Analysis Of Experiencing The World's Religions By Michael Molloy

In the textbook, “Experiencing the World’s Religions”, writer Michael Molloy organizes the 1st chapter “Understanding Religion” to explain the term religion and people’s tendency to pursue a kind of religion through history. The writer starts with stating that as human beings we see ourselves perfect, but our perfectness is so small when it’s compared to how much more great the universe is. Since this is the situation, people start to ask such questions as what is the purpose of life, how is the universe created, or what will happen to us/the universe one day. Most religions provide answers to those kind of questions;therefore, through history people practice some form of religion. In other words, curiosity of people directs people to believe in a kind of religion because people not always are able to answer those questions through their ability to think, and believing in a religion just make it easier to answer their questions. Then, the writer expands the term religion by saying that there is not specific

rules to call a system religion, yet there are some common characteristics by most religions.
The writer organizes those shared characteristics into eight elements.

These elements can also be called as functions which could be listed as following. First, belief system which provides a point of view about life. Second, community that means both practicing with a group and also giving a sense of belonging. Third, myths and stories that expands the teachings of the belief system. Fourth, rituals that are basically ceremonies of somehow. Fifth, ethics that are sum of guidelines and rules. Sixth, emotional experiences such as rebirth or inner peace. Seventh, physical expressions which are mostly some kind of an art like music, and clothing. Eighth, sacredness the feeling or idea that is accomplished through the connection between people and the sacred. Other than these eight elements, there also three main patterns exist within the system of religion. These are emphasizing beliefs and practices, ideas among life and the world, and views about

sexuality.
Considering religion is just about the sacred and mysterious wouldn’t be quite right because somehow they are all care about reality. Following terms can be considered as examples of sacred reality. Omnipotent- considering God as the one who has ultimate power-, transcendent- the context in which the reality of God is beyond the ordinary reality-, pantheism- discovery of God within the world. As it’s mentioned, religion provides answer to our deepest question, yet religion itself also a very complex system that put many other questions into people’s mind. In this case, what the writer calls as religious symbolism helps people to understand the complexity of religion. There are speculations exist on the source of this complex system, and most of these speculations are about sources of religion. In this situation, when the question “why does the religion exist?” is asked, the simplest answer is it’s because religion take care of many human needs. For instance, it helps people to handle with the complexity of mortality, it comforts people through various kind of rituals and worships styles, and helping people out to decrease their wonder. On the other hand, social scientists as Freud offers different views about source and existence of religion.
Religions, which are worldwide affective systems, and studying them scholarly are two really important topics because, other than providing explanations, religions also set up rules and offer guidance about both daily and general basis. Furthermore, in scholar context, religion and some other disciplines as anthropology and archeology other disciplines; therefore, studying religion makes it more essential if other disciplines will be studied more deeply.