essay about religious belief

Essays About Religion: Top 5 Examples and 7 Writing Prompts

Essays about religion include delicate issues and tricky subtopics. See our top essay examples and prompts to guide you in your essay writing.

With over 4,000 religions worldwide, it’s no wonder religion influences everything. It involves faith, lessons on humanity, spirituality, and moral values that span thousands of years. For some, it’s both a belief and a cultural system. As it often clashes with science, laws, and modern philosophies, it’s also a hot debate topic. Religion is a broad subject encompassing various elements of life, so you may find it a challenging topic to write an essay about it.

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“Portraying Muslims as radical religious fanatics who deny other religions and violently fight dissent has nothing to do with true Islamic ideology. The knowledge that is presented in Islam and used by Muslims to build their worldview system is exploited in a misinterpreted form. This is transforming the perception of Islam around the world as a radical religious system that supports intolerance and conflicts.”

The author discusses their opinion on how Islam becomes involved with violence or terrorism in the Islamic states. Throughout the essay, the writer mentions the massive difference between Islam’s central teachings and the terrorist groups’ dogma. The piece also includes a list of groups, their disobediences, and punishments.

This essay looks at how these brutalities have nothing to do with Islam’s fundamental ideologies. However, the context of Islam’s creeds is distorted by rebel groups like The Afghan mujahideen, Jihadis, and Al-Qa’ida. Furthermore, their activities push dangerous narratives that others use to make generalized assumptions about the entire religion. These misleading generalizations lead to misunderstandings amongst other communities, particularly in the western world. However, the truth is that these terrorist groups are violating Islamic doctrine.

“Following religion blindly can hinder one’s self-actualization and interfere with self-development due to numerous constraints and restrictions… Blind adherence to religion is a factor that does not allow receiving flexible education and adapting knowledge to different areas.”

The author discusses the effects of blindly following a religion and mentions that it can lead to difficulties in self-development and the inability to live independently. These limitations affect a person’s opportunity to grow and discover oneself.  Movies like “ The Da Vinci Code ” show how fanatical devotion influences perception and creates constant doubt. 

“…there are many religions through which various cultures attain their spiritual and moral bearings to bring themselves closer to a higher power (deity). Different religions are differentiated in terms of beliefs, customs, and purpose and are similar in one way or the other.”

The author discusses how religion affects its followers’ spiritual and moral values and mentions how deities work in mysterious ways. The essay includes situations that show how these supreme beings test their followers’ faith through various life challenges. Overall, the writer believes that when people fully believe in God, they can be stronger and more capable of coping with the difficulties they may encounter.

“Mecca represents a holy ground that the majority of the Muslims visit; and is only supposed to be visited by Muslims. The popularity of Mecca has increased the scope of its effects, showing that it has an influence on tourism, the financial aspects of the region and lastly religion today.”

The essay delves into Mecca’s contributions to Saudi Arabia’s tourism and religion. It mentions tourism rates peaking during Hajj, a 5-day Muslim pilgrimage, and visitors’ sense of spiritual relief and peace after the voyage. Aside from its tremendous touristic benefits, it also brings people together to worship Allah. You can also check out these essays about values and articles about beliefs .

“Buddhism is seen as one of the most popular and widespread religions on the earth the reason of its pragmatic and attractive philosophies which are so appealing for people of the most diversified backgrounds and ways of thinking .”

To help readers understand the topic, the author explains Buddhism’s worldviews and how Siddhatta Gotama established the religion that’s now one of the most recognized on Earth. It includes teachings about the gift of life, novel thinking, and philosophies based on his observations. Conclusively, the author believes that Buddhism deals with the world as Gotama sees it.

Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays .

7 Prompts on Essays About Religion

Religion’s importance is embedded in an individual or group’s interpretation of it. They hold on to their faith for various reasons, such as having an idea of the real meaning of life and offering them a purpose to exist. Use this prompt to identify and explain what makes religion a necessity. Make your essay interesting by adding real-life stories of how faith changed someone’s life.

Although religion offers benefits such as positivity and a sense of structure, there are also disadvantages that come with it. Discuss what’s considered healthy and destructive when people follow their religion’s gospels and why. You can also connect it to current issues. Include any personal experience you have.

Religion’s prevalence exhibits how it can significantly affect one’s daily living. Use this prompt to discuss how religions across the world differ from one another when it comes to beliefs and if traditions or customs influence them. It’s essential to use relevant statistical data or surveys in this prompt to support your claims and encourage your readers to trust your piece.

There are various ways religion affects countries’ laws as they adhere to moral and often humanitarian values. Identify each and discuss how faith takes part in a nation’s decision-making regarding pressing matters. You can focus on one religion in a specific location to let the readers concentrate on the case. A good example is the latest abortion issue in the US, the overturning of “Wade vs. Roe.” Include people’s mixed reactions to this subject and their justifications.

In this essay, talk about how the most widespread religions’ principles or rituals changed over time. Then, expound on what inspired these changes.  Add the religion’s history, its current situation in the country, and its old and new beliefs. Elaborate on how its members clash over these old and new principles. Conclude by sharing your opinion on whether the changes are beneficial or not.

There’s a never-ending debate between religion and science. List the most controversial arguments in your essay and add which side you support and why. Then, open discourse about how these groups can avoid quarreling. You can also discuss instances when religion and science agreed or worked together to achieve great results. 

Use this prompt if you’re a part of a particular religion. Even if you don’t believe in faith, you can still take this prompt and pick a church you’ll consider joining. Share your personal experiences about your religion. Add how you became a follower, the beliefs that helped you through tough times, and why you’re staying as an active member in it. You can also speak about miraculous events that strengthen your faith. Or you can include teachings that you disagree with and think needs to be changed or updated.

For help with your essay, check out our top essay writing tips !

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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• U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious
• Chapter 1: Importance of Religion and Religious Beliefs

Table of Contents

• Chapter 2: Religious Practices and Experiences
• Chapter 3: Views of Religious Institutions
• Chapter 4: Social and Political Attitudes
• Appendix A: Methodology
• Appendix B: Putting Findings From the Religious Landscape Study Into Context

While religion remains important in the lives of most Americans, the 2014 Religious Landscape Study finds that Americans as a whole have become somewhat less religious in recent years by certain traditional measures of religious commitment. For instance, fewer U.S. adults now say religion is very important in their lives than did so seven years ago, when Pew Research Center conducted a similarly extensive religion survey. Fewer adults also express absolutely certain belief in God, say they believe in heaven or say their religion’s sacred text is the word of God.

The change in Americans’ religious beliefs coincides with the rising share of the U.S. public that is not affiliated with any religion. The unaffiliated not only make up a growing portion of the population, they also are growing increasingly secular, at least on some key measures of religious belief. For instance, fewer religious “nones” say religion is very important to them than was the case in 2007, and fewer say they believe in God or believe in heaven or hell.

Among people who do identify with a religion, however, there has been little, if any, change on many measures of religious belief. People who are affiliated with a religious tradition are as likely now as in the recent past to say religion is very important in their lives and to believe in heaven. They also are as likely to believe in God, although the share of religiously affiliated adults who believe in God with absolute certainty has declined somewhat.

When seeking guidance on questions of right and wrong, a plurality of Americans say they rely primarily on their common sense and personal experiences. But there has been a noticeable increase in the share of religiously affiliated adults who say they turn to their religious teachings for guidance.

This chapter takes a detailed look at the religious beliefs of U.S. adults – including members of a variety of religious groups – and compares the results of the current study with the 2007 Religious Landscape Study. The chapter also examines Americans’ views on religion and salvation, religion and modernity, and religion and morality.

Importance of Religion

Three-quarters of U.S. adults say religion is at least “somewhat” important in their lives, with more than half (53%) saying it is “very” important. Approximately one-in-five say religion is “not too” (11%) or “not at all” important in their lives (11%).

Although religion remains important to many Americans, its importance has slipped modestly in the last seven years. In 2007, Americans were more likely to say religion was very important (56%) or somewhat important (26%) to them than they are today. Only 16% of respondents in 2007 said religion was not too or not at all important to them.

The decline in the share of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives is closely tied to the growth of the religiously unaffiliated, whose share of the population has risen from 16% to 23% over the past seven years. Compared with those who are religiously affiliated, religious “nones” are far less likely to describe religion as a key part of their lives; just 13% say religion is very important to them. Furthermore, the share of the “nones” who say religion is not an important part of their lives has grown considerably in recent years. Today, two-thirds of the unaffiliated (65%) say religion is not too or not at all important to them, up from 57% in 2007.

For Americans who are religiously affiliated, the importance people attach to religion varies somewhat by religious tradition. Roughly eight-in-ten or more Jehovah’s Witnesses (90%), members of historically black Protestant churches (85%), Mormons (84%) and evangelical Protestants (79%) say religion is very important in their lives. These figures have stayed about the same in recent years.

Smaller majorities of most other religious groups say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This includes 64% of Muslims, 58% of Catholics and 53% of mainline Protestants. Roughly half of Orthodox Christians (52%) also say this. Fewer Jews, Buddhists and Hindus say religion is very important to them, but most members of those groups indicate that religion is at least somewhat important in their lives.

The survey also finds that older adults are more likely than younger adults to say religion is very important in their lives, and women are more likely than men to express this view. Additionally, those with a college degree typically are less likely than those with lower levels of education to say religion is very important in their lives. And blacks are much more likely than whites or Hispanics to say religion is very important in their lives. These patterns are seen in the population as a whole and within many – though not all – religious groups.

Belief in God

Nearly nine-in-ten Americans (89%) say they believe in “God or a universal spirit,” and most of them (63% of all adults) are absolutely certain in this belief. There has been a modest decline in the share of Americans who believe in God since the Religious Landscape Study was first conducted in 2007 (from 92% to 89%), and a bigger drop in the share of Americans who say they believe in God with absolute certainty (from 71% to 63%).

Majorities of adherents of most Christian traditions say they believe in God with absolute certainty. But this conviction has declined noticeably in recent years among several Christian groups. The largest drops have been among mainline Protestants (down from 73% in 2007 to 66% today), Catholics (from 72% to 64%) and Orthodox Christians (from 71% to 61%).

Among non-Christians, the pattern is mixed. Most Muslims (84%) are absolutely certain that God exists, but far fewer Hindus (41%), Jews (37%) or Buddhists (29%) are certain there is a God or universal spirit.

As was the case in 2007, most religiously unaffiliated people continue to express some level of belief in God or a universal spirit. However, the share of religious “nones” who believe in God has dropped substantially in recent years (from 70% in 2007 to 61% today). And religious “nones” who believe in God are far less certain about this belief compared with those who identify with a religion. In fact, most religiously unaffiliated believers say they are less than absolutely certain about God’s existence.

Nearly one-in-ten U.S. adults overall (9%) now say they do not believe in God, up from 5% in 2007.

Women are much more likely than men to say they are absolutely certain about God’s existence (69% vs. 57%), and older Americans are much more likely than younger adults to say they are absolutely convinced that God exists. Two-thirds of those with less than a college degree express certainty about God’s existence, compared with 55% of college graduates. Additionally, 83% of blacks say they are absolutely certain about God’s existence, while roughly six-in-ten whites (61%) and Hispanics (59%) hold this view.

There is considerable variation in the way members of different religious groups conceive of God. For example, seven-in-ten Christians think of God as a person with whom people can have a relationship. Only about a quarter of those who belong to non-Christian faiths (26%) share this view. Among non-Christian faiths, it is more common to see God as an impersonal force.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, roughly three-in-ten (31%) say God is an impersonal force, a quarter say God is best viewed as a person and a third say God does not exist. However, among the subset of religious “nones” who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” and who also say religion is very or somewhat important in their lives, a slim majority (53%) say they believe in a personal God.

Although the share of adults who believe in God has declined modestly in recent years, among those who do believe in God, views about the nature of God are little changed since 2007. In both 2007 and 2014, roughly two-thirds of people who believe in God said they think of God as a person, while just under three-in-ten see God as an impersonal force.

Beliefs About the Afterlife

Roughly seven-in-ten Americans (72%) believe in “a heaven, where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded.”

Belief in heaven is nearly universal among Mormons (95%) and members of the historically black Protestant tradition (93%). Belief in heaven also is widely held by evangelical Protestants (88%), Catholics (85%), Orthodox Christians (81%) and mainline Protestants (80%).

The vast majority of Muslims (89%) also believe in heaven. About half of Hindus in the survey (48%) say they believe in heaven, as do 47% of Buddhists surveyed.

The only groups where significantly fewer than half say they believe in heaven are Jews (40%) and the unaffiliated (37%). While relatively few atheists or agnostics believe in heaven, a large share of those whose religion is “nothing in particular” and who also say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives do believe in heaven (72%).

The survey also finds that, overall, women are more likely than men to say they believe in heaven, and those with less than a college degree are more likely than those with a college degree to express this view. Slightly bigger shares of blacks and Hispanics than whites say they believe in heaven, and older Americans are slightly more likely than younger adults to hold this belief. In many cases, however, these demographic differences in belief in heaven are smaller within religious traditions than among the public as a whole. Among evangelical Protestants, for example, men are just as likely as women to believe in heaven, and young people are just as likely as older evangelicals to hold this belief.

Belief in “hell, where people who have lived bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished,” is less widespread than belief in heaven. About six-in-ten Americans (58%) believe in hell, little changed from 2007.

Belief in hell is most common among members of historically black Protestant churches (82%) and evangelical Protestant churches (82%). Somewhat fewer Catholics (63%), Mormons (62%), mainline Protestants (60%) and Orthodox Christians (59%) say they believe in hell.

Three-quarters of U.S. Muslims (76%) believe in hell, but belief in hell is less common among other non-Christian groups, including Buddhists (32%), Hindus (28%), Jews (22%) and the religiously unaffiliated (27%).

U.S. adults with less than a college degree are more likely than college graduates to say they believe in hell, and blacks are more likely than Hispanics and whites to believe in hell. However, there are minimal differences between men and women and between younger and older adults on this question.

Beliefs About Holy Scripture

Six-in-ten Americans (60%) view their religion’s sacred text as the word of God. This represents a slight decline from 2007, when 63% of the public held this view. Within most religious groups, there has been little movement on this question, but among the unaffiliated, there has been a modest decline in the share who view the Bible as the word of God (from 25% to 21%).

Three-quarters of Christians believe the Bible is the word of God, including about nine-in-ten evangelicals (88%), Mormons (91%) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (94%). Among members of other Christian traditions, smaller majorities say the Bible is the word of God.

Although there is widespread agreement across Christian groups on this question, there is disagreement about whether the Bible can be taken “literally, word for word.” Most evangelical Protestants (55%) and members of historically black Protestant churches (59%) believe the Bible should be taken literally, but fewer Christians from other traditions espouse a literalist view of the Bible. There has been little change in recent years in the share of Christians who believe the Bible should be interpreted literally, word for word.

Most Muslims (83%) accept the Quran (also spelled Koran) as the word of God. Far fewer Jews (37%), Hindus (29%) and Buddhists (15%) say their scripture is the word of God.

The share of the unaffiliated who believe the Bible was written by men and is not the word of God has risen by 8 percentage points in recent years, from 64% in 2007 to 72% in 2014. But while most religious “nones” say the Bible was written by men, about half of those who say they have no particular religion and who also say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives believe the Bible is the word of God (51%).

As on some other traditional measures of religious belief, older adults are more likely than younger adults to say their religion’s holy text is the word of God. And those with less than a college degree also are much more likely than college graduates to say their religion’s scripture is the word of God. Additionally, more women than men and more blacks than Hispanics and whites say their religion’s holy text is the word of God. For the most part, however, differences in beliefs about the Bible are larger across religious traditions (e.g., between evangelicals and Catholics and religious “nones”) than differences between demographic groups within the same religious tradition.

Beliefs About Religion and Modernity

Respondents in the survey who are affiliated with a religion were asked to choose one of three statements that best reflects their view of how their religion should engage with modernity. A plurality of religiously affiliated Americans (46%) believe their religion should “preserve traditional beliefs and practices.” A third (34%) say their congregation or denomination should “adjust traditional beliefs and practices in light of new circumstances.” Only 14% of people who are affiliated with a religious tradition say their religion should “adopt modern beliefs and practices.”

These findings are little changed from 2007, when 44% of affiliated respondents said their religion should preserve its traditional beliefs and practices, 35% said their religion should adjust its traditional beliefs and 12% said their religion should adopt modern beliefs and practices.

The belief that their religion should preserve traditional practices is held by most Mormons (70%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (60%), evangelical Protestants (61%) and members of historically black Protestant churches (53%), as well as half of Orthodox Christians (50%).

Muslims are closely divided on whether their religion should preserve traditional beliefs and practices or adjust traditional beliefs and practices in light of new circumstances. Among other religious groups, including Jews, mainline Protestants and Catholics, the most common view is that religions should adjust traditional practices.

Paths to Eternal Life

Two-thirds of those who identify with a religious group say many religions (not just their own) can lead to eternal life, down slightly from 2007, when 70% of all religiously affiliated adults said this.

This view is held by the vast majority of mainline Protestants (80%) and Catholics (79%), as well as smaller majorities of Orthodox Christians (68%) and members of historically black Protestant churches (57%) and about half of evangelicals (52%). Fewer than half of Mormons (40%) and only about one-in-ten Jehovah’s Witnesses (8%) believe that many religions can lead to eternal life.

Among the non-Christian religious traditions that are large enough to be analyzed, most say many religions can lead to eternal life.

Most Christians who say many religions can lead to eternal life also say non-Christian religions can lead to heaven. In fact, half of all Christians say some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life, while about four-in-ten say either that theirs is the one true faith leading to eternal life or that only Christianity can result in everlasting life. About one-in-ten Christians express no opinion or provide other views on these matters.

Two-thirds of Catholics (68%) and mainline Protestants (65%) say some non-Christian religions can lead to eternal life, as do 59% of Orthodox Christians. This view is less common among other Christian groups. Roughly four-in-ten members of historically black Protestant denominations (38%) say some non-Christian religions can lead to eternal life, as do three-in-ten evangelical Protestants and Mormons (31% each). Very few Jehovah’s Witnesses (5%) believe this.

Religion and Morality

When looking for answers to questions about right and wrong, more Americans say they turn to practical experience and common sense (45%) than to any other source of guidance. The next most common source of guidance is religious beliefs and teachings (33%), while far fewer turn to philosophy and reason (11%) or scientific information (9%).

Since the 2007 Religious Landscape Study, however, the share of U.S. adults who say they turn to practical experience has decreased by 7 percentage points (from 52% to 45%) while the share who say they look to religious teachings has increased by 4 points (from 29% to 33%). This turn to religious teachings as a source of moral guidance has occurred across many religious traditions, with the largest increases among evangelical Protestants and Catholics.

Six-in-ten or more evangelical Protestants, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses say they turn to religious teachings and beliefs for moral guidance. Members of historically black Protestant churches are more divided: 47% say they rely on religious teachings while 41% rely on practical experience. Fewer Catholics (30%), mainline Protestants (29%) and Orthodox Christians (27%) turn primarily to religion for guidance on questions of right and wrong.

Fewer religious “nones” now say they use common sense and practical experience as their main source of guidance in this area (57%) than said this in 2007 (66%). But instead of finding guidance through religious teachings, more of the “nones” are turning to scientific information; the share who say they rely on scientific information has increased from 10% to 17% in recent years. The reliance on science is most common among self-identified atheists; one-third of this group (32%) relies primarily on scientific information for guidance on questions of right and wrong.

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) say that whether something is right or wrong depends on the situation, while a third say there are clear and absolute standards for what is right or wrong. In 2007, a different question about moral absolutes found that 39% of Americans completely agreed with the statement “there are clear and absolute standards for what is right and wrong.”

While Christians overall are more likely than members of other religious groups to say there are absolute standards for right and wrong, there are large differences within Christianity. Nearly six-in-ten Mormons (57%) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (57%) say there are clear standards for right and wrong. Evangelical Protestants are divided in their opinions, with 50% saying there are absolute standards and 48% saying it depends on the situation. Fewer Orthodox Christians (33%), mainline Protestants (32%), Catholics (30%) and members of the historically black Protestant tradition (29%) say there are clear and absolute standards of right and wrong.

Among members of non-Christian faiths, about three-quarters assert that determining right from wrong is often situational. Similarly, more than eight-in-ten atheists and agnostics express this view, as do three-quarters of those whose religion is “nothing in particular.”

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Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of religion is the philosophical examination of the themes and concepts involved in religious traditions as well as the broader philosophical task of reflecting on matters of religious significance including the nature of religion itself, alternative concepts of God or ultimate reality, and the religious significance of general features of the cosmos (e.g., the laws of nature, the emergence of consciousness) and of historical events (e.g., the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, the Holocaust). Philosophy of religion also includes the investigation and assessment of worldviews (such as secular naturalism) that are alternatives to religious worldviews. Philosophy of religion involves all the main areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, value theory (including moral theory and applied ethics), philosophy of language, science, history, politics, art, and so on. Section 1 offers an overview of the field and its significance, with subsequent sections covering developments in the field since the mid-twentieth century. These sections address philosophy of religion as practiced primarily (but not exclusively) in departments of philosophy and religious studies that are in the broadly analytic tradition. The entry gives significant attention to theism, but it concludes with highlighting the increasing breadth of the field, as more traditions outside the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have become the focus of important philosophical work.

1. The Field and its Significance

2.1 positivism, 2.2 wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, 3.1 evidentialism, reformed epistemology, and volitional epistemology, 3.2 the epistemology of disagreement, 4. religion and science, 5.1.1 omniscience, 5.1.2 eternity, 5.1.3 the goodness of god, 5.2.1 ontological arguments, 5.2.2 cosmological arguments, 5.2.3 teleological arguments, 5.2.4 problems of evil, 5.2.5 evil and the greater good, 5.2.6 religious experience, 6. religious pluralism, other internet resources, related entries.

Ideally, a guide to the nature and history of philosophy of religion would begin with an analysis or definition of religion. Unfortunately, there is no current consensus on a precise identification of the necessary and sufficient conditions of what counts as a religion. We therefore currently lack a decisive criterion that would enable clear rulings whether some movements should count as religions (e.g., Scientology or Cargo cults of the Pacific islands). But while consensus in precise details is elusive, the following general depiction of what counts as a religion may be helpful:

A religion involves a communal, transmittable body of teachings and prescribed practices about an ultimate, sacred reality or state of being that calls for reverence or awe, a body which guides its practitioners into what it describes as a saving, illuminating or emancipatory relationship to this reality through a personally transformative life of prayer, ritualized meditation, and/or moral practices like repentance and personal regeneration. [This is a slightly modified definition of the one for “Religion” in the Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion , Taliaferro & Marty 2010: 196–197; 2018, 240.]

