Moral & Religion

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MPW 2153 : Moral Studies

ONLINE NOTES

Chapter 3

Values of Religion and Belief

The word religion is widely used when referring to the faith or the belief of someone.
Definition : According to the encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics , Religion is the belief in spiritual beings and this at once brings the question of these beings , the origins of the belief, and it’s validity for every individual.

Dr. Mohd Iqbal tried to define religion in the light of intellectual and cultural development that took place in the history of mankind , he said:
“Broadly speaking , religious life may be divided into three periods. These may be described as the periods of  Faith , Thought and Discovery. In the first period , religious life appears as a form of discipline which the individuals or a whole people must accept as an unconditional command without any rational understanding of the ultimate meaning and the purpose of that command……Perfect submission to the discipline is followed by a rational understanding of the discipline and the ultimate source of its authority….In the third period metaphysics is displaced by psychology , and religious life develops the ambition to come into direct contact with the ultimate sources of the law within the depth of his own consciousness.”
Classification Of Religion:
1. Paganism:
Paganism is the believe in the supernatural power and the supernatural beings. The period of paganism represents the most primitive stage of man’s cultural growth. This is the period where human’s life was enormously simple , hence after the satisfaction of his basic needs , it was natural enough for man , in the primitive period to look upward to some superhuman being for the satisfaction of the cravings of his soul and intellect. Man use to see the manifestations of this superhuman being in, or behind , the phenomena of the universe. Due to the immaturity of the mind , The diversity of the nature led man to believe in Paganism. Hence...