The session commenced with discussion about future topics. This included research on encyclicals by Pope Francis and the merging of pagan cultures with Christian beliefs. We moved on to a discussion of the various definitions of “religion”. One that seemed to spark some interest was something of overwhelming importance to a person. Another expressed the view that many definitions focus too narrowly on only a few aspects of religion; they tend to exclude those religions that do not fit well. An alternative was offered - It is apparent that religion can be seen as a theological, philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological phenomenon of human kind. To limit religion to only one of these categories is to miss its multifaceted nature and lose out on the complete definition.
We followed up with a comparison between the origins of religion and religion today. After developing a list of features of the origins, we looked at what we could see as the differences today. Our conclusion was that much of the original list still applied but some less comfortable cultural aspects that had crept in i.e. power, greed, idealism and seeing things in black and white even though a more mature approach would see more grey.
Homework for this month is to look at the website www.religioustolerance.org Freida will look for some information on the encyclicals by Pope Francis.
We followed up with a comparison between the origins of religion and religion today. After developing a list of features of the origins, we looked at what we could see as the differences today. Our conclusion was that much of the original list still applied but some less comfortable cultural aspects that had crept in i.e. power, greed, idealism and seeing things in black and white even though a more mature approach would see more grey.
Homework for this month is to look at the website www.religioustolerance.org Freida will look for some information on the encyclicals by Pope Francis.
