivity approach. Therefore, each religion appeared at particular place under the defined circumstances. The history presents the examples when people united into spiritual groups that manage and improve their lives.
There are arguments around the religion as a feature of society that becomes the ruling power. However, identification of the society on the basis of religion only remains a biased and ignorant approach. For example, there are many people, who live in Islamic world and have European points of view on life, on relationships, and the work. Moreover, there are different confirmations of existing unexplained wonders that are famous around the world, but come from various religious connotations. Usually, the miracles appeared at the particular time, when the nation was in the need of the tremendous change. The changes should influence the further development of the nation and help to expend the territory and uplift the spirit.
To conclude, the paper is devoted to different types of religions, doctrines, and beliefs, which are popular throughout the existence of humanity. As a result, each religion left the sign of influence and gave the seed of improvements for the next religion or system of faith. In the history, the changes were applied to the societies and implemented through death and blood. However, the religion and faith can be separate subjects of study.