A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives Mythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story; however, the academic use of the term, symbols A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for numbers. All language consists of symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers or deities, or ultimate truth Truth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in action, character, and utterance. The term has no.[1] Religion is commonly identified by the practitioner's prayer Prayer is the act of addressing a god or spirit for the purpose of worship or petition. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's thoughts and emotions. The words used in prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation, words of, ritual A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers, or dictated purely by logic, chance, necessity, etc., meditation Meditation is used here as a broad term for practices done by a sole practitioner without much, if any, external aid, often for the purpose of self-transformation. Often, though not at all necessarily, meditation is done as part of a religious tradition, music Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses" and art Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, among other things, but more generally is interwoven with society Society or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole and politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the. It may focus on specific supernatural The term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are spells and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others. Supernatural beliefs have existed in many cultures throughout, metaphysical Metaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. Someone who studies metaphysics would be called either a "metaphysician" or a "metaphysicist", and moral In its first, descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct or belief concerning matters of what is moral or immoral . In its descriptive use, morals are arbitrarily and subjectively created by society, philosophy, religion, and/or individual conscience. An example of the descriptive usage could be "common conceptions of morality have claims about reality Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist." Literally, the term denotes what is real; in its widest sense, this includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense includes being and sometimes is considered to include nothingness, as well. By contrast, (the cosmos In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek term κόσμος meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos. Today the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The words cosmetics and cosmetology originate from the same and human nature Human nature is the concept that there are a set of characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that all 'normal' humans have in common. The branches of science associated with the study of human nature include sociology, sociobiology and psychology, particularly evolutionary psychology and developmental psychology) which may yield a set of religious laws In some religions, law can be thought of as the ordering principle of reality; knowledge as revealed by God defining and governing all human affairs. Law, in the religious sense, also includes codes of ethics and morality which are upheld and required by God. Examples include customary Halakha and Hindu law, and to an extent, Sharia (Islamic law), ethics Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is (meta-ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations (applied ethics), how moral capacity, and a particular lifestyle Lifestyle was originally coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929. The current broader sense of the word dates from 1961. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions However, on a more basic theoretical level, tradition can be seen as information or composed of information. For that which is brought into the present from the past, in a particular societal context, is information. This is even more fundamental than particular acts or practices even if repeated over a long sequence of time, writings, history, and mythology Mythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story; however, the academic use of the term, as well as personal faith Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general. As with "trust", faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief "not resting on logical proof or material and religious experience Religious experience is a subjective experience where an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine.

The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general. As with "trust", faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief "not resting on logical proof or material" or "belief system,"[2] but it is more socially defined than personal convictions, and it entails specific behaviors The religions of the world consist of religious images and religious behaviour. The religious images of the religions from the past and of present day religions, like gods, ghosts and worshipped ancestors, concepts of guilt, dogmatic teachings and ideas of the hereafter, are generally quite well known. Religious behaviour on the other hand, the, respectively.

Religions by country This article gives an overview about religion by country. Note that the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, will show dual figures; those are the percentage of people who believe in God and the percentage of nominal adherents who celebrate traditional religious holidays although not professing belief in God: Cultural Jews and
North America Algeria • Benin • Botswana •
Canada Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of groups, and Canada has no official religion. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms mentions "God", and the monarch carries the title of "Defender of the Faith", but no specific beliefs are specified, and support for religious pluralism is an important part of · United States Religion in the United States is remarkable both in its high adherence level as well as its diversity. The First Amendment to the country's Constitution prevents the government from having any authority in religion, and guarantees the free exercise of religion. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a "very important" role in · Mexico Mexico has no official religion, and the Constitution of 1917 and the anti-clerical laws imposed limitations on the church and sometimes codified state intrusion into church matters. The government does not provide any financial contributions to the church, and the church does not participate in public education. However, Christmas is a national Cuba Cuba is traditionally a Catholic country. In some instances Catholicism is much modified and influenced through syncretism. A common syncretic belief is Santería, which was brought to Cuba by the slaves from Africa and spread to neighboring islands; it shows similarities to Brazilian Umbanda and has been receiving a degree of official support · Haiti About 95% of the population claim Christian beliefs, although the most professed denomination by far is Roman Catholicism. Similar to the rest of Latin America, Haiti was colonized during a period during which Roman Catholicism was prevalent among European monarchs. Following in this legacy, Catholicism is enshrined in the Haitian constitution as · Dominican Republic Morgan Foley was the leader of Protestantism for women in the 1800s. During the 1820s, Protestants migrated to the Dominican Republic from the United States. West Indian Protestants arrived on the island late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, and by the 1920s, several Protestant organizations were established all throughout the country, Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago is a multi-religious nation. The largest religious groups are the Roman Catholics and Hindus; the Anglicans, Muslims, Presbyterians, Methodist are among the smaller faiths. Two Afro-Caribbean syncretic faiths, the Shouter or Spiritual Baptists and the Orisha faith are among the fastest growing religious groups. The fastest · Nicaragua Religion in Nicaragua is a significant part of the culture of Nicaragua and forms part of the constitution. Religious freedom and religious tolerance is promoted by both the Nicaraguan government and the constitution
South America