This definition does not involve some obvious shortcomings such as only counting a tradition as religious if it involves belief in God or gods, as some recognized religions such as Buddhism (in its main forms) does not involve a belief in God or gods. Although controversial, the definition provides some reason for thinking Scientology and the Cargo cults are proto-religious insofar as these movements do not have a robust communal, transmittable body of teachings and meet the other conditions for being a religion. (So, while both examples are not decisively ruled out as religions, it is perhaps understandable that in Germany, Scientology is labeled a “sect”, whereas in France it is classified as “a cult”.) For a discussion of other definitions of religion, see Taliaferro 2009, chapter one, and for a recent, different analysis, see Graham Oppy 2018, chapter three. The topic of defining religion is re-engaged below in the section 4, “Religion and Science” . But rather than devoting more space to definitions at the outset, a pragmatic policy will be adopted: for the purpose of this entry, it will be assumed that those traditions that are widely recognized today as religions are, indeed, religions. It will be assumed, then, that religions include (at least) Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and those traditions that are like them. This way of delimiting a domain is sometimes described as employing a definition by examples (an ostensive definition) or making an appeal to a family resemblance between things. It will also be assumed that Greco-Roman views of gods, rituals, the afterlife, the soul, are broadly “religious” or “religiously significant”. Given the pragmatic, open-ended use of the term “religion” the hope is to avoid beginning our inquiry with a procrustean bed.

Given the above, broad perspective of what counts as religion, the roots of what we call philosophy of religion stretch back to the earliest forms of philosophy. From the outset, philosophers in Asia, the Near and Middle East, North Africa, and Europe reflected on the gods or God, duties to the divine, the origin and nature of the cosmos, an afterlife, the nature of happiness and obligations, whether there are sacred duties to family or rulers, and so on. As with each of what would come to be considered sub-fields of philosophy today (like philosophy of science, philosophy of art), philosophers in the Ancient world addressed religiously significant themes (just as they took up reflections on what we call science and art) in the course of their overall practice of philosophy. While from time to time in the Medieval era, some Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophers sought to demarcate philosophy from theology or religion, the evident role of philosophy of religion as a distinct field of philosophy does not seem apparent until the mid-twentieth century. A case can be made, however, that there is some hint of the emergence of philosophy of religion in the seventeenth century philosophical movement Cambridge Platonism. Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688), Henry More (1614–1687), and other members of this movement were the first philosophers to practice philosophy in English; they introduced in English many of the terms that are frequently employed in philosophy of religion today, including the term “philosophy of religion”, as well as “theism”, “consciousness”,and “materialism”. The Cambridge Platonists provided the first English versions of the cosmological, ontological, and teleological arguments, reflections on the relationship of faith and reason, and the case for tolerating different religions. While the Cambridge Platonists might have been the first explicit philosophers of religion, for the most part, their contemporaries and successors addressed religion as part of their overall work. There is reason, therefore, to believe that philosophy of religion only gradually emerged as a distinct sub-field of philosophy in the mid-twentieth century. (For an earlier date, see James Collins’ stress on Hume, Kant and Hegel in The Emergence of Philosophy of Religion , 1967.)

Today, philosophy of religion is one of the most vibrant areas of philosophy. Articles in philosophy of religion appear in virtually all the main philosophical journals, while some journals (such as the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion , Religious Studies , Sophia , Faith and Philosophy , the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion , Open Theology , Analytical Theology and others) are dedicated especially to philosophy of religion. Philosophy of religion is in evidence at institutional meetings of philosophers (such as the meetings of the American Philosophical Association and of the Royal Society of Philosophy). There are societies dedicated to the field such as the Society for Philosophy of Religion (USA) and the British Society for Philosophy of Religion and the field is supported by multiple centers such as the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, the Rutgers Center for Philosophy of Religion, the Centre for the Philosophy of Religion at Glasgow University, The John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham, and other sites (such as the University of Roehampton and Nottingham University). Oxford University Press published in 2009 The History of Western Philosophy of Religion in five volumes involving over 100 contributors (Oppy & Trakakis 2009), and in 2021 Wiley Blackwell published the Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion in four volumes, with over 250 contributors from around the world. What accounts for this vibrancy? Consider four possible reasons.

First: The religious nature of the world population. Most social research on religion supports the view that the majority of the world’s population is either part of a religion or influenced by religion (see the Pew Research Center online). To engage in philosophy of religion is therefore to engage in a subject that affects actual people, rather than only tangentially touching on matters of present social concern. Perhaps one of the reasons why philosophy of religion is often the first topic in textbook introductions to philosophy is that this is one way to propose to readers that philosophical study can impact what large numbers of people actually think about life and value. The role of philosophy of religion in engaging real life beliefs (and doubts) about religion is perhaps also evidenced by the current popularity of books for and against theism in the UK and USA. Interest in the question “is religion dangerous?” (the title of a 2006 book by Keith Ward) calls for work in history, sociology, and psychology, as well was philosophy of religion.

One other aspect of religious populations that may motivate philosophy of religion is that philosophy is a tool that may be used when persons compare different religious traditions. Philosophy of religion can play an important role in helping persons understand and evaluate different religious traditions and their alternatives. See, for example, the philosophically oriented survey Religions: a Quick Immersion and Victoria Harrison’s Eastern Philosophy of Religion .

Second: Philosophy of religion as a field may be popular because of the overlapping interests found in both religious and philosophical traditions. Both religious and philosophical thinking raise many of the same, fascinating questions and possibilities about the nature of reality, the limits of reason, the meaning of life, and so on. Are there good reasons for believing in God? What is good and evil? What is the nature and scope of human knowledge? In Hinduism; A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation (2018), Shyam Ranganathan argues that in Asian thought philosophy and religion are almost inseparable such that interest in the one supports an interest in the other.

Third, studying the history of philosophy provides ample reasons to have some expertise in philosophy of religion. In the West, the majority of ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers philosophically reflected on matters of religious significance. Among these modern philosophers, it would be impossible to comprehensively engage their work without looking at their philosophical work on religious beliefs: René Descartes (1596–1650), Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), Anne Conway (1631–1679), Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716), John Locke (1632–1704), George Berkeley (1685–1753), David Hume (1711–1776), Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), and G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) (the list is partial). And in the twentieth century, one should make note of the important philosophical work by Continental philosophers on matters of religious significance: Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), Albert Camus (1913–1960), Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973), Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929), Martin Buber (1878–1956), Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995), Simone Weil (1909–1943) and, more recently Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), Michel Foucault (1926–1984), and Luce Irigaray (1930–). Evidence of philosophers taking religious matters seriously can also be found in cases of when thinkers who would not (normally) be classified as philosophers of religion have addressed religion, including A.N. Whitehead (1861–1947), Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), G.E. Moore (1873–1958), John Rawls (1921–2002), Bernard Williams (1929–2003), Hilary Putnam (1926–2016), Derek Parfit (1942–2017), Thomas Nagel (1937–), Jürgen Habermas (1929–), and others. Chris Firestone and Nathan Jacobs have done recent work highlighting the immense work on religions by modern philosophers that are sometimes ignored in secular histories of philosophy (see their The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought ).

In Chinese and Indian philosophy there is an even greater challenge than in the West to distinguish important philosophical and religious sources of philosophy of religion. It would be difficult to classify Nagarjuna (150–250 CE) or Adi Shankara (788–820 CE) as exclusively philosophical or religious thinkers. Their work seems as equally important philosophically as it is religiously (see Ranganathan 2018).

Fourth, a comprehensive study of theology or religious studies also provides good reasons to have expertise in philosophy of religion. As just observed, Asian philosophy and religious thought are intertwined and so the questions engaged in philosophy of religion seem relevant: what is space and time? Are there many things or one reality? Might our empirically observable world be an illusion? Could the world be governed by Karma? Is reincarnation possible? In terms of the West, there is reason to think that even the sacred texts of the Abrahamic faith involve strong philosophical elements: In Judaism, Job is perhaps the most explicitly philosophical text in the Hebrew Bible. The wisdom tradition of each Abrahamic faith may reflect broader philosophical ways of thinking; the Christian New Testament seems to include or address Platonic themes (the Logos, the soul and body relationship). Much of Islamic thought includes critical reflection on Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, as well as independent philosophical work.

Let us now turn to the way philosophers have approached the meaning of religious beliefs.

2. The Meaning of Religious Beliefs

Prior to the twentieth century, a substantial amount of philosophical reflection on matters of religious significance (but not all) has been realist. That is, it has often been held that religious beliefs are true or false. Xenophanes and other pre-Socratic thinkers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Philo, Plotinus differed on their beliefs (or speculation) about the divine, and they and their contemporaries differed about skepticism, but they held (for example) that there either was a divine reality or not. Medieval and modern Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophers differed in terms of their assessment of faith and reason. They also faced important philosophical questions about the authority of revelation claims in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Qur’an. In Asian philosophy of religion, some religions do not include revelation claims, as in Buddhism and Confucianism, but Hindu tradition confronted philosophers with assessing the Vedas and Upanishads. But for the most part, philosophers in the West and East thought there were truths about whether there is a God, the soul, an afterlife, that which is sacred (whether these are known or understood by any human being or not). Realism of some kind is so pervasive that the great historian of philosophy Richard Popkin (1923–2005) once defined philosophy as “the attempt the give an account of what is true and what is important” (Popkin 1999: 1). Important philosophers in the West such as Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), among others, challenged classical realist views of truth and metaphysics (ontology or the theory of what is), but the twentieth century saw two, especially powerful movements that challenged realism: logical positivism and philosophy of religion inspired by Wittgenstein.

As a preface to addressing these two movements, let us take note of some of the nuances in philosophical reflection on the realist treatment of religious language. Many theistic philosophers (and their critics) contend that language about God may be used univocally, analogically or equivocally. A term is used univocally about God and humans when it has the same sense. Arguably, the term “to know” is used univocally of God in the claims “God knows you” and “You know London”, even though how God knows you and how you know London differ radically. In terms of the later difference, philosophers sometimes distinguish between what is attributed to some thing and the mode in which some state (such as knowledge) is realized. Terms are used analogously when there is some similarity between what is being attributed, e.g., when it is said that “two human persons love each other” and “God loves the world”, the term “love” may be used analogically when there is some similarity between these loves). Terms are used equivocally when the meaning is different as in the statement “Adam knew Eve” (which in the King James’ Bible meant Adam and Eve had intercourse) and “God knows the world” (while some of the Homeric gods did have intercourse with humans, this was not part of theistic worldviews). Theological work that stresses our ability to form a positive concept of the divine has been called the via positiva or catophatic theology . On the other hand, those who stress the unknowability of God embrace what is called the via negativa or apophatic theology . Maimonides (1135–1204) was a great proponent of the via negativa , favoring the view that we know God principally through what God is not (God is not material, not evil, not ignorant, and so on).

While some (but not all) philosophers of religion in the Continental tradition have aligned themselves with apophatic theology such as Levinas (who was non-theistic) and Jean-Luc Marion (1946–), a substantial amount (but not all) of analytically oriented philosophy of religion have tended to adopt the via positiva One of the challenges of apophatic theology is that it seems to make the philosophy of God remote from religious practices such as prayer, worship, trust in God’s power and goodness, pilgrimages, and religious ethics. According to Karen Armstrong, some of the greatest theologians in the Abrahamic faiths held that God

was not good, divine, powerful, or intelligent in any way that we could understand. We could not even say that God “existed”, because our concept of existence is too limited. Some of the sages preferred to say that God was “Nothing” because God was not another being… To these theologians some of our modern ideas about God would have seemed idolatrous. (Armstrong 2009: x)

A prima facie challenge to this position is that it is hard to believe that religious practitioners could pray or worship or trust in a being which was altogether inscrutable or a being that we cannot in any way understand. For a realist, via positiva philosophy of God that seeks to appreciate the force of apophatic theology, see Mikael Stenmark’s “Competing conceptions of God: the personal God versus the God beyond being” (2015).

Let us now turn to two prominent philosophical movements that challenged a realist philosophy of God.

“Positivism” is a term introduced by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), a French philosopher who championed the natural and social sciences over against theology and the philosophical practice of metaphysics. The term “positivism” was used later (sometimes amplified to Logical Positivism by A.J. Ayer) by a group of philosophers who met in Austria called the Vienna Circle from 1922 to 1938. This group, which included Moritz Schlick and Max Planck, advanced an empirical account of meaning, according to which for a proposition to be meaningful it needed either to be a conceptual or formal statement in mathematics or about analytic definitions (“triangles have three angles”) or about matters that can be empirically verified or falsified. Ostensibly factual claims that do not make any difference in terms of our actual (or possible) empirical experience are void of meaning. A British philosopher, who visited the Vienna Circle, A.J. Ayer popularized this criterion of meaning in his 1936 book, Language, Truth, and Logic . In it, Ayer argued that religious claims as well as their denial were without cognitive content. By his lights, theism, and also atheism and agnosticism, were nonsense, because they were about the reality (or unreality or unknowability) of that which made no difference to our empirical experience. How might one empirically confirm or disconfirm that there is an incorporeal, invisible God or that Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu? Famously, Antony Flew employed this strategy in his likening the God of theism to a belief that there is an undetectable, invisible gardener who could not be heard or smelled or otherwise empirically discovered (Flew 1955). In addition to rejecting traditional religious beliefs as meaningless, Ayer and other logical positivists rejected the meaningfulness of moral statements. By their lights, moral or ethical statements were expressions of persons’ feelings, not about values that have a reality independent of persons’ feelings.

The logical positivist critique of religion is not dead. It can be seen at work in Herman Philipse’s God in the Age of Science; A Critique of Religious Reasons (2012). Still, the criterion of meaning advanced by logical positivism faced a series of objections (for details see Copleston 1960 and Taliaferro 2005b).

Consider five objections that were instrumental in the retreat of logical positivism from its position of dominance.

First, it was charged that logical positivism itself is self-refuting. Is the statement of its standard of meaning (propositions are meaningful if and only if they are about the relations of ideas or about matters that are subject to empirical verification or falsification) itself about the relations of ideas or about matters that are subject to empirical verification or falsification? Arguably not. At best, the positivist criterion of meaning is a recommendation about what to count as meaningful.

Second, it was argued that there are meaningful statements about the world that are not subject to direct or indirect empirical confirmation or disconfirmation. Plausible candidates include statements about the origin of the cosmos or, closer to home, the mental states of other persons or of nonhuman animals (for discussion, see Van Cleve 1999 and Taliaferro 1994).

Third, limiting human experience to what is narrowly understood to be empirical seemed to many philosophers to be arbitrary or capricious. C. D. Broad and others defended a wider understanding of experience to allow for the meaningfulness of moral experience: arguably, one can experience the wrongness of an act as when an innocent person feels herself to be violated.

Fourth, Ayer’s rejection of the meaningfulness of ethics seemed to cut against his epistemology or normative account of beliefs, for he construed empirical knowledge in terms of having the right to certain beliefs. If it is meaningful to refer to the right to beliefs, why is it not meaningful to refer to moral rights such as the right not to be tortured? And if we are countenancing a broader concept of what may be experienced, in the tradition of phenomenology (which involves the analysis of appearances) why rule out, as a matter of principle, the experience of the divine or the sacred?

Fifth, and probably most importantly in terms of the history of ideas, the seminal philosopher of science Carl Hempel (1905–1997) contended that the project of logical positivism was too limited (Hempel 1950). It was insensitive to the broader task of scientific inquiry which is properly conducted not on the tactical scale of scrutinizing particular claims about empirical experience but in terms of a coherent, overall theory or view of the world. According to Hempel, we should be concerned with empirical inquiry but see this as defined by an overall theoretical understanding of reality and the laws of nature. This was not ipso facto a position that favored the meaningfulness of religious belief, but Hempel’s criticism of positivism removed their barrier for overall metaphysical accounts of reality, be these accounts theistic, pantheistic (roughly, God is everything), naturalistic, and so on. Moreover, the positivist critique of what they called metaphysics was attacked as confused as some metaphysics was implied in their claims about empirical experience; see the aptly titled classic The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism (1954) by Gustav Bergmann (1906–1987).

Let us now turn to Wittgenstein (1889–1951) and the philosophy of religion his work inspired.

Wittgenstein’s early work was interpreted by some members of the Vienna Circle as friendly to their empiricism, but they were surprised when he visited the Circle and, rather than Wittgenstein discussing his Tractatus , he read them poetry by Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), a Bengal mystic (see Taliaferro 2005b: chapter eight). In any case, Wittgenstein’s later work, which was not friendly to their empiricism, was especially influential in post-World War II philosophy and theology and will be the focus here.

In the Philosophical Investigations (published posthumously in 1953) and in many other works (including the publication of notes taken by his students on his lectures), Wittgenstein opposed what he called the picture theory of meaning. On this view, statements are true or false depending upon whether reality matches the picture expressed by the statements. Wittgenstein came to see this view of meaning as deeply problematic. The meaning of language is, rather, to be found not in referential fidelity but in its use in what Wittgenstein referred to as forms of life . As this position was applied to religious matters, D.Z. Phillips (1966, 1976), B.R. Tilghman (1994), and, more recently, Howard Wettstein (2012), sought to displace traditional metaphysical debate and arguments over theism and its alternatives and to focus instead on the way language about God, the soul, prayer, resurrection, the afterlife, and so on, functions in the life of religious practitioners. For example, Phillips contended that the practice of prayer is best not viewed as humans seeking to influence an all powerful, invisible person, but to achieve solidarity with other persons in light of the fragility of life. Phillips thereby sees himself as following Wittgenstein’s lead by focusing, not on which picture of reality seems most faithful, but on the non-theoretical ways in which religion is practiced.

To ask whether God exists is not to ask a theoretical question. If it is to mean anything at all, it is to wonder about praising and praying; it is to wonder whether there is anything in all that. This is why philosophy cannot answer the question “Does God exist?” with either an affirmative or a negative reply … “There is a God”, though it appears to be in the indicative mood, is an expression of faith. (Phillips 1976: 181; see also Phillips 1970: 16–17)

At least two reasons bolstered this philosophy of religion inspired by Wittgenstein. First, it seemed as though this methodology was more faithful to the practice of philosophy of religion being truly about the actual practice of religious persons themselves. Second, while there has been a revival of philosophical arguments for and against theism and alternative concepts of God (as will be noted in section 5 ), significant numbers of philosophers from the mid-twentieth century onward have concluded that all the traditional arguments and counter-arguments about the metaphysical claims of religion are indecisive. If that is the case, the Wittgenstein-inspired new philosophy of religion had the advantage of shifting ground to what might be a more promising area of agreement.

While this non-realist approach to religion has its defenders today, especially in work by Howard Wettstein, many philosophers have contended that traditional and contemporary religious life rests on making claims about what is truly the case in a realist context. It is hard to imagine why persons would pray to God if they, literally, thought there is no God of any kind. (see Wynn 2020, chapter six)

Interestingly, perhaps inheriting the Wittgenstein stress on practice, some philosophers working on religion today place greater stress on the meaning of religion in life, rather than seeing religious belief as primarily a matter of assessing an hypothesis (see Cottingham 2014).

3. Religious Epistemology

According to the prestigious Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy , religious epistemology is “a branch of philosophy that investigates the epistemic status of propositional attitudes about religious claims” (Audi 2015: 925). Virtually all the extant and current methodologies in epistemology have been employed in assessing religious claims. Some of these methods have been more rationalistic in the sense that they have involved reasoning from ostensibly self-evident truths (e.g., a principle of sufficient reason), while others have been more experiential (e.g., empiricism, phenomenology, the stress on passion and subjectivity, the stress on practice as found in pragmatism). Also, some have sought to be ahistorical (not dependent upon historical revelation claims), while others are profoundly historical (e.g., grounded on revelation either known by faith alone or justified evidentially by an appeal to miracles and/or religious experience.

Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing literature on the nature of religious faith. Among many philosophers in the analytical tradition, faith has often been treated as the propositional attitude belief, e.g., believing that there is or is not a God, and much work devoted to examining when such belief is backed up by evidence and, if so, how much and what kinds of evidence. There has been a famous debate over “the ethics of belief”, determining what kinds of belief should not be entertained or countenanced when the evidence is deemed insufficient, and when matters of religious faith may be justified on pragmatic grounds (e.g., as a wager or venture). Faith has also been philosophically treated as trust, a form of hope, an allegiance to an ideal, commitment, and faithful action with or without belief (for a survey see Abraham & Aquino 2017; for a recent defense of religious faith without belief, see Schellenberg 2017).

The following examines first what is known as evidentialism and reformed epistemology and then a form of what is called volitional epistemology of religion.

Evidentialism is the view that for a person to be justified in some belief, that person must have some awareness of the evidence for the belief. This is usually articulated as a person’s belief being justified given the total evidence available to the person. On this view, the belief in question must not be undermined (or defeated) by other, evident beliefs held by the person. Moreover, evidentialists often contend that the degree of confidence in a belief should be proportional to the evidence. Evidentialism has been defended by representatives of all the different viewpoints in philosophy of religion: theism, atheism, advocates of non-theistic models of God, agnostics. Evidentialists have differed in terms of their accounts of evidence (what weight might be given to phenomenology?) and the relationship between evident beliefs (must beliefs either be foundational or basic or entailed by such foundational beliefs?) Probably the most well known evidentialist in the field of philosophy of religion who advocates for theism is Richard Swinburne (1934–).

Swinburne was (and is) the leading advocate of theistic natural theology since the early 1970s. Swinburne has applied his considerable analytical skills in arguing for the coherence and cogency of theism, and the analysis and defense of specific Christian teachings about the trinity, incarnation, the resurrection of Christ, revelation, and more. Swinburne’s projects in the evidentialist tradition in philosophy of religion are in the great tradition of British philosophy of religion from the Cambridge Platonists in the seventeenth century through Joseph Butler (1692–1752) and William Paley (1743–1805) to twentieth century British philosophers such as A.E. Taylor (1869–1945), F. R. Tennant (1866–1957), William Temple (1881–1944), H.D. Lewis (1910–1992), and A.C. Ewing (1899–1973). The positive philosophical case for theism has been met by work by many powerful philosophers, most recently Ronald Hepburn (1927–2008), J.L. Mackie (1917–1981), Antony Flew (1923–2010), Richard Gale (1932–2015), William Rowe (1931–2015), Michael Martin (1932–2015), Graham Oppy (1960–), J.L. Schellenberg (1959–), and Paul Draper (1957–). (See The Routledge Companion to Theism [Taliaferro, Harrison, & Goetz 2012] for an overview of such work.)

