Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural

1. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural Part I

2. What Are Religion and Spirituality? • Religion is an organized system of ideas about spiritual reality, or the supernatural, along with associated beliefs and ceremonial practices. • Spirituality, which also concerns the supernatural, involves less formalized spiritual beliefs and practices and is often individual rather than collective.

3. What Functions Do Religion and Spirituality Serve? • All religions serve a number of important functions: • They reduce anxiety by explaining the unknown and offer comfort in times of crisis. • They provide notions of right and wrong, setting precedents for acceptable behavior. • Through ritual, religion may be used to enhance the learning of oral traditions.

4. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • From an anthropological point of view, spirituality and religion are part of a cultural system’s superstructure. • In their studies of different religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, anthropologists seek to remain unbiased regarding any particular cultural tradition • Worldview: the collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality

5. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • Spiritual or religious beliefs and practices • fulfill numerous social and psychological needs • gives meaning to individual and group life • provide the path by which people transcend their burdensome and mortal existence and attain spiritual hope and relief

6. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • Religion and spirituality also serve as array of social needs: • reinforces group morns • provides moral sanctions for individual conduct • furnishes the ideology of common purpose and values that support the well-being of the community

7. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • People often turn to religion or spirituality in the hope of reaching a specific goal, such as the healing of physical, emotional, or social ills • Anthropologists know of no group of people anywhere on the face of the earth who, at any time over the past 100,000 years, has been without some manifestation of spirituality or religion

8. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • In the 19th century, the European intellectual tradition gave rise to the idea that modern science would ultimately replace religion by showing people the irrationality of their spiritual beliefs and practices. • The expectation was that as valid scientific explanations became available, people would abandon their religious beliefs and rituals as superstitious myths and false worship. • To date, despite tremendous scientific advancements, that has not occurred.

9. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • Although traditional, mainline Christian religions have shown some decline, nondenominational spirituality is on the rise. • Also on the rise are fundamentalist religions, which often take a strong antiscience position. • Examples include Islamic fundamentalist in countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, and Iran; Jewish fundamentalism in Israel and the United States; and Hindu fundamentalism in India.

10. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural: • Among the fastest growing religious communities in the world are the indigenous churches of Africa • Within the United States, non-Christian religions are also growing. • Islam (3 to 5 million followers – up from 527,000 in 1990) • Buddhism (2 to 3 million – up from 401,000 in 1990) • Hinduism (1.28 million – up from 227,000 in 1990)

11. Major Religions of the World

12. The Anthropological Approach to Religion: • Anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace believes that the major functions of religion are to reduce anxiety and boost confidence, thereby helping people cope with reality • Religion: an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural, along with associated ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control • Spirituality: concern with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters

13. The Anthropological Approach to Religion: • Since no known culture, including those of modern industrial societies, has achieved complete certainty in controlling existing or future conditions and circumstances, spirituality and/or religion play a role in all known cultures. • At one end of the spectrum are food-foraging peoples • Among food foragers religion is likely to be inseparable from the rest of daily life • At the other end of the spectrum is Western civilization • Here religion is less a part of daily activities and is restricted to more specific occasions

14. The Practice of Religion: • Beliefs and ceremonial practices of religions vary considerably. • Rituals that seem bizarre to an outsider can be shown to serve the same basic social and psychological functions as do his or her own distinct rituals

15. Supernatural Beings and Prowess: • A hallmark of religion is belief in supernatural beings and force • Beginning with spiritual beings, we may divide them into three categories: • major deities (gods and goddesses) • ancestral spirits • other sorts of spirit beings

16. Gods and Goddesses: • Gods and goddesses are the great and more remote beings. • They are usually seen as controlling the universe.

17. Gods and Goddesses: • Polytheism: belief in several gods and/or goddesses • Such was the case with the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece: Zeus was lord of the sky, Poseidon was ruler of the sea, and Hades was lord of the underworld and ruler of the dead • Pantheon: the several gods and goddesses of a people. • Since states typically have grown through conquest, often their pantheons have expanded as local deities of conquered peoples were incorporated into the official state pantheon.