Colombia The Religion in Colombia is an expression of the different cultural heritages in the Colombian culture including the Spanish colonisation, the Native Amerindian and the Afro-Colombian · Peru According to the 1993 Census, 89% of the Peruvian population over 12 years old declared themselves as Catholics, 6.7% as Evangelicals, 2.6% as of other denominations, 1.4% as non-religious and 0.2% did not specify any affiliation · Bolivia The Roman Catholic church has a dominant presence in religion in Bolivia. National Institute of Statistics in its 2001 survey showed the following religious affiliation in Bolivia: Catholic 77.99%, Protestant 19.46%, No religion 2.44%, and Other 0.11%. While a vast majority of Bolivians are Catholic, a much smaller portion of the population Brazil Although over seventy percent of the population declared themselves Roman Catholic in the last census , Brazilian religions are very diversified and inclined to syncretism – the union, or attempted fusion, of different systems of thought or belief. In recent decades there has been a great increase of Neo-Pentecostal churches, which has decreased · Argentina A majority of the population of Argentina is nominally Roman Catholic. According to one source, about 76.5% of Argentinians are Roman Catholic, 11.3% religiously indifferent, 9% Protestant , 1.2% Jehovah's Witnesses, and 0.9% Mormons.In the last decades, as in the rest of America, there has been a rise in Evangelical movements, which have mostly Paraguay According to article 24 of the Paraguayan Constitution of 1992, freedom of religion is recognised and there is no official religion. Relations between the State and the Catholic church are to be based on independence, co-operation and autonomy. The independence of religious organisations is guaranteed

Europe Religion in Europe has been a major influence on art, culture, philosophy and law. The largest religion in Europe for at least a millennium and a half has been Christianity. A number of countries in Southeastern Europe have Muslim majorities. Smaller religions include Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism which are found in their largest groups

Iceland Religion in Iceland was initially the Norse paganism that was commonly believed by Vikings . Later, the nation became half-Christian and then more fully Christian. This increasing Christianization culminated in the Pietism period when non-Christian entertainments were discouraged. At present, the population is overwhelmingly, if nominally, · Ireland The primary religion in the Republic of Ireland is Roman Catholicism. Historically, prior to the arrival of Christianity, Celtic polytheism was the dominant religion of the nation · United Kingdom Religion in The United Kingdom is about the development of religion in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a link between church and state that still remains Portugal The most predominant religion in Portugal is Roman Catholicism. Approximately 84% of the population are nominally Catholic, but only about 19% attend mass and take the sacraments regularly. Yet a larger number wish to be baptized, married in the church, and receive last rites · Spain Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in the country by far. According to a July 2009 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 76% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 20% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of · Italy Catholicism is by far the largest religious group in Italy. However, there are also some important religious minorities · France France is a country where freedom of thought and of religion are preserved, in virtue of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic is based on the principle of laïcité enforced by the 1880s Jules Ferry laws and the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State. Roman Catholicism, the religion of Netherlands · Belgium · Germany Switzerland · Luxembourg · Austria Denmark · Sweden · Norway · Finland Poland · Lithuania · Moldova · Russia Albania · Serbia · Montenegro Bulgaria · Romania · Greece · Cyprus · Malta Turkey

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Religion Portal

The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. It considers psychological and social roots, along with origins and historical development.

In the frame of western religious thought,[3] religions present a common quality, the "hallmark of patriarchal religious thought": the division of the world in two comprehensive domains, one sacred, the other profane.[4] Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion is also often described as a "way of life" or a life stance.

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Perhaps De Lollis and Miller should reserve this question to ask McKellen should they ever get the chance: Would he dare extend his vandalism of sacred texts to other . religions. , say ripping pages out of Korans left in his hotel room in ...

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How does religion affect your opinions of others?
Q. How does your religion (or atheism, or whatever system of belief you follow) affect your opinions your opinion of other people? Do you feel a different way towards those sharing your belief and those with different ones? Do you pre-judge by religion, and if you do, to what extent?
Asked by Ire - Thu Mar 19 15:43:02 2009 - - 6 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I don't judge anyone based only on their choice of religion. I do judge them for how they practice it in terms of interaction with others. The belief that everyone that doesn't follow your religion should convert or die, or that everyone should follow your particular beliefs whether they like it or not through the imposition of laws. If you want to sacrifice Hershey bars to the marshmallow god, I'm fine with that as long as you don't try to force me to eat smores every Friday.
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