Religion The subject of the religious dimensions of Chinese philosophy covers both a vast time period—at least two and a half millennia—and a vast array of religious traditions, including theistic religions like Islam and Christianity....

Looking back on America's War for Independence from the perspective of 1818, former president John Adams commented that the "Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People." Adams's idea was that establishing the United States was more than just...

Besides the synagogue, the home has traditionally been a main focus of religiosity both for the Jewish family as a unit and especially for women. Women were traditionally excluded from the duty of Torah study, which for men was, and to some extent...

When Europeans began arriving in North America in the sixteenth century, they encountered Native American traditions that dated back thousands of years. Although native peoples observed a wide variety of religious practices, they all believed in a...

POPULAR RELIGION. Every society exhibits divisions and segmentations based upon the classification of its members and their activities, functions, and relationships (e.g., sex, work, knowledge, etc.). However, it was long a universally common...

Religion is both a personal matter and a social reality. In dealing with the latter, one is confronted by a confusion of categories and by terminological difficulties. For example, popular references to "religious community" reflect...

Most people do not perceive religious beliefs as changing very much over time. Religions, after all, are engaged in the propagation of eternal truths. While it is understandable that religious organizations may change, that process is perceived to...

Religion This entry is not a survey of the various forms that "religion" has taken in human history; rather, it treats the nature of religion as a problem in the philosophy of religion. It will be concerned with attempts to develop an...

Religion Introduction In literature that explores the issues of race and prejudice, religion often emerges as the foundation of conflict and divisiveness between individuals or groups. This is not surprising, since such literature by definition centers...

Wherever human beings travel, we bring our religions with us. "Godspeed, John Glenn," the farewell words spoken to the first American astronaut into orbit, exemplifies the characteristic human drive to carry faith into space. Many...

A baptized Jew is a circumcised Christian. (German) A convert is not a Jew and not a Gentile. (Yiddish) A man devoid of religion is like a horse without a bridle. (Roman) A man should be religious, not superstitious. (Roman) All women are good...

Melanesian *religion, ritual and *cosmology have been approached from a variety of perspectives, though three have tended to predominate. The role of initiation ceremonies in male psychosexual development has attracted the attention of a number of...

Anthropological interest in religion extends as far back as the nineteenth-century emergence of anthropology as an academic discipline. In nineteenth-century anthropology, religion was often opposed to *science, and placed in an earlier position on a...

Relation of human beings to God or the gods or to whatever they consider sacred or, in some cases, merely supernatural. Archaeological evidence suggests that religious beliefs have existed since the first human communities. They are generally shared by...

Basically a system of beliefs about the meaning of the universe and life within it. See adult religious...

see economics of religion; Christian socialism; Islamic...

A religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as...