18. Gods and Goddesses: • Generally speaking, societies that subordinate women to men define the supreme deity in masculine terms. • Male-privileging religions developed in traditional societies with economies based upon the herding of animals or intensive agriculture carried out or controlled by men, who are domination figures to their children. • Goddesses, by contrast, are likely to be most prominent in societies where women play a significant role in the economy, where women enjoy relative equality with men, and where men are less controlling figures to their wives and children

19. Ancestral Spirits: • A belief in ancestral spirits is consistent with the widespread notion that human beings are made up of two closely intertwined parts: a physical body and some mental component or spiritual self. • Found in many parts of the world, especially among people having unilineal descent systems with their associated ancestor orientation. • Particularly appropriate in a society of descent-based groups with their associated ancestor orientation. • these beliefs provide a strong sense of continuity that links the past, present, and future.

20. Sacred Places: • Some religious traditions consider certain geographic places to be spiritually significant or even sacred. • Typically, such sites are rivers, lakes, waterfalls, islands, forests, caves and mountains. • They are often associated with: • origin myths • splendid abodes of the gods • dwelling places for the spirits of the dead • heights where prophets received their divine directions • retreats for prayer, meditation, and vision quests

21. Sacred Places: • Three sacred mountains are shared by the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. • Mount Ararat where the ark of the ancient patriarch Noah is said to have landed after the Great Flood. • Mouth Horeb where the prophet Moses received the stone tablets with the ten sacred rules of behavior form his god. • Mount Zion where Solomon, the Israelite kind, is believed to have been divinely ordered to build the Great Temple and where an important Muslim mosque is located.

22. Sacred Places: • Symbolic of the supreme being, or associated with various important deities or ancestral spirits, sacred mountains may feature in religious ceremonies or spiritual rituals. • In some religious traditions, these towering geographic features

23. Sacred Places • Pilgrims at Mount Kailash in Tibet. Rising 22,000 feet, this mountain has been held sacred for thousands of years by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and followers of Bön. • Year after year pilgrims follow the ancient tradition of circling the mountain on foot, a holy ritual they believe will remove sin and bring good fortune.

24. Animism • Animism: a belief that nature is animated (enlivened or energized) by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from bodies. • Spirits such as souls and ghosts are thought to dwell in humans and animals but also in human-made artifacts, plants, stones, mountains, wells, and other natural features. • Generally speaking though, they are less remote than gods and goddesses and are more involved in people’s daily affairs.

25. Animism • Animism is typical of those who see themselves as being a part of nature rather than superior to it. • This includes most food foragers • In such societies, gods and goddesses are relatively unimportant, but the woods are full or spirits.

26. Animatism • Animatism: a belief that nature is enlivened or energized by an impersonal spiritual power or supernatural potency. • Notably, animism and animatism are not mutually exclusive. • They are often found in the same culture.

27. Question • _______________ may be defined as the beliefs and patterns of behavior by which people try to control those aspects of the universe that are otherwise beyond their control. • Political organization • B. Government • C. Kinship • Common-interest associations • Religion

28. Answer: E • Religion may be defined as the beliefs and patterns of behavior by which people try to control those aspects of the universe that are otherwise beyond their control.

29. Question • A people’s collection of gods and goddesses is called a _______________. • Mana • Shaman • Pantheon • Priest • Fetish

30. Answer: C • A people’s collection of gods and goddesses is called a pantheon.

31. Question • The belief that nature is animated with spirits is called _______________. • Animation • Anima • Animatism • Animism • Ennui

32. Answer: D • The belief that nature is animated with spirits is called animism.

33. Question • Which of the following is an example of animism? • a lucky baseball bat • the goddess Athena in Greek mythology • the god Zeus • an ancestral spirit • the malevolent spirit inside your baseball who jumps erratically through the air just as you think you're about to hit a home run

34. Answer: E • The malevolent spirit inside your baseball who jumps erratically through the air just as you think you're about to hit a home run is an example of animism.