There have been at least two interesting, recent developments in the philosophy of religion in the framework of evidentialism. One has been advanced by John Schellenberg who argues that if the God of Christianity exists, God’s reality would be far more evident than it is. Arguably, in the Christian understanding of values, an evident relationship with God is part of the highest human good, and if God were loving, God would bring about such a good. Because there is evidence that God does not make Godself available to earnest seekers of such a relationship, this is evidence that such a God does not exist. According to this line of reasoning, the absence of evidence of the God of Christianity is evidence of absence (see Schellenberg 2007 and Howard-Snyder & Moser 2001). The argument applies beyond Christian values and theism, and to any concept of God in which God is powerful and good and such that a relationship with such a good God would be fulfilling and good for creatures. It would not work with a concept of God (as we find, for example, in the work of Aristotle) in which God is not lovingly and providentially engaged in the world. This line of reasoning is often referred to in terms of the hiddenness of God.

Another interesting development has been advanced by Sandra Menssen and Thomas Sullivan. In philosophical reflection about God the tendency has been to give priority to what may be called bare theism (assessing the plausibility of there being the God of theism) rather than a more specific concept of God. This priority makes sense insofar as the plausibility of a general thesis (there are mammals on the savanna) will be greater than a more specific thesis (there are 12,796 giraffes on the savanna). But Menssen and Sullivan argue that practicing philosophy of religion from a more particular, especially Christian, context, provides a richer “data base” for reflection.

The all–too–common insistence among philosophers that proper procedure requires establishing the likelihood of God’s existence prior to testing revelatory claims cuts off a huge part of the data base relevant to arguing for theism… For it is difficult to establish God’s existence as likely unless some account can be given of the evils of the world, and the account Christianity has to offer is unimaginably richer than any non-religious account. The Christian account, accessed through scripture, is a story of love: of God’s love for us and of what God has prepared for those who love him… It is a story of the salvific value of suffering: our sufferings are caught up with Christ’s, and are included in the sufferings adequate for the world’s redemption, sufferings Christ has willed to make his own. (Menssen & Sullivan 2017: 37–38)

In terms of the order of inquiry, it may be helpful at times, to consider more specific philosophical positions—for example, it may seem at first glance that materialism is hopeless until one engages the resources of some specific materialist account that involves functionalism—but, arguably, this does not alone offset the logical primacy of the more general thesis (whether this is bare theism or bare materialism). Perhaps the import of the Menssen-Sullivan proposal is that philosophers of religion need to enhance their critical assessment of general positions along with taking seriously more specific accounts about the data on hand (e.g., when it comes to theism, assessing the problem of evil in terms of possible theological positions on redemption as presented in ostensible revelations).

Evidentialism has been challenged on many grounds. Some argue that it is too stringent; we have many evident beliefs that we would be at a loss to successfully justify. Instead of evidentialism, some philosophers adopt a form of reliabilism, according to which a person may be justified in a belief so long as the belief is produced by a reliable means, whether or not the person is aware of evidence that justifies the belief. Two movements in philosophy of religion develop positions that are not in line with the traditional evidential tradition: reformed epistemology and volitional epistemology.

Reformed epistemology has been championed by Alvin Plantinga (1932–) and Nicholas Wolterstorff (1932–), among others. Reformed epistemology is “Reformed” insofar as it draws on the Reformer John Calvin (1509–1564) who claimed that persons are created with a sense of God ( sensus divinitatis ). While this sense of God may not be apparent due to sin, it can reliably prompt persons to believe in God and support a life of Christian faith. While this prompting may play an evidential role in terms of the experience or ostensible perception of God, it can also warrant Christian belief in the absence of evidence or argument (see K. Clark & VanArragon 2011; M. Bergmann 2017; and Plantinga & Bergmann 2016). In the language Plantinga introduced, belief in God may be as properly basic as our ordinary beliefs about other persons and the world. The framework of Reformed epistemology is conditional as it advances the thesis that if there is a God and if God has indeed created us with a sensus divinitatis that reliably leads us to believe (truly) that God exists, then such belief is warranted. There is a sense in which Reformed epistemology is more of a defensive strategy (offering grounds for thinking that religious belief, if true, is warranted) rather than providing a positive reason why persons who do not have (or believe they have) a sensus divinitatis should embrace Christian faith. Plantinga has argued that at least one alternative to Christian faith, secular naturalism, is deeply problematic, if not self-refuting, but this position (if cogent) has been advanced more as a reason not to be a naturalist than as a reason for being a theist. (For a stronger version of the argument that theism better accounts for the normativity of reason than alternatives, see Angus Menuge’s Agents Under Fire , 2004.)

Reformed epistemology is not ipso facto fideism. Fideism explicitly endorses the legitimacy of faith without the support, not just of (propositional) evidence, but also of reason (MacSwain 2013). By contrast, Reformed epistemology offers a metaphysical and epistemological account of warrant according to which belief in God can be warranted even if it is not supported by evidence and it offers an account of properly basic belief according to which basic belief in God is on an epistemic par with our ordinary basic beliefs about the world and other minds which seem to be paradigmatically rational. Nonetheless, while Reformed epistemology is not necessarily fideistic, it shares with fideism the idea that a person may have a justified religious belief in the absence of evidence.

Consider now what is called volitional epistemology in the philosophy of religion. Paul Moser has systematically argued for a profoundly different framework in which he contends that if the God of Christianity exists, this God would not be evident to inquirers who (for example) are curious about whether God exists. By Moser’s lights, the God of Christianity would only become evident in a process that would involve the moral and spiritual transformation of persons (Moser 2017). This process might involve persons receiving (accepting) the revelation of Jesus Christ as redeemer and sanctifier who calls persons to a radical life of loving compassion, even the loving of our enemies. By willfully subjecting oneself to the commanding love of God, a person in this filial relationship with God through Christ may experience a change of character (from self-centeredness to serving others) in which the person’s character (or very being) may come to serve as evidence of the truths of faith.

The terrain covered so far in this entry indicates considerable disagreement over epistemic justification and religious belief. If the experts disagree about such matters, what should non-experts think and do? Or, putting the question to the so-called experts, if you (as a trained inquirer) disagree about the above matters with those whom you regard as equally intelligent and sensitive to evidence, should that fact alone bring you to modify or even abandon the confidence you hold concerning your own beliefs?

Some philosophers propose that in the case of disagreements among epistemic peers, one should seek some kind of account of the disagreement. For example, is there any reason to think that the evidence available to you and your peers differs or is conceived of differently. Perhaps there are ways of explaining, for example, why Buddhists may claim not to observe themselves as substantial selves existing over time whereas a non-Buddhist might claim that self-observation provides grounds for believing that persons are substantial, enduring agents (David Lund 2005). The non-Buddhist might need another reason to prefer her framework over the Buddhist one, but she would at least (perhaps) have found a way of accounting for why equally reasonable persons would come to different conclusions in the face of ostensibly identical evidence.

Assessing the significance of disagreement over religious belief is very different from assessing the significance of disagreement in domains where there are clearer, shared understandings of methodology and evidence. For example, if two equally proficient detectives examine the same evidence that Smith murdered Jones, their disagreement should (other things being equal) lead us to modify confidence that Smith is guilty, for the detectives may be presumed to use the same evidence and methods of investigation. But in assessing the disagreements among philosophers over (for example) the coherence and plausibility of theism, philosophers today often rely on different methodologies (phenomenology, empiricism, conceptual or linguistic analysis, structural theory, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and so on). But what if a person accepts a given religion as reasonable and yet acknowledges that equally reasonable, mature, responsible inquirers adopt a different religion incompatible with her own and they all share a similar philosophical methodology ? This situation is not an abstract thought experiment. In Christian-Muslim dialogue, philosophers often share a common philosophical inheritance from Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and a broad range of shared views about the perfection of God/Allah.

One option would be to adopt an epistemological pluralism, according to which persons can be equally well justified in affirming incompatible beliefs. This option would seem to provide some grounds for epistemic humility (Audi 2011; Ward 2002, 2014, 2017). In an appropriately titled essay, “Why religious pluralism is not evil and is in some respects quite good”, (2018) Robert McKim presents reasons why, from a philosophical point of view, it may be good to encourage (and not merely acknowledge) ostensibly equally reasonable worldviews. For an overview of the current state of play in philosophy of religion on the topic of religious disagreement, see “Disagreement and the Epistemology of Theology” (King & Kelly 2017).

At the end of this section, two observations are also worth noting about epistemic disagreements. First, our beliefs and our confidence in the truth of our beliefs may not be under our voluntary control. Perhaps you form a belief of the truth of Buddhism based on what you take to be compelling evidence. Even if you are convinced that equally intelligent persons do not reach a similar conclusion, that alone may not empower you to deny what seems to you to be compelling. Second, if the disagreement between experts gives you reason to abandon a position, then the very principle you are relying on (one should abandon a belief that X if experts disagree about X ) would be undermined, for experts disagree about what one should do when experts disagree. For overviews and explorations of relevant philosophical work in a pluralistic setting, see New Models of Religious Understanding (2018) edited by Fiona Ellis and Renewing Philosophy of Religion (2017) edited by Paul Draper and J.L. Schellenberg. Two other resources are also highly recommended: In God, Knowledge, and the Good , Linda Zagzebski commends the epistemic importance of practicing philosophy in a communal setting and in On Evidence in Philosophy William Lycan offers a seasoned view of how to assess the epistemic credibility of arguments by philosophers.

The relationship between religion and science has been an important topic in twentieth century philosophy of religion and it seems highly important today.

This section begins by considering the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) statement on the relationship between science and religion:

Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience. In science, explanations must be based on evidence drawn from examining the natural world. Scientifically based observations or experiments that conflict with an explanation eventually must lead to modification or even abandonment of that explanation. Religious faith, in contrast, does not depend only on empirical evidence, is not necessarily modified in the face of conflicting evidence, and typically involves supernatural forces or entities. Because they are not a part of nature, supernatural entities cannot be investigated by science. In this sense, science and religion are separate and address aspects of human understanding in different ways. Attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist. (NASIM 2008: 12)

This view of science and religion seems promising on many fronts. If the above statement on science and religion is accepted, then it seems to insure there is minimal conflict between two dynamic domains of what the Academies refer to as “human experience”. The National Academies do seem to be correct in implying that the key elements of many religions do not admit of direct scientific investigations nor rest “only on empirical evidence”. Neither God nor Allah nor Brahman (the divine as conceived of in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) is a physical or material object or process. It seems, then, that the divine or the sacred and many other elements in world religions (meditation, prayer, sin and forgiveness, deliverance from craving) can only be indirectly investigated scientifically. So, a neurologist can produce detailed studies of the brains of monks and nuns when they pray and meditate, and there can be comparative studies of the health of those who practice a religion and those who do not, but it is very hard to conceive of how to scientifically measure God or Allah or Brahman or the Dao, heaven, and so on. Despite the initial plausibility of the Academies stance, however, it may be problematic.

First, a minor (and controversial) critical point in response to the Academies: The statement makes use of the terms “supernatural forces or entities” that “are not part of nature”. The term “supernatural” is not the standard term used to refer only to God or the divine, probably (in part) because in English the term “supernatural” refers not just to God or the divine, but also to poltergeists, ghosts, devils, witches, mediums, oracles, and so on. The later are a panoply of what is commonly thought of as preposterous superstition. (The similarity of the terms supernatural and superstitious may not be an accident.) The standard philosophical term to reference God in the English language, from the seventeenth century onward, is theism (from the Greek theos for god/God). So, rather than the statement refer to “supernatural forces or entities”, a more charitable phrase might refer to how many world religions are theistic or involve some sacred reality that is not directly, empirically measurable.

Moving beyond this minor point about terminology, religious beliefs have traditionally and today been thought of as subject to evidence. Evidence for religious beliefs have included appeal to the contingency of the cosmos and principles of explanation, the ostensibly purposive nature of the cosmos, the emergence of consciousness, and so on. Evidence against religious belief have included appeal to the evident, quantity of evil in the cosmos, the success of the natural sciences, and so on.

One reason, however, for supporting the Academies notion that religion and science do not overlap is the fact that in modern science there has been a bracketing of reference to minds and the mental. That is, the sciences have been concerned with a mind-independent physical world, whereas in religion this is chiefly a domain concerned with mind (feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas, and so on), created minds and (in the case of some religions) the mind of God. The science of Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton was carried out with an explicit study of the world without appeal to anything involving what today would be referred to as the psychological, the mind or the mental. So, Newton’s laws of motion about the attraction and repulsion of material objects make no mention of how love or desire or emotional need might be required to explain the motion of two material bodies to embrace romantically. The bracketing of mind from the physical sciences was not a sign of early scientists having any doubts about the existence, power and importance of minds. That is, from Kepler through Newton and on to the early twentieth century, scientists themselves did not doubt the causal significance of minds; they simply did not include minds (their own or the minds of others) among the data of what they were studying. But interestingly, each of the early modern scientists believed that what they were studying was in some fashion made possible by the whole of the natural world (terrestrial and celestial) being created and sustained in existence by a Divine Mind, an all good, necessarily existing Creator. They had an overall or comprehensive worldview according to which science itself was reasonable and made sense. Scientists have to have a kind of faith or trust in their methods and that the cosmos is so ordered that their methods are effective and reliable. The earliest modern scientists thought such faith (in what Einstein refers to as “the rationality and intelligibility of the world” (Cain 2015: 42, quoting a 1929 statement in Einstein 1954 [1973: 262]) was reasonable because of their belief in the existence of God (Cain 2015).

Whether there is sufficient evidence for or against some religious conception of the cosmos will be addressed in section 4 . Let us contrast briefly, however, two very different views on whether contemporary science has undermined religious belief.

According to Steven Pinker, science has shown the beliefs of many religions to be false.

To begin with, the findings of science entail that the belief systems of all the world’s traditional religions and cultures—their theories of the origins of life, humans, and societies—are factually mistaken. We know, but our ancestors did not, that humans belong to a single species of African primate that developed agriculture, government, and writing late in its history. We know that our species is a tiny twig of a genealogical tree that embraces all living things and that emerged from prebiotic chemicals almost four billion years ago.… We know that the laws governing the physical world (including accidents, disease, and other misfortunes) have no goals that pertain to human well-being. There is no such thing as fate, providence, karma, spells, curses, augury, divine retribution, or answered prayer—though the discrepancy between the laws of probability and the workings of cognition may explain why people think there is. (Pinker 2013)

Following up on Pinker, it should be noted that it would not be scientifically acceptable today to appeal to miracles or to direct acts of God. Any supposed miracle would (to many, if not all scientists) be a kind of defeat and to welcome an unacceptable mystery. This is why some philosophers of science propose that the sciences are methodologically atheistic . That is, while science itself does not pass judgment on whether God exists (even though some philosophers of science do), appealing to God’s existence forms no part of their scientific theories and investigations.

There is some reason to think that Pinker’s case may be overstated, however, and that it would be more fair to characterize the sciences as methodologically agnostic (simply not taking a view on the matter of whether or not God exists) rather than atheistic (taking a position on the matter). First, Pinker’s examples of what science has shown to be wrong, seem unsubstantial. As Michael Ruse points out:

The arguments that are given for suggesting that science necessitates atheism are not convincing. There is no question that many of the claims of religion are no longer tenable in light of modern science. Adam and Eve, Noah’s Flood, the sun stopping for Joshua, Jonah and the whale, and much more. But more sophisticated Christians know that already. The thing is that these things are not all there is to religions, and many would say that they are far from the central claims of religion—God existing and being creator and having a special place for humans and so forth. (Ruse 2014: 74–75)

Ruse goes on to note that religions address important concerns that go beyond what is approachable only from the standpoint of the natural sciences.

Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the purpose of it all? And (somewhat more controversially) what are the basic foundations of morality and what is sentience? Science takes the world as given Science sees no ultimate purpose to reality… I would say that as science does not speak to these issues, I see no reason why the religious person should not offer answers. They cannot be scientific answers. They must be religious answers—answers that will involve a God or gods. There is something rather than nothing because a good God created them from love out of nothing. The purpose of it all is to find eternal bliss with the Creator. Morality is a function of God’s will; it is doing what He wants us to do. Sentience is that by which we realize that we are made in God’s image. We humans are not just any old kind of organism. This does not mean that the religious answers are beyond criticism, but they must be answered on philosophical or theological grounds and not simply because they are not scientific. (2014: 76)

The debate over religion and science is ongoing (for promising work, see Stenmark 2001, 2004).

5. Philosophical Reflection on Theism and Its Alternatives

For much of the history of philosophy of religion, there has been stress on the assessment of theism. Non-theistic concepts of the divine have increasingly become part of philosophy of religion (see, for example, Buckareff & Nagasawa 2016; Diller & Kasher 2013; and Harrison 2006, 2012, 2015). Section 6 makes special note of this broadening of horizons. As noted at the outset of this entry, theism still has some claim for special attention given the large world population that is aligned with theistic traditions (the Abrahamic faiths and theistic Hinduism) and the enormity of attention given to the defense and critique of theism in philosophy of religion historically and today.

5.1 Philosophical Reflection on Divine Attributes

Speculation about divine attributes in theistic tradition has often been carried out in accord with what is currently referred to as perfect being theology , according to which God is understood to be maximally excellent or unsurpassable in greatness. This tradition was (famously) developed by Anselm of Canterbury (1033/4–1109). For a contemporary work offering an historic overview of Anselmian theism, see Yujin Nagasawa’s Maximal God; A New Defense of Perfect Being Theism (2017). Divine attributes in this tradition have been identified by philosophers as those attributes that are the greatest compossible set of great-making properties; properties are compossible when they can be instantiated by the same being. Traditionally, the divine attributes have been identified as omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, worthiness of worship, necessary of non-contingent existence, and eternality (existing outside of time or atemporally). Each of these attributes has been subject to nuanced different analysis, as noted below. God has also been traditionally conceived to be incorporeal or immaterial, immutable, impassable, omnipresent. And unlike Judaism and Islam, Christian theists conceive of God as triune (the Godhead is not homogenous but consists of three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth (fully God and fully human).

One of the tools philosophers use in their investigation into divine attributes involve thought experiments. In thought experiments, hypothetical cases are described—cases that may or may not represent the way things are. In these descriptions, terms normally used in one context are employed in expanded settings. Thus, in thinking of God as omniscient, one might begin with a non-controversial case of a person knowing that a proposition is true, taking note of what it means for someone to possess that knowledge and of the ways in which the knowledge is secured. A theistic thought experiment would seek to extend our understanding of knowledge as we think of it in our own case, working toward the conception of a maximum or supreme intellectual excellence befitting the religious believers’ understanding of God. Various degrees of refinement would then be in order, as one speculates not only about the extent of a maximum set of propositions known but also about how these might be known. That is, in attributing omniscience to God, would one thereby claim God knows all truths in a way that is analogous to the way we come to know truths about the world? Too close an analogy would produce a peculiar picture of God relying upon, for example, induction, sensory evidence, or the testimony of others. One move in the philosophy of God has been to assert that the claim “God knows something” employs the word “knows” univocally when read as picking out the thesis that God knows something, while it uses the term in only a remotely analogical sense if read as identifying how God knows (Swinburne 1977).

Using thought experiments often employs an appearance principle. One version of an appearance principle is that a person has a reason for believing that some state of affairs (SOA) is possible if she can conceive, describe or imagine the SOA obtaining and she knows of no independent reasons for believing the SOA is impossible. As stated the principle is advanced as simply offering a reason for believing the SOA to be possible, and it thus may be seen a advancing a prima facie reason. But it might be seen as a secundum facie reason insofar as the person carefully scrutinizes the SOA and its possible defeaters (see Taliaferro & Knuths 2017). Some philosophers are skeptical of appealing to thought experiments (see Van Inwagen 1998; for a defense see Taliaferro 2002, Kwan 2013, and Swinburne 1979; for general treatments see Sorensen 1992 and Gendler & Hawthorne 2002).

Imagine there is a God who knows the future free action of human beings. If God does know you will freely do some act X , then it is true that you will indeed do X . But if you are free, would you not be free to avoid doing X ? Given that it is foreknown you will do X , it appears you would not be free to refrain from the act.

Initially this paradox seems easy to dispel. If God knows about your free action, then God knows that you will freely do something and that you could have refrained from it. God’s foreknowing the act does not make it necessary. Does not the paradox only arise because the proposition, “Necessarily, if God knows X , then X ” is confused with “If God knows X , then necessarily X ?” After all, it is necessarily the case that if someone knows you are reading this entry right now, then it is true that you are reading this entry, but your reading this entry may still be seen as a contingent, not necessary state of affairs. But the problem is not so easily diffused, however, because God’s knowledge, unlike human knowledge, is infallible, and if God infallibly knows that some state of affairs obtains then it cannot be that the state of affairs does not obtain. Think of what is sometimes called the necessity of the past. Once a state of affairs has obtained, it is unalterably or necessarily the case that it did occur . If the future is known precisely and comprehensively, isn’t the future like the past, necessarily or unalterably the case? If the problem is put in first-person terms and one imagines God foreknows you will freely turn to a different entry in this Encyclopedia (moreover, God knows with unsurpassable precision when you will do so, which entry you will select and what you will think about it), then an easy resolution of the paradox seems elusive. To highlight the nature of this problem, imagine God tells you what you will freely do in the next hour. Under such conditions, is it still intelligible to believe you have the ability to do otherwise if it is known by God as well as yourself what you will indeed elect to do? Self-foreknowledge, then, produces an additional related problem because the psychology of choice seems to require prior ignorance about what will be choose.

Various replies to the freedom-foreknowledge debate have been given. Some adopt compatibilism, affirming the compatibility of free will and determinism, and conclude that foreknowledge is no more threatening to freedom than determinism. While some prominent philosophical theists in the past have taken this route (most dramatically Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)), this seems to be the minority position in philosophy of religion today (exceptions include Paul Helm, John Fischer, and Lynne Baker). A second position adheres to the libertarian outlook, which insists that freedom involves a radical, indeterminist exercise of power, and concludes that God cannot know future free action. What prevents such philosophers from denying that God is omniscient is that they contend there are no truths about future free actions, or that while there are truths about the future, God either cannot know those truths (Swinburne) or freely decides not to know them in order to preserve free choice (John Lucas). On the first view, prior to someone’s doing a free action, there is no fact of the matter that he or she will do a given act. This is in keeping with a traditional, but controversial, interpretation of Aristotle’s philosophy of time and truth. Aristotle may have thought it was neither true nor false prior to a given sea battle whether a given side would win it. Some theists, such as Richard Swinburne, adopt this line today, holding that the future cannot be known. If it cannot be known for metaphysical reasons, then omniscience can be analyzed as knowing all that it is possible to know . That God cannot know future free action is no more of a mark against God’s being omniscient than God’s inability to make square circles is a mark against God’s being omnipotent. Other philosophers deny the original paradox. They insist that God’s foreknowledge is compatible with libertarian freedom and seek to resolve the quandary by claiming that God is not bound in time (God does not so much foreknow the future as God knows what for us is the future from an eternal viewpoint) and by arguing that the unique vantage point of an omniscient God prevents any impingement on freedom. God can simply know the future without this having to be grounded on an established, determinate future. But this only works if there is no necessity of eternity analogous to the necessity of the past. Why think that we have any more control over God’s timeless belief than over God’s past belief? If not, then there is an exactly parallel dilemma of timeless knowledge. For outstanding current analysis of freedom and foreknowledge, see the work of Linda Zagzebski.

