Dios

This article is about a general set of beliefs about life, purpose, etc.. For other uses, see Religion (disambiguation).
"Religious" redirects here. For a member of a Catholic religious institute, see Religious (Catholicism).

Symbols representing some world religions, from left to right:
row 1: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism
row 2: Islam, Buddhism, Shinto
row 3: Sikhism, Bahá'íFaith, Jainism
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Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacredhistories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain theorigin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.
The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a social aspect.[1] Many religionshave organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, congregations of laity, regular meetings or services for the purposes of veneration of a deity or for prayer, holy places (either natural or architectural), and/or scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include sermons, commemoration of the activities ofa god or gods, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance,initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. However, there are examples of religions for which some or many of these aspects of structure, belief, or practices are absent.
Contents  [hide]  * 1 Etymology * 2 Definitions * 3 Origins and development * 4 Types of religion * 4.1 Categories* 4.2 Interfaith cooperation * 5 Religious movements * 5.1 Abrahamic religions * 5.2 Indian religions * 5.3 Iranian religions * 5.4 Folk religions * 5.5 New religions * 6 Issues in religion * 6.1 Religion and health * 6.2 Religion and violence * 6.3 Religion and the law * 6.4 Religion and science * 6.5 Religion as a Christian concept* 6.5.1 The social constructionists * 6.5.2 Other writers * 7 Related forms of thought * 7.1 Religion and superstition * 7.2 Myth * 8 Secularism and irreligion * 9 Criticism * 10 See also * 11 References * 12 Notes * 13 Bibliography * 14 External links |
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Etymology
Mainarticle: Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#religio
Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem (nom. religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods,"[2] "obligation, the bond between man and the gods"[3]) is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possibility is derivation from a reduplicated *le-ligare, an interpretation tracedto Cicero connecting lego "read", i.e. re(again) + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully". Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligare "bind, connect", probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again) + ligare or "to reconnect," which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius.[4][5] The medieval usagealternates withorder in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece, of a knight 'of the religion of Avys'".[6]
According to the philologist Max Müller, the root of the English word "religion", the Latin religio, was originally used to mean only "reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things,piety"...