Chapter 13: Religion

Ecclesia

A church that shares the same ethical system as the secular society and has come to represent and promote the interest of the society as a whole.

Mana

A diffuse, nonpersonalized force that acts through anything that lives or moves.

Prayer

A means for individuals to address or communicate with supernatural beings or forces.

Religious Taboo

A sacred prohibition against touching, mentioning or looking at certain objects, acts or people.

Sect

A small group that adheres strictly to religious doctrine and often claims that they are the authentic version of the faith from which they split.

Religion

A system of beliefs, practices, and philosophical values shared by a group of people; it defines the sacred, helps explain life, and offers salvation from the problems of human existence.

Profane

All empirically observable things -- things that are knowable through common, everyday experiences

Magic

An active attempt to coerce spirits or to control supernatural forces. It differs from other types of religious beliefs in that one god or gods are not worshipped.

Totem

An ordinary object such as a plant or animal that has become a sacred symbol to and of a particular group or clan who not only revere the totem, but also identify with it.

Abstract ideals

Focus on the achievement of personal awareness and a higher state of consciousness through correct ways of thinking and behaving rather than by manipulating spirits or worshipping gods.

Universal Church

Includes all the members of a society within one united moral community.

Secularized

Less influenced by religion

Rituals

Patterns of behavior or practices that are related to the sacred.

Supernaturalisim

Postulates the existence of non personalized supernatural forces that can, and often do, influence human events.

Revitalization Movements

Powerful religious movements that stress a return to the traditional religious values of the past.

Denomination

Tends to limit its membership to a particular class, ethnic group, or religious group or, at least, to have its leadership positions dominated by members of such a group.

Polytheism

The belief in a number of gods

Theism

The belief in divine beings -- gods and goddesses -- who shape human affairs.

Animism

The belief in inanimate, personalized spirits or ghosts of ancestors that take an interest in, and actively work to influence, human affairs.

Monotheism

The belief in the existence of a single god

Alientation

The process by which people lose control over the social institutions they themselves invented.

Ecumenism

The trend among many religious communities to draw together and project a sense of unity and common direction.

Sacred

Things that are awe inspiring and knowable only through extraordinary experiences

Millenarian movements

Typically prophesy the end of the world, the destruction of all evil people and their words, and the saving of the just.