Could there be a being that is outside time? In the great monotheistic traditions, God is thought of as without any kind of beginning or end. God will never, indeed, can never, cease to be. Some philosophical theists hold that God’s temporality is very much like ours in the sense that there is a before, during, and an after for God, or a past, present, and future for God. This view is sometimes referred to as the thesis that God is everlasting. Those adopting a more radical stance claim that God is independent of temporality, arguing either that God is not in time at all, or that God is “simultaneously” at or in all times. This is sometimes called the view that God is eternal as opposed to everlasting.

Why adopt the more radical stance? One reason, already noted, is that if God is not temporally bound, there may be a resolution to the earlier problem of reconciling freedom and foreknowledge. As St. Augustine of Hippo put it:

so that of those things which emerge in time, the future, indeed, are not yet, and the present are now, and the past no longer are; but all of these are by Him comprehended in His stable and eternal presence. ( The City of God , XI.21)

If God is outside time, there may also be a secure foundation explaining God’s immutability (changelessness), incorruptibility, and immortality. Furthermore, there may be an opportunity to use God’s standing outside of time to launch an argument that God is the creator of time.

Those affirming God to be unbounded by temporal sequences face several puzzles which I note without trying to settle. If God is somehow at or in all times, is God simultaneously at or in each? If so, there is the following problem. If God is simultaneous with the event of Rome burning in 410 CE, and also simultaneous with your reading this entry, then it seems that Rome must be burning at the same time you are reading this entry. (This problem was advanced by Nelson Pike (1970); Stump and Kretzmann 1981 have replied that the simultaneity involved in God’s eternal knowledge is not transitive). A different problem arises with respect to eternity and omniscience. If God is outside of time, can God know what time it is now? Arguably, there is a fact of the matter that it is now, say, midnight on 1 July 2018. A God outside of time might know that at midnight on 1 July 2018 certain things occur, but could God know when it is now that time? The problem is that the more emphasis one places on the claim that God’s supreme existence is independent of time, the more one seems to jeopardize taking seriously time as it is known. Finally, while the great monotheistic traditions provide a portrait of the Divine as supremely different from the creation, there is also an insistence on God’s proximity or immanence. For some theists, describing God as a person or person-like (God loves, acts, knows) is not to equivocate. But it is not clear that an eternal God could be personal. For recent work on God’s relation to time, see work by Katherine Rogers (2007, 2008).

All known world religions address the nature of good and evil and commend ways of achieving human well-being, whether this be thought of in terms of salvation, liberation, deliverance, enlightenment, tranquility, or an egoless state of Nirvana. Notwithstanding important differences, there is a substantial overlap between many of these conceptions of the good as witnessed by the commending of the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) in many religions. Some religions construe the Divine as in some respect beyond our human notions of good and evil. In some forms of Hinduism, for example, Brahman has been extolled as possessing a sort of moral transcendence, and some Christian theologians and philosophers have likewise insisted that God is only a moral agent in a highly qualified sense, if at all (Davies 1993). To call God good is, for them, very different from calling a human being good.

Here are only some of the ways in which philosophers have articulated what it means to call God good. In treating the matter, there has been a tendency either to explain God’s goodness in terms of standards that are not God’s creation and thus, in some measure, independent of God’s will, or in terms of God’s will and the standards God has created. The latter view has been termed theistic voluntarism . A common version of theistic voluntarism is the claim that for something to be good or right simply means that God approves of permits it and for something to be bad or wrong means that God disapproves or forbids it.

Theistic voluntarists face several difficulties: moral language seems intelligible without having to be explained in terms of the Divine will. Indeed, many people make what they take to be objective moral judgments without making any reference to God. If they are using moral language intelligibly, how could it be that the very meaning of such moral language should be analyzed in terms of Divine volitions? New work in the philosophy of language may be of use to theistic voluntarists. According to a causal theory of reference, “water” necessarily designates H 2 O. It is not a contingent fact that water is H 2 O notwithstanding the fact that many people can use the term “water” without knowing its composition. Similarly, could it not be the case that “good” may refer to that which is willed by God even though many people are not aware of (or even deny) the existence of God? Another difficulty for voluntarism lies in accounting for the apparent meaningful content of claims like “God is good”. It appears that in calling God or in particular God’s will “good” the religious believer is saying more than “God wills what God wills”. If so, must not the very notion of goodness have some meaning independent of God’s will? Also at issue is the worry that if voluntarism is accepted, the theist has threatened the normative objectivity of moral judgments. Could God make it the case that moral judgments were turned upside down? For example, could God make cruelty good? Arguably, the moral universe is not so malleable. In reply, some voluntarists have sought to understand the stability of the moral laws in light of God’s immutably fixed, necessary nature.

By understanding God’s goodness in terms of God’s being (as opposed to God’s will alone), one comes close to the non-voluntarist stand. Aquinas and others hold that God is essentially good in virtue of God’s very being. All such positions are non-voluntarist in so far as they do not claim that what it means for something to be good is that God wills it to be so. The goodness of God may be articulated in various ways, either by arguing that God’s perfection requires God being good as an agent or by arguing that God’s goodness can be articulated in terms of other Divine attributes such as those outlined above. For example, because knowledge is in itself good, omniscience is a supreme good. God has also been considered good in so far as God has created and conserves in existence a good cosmos. Debates over the problem of evil (if God is indeed omnipotent and perfectly good, why is there evil?) have poignancy precisely because one side challenges this chief judgment about God’s goodness. (The debate over the problem of evil is taken up in section 5.2.4 .)

The choice between voluntarism and seeing God’s very being as good is rarely strict. Some theists who oppose a full-scale voluntarism allow for partial voluntarist elements. According to one such moderate stance, while God cannot make cruelty good, God can make some actions morally required or morally forbidden which otherwise would be morally neutral. Arguments for this have been based on the thesis that the cosmos and all its contents are God’s creation. According to some theories of property, an agent making something good gains entitlements over the property. The crucial moves in arguments that the cosmos and its contents belong to their Creator have been to guard against the idea that human parents would then “own” their children (they do not, because parents are not radical creators like God), and the idea that Divine ownership would permit anything, thus construing human duties owed to God as the duties of a slave to a master (a view to which not all theists have objected). Theories spelling out why and how the cosmos belongs to God have been prominent in all three monotheistic traditions. Plato defended the notion, as did Aquinas and Locke (see Brody 1974 for a defense).

A new development in theorizing about God’s goodness has been advanced in Zagzebski 2004. Zagzebski contends that being an exemplary virtuous person consists in having good motives. Motives have an internal, affective or emotive structure. An emotion is “an affective perception of the world” (2004: xvi) that “initiates and directs action” (2004: 1). The ultimate grounding of what makes human motives good is that they are in accord with the motives of God. Zagzebski’s theory is perhaps the most ambitious virtue theory in print, offering an account of human virtues in light of theism. Not all theists resonate with her bold claim that God is a person who has emotions, but many allow that (at least in some analogical sense) God may be see as personal and having affective states.

One other effort worth noting to link judgments of good and evil with judgments about God relies upon the ideal observer theory of ethics. According to this theory, moral judgments can be analyzed in terms of how an ideal observer would judge matters. To say an act is right entails a commitment to holding that if there were an ideal observer, it would approve of the act; to claim an act is wrong entails the thesis that if there were an ideal observer, it would disapprove of it. The theory can be found in works by Hume, Adam Smith, R.M. Hare, and R. Firth (see Firth 1952 [1970]). The ideal observer is variously described, but typically is thought of as an impartial omniscient regarding non-moral facts (facts that can be grasped without already knowing the moral status or implications of the fact—for instance, “He did something bad” is a moral fact; “He hit Smith” is not), and as omnipercipient (Firth’s term for adopting a position of universal affective appreciation of the points of view of all involved parties). The theory receives some support from the fact that most moral disputes can be analyzed in terms of different parties challenging each other to be impartial, to get their empirical facts straight, and to be more sensitive—for example, by realizing what it feels like to be disadvantaged. The theory has formidable critics and defenders. If true, it does not follow that there is an ideal observer, but if it is true and moral judgments are coherent, then the idea of an ideal observer is coherent. Given certain conceptions of God in the three great monotheistic traditions, God fits the ideal observer description (and more besides, of course). This need not be unwelcome to atheists. Should an ideal observer theory be cogent, a theist would have some reason for claiming that atheists committed to normative, ethical judgments are also committed to the idea of a God or a God-like being. (For a defense of a theistic form of the ideal observer theory, see Taliaferro 2005a; for criticism see Anderson 2005. For further work on God, goodness, and morality, see Evans 2013 and Hare 2015. For interesting work on the notion of religious authority, see Zagzebski 2012.)

It should be noted that in addition to attention to the classical divine attributes discussed in this section, there has also been philosophical work on divine simplicity, immutability, impassibility, omnipresence, God’s freedom, divine necessity, sovereignty, God’s relationship with abstract objects, Christian teachings about the Trinity, the incarnation, atonement, the sacraments, and more.

5.2 God’s Existence

In some introductory philosophy textbooks and anthologies, the arguments for God’s existence are presented as ostensible proofs which are then shown to be fallible. For example, an argument from the apparent order and purposive nature of the cosmos will be criticized on the grounds that, at best, the argument would establish there is a purposive, designing intelligence at work in the cosmos. This falls far short of establishing that there is a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent, and so on. But two comments need to be made: First, that “meager” conclusion alone would be enough to disturb a scientific naturalist who wishes to rule out all such transcendent intelligence. Second, few philosophers today advance a single argument as a proof. Customarily, a design argument might be advanced alongside an argument from religious experience, and the other arguments to be considered below. True to Hempel’s advice (cited earlier) about comprehensive inquiry, it is increasingly common to see philosophies—scientific naturalism or theism—advanced with cumulative arguments, a whole range of considerations, and not with a supposed knock-down, single proof.

This section surveys some of the main theistic arguments.

There is a host of arguments under this title; version of the argument works, then it can be deployed using only the concept of God as maximally excellent and some modal principles of inference, that is, principles concerning possibility and necessity. The argument need not resist all empirical support, however, as shall be indicated. The focus of the argument is the thesis that, if there is a God, then God’s existence is necessary. In other words, God’s existence is not contingent—God is not the sort of being that just happens to exist or not exist. That necessary existence is built into the concept of God can be supported by appealing to the way God is conceived in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. This would involve some a posteriori , empirical research into the way God is thought of in these traditions. Alternatively, a defender of the ontological argument might hope to convince others that the concept of God is the concept of a being that exists necessarily by beginning with the idea of a maximally perfect being. If there were a maximally perfect being, what would it be like? It has been argued that among its array of great-making qualities (omniscience and omnipotence) would be necessary existence. Once fully articulated, it can be argued that a maximally perfect being which existed necessarily could be called “God”. For an interesting, recent treatment of the relationship between the concept of there being a necessarily existing being and there being a God, see Necessary Existence by Alexander Pruss and Joshua Rasmussen (2018: chapters one to three).

The ontological argument goes back to St. Anselm (1033/34–1109), but this section shall explore a current version relying heavily on the principle that if something is possibly necessarily the case, then it is necessarily the case (or, to put it redundantly, it is necessarily necessary). The principle can be illustrated in the case of propositions. That six is the smallest perfect number (that number which is equal to the sum of its divisors including one but not including itself) does not seem to be the sort of thing that might just happen to be true. Rather, either it is necessarily true or necessarily false. If the latter, it is not possible, if the former, it is possible. If one knows that it is possible that six is the smallest perfect number, then one has good reason to believe that. Does one have reason to think it is possible that God exists necessarily? Defenders of the argument answer in the affirmative and infer that God exists. There have been hundreds of objections and replies to this argument. Perhaps the most ambitious objection is that the same sort of reasoning can be used to argue that God cannot exist; for if it is possible that God not exist and necessary existence is part of the meaning of “God”, then it follows that God cannot exist.

Classical, alternative versions of the ontological argument are propounded by Anselm, Spinoza, and Descartes, with current versions by Alvin Plantinga, Charles Hartshorne, Norman Malcolm, and C. Dore; classical critics include Gaunilo and Kant, and current critics are many, including William Rowe, J. Barnes, G. Oppy, and J. L. Mackie. The latest book-length treatments of the ontological argument are two defenses: Rethinking the Ontological Argument by Daniel Dombrowski (2006) and Yujin Nagasawa’s Maximal God; A New Defence of Perfect Being Theism (2017). Not every advocate of perfect being theology embraces the ontological argument. Famously Thomas Aquinas did not accept the ontological argument. Alvin Plantinga, who is one of the philosophers responsible for the revival of interest in the ontological argument, contends that while he, personally, takes the argument to be sound (because he believes that the conclusion that God exists necessarily is true, which entails that the premise, that it is possible that God exists necessarily is true) he does not think the argument has sufficient force to convince an atheist. (Plantinga 1974: 216–217) For a recent new contribution to the ontological argument, see Brian Leftow’s Anselm’s Argument; Divine Necessity .

Arguments in this vein are more firmly planted in empirical, a posteriori reflection than the ontological argument, but some versions employ a priori reasons as well. There are various versions. Some argue that the cosmos had an initial cause outside it, a First Cause in time. Others argue that the cosmos has a necessary, sustaining cause from instant to instant, whether or not the cosmos had a temporal origin. The two versions are not mutually exclusive, for it is possible both that the cosmos had a First Cause and that it has a continuous, sustaining cause.

The cosmological argument relies on the intelligibility of the notion of there being at least one powerful being which is self-existing or whose origin and continued being does not depend on any other being. This could be either the all-out necessity of supreme pre-eminence across all possible worlds used in versions of the ontological argument, or a more local, limited notion of a being that is uncaused in the actual world. If successful, the argument would provide reason for thinking there is at least one such being of extraordinary power responsible for the existence of the cosmos. At best, it may not justify a full picture of the God of religion (a First Cause would be powerful, but not necessarily omnipotent), but it would nonetheless challenge naturalistic alternatives and provide some reason theism. (The later point is analogous to the idea that evidence that there was some life on another planet would not establish that such life is intelligent, but it increases—perhaps only slightly—the hypothesis that there is intelligent life on another planet.)

Both versions of the argument ask us to consider the cosmos in its present state. Is the world as we know it something that necessarily exists? At least with respect to ourselves, the planet, the solar system and the galaxy, it appears not. With respect to these items in the cosmos, it makes sense to ask why they exist rather than not. In relation to scientific accounts of the natural world, such enquiries into causes make abundant sense and are perhaps even essential presuppositions of the natural sciences. Some proponents of the argument contend that we know a priori that if something exists there is a reason for its existence. So, why does the cosmos exist? Arguably, if explanations of the contingent existence of the cosmos (or states of the cosmos) are only in terms of other contingent things (earlier states of the cosmos, say), then a full cosmic explanation will never be attained. However, if there is at least one necessarily (non-contingent) being causally responsible for the cosmos, the cosmos does have an explanation. At this point the two versions of the argument divide.

Arguments to a First Cause in time contend that a continuous temporal regress from one contingent existence to another would never account for the existence of the cosmos, and they conclude that it is more reasonable to accept there was a First Cause than to accept either a regress or the claim that the cosmos just came into being from nothing. Arguments to a sustaining cause of the cosmos claim that explanations of why something exists now cannot be adequate without assuming a present, contemporaneous sustaining cause. The arguments have been based on the denial of all actual infinities or on the acceptance of some infinities (for instance, the coherence of supposing there to be infinitely many stars) combined with the rejection of an infinite regress of explanations solely involving contingent states of affairs. The latter has been described as a vicious regress as opposed to one that is benign. There are plausible examples of vicious infinite regresses that do not generate explanations: for instance, imagine that Tom explains his possession of a book by reporting that he got it from A who got it from B , and so on to infinity. This would not explain how Tom got the book. Alternatively, imagine a mirror with light reflected in it. Would the presence of light be successfully explained if one claimed that the light was a reflection of light from another mirror, and the light in that mirror came from yet another mirror, and so on to infinity? Consider a final case. You come across a word you do not understand; let it be “ongggt”. You ask its meaning and are given another word which is unintelligible to you, and so on, forming an infinite regress. Would you ever know the meaning of the first term? The force of these cases is to show how similar they are to the regress of contingent explanations.

Versions of the argument that reject all actual infinities face the embarrassment of explaining what is to be made of the First Cause, especially since it might have some features that are actually infinite. In reply, Craig and others have contended that they have no objection to potential infinities (although the First Cause will never cease to be, it will never become an actual infinity). They further accept that prior to the creation, the First Cause was not in time, a position relying on the theory that time is relational rather than absolute. The current scientific popularity of the relational view may offer support to defenders of the argument.

It has been objected that both versions of the cosmological argument set out an inflated picture of what explanations are reasonable. Why should the cosmos as a whole need an explanation? If everything in the cosmos can be explained, albeit through infinite, regressive accounts, what is left to explain? One may reply either by denying that infinite regresses actually do satisfactorily explain, or by charging that the failure to seek an explanation for the whole is arbitrary. The question, “Why is there a cosmos?” seems a perfectly intelligible one. If there are accounts for things in the cosmos, why not for the whole? The argument is not built on the fallacy of treating every whole as having all the properties of its parts. But if everything in the cosmos is contingent, it seems just as reasonable to believe that the whole cosmos is contingent as it is to believe that if everything in the cosmos were invisible, the cosmos as a whole would be invisible.

Another objection is that rather than explaining the contingent cosmos, the cosmological argument introduces a mysterious entity of which we can make very little philosophical or scientific sense. How can positing at least one First Cause provide a better account of the cosmos than simply concluding that the cosmos lacks an ultimate account? In the end, the theist seems bound to admit that why the First Cause created at all was a contingent matter. If, on the contrary, the theist has to claim that the First Cause had to do what it did, would not the cosmos be necessary rather than contingent?

Some theists come close to concluding that it was indeed essential that God created the cosmos. If God is supremely good, there had to be some overflowing of goodness in the form of a cosmos (see Stump & Kretzmann 1981, on the ideas of Dionysius the Areopagite; see Rowe 2004 for arguments that God is not free). But theists typically reserve some role for the freedom of God and thus seek to retain the idea that the cosmos is contingent. Defenders of the cosmological argument still contend that its account of the cosmos has a comprehensive simplicity lacking in alternative views. God’s choices may be contingent, but not God’s existence and the Divine choice of creating the cosmos can be understood to be profoundly simple in its supreme, overriding endeavor, namely to create something good. Swinburne has argued that accounting for natural laws in terms of God’s will provides for a simple, overarching framework within which to comprehend the order and purposive character of the cosmos (see also Foster 2004).

Defenders of the cosmological argument include Swinburne, Richard Taylor, Hugo Meynell, Timothy O’Connor, Bruce Reichenbach, Robert Koons, Alexander Pruss, and William Rowe; prominent opponents include Antony Flew, Michael Martin, Howard Sobel, Graham Oppy, Nicholas Everitt, and J. L Mackie. While Rowe had defended the cosmological argument, his reservations about the principle of sufficient reason prevents his accepting the argument as fully satisfying.

These arguments focus on characteristics of the cosmos that seem to reflect the design or intentionality of God or, more modestly, of one or more powerful, intelligent God-like, purposive forces. Part of the argument may be formulated as providing evidence that the cosmos is the sort of reality that would be produced by an intelligent being, and then arguing that positing this source is more reasonable than agnosticism or denying it. As in the case of the cosmological argument, the defender of the teleological argument may want to claim it only provides some reason for thinking there is a God. It may be that some kind of cumulative case for theism would require construing various arguments as mutually reinforcing. If successful in arguing for an intelligent, trans-cosmos cause, the teleological argument may provide some reason for thinking that the First Cause of the cosmological argument (if it is successful) is purposive, while the ontological argument (if it has some probative force) may provides some reason for thinking that it makes sense to posit a being that has Divine attributes and necessarily exists. Behind all of them an argument from religious experience (to be addressed below) may provide some reasons to seek further support for a religious conception of the cosmos and to question the adequacy of naturalism.

One version of the teleological argument will depend on the intelligibility of purposive explanation. In our own human case it appears that intentional, purposive explanations are legitimate and can truly account for the nature and occurrence of events. In thinking about an explanation for the ultimate character of the cosmos, is it more likely for the cosmos to be accounted for in terms of a powerful, intelligent agent or in terms of a naturalistic scheme of final laws with no intelligence behind them? Theists employing the teleological argument draw attention to the order and stability of the cosmos, the emergence of vegetative and animal life, the existence of consciousness, morality, rational agents and the like, in an effort to identify what might plausibly be seen as purposive explicable features of the cosmos. Naturalistic explanations, whether in biology or physics, are then cast as being comparatively local in application when held up against the broader schema of a theistic metaphysics. Darwinian accounts of biological evolution will not necessarily assist us in thinking through why there are either any such laws or any organisms to begin with. Arguments supporting and opposing the teleological argument will then resemble arguments about the cosmological argument, with the negative side contending that there is no need to move beyond a naturalistic account, and the positive side aiming to establish that failing to go beyond naturalism is unreasonable.

In assessing the teleological argument, consider the objection from uniqueness. The cosmos is utterly unique. There is no access to multiple universes, some of which are known to be designed and some are known not to be. Without being able o compare the cosmos to alternative sets of cosmic worlds, the argument fails. Replies to this objection have contended that were we to insist that inferences in unique cases are out of order, then this would rule out otherwise respectable scientific accounts of the origin of the cosmos. Besides, while it is not possible to compare the layout of different cosmic histories, it is in principle possible to envisage worlds that seem chaotic, random, or based on laws that cripple the emergence of life. Now we can envisage an intelligent being creating such worlds, but, through considering their features, we can articulate some marks of purposive design to help judge whether the cosmos is more reasonably believed to be designed rather than not designed. Some critics appeal to the possibility that the cosmos has an infinite history to bolster and re-introduce the uniqueness objection. Given infinite time and chance, it seems likely that something like our world will come into existence, with all its appearance of design. If so, why should we take it to be so shocking that our world has its apparent design, and why should explaining the world require positing one or more intelligent designers? Replies repeat the earlier move of insisting that if the objection were to be decisive, then many seemingly respectable accounts would also have to fall by the wayside. It is often conceded that the teleological argument does not demonstrate that one or more designers are required; it seeks rather to establish that positing such purposive intelligence is reasonable and preferable to naturalism. Recent defenders of the argument include George Schlesinger, Robin Collins, and Richard Swinburne. It is rejected by J. L. Mackie, Michael Martin, Nicholas Everitt, and many others.

