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The Religion Portal

Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual nature and a study of inherited ancestral traditions, knowledge and wisdom related to understanding human life. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to faith as well as to the larger shared systems of belief.

In the larger sense, religion is a communal system for the coherence of belief—typically focused on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, traditions, and rituals are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion can also be described as a way of life.

The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. "Organized religion" generally refers to an organization of people supporting the exercise of some religion with a prescribed set of beliefs, often taking the form of a legal entity (see religion-supporting organization). Other religions believe in personal revelation and responsibility. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system," but is more socially defined than that of personal convictions.

More about religion...
  

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A blue 'e-meter', a ritual device used by the Church of Scientology.
Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques developed by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. It began in 1952 as a self-help philosophy, an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics, and later described itself as a new religion. It claims to offer "an exact methodology" to help humans achieve awareness of their spiritual existence across many lifetimes and, simultaneously, to become more effective in the physical world. The name "Scientology" is also used to refer to the often controversial Church of Scientology, the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology, which is itself part of a network of affiliated corporations that claim ownership and sole authority to disseminate Dianetics and Scientology.

A stated goal of Scientology is to "rehabilitate" the thetan (roughly equivalent to the soul) to regain its native state of "total freedom." Church spokesmen and practitioners claim that Hubbard's teachings (called "Technology" or "Tech" in Scientology terminology) have saved them from a plethora of problems and enabled them to better realize their highest potential in business and in their personal lives. However, outside observers—including journalists, lawmakers, and national governing bodies of several countries—have alleged that the Church is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and brutally exploits its members.

  

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Prometheus (1868 by Gustave Moreau)
Credit: Gustave Moreau

Prometheus. The Greek myth of Prometheus was first attested by Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros.

  

Selected religious figure

Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt
Moses or Mosheh (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה Standard Mošé Tiberian Mōšeh; Arabic: موسى, Mūsā; Ge'ez: ሙሴ Musse) was an early Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and historian. Moses is traditionally considered the transcriber of the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, and is also an important prophet in Islam and the Bahá'í Faith.

According to the Bible, he was born to a Hebrew mother who protected him during a genocide of all boys born, and was adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing a slave master he fled and became a shepherd, and was commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed upon Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves through the Red Sea and in the desert for 40 years. Despite living to 120, he did not enter the Holy Land.

  

Did you know...

  • ...that the word, Christian, only appears three times in the Bible?
  • ...that Krishna (pictured) literally means "black" or "dark one" in Sanskrit?
  • ...that according to the Torah, Moses lived to be 120 years old?
  

Selected quote

An iconic Buddha figure inside a lotus blossom.
Subhuti asked the Buddha: "What should one who wants to travel the Bodhisattva path keep in mind?"

The Buddha answered, "A Bodhisattva should keep this in mind: All creatures, whether they are born from the womb or hatched from the egg, whether they transform like butterflies or arise miraculously, whether they have a body or are purely spirits, whether they are capable of thought or not capable of thought: All of these I vow to help enter nirvana before I rest there myself!"''
  

Selected scripture

The Unicursal Hexagram
The Book of the Law is the central sacred text of Thelema, written (or received) by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in the year 1904. It contains three chapters, each of which was written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on April 8, April 9, and April 10. Crowley claims that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he later referred to as his personal Holy Guardian Angel (or "Secret Self"). Biographer Lawrence Sutin quotes private diaries that fit this story, and writes that "if ever Crowley uttered the truth of his relation to the Book," his public account accurately describes what he remembered on this point. The teachings within this small book are expressed as the Law of Thelema, usually encapsulated by these two phrases:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" (AL I:40) and
"Love is the law, love under will" (AL I:57)

Its full title is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, The Book of the Law, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI. It is often abbreviated as Liber Legis, Liber AL, or even just AL.

  

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