Influences of Religion to Culture and Society-.pptx

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1. Influences of Religion to Culture and Society

2. What is Culture Culture is “a whole way of life” The way we think, act or speak. It is “ordinary.” (Williams, 1958). Culture can be also dynamic, it can be shared, learned, transmitted from one generation to another, adaptive and integrated (Bodley,1999). UNESCO defines culture as : “The whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”

3. If you consider your own culture as superior from the rest, then your belief is termed as ethnocentrism . Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own culture. If you are open minded towards other culture without judging them and respect the diverse culture around you then you believe in cultural relativism . Cultural relativism is the principle of regarding and valuing the practices of a culture from the point of view of that culture and to avoid making hasty judgments.

4. We can encounter people with different beliefs, practices or even have different philosophy in life. We are in a multi-cultural society or simply we live amidst a multiculturalist world wherein multiculturalism should prevail. The word “multi” implies many. According to Harrison (1994) multiculturalism is a theory about the foundations of a culture rather than a practice which subsumes cultural ideas.

5. In a broader sense, the term is often use to describe societies which have many distinct cultural groups, usually as a result of immigration. (Vega, et al, 2009). Although we can still observe people who are ethno centrists. In the course of time there are people who are ethno centrists and there are those who are cultural relativists. In terms of religious beliefs, there are people who are fundamentalists who defend their beliefs at all costs, and there are people who are open minded enough to respect the beliefs of others.

6. Religion and Culture What is the role of culture in the development of religion? The evolution of culture is simultaneous with the evolution of man. As man progresses from homo habilis to homo sapiens, from Old Stone Age to New Stone Age then to Iron Age, Industrial Age and Technological age, significant changes in the way human acts, lives, or use tools have been observed. This is true in all dimensions of human life including religion. It was believed that man’s consciousness of the divine can be traced back to the time of the Neanderthals. Lawrence McKinney observed that, “the discovery of bear skulls with unusual markings indicates the basis of a primitive religion while others, noting the existence of flower petals and pollen in ancient burial sites, have speculated on the possibility of Neanderthal funeral rites (McKinney,1994). The reality of death developed into a cultural funeral rite as a way of respecting the dead. This reality is taken seriously by religion and sought divine aide to solve the riddle of life.

7. Our experience of the Covid-19 pandemic can attest to this. The sight of people dying left and right in hospitals, coffins paraded in the streets and millions of people all over the world struggling to survive from this malady triggered humans to depend on some divine power to intercede. The pandemic as of June , 2020, hit a record high of almost ten (10) million people affected all over the world and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Since no vaccine is in sight, posts in Facebook, messenger, Instagram, Twitter and even mainstream media are all dominated by God-related shares in a form of prayers and pleas for divine intervention. The “new normal culture” is our way of coping our vulnerability.

8. The new normal culture changes the landscape of our daily lives including religious practices. “New normal” is a word of mouth now that the whole world is experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic but the phrase “new normal culture” is used for the first time in this module. This is not found yet in any dictionary or in a sociology book. What does it mean? It means a deviation from the “normal” to the “not normal” way of life. It is more of an awareness and prevention against the pandemic. This is one characteristic of culture, being dynamic and adaptive and so we adjust and adapt to the new culture. In the church for example, one important law is, Thou shalt keep Holy the Lord’s day. If one violates this commandment a believer commits a grievous sin.

9. Under the new normal culture this is not relevant anymore. The church now can accommodate only a few. We can now attend masses or services at home. The church has to adjust to the new culture. This is how culture influences religion and vice versa. There are certain periods in history that the intermarriage between culture and religion, the latter dominates in shaping the way of life of the people. Let us take for example the functions of religion laid down by Calderon. He assumed that religion also influence not just the religious life but also social, economic and even political way of life of people.

10. Among the many functions of religion identified by Calderon (1998) are the following: 1. Religion serves as a means of social control. 2. It exerts a great influence upon personality development. 3. Religion allays fear of the unknown. 4. Religion explains events or situations which are beyond the comprehension of man. 5. It gives man comfort, strength and hope in times of crisis and despair. 6. It preserves and transmits knowledge, skills, spiritual and cultural values and practices. 7. It serves as an instrument of change. 8. It promotes closeness, love, cooperation, friendliness and helpfulness. 9. Religion alleviates sufferings from major calamities. 10. It provides hope for a blissful life after death.

11. The above functions show that religion penetrates the whole dimension of one’s life and society even to non-believers. When the Spaniards brought Christianity in the Philippines, it changes the social, economic and political life of the people. The Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo , the two famous novels of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal reflect how religion dictates the way of life of the people. How religion became an instrument of power to control the Indios or the Filipinos. Christianity was used as a sword or weapon to make the natives obey from the whims and caprices of the Spaniards.

12. As history goes by, the perspective of religion changes. Religion today is used as a weapon not of oppression but of compassion and solidarity with the poor. From the perspective of Christianity, this is the original intention of the founder, Jesus Christ. The Bible, the sacred book of the Christians is very specific that Christ’s leaning is towards the poor and the oppressed. Plenty of parables in the New Testament can attest to this. What happened when Christianity embraced different cultures along the way?

13. Historically, in 313 AD, the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which accepted Christianity: 10 years later, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The sudden shift of attitudes and lifestyles among the Christians was observable among which; a) being powerless, they become powerful ; b) being persecuted, they become persecutors . We have a long list of abuses since then especially during the Dark Ages of the church. What does this mean? The development of religion is influenced by the cultural milieu where it belongs. When Christianity was embraced by the Greeks and Romans, it became a religion of the mind.

14. It became and academic subject devoid of compassion and mercy. Compassion and mercy are the original values of Jesus Christ. Thanks to Vatican II which happened in the 1960’s the church realized that there was a need to retrieve the real spirit of the Bible. The Vatican Council II of the Catholic Church discussed about the urgency of the spiritual renewal of the church.

15. It became the marching order from the top echelon of the Catholic Church from the Pope to the Cardinals, bishops and priests all over the world. This movement caught fire and duplicated by other Christian denominations and sects. Hence we have now the term, ecumenical movement or ecumenism.

16. Ecumenism- is a movement or tendency forward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation. The ecumenical movement seeks to recover the apostolic sense of the early church for unity in diversity, and it confronts the frustrations, difficulties, and ironies of the modern pluralistic world. It is a lively reassessment of the historical sources and destiny of what followers perceive to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Jesus Christ.

17. If you look at the picture of Ghandi , he has a perfect reminder for everyone. He said, “Nobody in this world possesses absolute truth. This is God’s attribute alone. Relative truth is all we know.” Today, ecumenism is not only exclusive among Christian churches but it extends towards other religions through the principles of “unity in diversity” and “many paths yet only one destiny.” Ecumenism simply means that no religion possesses the whole truth as Gandhi reiterates.

18. • Paradigm – is a worldview, belief or a model of thought. • Hellenism - is the term used to describe the influence of Greek culture on the entire Roman Empires. The Hellenistic period covers the period of • Culture – is the whole way of life. It is ‘ordinary” according to Raymond Williams which means all we do from sunrise to sunset is part of our culture. • New Normal Culture-is a deviation from the “normal” way of life to the “not normal” due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is more of awareness and prevention against the pandemic which includes social distancing, wearing masks and washing of hands or using alcohol to avoid the virus. • Ecumenism- is a movement or tendency toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation • Renewal - Second Vatican Council, also called Vatican II, (1962–65), 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, as a means of spiritual renewal for the church and as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to join in a search for Christian unity. Concepts to Ponder!