One feature of the teleological argument currently receiving increased attention focuses on epistemology. It has been argued by Richard Taylor (1963), Alvin Plantinga (2011 and in Beilby 2002), and others that if we reasonably rely on our cognitive faculties, it is reasonable to believe that these are not brought about by naturalistic forces—forces that are entirely driven by chance or are the outcome of processes not formed by an overriding intelligence. An illustration may help to understand the argument. Imagine Tom coming across what appears to be a sign reporting some information about his current altitude (some rocks in a configuration giving him his current location and precise height above sea-level in meters). If he had reason to believe that this “sign” was totally the result of chance configurations, would he be reasonable to trust it? Some theists argue that it would not be reasonable, and that trusting our cognitive faculties requires us to accept that they were formed by an overarching, good, creative agent. This rekindles Descartes’ point about relying on the goodness of God to ensure that our cognitive faculties are in good working order. Objections to this argument center on naturalistic explanations, especially those friendly to evolution. In evolutionary epistemology, one tries to account for the reliability of cognitive faculties in terms of trial and error leading to survival. A rejoinder by theists is that survival alone is not necessarily linked to true beliefs. It could, in principle, be false beliefs that enhance survival. In fact, some atheists think that believing in God has been crucial to people’s survival, though the belief is radically false. Evolutionary epistemologists reply that the lack of a necessary link between beliefs that promote survival and truth and the fact that some false beliefs or unreliable belief producing mechanisms promote survival nor falls far short of undermining evolutionary epistemology. See Martin (1990), Mackie (1983), and Tooley (see Tooley’s chapters 2, 4, and 6 in Plantinga & Tooley 2008), among others, object to the epistemic teleological argument.

Another recent development in teleological argumentation has involved an argument from fine-tuning.

Fine tuning arguments contend that life would not exist were it not for the fact that multiple physical parameters (e.g., the cosmological constant and the ratio of the mass of the neutron to the mass of the proton) have numerical values that fall within a range of values known to be life-permitting that is very narrow compared to the range of values that are compatible with current physical theory and are known to be life-prohibiting. For example, even minor changes to the nuclear weak force would not have allowed for stars, nor would stars have endured if the ratio of electromagnetism to gravity had been much different. John Leslie observes:

Alterations by less than one part in a billion to the expansion speed early in the Big Bang would have led to runaway expansion, everything quickly becoming so dilute that no stars could have formed, or else to gravitational collapse inside under a second. (Leslie 2007: 76)

Robin Collins and others have argued that theism better accounts for the fine tuning than naturalism (see Collins 2009; for criticism of the argument, see Craig & Smith 1993). For a collection of articles covering both sides of the debate and both biological and cosmological design arguments, see Manson 2003.

A more sustained objection against virtually all versions of the teleological argument takes issue with the assumption that the cosmos is good or that it is the sort of thing that would be brought about by an intelligent, completely benevolent being. This leads us directly to the next central concern of the philosophy of God.

If there is a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and completely good, why is there evil? The problem of evil is the most widely considered objection to theism in both Western and Eastern philosophy. There are two general versions of the problem: the deductive or logical version, which asserts that the existence of any evil at all (regardless of its role in producing good) is incompatible with God’s existence; and the probabilistic version, which asserts that given the quantity and severity of evil that actually exists, it is unlikely that God exists. The deductive problem is currently less commonly debated because many (but not all) philosophers acknowledge that a thoroughly good being might allow or inflict some harm under certain morally compelling conditions (such as causing a child pain when removing a splinter). More intense debate concerns the likelihood (or even possibility) that there is a completely good God given the vast amount of evil in the cosmos. Such evidential arguments from evil may be deductive or inductive arguments but they include some attempt to show that some known fact about evil bears a negative evidence relation to theism (e.g., it lowers its probability or renders it improbable) whether or not it is logically incompatible with theism. Consider human and animal suffering caused by death, predation, birth defects, ravaging diseases, virtually unchecked human wickedness, torture, rape, oppression, and “natural disasters”. Consider how often those who suffer are innocent. Why should there be so much gratuitous, apparently pointless evil?

In the face of the problem of evil, some philosophers and theologians deny that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. John Stuart Mill took this line, and panentheist theologians today also question the traditional treatments of Divine power. According to panentheism, God is immanent in the world, suffering with the oppressed and working to bring good out of evil, although in spite of God’s efforts, evil will invariably mar the created order. Another response is to think of God as being very different from a moral agent. Brian Davies and others have contended that what it means for God to be good is different from what it means for an agent to be morally good (Davies 2006). See also Mark Murphy’s 2017 book God’s Own Ethics; Norms of Divine Agency and the Argument from Evil . A different, more substantial strategy is to deny the existence of evil, but it is difficult to reconcile traditional monotheism with moral skepticism. Also, insofar as we believe there to be a God worthy of worship and a fitting object of human love, the appeal to moral skepticism will carry little weight. The idea that evil is a privation or twisting of the good may have some currency in thinking through the problem of evil, but it is difficult to see how it alone could go very far to vindicate belief in God’s goodness. Searing pain and endless suffering seem altogether real even if they are analyzed as being philosophically parasitic on something valuable. The three great monotheistic, Abrahamic traditions, with their ample insistence on the reality of evil, offer little reason to try to defuse the problem of evil by this route. Indeed, classical Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are so committed to the existence of evil that a reason to reject evil would be a reason to reject these religious traditions. What would be the point of the Judaic teaching about the Exodus (God liberating the people of Israel from slavery), or the Christian teaching about the incarnation (Christ revealing God as love and releasing a Divine power that will, in the end, conquer death), or the Islamic teaching of Mohammed (the holy prophet of Allah, whom is all-just and all-merciful) if slavery, hate, death, and injustice did not exist?

In part, the magnitude of the difficulty one takes the problem of evil to pose for theism will depend upon one’s commitments in other areas of philosophy, especially ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. If in ethics you hold that there should be no preventable suffering for any reason, regardless of the cause or consequence, then the problem of evil will conflict with your acceptance of traditional theism. Moreover, if you hold that any solution to the problem of evil should be evident to all persons, then again traditional theism is in jeopardy, for clearly the “solution” is not evident to all. Debate has largely centered on the legitimacy of adopting some middle position: a theory of values that would preserve a clear assessment of the profound evil in the cosmos as well as some understanding of how this might be compatible with the existence of an all powerful, completely good Creator. Could there be reasons why God would permit cosmic ills? If we do not know what those reasons might be, are we in a position to conclude that there are none or that there could not be any? Exploring different possibilities will be shaped by one’s metaphysics. For example, if you do not believe there is free will, then you will not be moved by any appeal to the positive value of free will and its role in bringing about good as offsetting its role in bringing about evil.

Theistic responses to the problem of evil distinguish between a defense and a theodicy. A defense seeks to establish that rational belief that God exists is still possible (when the defense is employed against the logical version of the problem of evil) and that the existence of evil does not make it improbable that God exists (when used against the probabilistic version). Some have adopted the defense strategy while arguing that we are in a position to have rational belief in the existence of evil and in a completely good God who hates this evil, even though we may be unable to see how these two beliefs are compatible. A theodicy is more ambitious and is typically part of a broader project, arguing that it is reasonable to believe that God exists on the basis of the good as well as the evident evil of the cosmos. In a theodicy, the project is not to account for each and every evil, but to provide an overarching framework within which to understand at least roughly how the evil that occurs is part of some overall good—for instance, the overcoming of evil is itself a great good. In practice, a defense and a theodicy often appeal to similar factors, the first and foremost being what many call the Greater Good Defense.

In the Greater Good Defense, it is contended that evil can be understood as either a necessary accompaniment to bringing about greater goods or an integral part of these goods. Thus, in a version often called the Free Will Defense, it is proposed that free creatures who are able to care for each other and whose welfare depends on each other’s freely chosen action constitute a good. For this good to be realized, it is argued, there must be the bona fide possibility of persons harming each other. The free will defense is sometimes used narrowly only to cover evil that occurs as a result, direct or indirect, of human action. But it has been speculatively extended by those proposing a defense rather than a theodicy to cover other evils which might be brought about by supernatural agents other than God. According to the Greater Good case, evil provides an opportunity to realize great values, such as the virtues of courage and the pursuit of justice. Reichenbach (1982), Tennant (1930), Swinburne (1979), and van Inwagen (2006) have also underscored the good of a stable world of natural laws in which animals and humans learn about the cosmos and develop autonomously, independent of the certainty that God exists. Some atheists accord value to the good of living in a world without God, and these views have been used by theists to back up the claim that God might have had reason to create a cosmos in which Divine existence is not overwhelmingly obvious to us. If God’s existence were overwhelmingly obvious, then motivations to virtue might be clouded by self-interest and by the bare fear of offending an omnipotent being. Further, there may even be some good to acting virtuously even if circumstances guarantee a tragic outcome. John Hick (1966 [1977]) so argued and has developed what he construes to be an Irenaean approach to the problem of evil (named after St. Irenaeus of the second century). On this approach, it is deemed good that humanity develops the life of virtue gradually, evolving to a life of grace, maturity, and love. This contrasts with a theodicy associated with St. Augustine, according to which God made us perfect and then allowed us to fall into perdition, only to be redeemed later by Christ. Hick thinks the Augustinian model fails whereas the Irenaean one is credible.

Some have based an argument from the problem of evil on the charge that this is not the best possible world. If there were a supreme, maximally excellent God, surely God would bring about the best possible creation. Because this is not the best possible creation, there is no supreme, maximally excellent God. Following Adams (1987), many now reply that the whole notion of a best possible world, like the highest possible number, is incoherent. For any world that can be imagined with such and such happiness, goodness, virtue and so on, a higher one can be imagined. If the notion of a best possible world is incoherent, would this count against belief that there could be a supreme, maximally excellent being? It has been argued on the contrary that Divine excellences admit of upper limits or maxima that are not quantifiable in a serial fashion (for example, Divine omnipotence involves being able to do anything logically or metaphysically possible, but does not require actually doing the greatest number of acts or a series of acts of which there can be no more).

Those concerned with the problem of evil clash over the question of how one assesses the likelihood of Divine existence. Someone who reports seeing no point to the existence of evil or no justification for God to allow it seems to imply that if there were a point they would see it. Note the difference between seeing no point and not seeing a point. In the cosmic case, is it clear that if there were a reason justifying the existence of evil, we would see it? William Rowe thinks some plausible understanding of God’s justificatory reason for allowing the evil should be detectable, but that there are cases of evil that are altogether gratuitous. Defenders like William Hasker (1989) and Stephen Wykstra (1984) reply that these cases are not decisive counter-examples to the claim that there is a good God. These philosophers hold that we can recognize evil and grasp our duty to do all in our power to prevent or alleviate it. But we should not take our failure to see what reason God might have for allowing evil to count as grounds for thinking that there is no reason. This later move has led to a position commonly called skeptical theism . Michael Bergmann, Michael Rea, William Alston and others have argued that we have good reason to be skeptical about whether we can assess whether ostensibly gratuitous evils may or may not be permitted by an all-good God (Bergmann 2012a and 2012b, 2001; Bergmann & Rea 2005; for criticism see Almeida & Oppy 2003; Draper 2014, 2013, 1996). Overall, it needs to be noted that from the alleged fact that we would be unlikely to see a reason for God to allow some evil if there were one, it only follows that our failure to see such a reason is not strong evidence against theism.

For an interesting practical application of the traditional problem of evil to the topic of the ethics of procreation, see Marsh 2015. It has been argued that if one does believe that the world is not good, then that can provide a prima facie reason against procreation. Why should one bring children into a world that is not good? Another interesting, recent development in the philosophy of religion literature has been the engagement of philosophers with ostensible evils that God commands in the Bible (see Bergmann, Murray, & Rea 2010). For a fascinating engagement with the problem of evil that employs Biblical narratives, see Eleonore Stumps’ Wandering in Darkness (2010). The treatment of the problem of evil has also extended to important reflection on the suffering of non-human animals (see S. Clark 1987, 1995, 2017; Murray 2008; Meister 2018). Problems raised by evil and suffering are multifarious and are being addressed by contemporary philosophers across the religious and non-religious spectrums. See, for example, The History of Evil edited by Meister and Taliaferro, in six volumes with over 130 contributors from virtually all religious and secular points of view, and the recent The Cambridge Companion to the Problem of Evil edited by Meister and Moser (2017).

Some portraits of an afterlife seem to have little bearing on our response to the magnitude of evil here and now. Does it help to understand why God allows evil if all victims will receive happiness later? But it is difficult to treat the possibility of an afterlife as entirely irrelevant. Is death the annihilation of persons or an event involving a transfiguration to a higher state? If you do not think that it matters whether persons continue to exist after death, then such speculation is of little consequence. But suppose that the afterlife is understood as being morally intertwined with this life, with opportunity for moral and spiritual reformation, transfiguration of the wicked, rejuvenation and occasions for new life, perhaps even reconciliation and communion between oppressors seeking forgiveness and their victims. Then these considerations might help to defend against arguments based on the existence of evil. Insofar as one cannot rule out the possibility of an afterlife morally tied to our life, one cannot rule out the possibility that God brings some good out of cosmic ills. For two recent arguments against a positive theistic appeal to an afterlife, see Sterba 2019 141–156, and Ekstrom 2021;131–155 — compare with Mawson 2016.

The most recent work on the afterlife in philosophy of religion has focused on the compatibility of an individual afterlife with some forms of physicalism. Arguably, a dualist treatment of human persons is more promising. If you are not metaphysically identical with your body, then perhaps the annihilation of your body is not the annihilation of you. Today, a range of philosophers have argued that even if physicalism is true, an afterlife is still possible (Peter van Inwagen, Lynne Baker, Trenton Merricks, Kevin Corcoran). The import of this work for the problem of evil is that the possible redemptive value of an afterlife should not be ruled out (without argument) if one assumes physicalism to be true. (For an extraordinary, rich resource on the relevant literature, see The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology , edited by J. Walls, 2007.)

Perhaps the justification most widely offered for religious belief concerns the occurrence of religious experience or the cumulative weight of testimony of those claiming to have had religious experiences. Putting the latter case in theistic terms, the argument appeals to the fact that many people have testified that they have felt God’s presence. Does such testimony provide evidence that God exists? That it is evidence has been argued by Jerome Gellman, Keith Yandell, William Alston, Caroline Davis, Gary Gutting, Kai-Man Kwan, Richard Swinburne, Charles Taliaferro, and others. That it is not (or that its evidential force is trivial) is argued by Michael Martin, J. L. Mackie, Kai Nielson, Matthew Bagger, John Schellenberg, William Rowe, Graham Oppy, and others. In an effort to stimulate further investigation, consider the following sketch of some of the moves and countermoves in the debate.

Objection: Religious experience cannot be experience of God for perceptual experience is only sensory and if God is non-physical, God cannot be sensed.

Reply: The thesis that perceptual experience is only sensory can be challenged. Yandell marks out some experiences (as when one has “a feeling” someone is present but without having any accompanying sensations) that might provide grounds for questioning a narrow sensory notion of perceptual experience.

Objection: Testimony to have experienced God is only testimony that one thinks one has experienced God; it is only testimony of a conviction, not evidence.

Reply: The literature on religious experience testifies to the existence of experience of some Divine being on the basis of which the subject comes to think the experience is of God. If read charitably, the testimony is not testimony to a conviction, but to experiences that form the grounds for the conviction. (See Bagger 1999 for a vigorous articulation of this objection, and note the reply by Kai-man Kwam 2003).

Objection: Because religious experience is unique, how could one ever determine whether it is reliable? We simply lack the ability to examine the object of religious experience in order to test whether the reported experiences are indeed reliable.

Reply: As we learned from Descartes, all our experiences of external objects face a problem of uniqueness. It is possible in principle that all our senses are mistaken and we do not have the public, embodied life we think we lead. We cannot step out of our own subjectivity to vindicate our ordinary perceptual beliefs any more than in the religious case. (See the debate between William Alston [2004] and Evan Fales [2004]).

Objection: Reports of religious experience differ radically and the testimony of one religious party neutralizes the testimony of others. The testimony of Hindus cancels out the testimony of Christians. The testimony of atheists to experience God’s absence cancels out the testimony of “believers”.

Reply: Several replies might be offered here. Testimony to experience the absence of God might be better understood as testimony not to experience God. Failing to experience God might be justification for believing that there is no God only to the extent that we have reason to believe that if God exists God would be experienced by all. Theists might even appeal to the claim by many atheists that it can be virtuous to live ethically with atheist beliefs. Perhaps if there is a God, God does not think this is altogether bad, and actually desires religious belief to be fashioned under conditions of trust and faith rather than knowledge. The diversity of religious experiences has caused some defenders of the argument from religious experience to mute their conclusion. Thus, Gutting (1982) contends that the argument is not strong enough to fully vindicate a specific religious tradition, but that it is strong enough to overturn an anti-religious naturalism. Other defenders use their specific tradition to deal with ostensibly competing claims based on different sorts of religious experiences. Theists have proposed that more impersonal experiences of the Divine represent only one aspect of God. God is a person or is person-like, but God can also be experienced, for example, as sheer luminous unity. Hindus have claimed the experience of God as personal is only one stage in the overall journey of the soul to truth, the highest truth being that Brahman transcends personhood. (For a discussion of these objections and replies and references, see Taliaferro 1998.)

How one settles the argument will depend on one’s overall convictions in many areas of philosophy. The holistic, interwoven nature of both theistic and atheistic arguments can be readily illustrated. If you diminish the implications of religious experience and have a high standard regarding the burden of proof for any sort of religious outlook, then it is highly likely that the classical arguments for God’s existence will not be persuasive. Moreover, if one thinks that theism can be shown to be intellectually confused from the start, then theistic arguments from religious experience will carry little weight. Testimony to have experienced God will have no more weight than testimony to have experienced a round square, and non-religious explanations of religious experience—like those of Freud (a result of wish-fulfillment), Marx (a reflection of the economic base), or Durkheim (a product of social forces)—will increase their appeal. If, on the other hand, you think the theistic picture is coherent and that the testimony of religious experience provides some evidence for theism, then your assessment of the classical theistic arguments might be more favorable, for they would serve to corroborate and further support what you already have some reason to believe. From such a vantage point, appeal to wish-fulfillment, economics, and social forces might have a role, but the role is to explain why some parties do not have experiences of God and to counter the charge that failure to have such experiences provides evidence that there is no religious reality. (For an excellent collection of recent work on explaining the emergence and continuation of religious experience, see Schloss & Murray (eds.) 2009.)

There is not space to cover the many other arguments for and against the existence of God, but several additional arguments are briefly noted. The argument from miracles starts from specific extraordinary events, arguing that they provide reasons for believing there to be a supernatural agent or, more modestly, reasons for skepticism about the sufficiency of a naturalistic world view. The argument has attracted much philosophical attention, especially since David Hume’s rejection of miracles. The debate has turned mainly on how one defines a miracle, understands the laws of nature, and specifies the principles of evidence that govern the explanation of highly unusual historical occurrences. There is considerable debate over whether Hume’s case against miracles simply begs the question against “believers”. Detailed exposition is impossible in this short entry. Taliaferro has argued elsewhere that Hume’s case against the rationality of belief in miracles is best seen as part of his overall case for a form of naturalism (Taliaferro 2005b).

There are various arguments that are advanced to motivate religious belief. One of the most interesting and popular is a wager argument often associated with Pascal (1623–1662). It is designed to offer practical reasons to cultivate a belief in God. Imagine that you are unsure whether there is or is not a God. You have it within your power to live on either assumption and perhaps, through various practices, to get yourself to believe one or the other. There would be good consequences of believing in God even if your belief were false, and if the belief were true you would receive even greater good. There would also be good consequences of believing that there is no God, but in this case the consequences would not alter if you were correct. If, however, you believe that there is no God and you are wrong, then you would risk losing the many goods which follow from the belief that God exists and from actual Divine existence. On this basis, it may seem reasonable to believe there is a God.

In different forms the argument may be given a rough edge (for example, imagine that if you do not believe in God and there is a God, hell is waiting). It may be put as an appeal to individual self-interest (you will be better off) or more generally (believers whose lives are bound together can realize some of the goods comprising a mature religious life). Objectors worry about whether one ever is able to bring choices down to just such a narrow selection—for example, to choose either theism or naturalism. Some think the argument is too thoroughly egotistic and thus offensive to religion. Many of these objections have generated some plausible replies (Rescher 1985). (For a thoroughgoing exploration of the relevant arguments, see the collection of essays edited by Jeffrey Jordan (1994).)

Recent work on Pascalian wagering has a bearing on work on the nature of faith (is it voluntary or involuntary?), its value (when, if ever, is it a virtue?), and relation to evidence (insofar as faith involves belief, is it possible to have faith without evidence?). For an overview and promising analysis, see Chappell (1996), Swinburne (1979), Schellenberg (2005), and Rota (2016). A promising feature of such new work is that it is often accompanied by a rich understanding of revelation that is not limited to a sacred scripture, but sees a revelatory role in scripture plus the history of its interpretation, the use of creeds, icons, and so on (see the work of William Abraham [1998]).

A burgeoning question in recent years is whether the cognitive science of religion (CSR) has significance for the truth or rationality of religious commitment. According to CSR, belief in supernatural agents appears to be cognitively natural (Barrett 2004, Kelemen 2004, Dennett 2006, De Cruz, H., & De Smedt, J. 2010) and easy to spread (Boyer 2001). The naturalness of religion thesis has led some, including Alvin Plantinga it seems (2011: 60), to imply that we have scientific evidence for Calvin’s sensus divinitatis . But others have argued that CSR can intensify the problem of divine hiddenness, since diverse religious concepts are cognitively natural and early humans seem to have lacked anything like a theistic concept (Marsh 2013). There are many other questions being investigated about CSR, such as whether it provides a debunking challenge to religion (Murray & Schloss 2009), whether it poses a cultural challenge for religious outlooks like Schellenberg’s Ultimism (Marsh 2014), and whether it challenges human dignity (Audi 2013). Needless to say, at the present time, there is nothing like a clear consensus on whether CSR should be seen as worrisome, welcome, or neither, by religious believers.

For some further work on the framework of assessing the evidence for and against theism (and other religious and secular worldviews) see C. S. Evans 2010, Chandler and Harrison 2012. In the last twenty years there has been increasing attention given to the aesthetic dimension of arguments for and against religiously significant conceptions of ultimate reality and of the meaning of life (see Brown 2004; Wynn 2013; Hedley 2016; Mawson 2016; Taliaferro & Evans 2010, 2013, 2021).

In the midst of the new work on religious traditions, there has been a steady, growing representation of non-monotheistic traditions. An early proponent of this expanded format was Ninian Smart (1927–2001), who, through many publications, scholarly as well as popular, secured philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism as components in the standard canon of English-speaking philosophy of religion.

Smart championed the thesis that there are genuine differences between religious traditions. He therefore resisted seeing some core experience as capturing the essential identity of being religious. Under Smart’s tutelage, there has been considerable growth in cross-cultural philosophy of religion. Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000) also did a great deal to improve the representation of non-Western religions and reflection. See, for example, the Routledge series Investigating Philosophy of Religion with Routledge with volumes already published or forthcoming on Buddhism (Burton 2017), Hinduism (Ranganathan 2018), Daoism, and Confucianism. The five volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion (mentioned earlier) to be published by Wiley Blackwell (projected for 2021) will have ample contributions on the widest spectrum of philosophical treatments of diverse religions to date.

The explanation of philosophy of religion has involved fresh translations of philosophical and religious texts from India, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Exceptional figures from non-Western traditions have an increased role in cross-cultural philosophy of religion and religious dialogue. The late Bimal Krishna Matilal (1935–1991) made salient contributions to enrich Western exposure to Indian philosophy of religion (see Matilal 1882). Among the mid-twentieth-century Asian philosophers, two who stand out for special note are T.R.V. Murti (1955) and S.N. Dasgupta (1922–1955). Both brought high philosophical standards along with the essential philology to educate Western thinkers. As evidence of non-Western productivity in the Anglophone world, see Arvind Sharma 1990 and 1995. There are now extensive treatments of pantheism and student-friendly guides to diverse religious conceptions of the cosmos.

The expanded interest in religious pluralism has led to extensive reflection on the compatibility and possible synthesis of religions. John Hick is the preeminent synthesizer of religious traditions. Hick (1973 a and b)) advanced a complex picture of the afterlife involving components from diverse traditions. Over many publications and many years, Hick has moved from a broadly based theistic view of God to what Hick calls “the Real”, a noumenal sacred reality. Hick claims that different religions provide us with a glimpse or partial access to the Real. In an influential article, “The New Map of the Universe of Faiths” (1973a), Hick raised the possibility that many of the great world religions are revelatory of the Real.

Seen in [an] historical context these movements of faith—the Judaic-Christian, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Muslim—are not essentially rivals. They began at different times and in different places, and each expanded outwards into the surrounding world of primitive natural religion until most of the world was drawn up into one or the other of the great revealed faiths. And once this global pattern had become established it has ever since remained fairly stable… Then in Persia the great prophet Zoroaster appeared; China produced Lao-tzu and then the Buddha lived, the Mahavira, the founder of the Jain religion and, probably about the end of this period, the writing of the Bhagavad Gita; and Greece produced Pythagoras and then, ending this golden age, Socrates and Plato. Then after the gap of some three hundred years came Jesus of Nazareth and the emergence of Christianity; and after another gap the prophet Mohammed and the rise of Islam. The suggestion that we must consider is that these were all movements of the divine revelation . (Hick 1989: 136; emphasis added)

Hick sees these traditions, and others as well, as different meeting points in which a person might be in relation to the same reality or the Real:

The great world faiths embody different perceptions and conceptions of, and correspondingly different responses to, the Real from within the major variant ways of being human; and that within each of them the transformation of human existence from self-centeredness to Reality-centeredness is taking place. (1989: 240)

Hick uses Kant to develop his central thesis.

Kant distinguishes between noumenon and phenomenon, or between a Ding an sich [the thing itself] and the thing as it appears to human consciousness…. In this strand of Kant’s thought—not the only strand, but the one which I am seeking to press into service in the epistemology of religion—the noumenal world exists independently of our perception of it and the phenomenal world is that same world as it appears to our human consciousness…. I want to say that the noumenal Real is experienced and thought by different human mentalities, forming and formed by different religious traditions, as the range of gods and absolutes which the phenomenology of religion reports. (1989: 241–242)

One advantage of Hick’s position is that it undermines a rationale for religious conflict. If successful, this approach would offer a way to accommodate diverse communities and undermine what has been a source of grave conflict in the past.

Hick’s work since the early 1980s provided an impetus for not taking what appears to be religious conflict as outright contradictions. He advanced a philosophy of religion that paid careful attention to the historical and social context. By doing so, Hick thought that apparently conflicting descriptions of the sacred could be reconciled as representing different perspectives on the same reality, the Real (see Hick 2004, 2006).

The response to Hick’s proposal has been mixed. Some contend that the very concept of “the Real” is incoherent or not religiously adequate. Indeed, articulating the nature of the Real is no easy task. Hick writes that the Real

cannot be said to be one thing or many, person or thing, substance or process, good or bad, purposive or non-purposive. None of the concrete descriptions that apply within the realm of human experience can apply literally to the unexperienceable ground of that realm…. We cannot even speak of this as a thing or an entity. (1989: 246).

It has been argued that Hick has secured not the equal acceptability of diverse religions but rather their unacceptability. In their classical forms, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity diverge. If, say, the Incarnation of God in Christ did not occur, isn’t Christianity false? In reply, Hick has sought to interpret specific claims about the Incarnation in ways that do not commit Christians to the “literal truth” of God becoming enfleshed. The “truth” of the Incarnation has been interpreted in such terms as these: in Jesus Christ (or in the narratives about Christ) God is disclosed. Or: Jesus Christ was so united with God’s will that his actions were and are the functional display of God’s character. Perhaps as a result of Hick’s challenge, philosophical work on the incarnation and other beliefs and practice specific to religious traditions have received renewed attention (see, for example, Taliaferro and Meister 2009). Hick has been a leading, widely appreciated force in the expansion of philosophy of religion in the late twentieth century.

In addition to the expansion of philosophy of religion to take into account a wider set of religions, the field has also seen an expansion in terms of methodology. Philosophers of religion have re-discovered medieval philosophy—the new translations and commentaries of medieval Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts have blossomed. There is now a self-conscious, deliberate effort to combine work on the concepts in religious belief alongside a critical understanding of their social and political roots (the work of Foucault has been influential on this point), feminist philosophy of religion has been especially important in re-thinking what may be called the ethics of methodology and, as this is in some respects the most current debate in the field, it is a fitting point to end this entry by highlighting the work of Pamela Sue Anderson (1955–2017) and others.

Anderson (1997 and 2012) seeks to question respects in which gender enters into traditional conceptions of God and in their moral and political repercussions. She also advances a concept of method which delimits justice and human flourishing. A mark of legitimation of philosophy should be the extent to which it contributes to human welfare. In a sense, this is a venerable thesis in some ancient, specifically Platonic philosophy that envisaged the goal and method of philosophy in terms of virtue and the good. Feminist philosophy today is not exclusively a critical undertaking, critiquing “patriarchy”. For a constructive, subtle treatment of religious contemplation and practice, see Coakley 2002. Another key movement that is developing has come to be called Continental Philosophy of Religion. A major advocate of this new turn is John Caputo. This movement approaches the themes of this entry (the concept of God, pluralism, religious experience, metaphysics and epistemology) in light of Heidegger, Derrida, and other continental philosophers. (For a good representation of this movement, see Caputo 2001 and Crocket, Putt, & Robins 2014.)

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• Wierenga, Edward R., 1989, The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes , Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Wisdom, J., 1945, “Gods”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society , 45: 185–206. doi:10.1093/aristotelian/45.1.185
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1953, Philosophical Investigations ( Philosophische Untersuchungen ), G.E.M. Anscombe (trans.), Oxford: Blackwell.
• Wolterstorff, Nicholas, 1976, Reason within the Bounds of Religion , Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
• –––, 1982, “God Everlasting”, in Contemporary Philosophy of Religion , Steven M. Cahn and David Shatz (eds.), New York: Oxford University Press.
• Wykstra, Stephen J., 1984, “The Humean Obstacle to Evidential Arguments from Suffering: On Avoiding the Evils of ‘Appearance’”, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion , 16(2): 73–93. doi:10.1007/BF00136567
• Wynn, Mark R., 2013, Renewing the Senses: A Study of the Philosophy and Theology of the Spiritual Life , Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669981.001.0001
• Wynn, Mark, 2020, Spiritual Traditions and the Virtues , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Yandell, Keith E., 1993, The Epistemology of Religious Experience , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Zagzebski, Linda Trinkaus, 1991, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195107630.001.0001
• –––, 2004, Divine Motivation Theory , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511606823
• –––, 2008, “Omnisubjectivity”, in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion , Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, volume 1, 231–247.
• –––, 2012, Epistemic Authority: A Theory of Trust, Authority, and Autonomy in Belief , New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936472.001.0001

How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

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Acknowledgments

I am indebted to John Deck, Cara Stevens, and Thomas Churchill for comments and assistance in preparing an earlier version of this entry. Portions of this entry appeared previously in C. Taliaferro, “Philosophy of Religion”, in N. Bunnin and E.P. Tsui-James (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy , 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

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Home > Bible Facts > Writing a Perfect Religion Essay for College Students

Writing a Perfect Religion Essay for College Students

Modified: January 9, 2024

Written by: Daniel Gallik

Peter Smith, Editorial Director at Christian.net, combines deep insights into faith, politics, and culture to lead content creation that resonates widely. Awarded for his contributions to religious discourse, he previously headed a major organization for religious communicators, enhancing dialogue on faith's societal impacts.

Wonder how to write an amazing religion essay for collage? Here's a guideline that covers the basis of what to write and how to write.

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Are you a college student wondering how to write the perfect essay on religion? If yes, read on and find all that you need to know about writing a religion essay. This article will cover the basics and all you need to know about writing an excellent essay piece on religion.

What is a Religion Essay

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Well, religion essays are a kind of paper that relates to religion, belief, and faith. 

In college, many students will be required to write a few essays on religion. Students typically struggle with writing assignments of this nature since they haven’t learned how to write professionally. After all, religion is a highly personal subject, and objective discussions about religion can be particularly difficult and generally mind-boggling. 

As a result of this, many students prefer outsourcing their writing assignments on religion to a custom essay writing service like Edubirdie. On this “write an essay for me” platform, there are plenty of professional writers for you to choose from with guaranteed transparency on their profiles and reviews. After reviewing, you can simply choose a writer and you will have your essay delivered in no time. 

On the other hand, some students prefer completing such religious essays themselves to improve their writing. If you fall under this category we’ve put together some tips for you. for you to ace your religion essay.

Read more : Christian Blogs To Follow Before Writing a Religious Essay

Tip 1: Choosing a Topic for a Religion Essay

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Consider a topic that interests you, one that piques your curiosity . Though it’s said that curiosity kills the cat, it’s a much-needed drive in essays, especially ones that deal with theology and mind-boggling ideas. H aving an interest as your personal pedestal throughout is effective for your research and writing.

A contentious issue would make a fantastic topic for a religion essay because it means it’s a topic of interest to people and it gives room and framework to your arguments. An example can be whether hell is a truth or a myth . You can decide to look into where a particular religious idea came from and employ background information and opposing points of view to present your argument. Whatever the topic, always use the most reliable sources you can to back up your claims.

Next, contemplate what your stance is towards the issue and start to build your case around it. Are you for it or against it? Should this topic even be contentious in the first place? Are there other points that should be contended besides what has already been debated? Usually, a great religious essay identifies the issue and has tight arguments to support the thesis. But, an amazing essay is one that brings in a fresh perspective that’s been rarely discussed in class. So, work around that.

This step is usually the toughest, but once you’ve passed through it, the rest of the work is a breeze.

Tip 2: How to Write an Introduction for a Religion Essay

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Prepare your notes and an overview of your case before beginning to write the introduction. In contrast to creative writing , the reader expects your thesis statement and facts up front in an essay. Because of this, seasoned writers advise pupils to read more books and develop their own points of view. But occasionally it can be advantageous to grab an idea from someone who wrote it before you. It’s catchy and demonstrates your familiarity with the subject. The reader should have a clear understanding of what to anticipate from the article from the beginning.

How can you create a strong essay introduction? The components of a strong introduction are numerous such as some background information, a thesis statement, a purpose statement, and a summary of what’s to be covered. Essentially, your introduction is your first impression and a blueprint of what the entire essay will be. 

The topic and focus of the essay, as well as a few other important concepts, should be covered in the first paragraph. Along with the thesis, it should also give background details and the context of the argument. It should also describe the essay’s structure, which is outlined in the last paragraph. The importance of the introduction increases as the essay gets longer. Even though it may appear tedious, just like any first impression, the introduction is an important component of any paper. 

Tip 3: How to Write the Body of a Religion Essay

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Introduce the basic tenets and principles of the religion you’re addressing in the major body of your essay. Then, you should investigate the crucial components of the tradition. What are its core ideals and beliefs? What role does it play in society? How is it relevant in our current world? Textual support must be provided because this is an excellent approach to capturing your readers’ interest.

The promise you made in your introduction should be fulfilled in the body of your essay. Make sure to add new proof to the main argument of each paragraph in the body of your essay. Each paragraph should be concluded with a sentence that emphasizes the importance of the argument and connects it to the following one.

Tip 4: How to Write the Conclusion Section for a Religion Essay

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Your conclusion is a paragraph (or two) of concluding remarks that demonstrate the points you’ve made are still true and worth considering . Think of it as a final impression you make on the readers, you’d want to make yourself memorable Additionally, it should demonstrate that the arguments you made in the essay’s main body are supported by relevant evidence.

A great conclusion is also one that highlights the significance of your points and directs readers toward the best course of action for the future. This shows that you aren’t just someone who debates but someone who is also willing to try and better the situation.  Keep in mind that your final chance to convince or impress your audience is the conclusion.

Read more : Cultural Sensitivity in Student Essays about Religion

Tip 5: Find Proofreaders

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If I’d learned anything through my years of college essays, it’s to get people to proofread your essay. They are your safety nets. I’d usually find a coursemate or someone from my class to proofread. They are valuable second pairs of eyes to help you spot grammar mistakes but also in concepts that you may have applied. Next, find a friend that’s not from your course or class because they are an accurate assessment of how clear and cohesive your essay is. If they can understand what you’re writing, you can be sure that half the battle is already won.

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Home Essay Samples

Essay Samples on Religion

Composing your student essay about religion, it’s essential to research your subject first and avoid controversial subjects. The trick is to provide a clear structure that will focus on theological aspects of things. When you strive to compare different religions, do not write in a biased tone and work on your compare-and-contrast essay. The body parts of your religion essay must start with a good topic sentence as you address a particular concept or the roots of some religious notions. It’s always good if you can find reliable sources to support the facts. If you are not sure about some source or an idea that must be explored, you can either talk to an academic advisor or focus on a good religion essay example that we have prepared for you. These will help you get a basic idea of how such essays must be written. See the introduction part in every essay sample provided and don’t forget to stay respectful as you work on the differences and similarities. Check your grading rubric requirements twice. Regarding a good thesis statement, religious essays should only pose assumptions or compose specific claims that are supported with another sentence to avoid misreading or confusion.

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Home — Essay Samples — Religion — Religious Liberty — The Impact of Religion on Society

The Impact of Religion on Society

• Categories: Religious Liberty

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Words: 541 |

Published: Feb 12, 2024

Words: 541 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

• Herbert, David. Religion and Civil Society: Rethinking Public Religion in the Contemporary World . Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2003.
• Levi, Anthony. Cardinal Richelieu: And the Making of France . NY: Carroll & Graf, 2002.
• Neusner, Jacob. World Religions in America: An Introduction . Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.

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Essay on What is Religion for Students and Children

500+ words essay on what is religion.

Religion refers to a belief in a divine entity or deity. Moreover, religion is about the presence of God who is controlling the entire world. Different people have different beliefs. And due to this belief, many different cultures exist.

Further, there are a series of rituals performed by each religion. This is done to please Gods of their particular religion. Religion creates an emotional factor in our country. The Constitution of our country is secular . This means that we have the freedom of following any religion. As our country is the most diverse in religions, religion has two main sub broad categories:

Monotheistic Religion

Monotheistic religions believe in the existence of one God. Some of the monotheistic religions are:

Islam: The people who follow are Muslims . Moreover, Islam means to ‘ surrender’ and the people who follow this religion surrender themselves to ‘Allah’.

Furthermore, the holy book of Islam is ‘ QURAN’, Muslims believe that Allah revealed this book to Muhammad. Muhammad was the last prophet. Above all, Islam has the second most popular religion in the entire world. The most important festivals in this religion are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

Christianity: Christian also believes in the existence of only one God. Moreover, the Christians believe that God sent his only Jesus Christ for our Salvation. The Holy book of Christians is the Bible .

Furthermore, the bible is subdivided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. Most Importantly, Jesus Christ died on the cross to free us from our sins. The people celebrate Easter on the third day. Because Jesus Christ resurrected on the third day of his death.

However, the celebration of Christmas signifies the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Above all Christianity has the most following in the entire world.

Judaism: Judaism also believes in the existence of one God. Who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses and the Hebrew prophets. Furthermore, Abraham is the father of the Jewish Faith. Most Noteworthy the holy book of the Jewish people is Torah.

Above all, some of the festivals that Jewish celebrate are Passover, Rosh Hashanah – Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, Hanukkah, etc.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Polytheistic Religion

Polytheistic religions are those that believe in the worship of many gods. One of the most believed polytheistic religion is:

Hinduism: Hinduism has the most popularity in India and South-east Asian sub-continent. Moreover, Hindus believe that our rewards in the present life are the result of our deeds in previous lives. This signifies their belief in Karma. Above all the holy book of Hindus is ‘Geeta’. Also, Hindus celebrate many festivals. Some of the important ones are Holi-The festival of colors and Diwali- the festival of lights.

Last, there is one religion that is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

Buddhism: Buddhism religion followers do not believe in the existence of God. However, that does not mean that they are an atheist. Moreover, Buddhism believes that God is not at all the one who controls the masses. Also, Buddhism is much different from many other religions. Above all, Gautam Buddha founded Buddhism.

Some FAQs for You

Q1. How many types of religions are there in the entire world?

A1. There are two types of religion in the entire world. And they are Monotheistic religions and Polytheistic religions.

Q2. What is a Polytheistic religion? Give an example

A2. Polytheistic religion area those that follow and worship any Gods. Hinduism is one of the examples of polytheistic religion. Hindus believe in almost 330 million Gods. Furthermore, they have great faith in all and perform many rituals to please them.

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Free Religion Essay Examples

1601 samples of this type

Wondering how to write a paper on religion? Don’t know how to approach this controversial and debatable topic? We are here to help you! Here you’ll find religion essay topics, useful writing prompts, and a list of religion essay examples at the end of the article!

Religion Essay: What Is It about?

A religion essay is a paper that explores beliefs and traditions as well as their influence on cultures and nations. In a religion essay, you can also analyze the parallels and differences between various religious branches.

Religion studies are connected to philosophy and social science. That is why essays on the topic are often written in these disciplines.

Below are three primary approaches to compose the essay. You need to choose the one that stays in line with your assignment.

• Religion argumentative essay
• Religion persuasive essay
• Religion comparative essay

Make sure you state in your religion essay introduction that all religions are equal and have the right to exist. Now we may explore these types of papers in depth. Choose the one that applies to your task and write an excellent article with our tips!

Argumentative Essay on Religion

An argumentative essay on religion explores faith and its aspects. You prove right or claim wrong a specific concept you work on. You can discover the approaches of different schools of thought to some ideas. This is a reflection on questions that can be raised but cannot be answered.

These are the possible essays:

• Science and religion essay is on the relationship and contradictions between the two fields. Are they contested? Does creationism exclude evolution? At what point does religion become science and the other way round? Here you may explore the treatment of science among different religions. Compare traditions of the state where the research is approved and where it is not. There is a theory on atheism as a religion as well. Describe scientists’ views on this topic.
• Religion and morality essay is part of the debate on ethics and moral development. What is the difference between religion and morality? What is their connection to each other? What does a dignified life mean? You can argue on what is good and what is evil. Explain the roots of moral values. How have they developed out of religious traditions?
• Religion and politics essay puts questions on the role of religion in politics. Do these institutes have to be separated? How do religious states function? How has the bond of faith and state changed? Study the role religion played in various historical periods. You may try to defend the times when religion was the cause of wars. Or analyze the way religion has influenced the government’s programs.

Persuasive Essay on Religion

Religion persuasive essay sets a goal to reshape one’s mind on faith. There is no need to write about a wide-ranging concept or analyze a concrete notion. You aim to make others consider or even adopt the beliefs you promote. To achieve that, do not force your values, but use logic and strong arguments. Note pros and cons, so the reader knows your position from both sides.

The topics can be:

• Same-sex marriage persuasive essay on religion. It has to prove the need to legalize or prohibit this relationship. You are to give evidence about the benefits or drawbacks of such a law. Refer to the religious tradition of your culture and state. Explain the way morals change if you implement your beliefs.
• Persuasive essay: should religion be taught? In this paper, you need to define if there has to be a religious class or not. Do we have to explain to children world religions? American society is multicultural. So it is best to know more about the existing beliefs. Or are you sure that religion belongs to the past? Is there a place for it in the modern world?
• Freedom of religion essay is about one’s right to practice a religion or not. The first amendment to the US Constitution protects this right. Still, not everyone agrees with it. They believe religious unity is crucial to a society. You may try to adopt this point of view to prove these claims right or wrong.

Compare & Contrast Essay on Religion

Comparative essay on religion contrasts beliefs and traditions. What kind of relationships are among these faiths? What is their influence on each other? The goal is to define the similarities and contradictions. It is better to choose a concrete notion or practice. Then describe two or three religious scholars’ ideas on this topic. You may speculate on the future cooperation of this and that faith.

The titles are as follows:

• Compare and contrast: Buddhism and Christianity essay. Study the principle ideas and morals of these beliefs. Here you can describe the contacts of the Catholic Church with the Dalai Lama. Consider writing about Christ and Buddha’s teachings on the afterlife. What are their parallels? Do they have the same concept of the divine or not?
• Compare and contrast: Christianity and Islam essay. This paper can take as a topic the common roots of these faiths. How have they changed, and why are they so distinct? What are their principal similarities? Discuss the reasons for religious persecutions of the Middle Ages. You may explore Islam’s remains in the Iberian Peninsula.
• Compare and contrast: Hinduism and Buddhism essay. You may confuse these religions with one another, but they should not be mixed. They have many similar principles, but there are some distinctions as well. Compare Hinduism and Buddhism cosmology. How do these religions define karma and dharma? How do they represent gods and spirits?

How to Write an Essay about Religion?

These are some pieces of advice we recommend you to follow:

• Study your tutor’s instructions and ask him if something is unclear
• Think about an argumentative title
• Prepare a detailed outline
• Give a thesis in the introduction
• Make your arguments solid and valid
• Prove your evidence with reliable sources
• Do not make new points in the conclusion
• Place the best arguments at the beginning and at the end of a body part
• Reread the final essay and correct any incoherence
• Check the spelling and grammar mistakes

Hope our article is useful to you, and you will get an A+ essay. We also prepared some high-quality religion essay examples. Make sure to check them out!

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Introduction Jainism came about as a result of efforts to transform Hindu religion 2000 years ago. This religion was established almost same time as Buddhism. It was founded by Vardhamana, a prominent person who live in East India. The founder became very famous in 420 BCE when he was around...

Christianity in Malaysia: The Spread and Development

The spread of Christianity began in the first century. It continued steadily as different missionaries traversed various continents globally. Activities such as crusades and campaigns significantly influenced the success of the spread of the religion which started in Northern Europe before proceeding to other continents. Among the earliest regions to...

Safeguarding and the Bible Perspective

The term ‘safeguarding tendencies’ implies a range of structured actions of an individual determined to protect himself or herself from public criticism or other threats from other people, including both phycological and physical ones. These behavioral patterns are usually referred to as revealing a neurotic nature and lifestyle. There are...

The Observance of Prayer in Christianity Compared to Islam

Introduction Religious organizations provide familiar institutions of social cohesion and control in an environment. In the city of Los Angeles, many religions are being practiced due to the freedom of worship. Talking about how Christianity and Islam are prevalent in the city of Los Angeles today, these two religions have...

The Christian Worldview: Gospel Essentials Essay

Introduction Gospel Essentials and the Christian Worldview Gospel essentials are the subject matter of the gospel books, whose theme is forgiveness of sin and redemption, qualified by Jesus’ atonement (1 Cor. 15: 1-4 New International Version). On the other hand, Valk describes the Christian worldview as the underlying philosophical structure...

“Wonders of the Invisible World” by Cotton Mather

Wonders of the Invisible World is a book written by Cotton Mather, published in 1693, right after the Salem Witch trials. The objective of the book was to defend the role Cotton Mather played in the trials and is based on the man’s belief of witchcraft being real and perpetrated...

Importance of the New Testament for Christianity

Christianity is the world’s major religion with around 2 billion followers. Its central figure is Jesus Christ who through his birth, ministry life, trials, crucifixion, death, and, resurrection is believed to have offered the salvation and atonement needed by His followers from their sins. His nature and personality have been...

The Ministry of the Prophet: Meanings and Goals

The Calling, The Prophetic Voice, Character, New Covenant Prophets The ministry of the prophet is referred to as any ministry that depends on the gift of prophecy and revelations from God to guide the church to maturity or a specific direction. The prophetic ministry is seen most often in the...

The Importance of Studying and Understanding Different Religions

In my opinion, the study of different approaches to the study and comprehension of religions is indeed an exciting and important topic. The realities of the modern world significantly contribute to communication between representatives of different cultures. This can often lead to conflicts, including those that arise on religious grounds....

Deontological Ethics of Christianity

Deontology is derived from two Greek words, “Deon,” which means duty, and “logos,” meaning science. It is an ethical term that applies the laid down rules to determine whether a thing is right or wrong. The theory argues that rules should be followed without establishing the consequences of the actions...

• Spirituality
• Old Testament
• Relationship

The Old Testament’ Importance for the Modern Believer

Introduction Today, many Christians neglect the Old Testament, considering that it only contains bedtime stories and is not relevant for the modern believers. However, this approach is not correct. Studying the Old Testament gives a modern believer knowledge on the relationship between God and people, explains certain universal principles, helps...

Jesus Role in Fulfilling God’s Plan to Save the World

The bible as a religious book was written many years ago. It’s a religious book for Christians. Christians believe in God, the son and the Holy Spirit. Christianity acknowledges that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. The bible teaches about the history of the world in a religious perspective....

Fruits of the Holy Spirit and Its Nine Attributes

Introduction Holy Spirit can be considered as one fruit with nine parts as developing all the nine attributes makes the soul holistic and establishes a connection with God. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Howard). Letting the listed attributes into life...

Judaism and Buddhism: Similarities and Differences

Abstract The term religion is used to refer to the approach that human beings give to their spirituality as provided by their beliefs, symbols, narratives, and practices on a supernatural figure. Human beings express religious inclination through several ways; some of which include prayers, rituals, and music. There are different...

Ten Commandments in My Life and the World Today

The Ten Commandments hold a very special place in the hearts of all Christians, these commandments are believed to be written by God, and every person is expected to adhere to these Ten Commandments. It can be said that in order to have a good life one must follow all...

Life and Ministry of John the Baptist

Introduction The life and ministry of John the Baptist started several years before his birth. His coming is prophesied in the Old Testament, even before his parents were in existence. His life is well mapped out and planned by God since He foretells his role in his plan for salvation....

Steward Versus Servant Leadership in Christianity

Introduction Leadership style is the method or approach employed by a person while managing or heading a team. The leadership style is determined by factors such as an individual’s personal characteristics or traits, behaviors, and goals. Christian leadership styles have been in existence for a long time, and different people...

The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ in Christian doctrine is reflected in the Nicene Creed. It is the return from Heaven to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ in divine glory and power, which, according to the promise of God, will occur at the end of time. This is the...

Religion as a Belief System: What Is It?

Introduction A belief system, as is generally understood, contains high values, moral ideas and thoughts which provide a moral lesson. An overview identifies different types of belief systems that have been prevailing in the modern world. One can regard “belief system is the actual set of precepts from which you...

Comparison Between Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhism and Christianity are the religions that have many believers from different parts of the world. The two religions may be seen as distinct, but they still share some beliefs and teachings. Buddhism entails teachings about Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as Buddha, while Christianity is based on the belief in...

• Interpretation

Ministry of the Prophets, Bible Prophets and Their Prophecies

Prophetic ministry at its core is the act of leading and guiding the church based on revelations from God and gift of the prophesy. The Scriptures present multiple examples of prophetic ministry. The Old Testament has a significant number of prophets. There are the central ones who directly communicated with...

Critical Introduction to the Book of Matthew

Introduction The book of Matthew is the first in the New Testament and was written by Saint Matthew, the evangelist. The book primarily discusses the accounts of the life and death of Jesus Christ. The gospel was initially written in Greek sometimes after 69 CE and depended on the earlier...

China Buddhism vs. Japan Buddhism and Shintoism

Buddhism is a religion that uses Buddha’s perspective, such as the traditions and beliefs attributed to the religious faith. It is believed that Buddha lived and taught in some parts of India during the fourth century BCE (Miura, 2018). Buddhism has been getting popular in many countries, for example, Japan...

Religion Study: Analysis of Exodus 32:7-14

Introduction In the Book of Exodus, one of the most daring confrontations with God is the Golden Calf event. The story revolves around the people of Israel who doubted the divinity of the Lord and describes how God and Moses reacted to this treachery. The narrative reveals how arrogant and...

“In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon

Since its publication in 1896, “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon became widely popular in Christian circles. Part of the success of this religious fiction novel lies in its focus on timeless concepts of love and compassion and the responsibility we share to care for those in need. In his...

Islamic Culture, Politics and Religion

In the Arab world, the word ‘Islam’ means submission and peace. As a term, it refers to the messages revealed to Muhammad by Allah. Cultural practices and beliefs associated with the people who practice this religion give rise to Islamic culture. In the recent past, the religion has spread into...

Effective Leadership: The Biblical Perspective

Effective leadership from a biblical perspective is a God manifested character to influence and serve others through Christ’s interests to accomplish God’s purposes. In a Christian community, leaders should be guided by the Holy Spirit to collaborate and adopt good attributes to execute their duties without fear. Jesus demonstrated effective...

The Impact of Apostle Paul Leadership Style

Introduction Apostle Paul is considered the most important person after the death of Jesus due to his influence on Christian theology. He used a transformational leadership approach to inspire change in the followers. This is a leadership style where a leader collaborates with employees to identify the desired change, develops...

How Do Religions Both Unite and Divide Humanity?

Introduction Even in the age of secularity and diversity, religion permeates essential aspects of human society, such as law, morality, ethics, and economy. The power of faith can either unite or cause severe divisions. Examples of unifying potential can be found in universal values upheld by the followers of different...

The Difference between the Qur’an and Other Religious Texts

The Qur’an is a central divine book of Islam, written in the sacred language – Arabic. Many scholars believe that the message written within the passages of the Qur’an cannot be imitated since the Book is unique and contains universal knowledge. However, despite the initial beliefs, the Book can be...

• Confucianism
• Western Civilization

A Fresh Look at Christianity in the Therapy Room

Everyone who subscribes to Christianity is expected to be a missionary wherever they are. However, there is a challenge in applying related beliefs while counseling clients as a psychologist. Consequently, the paper thoroughly analyzes chapters four through six of the book Embodying integration: A fresh look at Christianity in the...

Jesus Christ’s Ministries and Chaplain Behaviors

Introduction Parallels can be drawn between Jesus Christ and military chaplains, as both were sent to minister to secular and religiously diverse communities. As such, His example should serve as the inspiration for members of the profession, with His words and actions deserving emulation in the course of one’s work....

Comparing of Judaism and Taoism

The purpose of this essay is to compare the two religions, their main characteristics, beliefs, and conceptual and ethical attitudes. Judaism and Taoism are chosen as examples for comparison. Judaism is one of the oldest Western monotheistic religions, distinguished by belief in the one true God. Judaism is based on...

Exegesis of Jeremiah 1:4-10

Biblical Text The Call of Jeremiah The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not...

Christianity in Rome During the 1st to 5th Centuries

Introduction One of the most astounding developments in world history was that within five centuries after its inception, Christianity had won adherents throughout the Roman Empire, including the backing of the Roman state. Christianity started as an apparently unknown sect of Judaism. It survived persecution to become an important part...

Decline of Christianity in Europe

Christianity is the largest religion in the world, with more than two billion adherents. Christian faith includes numerous branches, the most popular of which are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Protestantism. Even though all the branches are diverse in terms of canons and rituals, all of them...

The Reflection of Shinto in Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki

The animated film Spirited away, produced by Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, contains many sacred Shinto motives and folklore reflections. The film’s plot follows the story of a 10-year-old girl named Chihiro Ogino, who finds herself in a world inhabited by ghosts and spirits. Although Hayao Miyazaki, being a big admirer...

The Connection of Spirituality and Mental Health

Nowadays, spirituality plays a huge role for many people around the world, and the connection between the inner feelings of every person with the outside world is a crucial part. According to Brown, et al (2013), spirituality has a strong relation to mental health, and while working on the religion...

Why Is It Important to Study Bible?

Introduction The Bible as the repository of wisdom and God’s written word is often taken for granted. However, it needs to be examined as the source of essential insights into the nature of human relationships and the use of ethical and moral standards based on which one should build relationships...

African Christianity vs. Western Rationalism

Introduction Christianity has spread to all parts of the world since its early days, and the cultural differences of those who adopted this religion shaped their religious beliefs, practices, as well as spirituality. African Christianity is characterized by spiritual and holistic nature, which encompasses the acceptance of the empirical and...

The Healing Ministry of Jesus

Introduction This paper looks at the healing ministry of Jesus. This ministry is one of the most acknowledged yet controversial parts of His work on earth. However, He is the most recognized healer because of His expertise and compassion, as the paper will illustrate. This research is based on historical...

Concept of Human Being in Islam

Background Humans are considered the most important beings among all the animals created as they can distinguish between right and wrong. Muslims believe humans are born in a state of purity, and as they grow, they make decisions that are by and against Islam teachings. The creator sent his prophets...

Jesus’s Teaching Methods and Messages

Introduction Jesus Christ is the most prominent figure in Christianity. The New Testament fully portrays his life, actions, teachings, and the legacy that remained. The teachings, specifically, have become a pillar of religious studies and illustrate the moral and ethical values Christians have nowadays in regard to having a righteous...

The Positive and Negative Aspects of Judaism

Judaism is a Jewish religion where members believe in a single deity who is the creator and redeemer of human beings, all forms of life on earth, and everything in the Universe. It is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in history, said to have begun with Abraham in Canaan....

“The Making of a Leader” by Dr. J. Robert Clinton

Abstract The Making of a Leader by Dr. J. Robert Clinton explores the complicated nature of spiritual dynamics. The book provides readers with numerous accounts of leadership stories that are meant to serve as guidance for emerging leaders. In the first chapter of the book, Dr. Clinton describes five main...

Message of the Prophets: Background and Interpretation

Introduction The Bible described many situations when people got to know God’s words from other people among them. Being chosen individually, prophets were expected to pass God’s message to others. These messages were aimed to communicate God’s will, while the predictions in them happened to be inevitable. Background and Interpretation...

Leadership Development Plan Based on the Bible Principles

Introduction Leadership advancement is the practice of cultivating governance abilities and proficiencies through various undertakings. During the process, individuals are taught vital management competencies that enable them to lead, encourage and direct their teams to success properly. Training is essential to cultivate a culture of headship throughout an establishment appropriately....

Reflection on the Book of Psalms

Introduction The Bible does not provide all the religious answers that believers may have; only the passages and translations open to interpretation. God’s figure is mysterious, fearsome, and impossible to fully understand; thus, some readers can feel confused or intimidated. However, the Bible touches on the Lord’s nature and provides...

Joseph and Yusuf in the Qur’an and the Bible

Introduction Prophet Yusuf is a character in the Holy Book of the Koran, the Bible, and Jews. He lived, preached, and died in Egypt in the sixteenth century BC, living for nearly one hundred and ten years. His name is mentioned twenty-six times in the Qur’an, and there is also...

Gregory the Great Life and Teachings

Introduction Pope Gregory the Great became a pope when the Italian province was in crisis, and the state appeared lawless, crumbling, and semi-abandoned by visitors to Rome. A statement by the future pope had indicated that barbarians had full control of the religion. The city’s state had made the Romans...

• Discrimination

Karma and Rebirth in Hinduism and Buddhism Religions

Introduction In many cases people face difficulties trying to differentiate between Hinduism and Buddhism religions. The two share many similarities though they are not identical but only have Indian origin. Besides, each religion teaches its followers to separate doctrines and values. According to Romero (n.d.), Buddhism is one of the...

Analysis of Exegesis of Numbers 21: 4-9

“If it does not kill you, it will make you well” (Barlett and Brown Thaylor, 2008, 101). This well-known statement that is used now as a saying is given in the presentation of the exegetical perspective of the analyzed pericope. It has its roots in the Scripture, mainly in the...

The Book of Job From the Bible

Background The Book of Job in the Bible informs why God allows evil in people’s lives through Job’s experiences. Job was a man who feared the Lord and was prosperous in all ways; he lived a comfortable life, was wealthy, had a big family and possessions. After God boasted to...

Old Testament Lessons for National Security Council

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to offer a set of applicable recommendations regarding the National Security Council (NSC) membership and operations based on the examination of the Old Testament kings’ advisors. The Scripture offers a number of invaluable lessons related to political leadership and a ruler’s need for...

The Concept of God in Christian, Islamic and Hindu Religions

Muslim concept of God Muslims are monotheistic, they believe in one God whom they refer to as Allah. Allah is an Arabic name for God; he is One and unique in everything he had created. Allah has no gender. He is self-sufficient as His existence is not determined by anything....

The First Three Kings of Israel in the Bible

Introduction The history of the establishment of monarchy and the reign of the first Israeli kings is described in the books of Samuel and the books of Kings. The first king, Saul, was appointed due to the fact that people turned away from God’s will; even though his successor, David,...

Critical Evaluation of Talal Asad’s Critique of Geertz’s Model

Introduction Religion is an integral part of the life of society, performing a number of important functions, one of which is cultural. Despite the fact that this area is ancient, there are still disputes among researchers about the significance of this institution for the individual and the state. Clifford Geertz...

Phenomenology Approach in Studying Religion

Introduction Many disciplines have attempted to define the field of religion to give it a substantive and universal grounding. However, some of these definitions have been found to be compartmentalized and narrow. The different methods used to define religion include phenomenology, comparative religion, historical approach, sociology of religion, and philosophy...

Analysis of “Surah al-Ikhlas” in Qur’an

This paper targets to analyze Surah 112 of the Qur’an, which consists of 4 verses. It is relatively short, yet considered to be one of the most significant. It goes under the name “Surah al-Ikhlas,” which in translation from Arabic means “The Purification” or “The Unity”. It contains many fundamental...

Symbols and Rituals in Religion

Introduction The word symbol is derived from a Greek word which is related to the word compare whereas rituals can be defined as actions which have a deeper implication than what we perceive at first instant. Rituals can be as simple as a blinking of an eye or as complex...

• Ancient History
• Ancient Civilizations

The Kingdom of God in Christianity

The Kingdom of God portrays the rightful society ruled by God, where each member dedicates to their moral and spiritual development, and the principle of righteousness and virtue is dominant. According to Christian beliefs, people fell from God’s grace thousands of years ago, being seduced to disobey His orders, after...

The Image of Christ in Mark’s Gospel

The Gospel The Gospel is an irrefutable witness to the divine humanity of Christ. As a God-inspired book, however, it was written by living people, each describing events as he saw and perceived them or as he heard about them from eyewitnesses. The inspiration of the sacred books refers to...

Psychology and Theology: Worldview Issues, and Models of Integration

Psychology and theology are often viewed as two opposing forces with no common ground and the proponents of which deny the merits of each other’s disciplines. Nevertheless, the two fields of studies have a long-standing history, although the relationship between the two can be described as problematic. Many people who...

How I Apply the Principles from Anderson’s Gracism

Humility is at the heart of Christianity, and every person who has faith must strive to adhere to this virtue. Being humble means valuing diversity in all of its manifestations, and to do it, one can rely on the principles outlined by David A. Anderson in his book Gracism. The...

Servant Leadership in the Church and Its Purpose

Introduction Leadership is a quality that people can be endowed with if they can manage other groups for development. In addition, leadership qualities are formed over a long period, thus becoming the result of a person’s experience. Among leadership types, there is Servant Leadership, the essence of which is the...

“The New Christian Counselor: A Fresh Biblical and Transformational Approach”

Introduction In their book The New Christian Counselor: A Fresh Biblical and Transformational Approach, Hawkins and Clinton seek to explain counseling from a Christian perspective. They consider what it means to be a new Christian counselor. Additionally, the book makes a distinction between old Christian counselors and new ones. In...

Developing a Personal Philosophy of Ministry

What I Believe About God What people believe about God can both be universal and personal since at the end of the day it is upon a particular believer to make his or her personal choice whether to believe in God or not to believe in Him. As to the...

The Watch and the Watchmaker Summary & William Paley Watchmaker

Curious to find the answer to the question, “Who is a watchmaker according to William Palley?” You’re in the right place! This essay contains The Watch and the Watchmaker summary of the theory and analysis of William Palley watchmaker argument in support of the existence of God. Sounds interesting? Keep...

Making Friends With People of Different Religions

Being educated and respectful of other religions Education of other religions is undoubtedly one of the most crucial parts of a dialogue with a representative of a different faith. Ignorance in such a matter might lead to misunderstanding and unwanted conflict. Besides, respecting other beliefs should prove to be very...

Socio-Historical Context of the Book of Romans

Paul wrote to the church in Rome when Jews were coming back to the city after their expulsion. A new emperor had assumed control of the empire, replacing the one who had dismissed the Jewish leaders. Besides, the Gentiles became in charge of the church’s leadership and changed the practices,...

• Civilization
• Nationalism
• Communication
• Colonialism

Theology: Virgin Mary as a Goddess

Goddesses have always been part of various pantheons during the various stages of human history. Their role is inseparable from the role of women in ancient, medieval, and modern societies, as religion was used as a blueprint for morality, proper behavior, and the establishment of societal and gender roles. Ancient...

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

The nature of evil No matter what an optimist a person may be, the surrounding reality is not always the merriest place for living. No matter what religious beliefs an individual has, everyone during his life bears the burden of suffering and faces evil. It is useless to deny the...

Is Jesus God? Critical Evaluation, Arguments for and Against

Introduction Diverse religious opinions arise whenever individuals hold different views about a certain spiritual issue. Most people respect the opinion of others about a certain topic. People appreciate that rational individuals can in differ in opinion. However, these sensible and tolerant attitudes lead to the formulation of two distinct lines...

The Book of Exodus: Brief Analysis

Introduction The Book of Exodus is one of the defining narratives of Western culture. It recounts the story of ancient Israelites being chosen by Yahweh to escape slavery at the hands of Egyptians and attain the Promised Land. It features many of the most famous characters and episodes from biblical...

Selflessness in Islamic Belief and Practice

The Five Pillars of Islam are faith, prayer, alms, fasting, and pilgrimage. The selected pillar for exemplifying the selflessness of the given religion is alms or zakat. All Muslims are obliged to allocate some of their wealth to charity to improve the community and support the people in need. It...

“Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling” Book by McMinn

Summary Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Mark McMinn is a book that reflects the professional experience and the wisdom of the author as both a teacher and practitioner. Combining the Scripture with the context within which counseling takes place in a rather complicated assignment that requires a...

Charles Manson and the Family as a Destructive Cult

Introduction There is freedom of worship in the US and one can join any religion she/he feels like. Everyone has control of his/her life and is responsible for the actions he takes. One can do everything that pleases him as long as his actions do not hurt another person. However,...

Comparison of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John

The Bible is the book of eternal wisdom and experience; it is the source that can provide answers to all questions if one is faithful enough and if he/she takes a deep look at the endless wisdom embodied in words. It is impossible for one person to convey this eternal...

Jesus and Confucius Comparison

Christianity and Confucianism are well-known systems of belief, based on the number of adherents and their significance. There are three more than 2 billion Christians today, whereas there are approximately 7 million Confucianists only. While Christianity is expected to remain the world’s largest religion in the nearest 50 years, competing...

Neo-Orthodoxy Theology: Barth, Brunner et al.

Introduction Neo-orthodoxy is a concept used in advanced contemporary theology, also called liberal theology. The views of neo-theologians are different from those of the orthodoxy on the basis of their approaches to the word of God. Neo-theology is a deviant view of the doctrine of the word and is in...

• Architecture
• Native American
• Social Work
• Biomedicine

The Meaning of Human Existence

Meaning of Spirituality Spirituality refers to the sense of connection to a higher being or purpose that goes beyond normal human understanding. In that regard, it is the connection that humans have to the divine. Spirituality can also be defined as the connection humans have to concepts that are hard...

Afterlife in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Introduction A basic belief that varies from faith to faith is that there is life after death. According to several religions, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, where followers of a common religion have diverse afterlife concepts, life takes multiple forms when a person dies (Kippenberg 110). Afterlife, immortality as a...

Impact of Religion on Individuals, Society, and the World

Religion plays an essential role in the growth of an individual, society, and the whole world. Religion acts as a guidebook on how people should live, driven by their faith and principles of life (Primal Religions, n.d.). Moreover, religious leaders are expected to teach people the virtue of love and...

The Biblical Creation Story

The Biblical account of the creation story portrays God as the creator of all matter who exists beyond time. The Christian understanding of the creation is that God as the master architect whose power is unfathomable. The Middle Eastern texts, however, propose the versions of the creation which appeal to...

Salvation Concept in Religion

What do (or should) Christians mean by the word “Salvation”? The Christian definition for salvation is deliverance from wrath of God brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation is a process which Witherington describes as: “one believe in ones heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, He...

Cross-Cultural Evangelism Strategies

Cross-cultural evangelism is the sharing of the gospel with people from other cultures. It involves getting to know people from other cultures, learning about their customs and beliefs, and then sharing the gospel with them in a culturally relevant way. An example of cross-cultural evangelism would be a missionary who...

Pastoral Ministry’s Goals Accomplishment

Introduction The work of a pastor, a shepherd for people in both trying and peaceful times, is noble but difficult. Some describe it as the highest of callings in life, while others add that it is very taxing (Tan, 2019). To provide for people in a God-honoring way, one must...

Global Challenges of The Muslims in the Modern Society

The presented research outlined and examined some of the issues facing Muslims in modern society, taking into account knowledge acquisition and global Muslim representation as the core aims in the study. One of the significant problems identified in the research faced by Muslims was the mass media misrepresentation and Western...

Women’s Role and Leadership in the Church

Most Christians think that women are oppressed, and their rights denied when limits are put on their roles in the church. This has led to the cropping of great challenges between complementarians and egalitarians on the limitation of women’s leadership roles. For instance, many women in the current churches fight...

A Belief in Helping Strangers

The collision of the two vehicles startled me. I swerved to the side of the road to ensure that I did not become a victim. My husband jumped out of the car before it had even stopped and rushed towards one of the cars that had been involved in the...

• Women's Rights
• Functionalism

Is Jesus Both Human and Divine?

Introduction The personality of Jesus Christ is one of the most interesting and a mystical one in Christian thought. The Old and New Testaments contain the evidence about divine nature of Jesus and his life as a human. The biblical facts suggest that Jesus was a man. He was a...

Buddhism and the Life Teaching of Siddhartha

Buddhism Essay Introduction Buddhism is believed to have been in existence, way before Siddhartha existed (United Press International, 2007, p. 1). Most scholars observe that the roots of Buddhism are very deep, and though Siddhartha contributed a lot to the development of the religion, many Buddhists believe that he was...

The Suffering of Joseph

The story of Joseph, son of Jacob, is told in the book of Genesis from chapters 37 to 50. As a young man, Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son because of many reasons. He was born when Joseph was advanced in age and did not expect another child. He was obedient...

“Viderunt Omnes” by Leonin

Viderunt Omnes is an old Georgian chant based on a biblical Psalm XCVII. It is sung as a gradual, which is a liturgical celebration of the Eucharist, mostly in the Catholic religion. The hymn is usually performed at the masses on such catholic and Christian holidays as Christmas and, historically,...

Hinduism and Buddhism: Similarities and Differences

Many religions take similar paths and steps to help their followers or believers reach enlightenment. Other religions require their followers or believers to accept one idea or creed. Some believe in God and others do not. Whether they believe in gods or not, each religion has its followers who believe...

Origin of the Universe and Life on the Earth

Introduction There exist diverse theories of the origin of the universe and life. This has been argued through scientific theory, creation theory, and myths theory. With these theories, people have different ideologies and views in accordance with what one believes in. This paper summarizes beliefs about the origin of the...

Religion: “Making Peace” Book by Jim Van Yperen

After reading Jim Van Yperen’s book “Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict,” I am convinced that the church is not always a place of reassurance and comfort. Sometimes, this community of believers is a battleground of evil – both literally and figuratively. While most people know that conflicts...

Religion Role in the Society

Introduction God is the originator of religion. He created the world and the people in it and established some general principles and laws which they were instructed to follow. God spoke through selected prophets who heard him speak and recorded his words (Johnstone 21). He revealed to the people through...

Abortion in Hanafi and Maliki Schools of Islamic Thought

Introduction It is a well-known fact that the Quran outlines the ethical and practical principles that were designed to be followed in 7th-century Arabia. At the same time, Islam as a global religion aims to translate a universally applicable worldview that, at least theoretically, should work in every situation and...

The Biography of Maramoas, Priest of Zeus

Maramoas was the priest of Zeus in Lystra, a city in the Roman Empire, which was situated on the territory of modern Turkey. He was mentioned in the New Testament in verses describing the idolatry in Lystra: “Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city,...

• Human Nature

Obedience in Faith in the Story of Abraham

Among the examples of steadiness and firmness in faith, few parts of the Holy Scripture are as impactful in this respect as the story of Abraham. The hardship he endured and the challenges he faced were colossal by any standard, yet his stalwart faith in God never wavered even in...

Secularism in the Current World

Introduction Secularism sometimes referred to as secularity entails the idea that something is not related to a church or religion. It is usually applied to explain an independent government that does not rely on a religious organization. The Secularism principle attempts to influence human affairs depending on the naturalistic or...

Religious Denominations Analysis: Christianity, Catholicism, and Lutheranism

Introduction: A brief historical background of Christian Denominations Considering the first stages of Christianity development, humanity knew no ‘denominations’ within the church; in 1504 there was first Christendom division between the Eastern and Western Churches with ‘Great Schism’. It is necessary to underline the fact that this stage appeared to...

Womanist and Feminist on Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit refers to God’s activity within followers. That is, if the Incarnation of God the Son in Jesus Christ can be spoken of as objective, then our appropriation of it is subjective. While God on the one hand does something for us, on the other hand, He does...

The Significance of the Ethical Pillars of Jainism

The non-Vedic native Jainism religion has an origination in India and Mahavira is the most prominent tutor of the doctrine of this religion. The main belief of the religion is that Universe is forever it is not affected by time, there is no commencement or an end and it is...

Religion in Candide: Theme Analysis

Introduction Candide is a satirical novella where the author employs satire as a weapon to unearth the corruption, hypocrisy, prejudices, and immorality that was prevalent in the organized Catholic Church. The strong criticism that Voltaire showers on the organized religion all throughout the entire story are to be understood in...

Cherubim Angels: Attributes and Meaning

Introduction It is common knowledge that angelic beings play a significant role in mythology and religion across the world. They are particularly renowned in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as the creatures who serve God and execute His will. However, researchers note that there is a tradition of...

“On the Soul and the Resurrection: St. Gregory of Nyssa” by Roth

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Three Essays on Religion

Author:  King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date:  September 1, 1948 to May 31, 1951 ?

Location:  Chester, Pa. ?

Genre:  Essay

Topic:  Martin Luther King, Jr. - Education

In the following three essays, King wrestles with the role of religion in modern society. In the first assignment, he calls science and religion “different though converging truths” that both “spring from the same seeds of vital human needs.” King emphasizes an awareness of God’s presence in the second document, noting that religion’s purpose “is not to perpetuate a dogma or a theology; but to produce living witnesses and testimonies to the power of God in human experience.” In the final handwritten essay King acknowledges the life-affirming nature of Christianity, observing that its adherents have consistently “looked forward for a time to come when the law of love becomes the law of life.”

"Science and Religion"

There is widespread belief in the minds of many that there is a conflict between science and religion. But there is no fundamental issue between the two. While the conflict has been waged long and furiously, it has been on issues utterly unrelated either to religion or to science. The conflict has been largely one of trespassing, and as soon as religion and science discover their legitimate spheres the conflict ceases.

Religion, of course, has been very slow and loath to surrender its claim to sovereignty in all departments of human life; and science overjoyed with recent victories, has been quick to lay claim to a similar sovereignty. Hence the conflict.

But there was never a conflict between religion and science as such. There cannot be. Their respective worlds are different. Their methods are dissimilar and their immediate objectives are not the same. The method of science is observation, that of religion contemplation. Science investigates. Religion interprets. One seeks causes, the other ends. Science thinks in terms of history, religion in terms of teleology. One is a survey, the other an outlook.

The conflict was always between superstition disguised as religion and materialism disguised as science, between pseudo-science and pseudo-religion.

Religion and science are two hemispheres of human thought. They are different though converging truths. Both science and religion spring from the same seeds of vital human needs.

Science is the response to the human need of knowledge and power. Religion is the response to the human need for hope and certitude. One is an outreaching for mastery, the other for perfection. Both are man-made, and like man himself, are hedged about with limitations. Neither science nor religion, by itself, is sufficient for man. Science is not civilization. Science is organized knowledge; but civilization which is the art of noble and progressive communal living requires much more than knowledge. It needs beauty which is art, and faith and moral aspiration which are religion. It needs artistic and spiritual values along with the intellectual.

Man cannot live by facts alone. What we know is little enough. What we are likely to know will always be little in comparison with what there is to know. But man has a wish-life which must build inverted pyramids upon the apexes of known facts. This is not logical. It is, however, psychological.

Science and religion are not rivals. It is only when one attempts to be the oracle at the others shrine that confusion arises. Whan the scientist from his laboratory, on the basis of alleged scientific knowledge presumes to issue pronouncements on God, on the origin and destiny of life, and on man's place in the scheme of things he is [ passing? ] out worthless checks. When the religionist delivers ultimatums to the scientist on the basis of certain cosomologies embedded in the sacred text then he is a sorry spectacle indeed.

When religion, however, on the strength of its own postulates, speaks to men of God and the moral order of the universe, when it utters its prophetic burden of justice and love and holiness and peace, then its voice is the voice of the eternal spiritual truth, irrefutable and invincible.,

"The Purpose of Religion"

What is the purpose of religion? 1  Is it to perpetuate an idea about God? Is it totally dependent upon revelation? What part does psychological experience play? Is religion synonymous with theology?

Harry Emerson Fosdick says that the most hopeful thing about any system of theology is that it will not last. 2  This statement will shock some. But is the purpose of religion the perpetuation of theological ideas? Religion is not validated by ideas, but by experience.

This automatically raises the question of salvation. Is the basis for salvation in creeds and dogmas or in experience. Catholics would have us believe the former. For them, the church, its creeds, its popes and bishops have recited the essence of religion and that is all there is to it. On the other hand we say that each soul must make its own reconciliation to God; that no creed can take the place of that personal experience. This was expressed by Paul Tillich when he said, “There is natural religion which belongs to man by nature. But there is also a revealed religion which man receives from a supernatural reality.” 3 Relevant religion therefore, comes through revelation from God, on the one hand; and through repentance and acceptance of salvation on the other hand. 4  Dogma as an agent in salvation has no essential place.

This is the secret of our religion. This is what makes the saints move on in spite of problems and perplexities of life that they must face. This religion of experience by which man is aware of God seeking him and saving him helps him to see the hands of God moving through history.

Religion has to be interpreted for each age; stated in terms that that age can understand. But the essential purpose of religion remains the same. It is not to perpetuate a dogma or theology; but to produce living witnesses and testimonies to the power of God in human experience.

[ signed ] M. L. King Jr. 5

"The Philosophy of Life Undergirding Christianity and the Christian Ministry"

Basically Christianity is a value philosophy. It insists that there are eternal values of intrinsic, self-evidencing validity and worth, embracing the true and the beautiful and consummated in the Good. This value content is embodied in the life of Christ. So that Christian philosophy is first and foremost Christocentric. It begins and ends with the assumption that Christ is the revelation of God. 6

We might ask what are some of the specific values that Christianity seeks to conserve? First Christianity speaks of the value of the world. In its conception of the world, it is not negative; it stands over against the asceticisms, world denials, and world flights, for example, of the religions of India, and is world-affirming, life affirming, life creating. Gautama bids us flee from the world, but Jesus would have us use it, because God has made it for our sustenance, our discipline, and our happiness. 7  So that the Christian view of the world can be summed up by saying that it is a place in which God is fitting men and women for the Kingdom of God.

Christianity also insists on the value of persons. All human personality is supremely worthful. This is something of what Schweitzer has called “reverence for life.” 8  Hunan being must always be used as ends; never as means. I realize that there have been times that Christianity has short at this point. There have been periods in Christians history that persons have been dealt with as if they were means rather than ends. But Christianity at its highest and best has always insisted that persons are intrinsically valuable. And so it is the job of the Christian to love every man because God love love. We must not love men merely because of their social or economic position or because of their cultural contribution, but we are to love them because  God  they are of value to God.

Christianity is also concerned about the value of life itself. Christianity is concerned about the good life for every  child,  man,  and  woman and child. This concern for the good life and the value of life is no where better expressed than in the words of Jesus in the gospel of John: “I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.” 9  This emphasis has run throughout the Christian tradition. Christianity has always had a concern for the elimination of disease and pestilence. This is seen in the great interest that it has taken in the hospital movement.

Christianity is concerned about increasing value. The whole concept of the kingdom of God on earth expressing a concern for increasing value. We need not go into a dicussion of the nature and meaning of the Kingdom of God, only to say that Christians throughout the ages have held tenaciouly to this concept. They have looked forward for a time to come when the law of love becomes the law of life.

In the light of all that we have said about Christianity as a value philosophy, where does the ministry come into the picture? 10

1.  King may have also considered the purpose of religion in a Morehouse paper that is no longer extant, as he began a third Morehouse paper, “Last week we attempted to discuss the purpose of religion” (King, “The Purpose of Education,” September 1946-February 1947, in  Papers  1:122).

2.  “Harry Emerson Fosdick” in  American Spiritual Autobiographies: Fifteen Self-Portraits,  ed. Louis Finkelstein (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948), p. 114: “The theology of any generation cannot be understood, apart from the conditioning social matrix in which it is formulated. All systems of theology are as transient as the cultures they are patterned from.”

3.  King further developed this theme in his dissertation: “[Tillich] finds a basis for God's transcendence in the conception of God as abyss. There is a basic inconsistency in Tillich's thought at this point. On the one hand he speaks as a religious naturalist making God wholly immanent in nature. On the other hand he speaks as an extreme supernaturalist making God almost comparable to the Barthian ‘wholly other’” (King, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman,” 15 April 1955, in  Papers  2:535).

4.  Commas were added after the words “religion” and “salvation.”

5.  King folded this assignment lengthwise and signed his name on the verso of the last page.

6.  King also penned a brief outline with this title (King, “The Philosophy of Life Undergirding Christianity and the Christian Ministry,” Outline, September 1948-May 1951). In the outline, King included the reference “see Enc. Of Religion p. 162.” This entry in  An Encyclopedia of Religion,  ed. Vergilius Ferm (New York: Philosophical Library, 1946) contains a definition of Christianity as “Christo-centric” and as consisting “of eternal values of intrinsic, self-evidencing validity and worth, embracing the true and the beautiful and consummated in the Good.” King kept this book in his personal library.

7.  Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 563-ca. 483 BCE) was the historical Buddha.

8.  For an example of Schweitzer's use of the phrase “reverence for life,” see Albert Schweitzer, “The Ethics of Reverence for Life,”  Christendom  1 (1936): 225-239.

9.  John 10:10.

10.  In his outline for this paper, King elaborated: “The Ministry provides leadership in helping men to recognize and accept the eternal values in the Xty religion. a. The necessity of a call b. The necessity for disinterested love c. The [ necessity ] for moral uprightness” (King, “Philosophy of Life,” Outline, September 1948-May 1951).

Source:  CSKC-INP, Coretta Scott King Collection, In Private Hands, Sermon file.

©  Copyright Information

Essay on Religion

Essay generator.

Religion, a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, has been a cornerstone of human civilization since time immemorial. It encompasses a wide range of beliefs, practices, and rituals associated with the worship of a higher power or powers. This essay delves into the essence of religion, its significance in human life, and its impact on society, culture, and individuals. Aimed at students participating in essay writing competitions, this exploration seeks to provide a thorough understanding of religion’s role and influence in shaping human history and thought.

Religion is a system of faith and worship that centers around the belief in one or more deities. It serves as a framework for understanding the universe and humanity’s place within it, offering answers to profound questions about existence, purpose, and the afterlife. Religions vary widely in their beliefs, rituals, and practices, reflecting the diversity of human cultures and experiences.

Types of Religion

Religion is a complex and diverse aspect of human culture, and there are numerous types of religions practiced worldwide. Here are some of the major categories and types of religion:

• Christianity: Followers of Christianity believe in one God and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible.
• Islam: Muslims are monotheistic and follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as written in the Quran.
• Judaism: Jews believe in the one God of Abraham and follow the Torah as their sacred text.
• Hinduism: Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions and encompasses a wide range of beliefs and practices, including the worship of many deities.
• Ancient Greek Religion: In ancient Greece, gods and goddesses like Zeus, Athena, and Apollo were central to religious beliefs and rituals.
• Shintoism: Shintoism is the traditional religion of Japan, involving the veneration of kami (spirits) and a deep connection to nature.
• Atheism: Atheists do not believe in any deities or gods.
• Secularism: Secularism emphasizes the separation of religion from government and public affairs.
• Buddhism: Buddhism originated in India and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). It emphasizes the path to enlightenment and the alleviation of suffering.
• Sikhism: Sikhism emerged in the Indian subcontinent, promoting the belief in one God and the teachings of Sikh Gurus, primarily Guru Nanak.
• New Religious Movements: These encompass a variety of smaller, often unconventional, and modern religious groups, such as Scientology, Wicca, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
• Indigenous and Tribal Religions: Many indigenous communities and tribes have their unique spiritual beliefs and practices, often tied closely to nature and ancestral traditions.
• Agnosticism: Agnostics neither affirm nor deny the existence of deities or gods. They often assert that the ultimate truth is unknown or unknowable.
• Bahá’í Faith: Bahá’í Faith promotes the unity of all religions and the oneness of humanity, founded on the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
• Confucianism and Taoism: These are philosophical and ethical systems rather than traditional religions, primarily practiced in East Asia, with a focus on morality, virtue, and societal harmony.

Historical Perspectives on Religion

The origins of religion trace back to the dawn of human civilization. Early forms of religion often involved animism, the belief that natural objects and phenomena possess a spiritual essence. As societies evolved, so did their religious beliefs, leading to the formation of organized religions with complex doctrines and rituals. Historical records and archaeological evidence provide insight into the religious practices of ancient civilizations, highlighting religion’s integral role in shaping cultures and societies.

The Role of Religion in Society

Religion has played a pivotal role in the development of societies and civilizations. It has been a source of moral guidance, social cohesion, and cultural identity. Religious institutions often influence laws, ethics, and social norms, shaping the moral fabric of societies. Additionally, religion has been a driving force behind significant social and political movements, advocating for justice, peace, and humanitarian values.

Religion and Culture

Religion and culture are deeply intertwined, with religious beliefs influencing art, literature, music, and customs. Religious festivals, rituals, and ceremonies are integral to cultural expressions, celebrating the shared beliefs and values of a community. This symbiotic relationship between religion and culture enriches human experience, fostering a sense of belonging and identity.

Major World Religions

The world is home to several major religions, each with its unique beliefs, rituals, and practices. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism are among the most widely practiced, influencing billions of lives around the globe. These religions offer diverse perspectives on spirituality, ethics, and the meaning of life, reflecting the rich tapestry of human belief and experience.

Religion and Morality

Religion often serves as a moral compass, providing ethical guidelines and principles for behavior. Religious teachings on compassion, kindness, justice, and forgiveness shape individual and societal notions of right and wrong. However, interpretations of religious morals can vary, leading to diverse and sometimes conflicting ethical viewpoints.

Religion and Science

The relationship between religion and science has been a subject of debate for centuries. While religion offers spiritual and metaphysical explanations for existence and the universe, science seeks to understand the world through empirical evidence and rational inquiry. Despite apparent contradictions, many see religion and science as complementary, each addressing different aspects of human experience and knowledge.

Religion, Conflict, and Peace

Religion has been both a source of conflict and a force for peace throughout history. Religious differences have led to wars, persecution, and division, yet religious teachings and leaders have also played key roles in peacebuilding, reconciliation, and the promotion of social harmony. Understanding and respecting religious diversity is crucial for fostering a peaceful and inclusive world.

The Personal Dimension of Religion

Beyond its societal and cultural roles, religion holds profound personal significance for many individuals. It offers a sense of purpose, comfort in times of suffering, and hope for the afterlife. Religious practices, such as prayer and meditation, provide spiritual nourishment, guiding individuals in their personal and ethical development.

Religion in the Modern World

In the modern world, religion continues to be a vital aspect of human life, influencing social, political, and personal realms. However, globalization and technological advancements have also led to challenges and changes in religious practices and beliefs. The rise of secularism, religious pluralism, and interfaith dialogue reflects the evolving landscape of religious belief in the 21st century.

In conclusion, Religion, with its diverse manifestations and profound implications, remains a central facet of human existence. It shapes societies, cultures, and individuals, offering answers to life’s deepest questions and guiding moral and ethical conduct. As we navigate the complexities of the modern world, understanding the role and significance of religion is essential for fostering mutual respect, social cohesion, and personal growth. For students participating in essay writing competitions, exploring the multifaceted nature of religion offers an opportunity to engage with one of humanity’s most enduring and influential institutions, encouraging a deeper appreciation of the diverse tapestry of human belief and experience.

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Essay on Religious Beliefs And Practices

Students are often asked to write an essay on Religious Beliefs And Practices in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Religious Beliefs And Practices

What are religious beliefs and practices.

Religious beliefs and practices are the things people believe in and do in their religion. These may include praying, going to a place of worship, or following certain rules. Every religion has its own set of beliefs and practices.

Importance of Religious Beliefs

Religious beliefs are important because they give people a sense of purpose and direction in life. They help people understand the world around them. For some, these beliefs also provide comfort during difficult times.

Types of Religious Practices

Religious practices can be different for each religion. Some may involve praying at specific times, fasting, or attending religious festivals. These practices can also help people feel closer to their faith.

Respecting Others’ Beliefs and Practices

It is important to respect others’ religious beliefs and practices, even if they are different from our own. This shows understanding and kindness. It also helps to create a peaceful world where everyone feels respected.

The Role of Religious Education

Religious education in schools can help students understand different religions. This can lead to more respect for different beliefs and practices. It also helps students learn about the diversity of the world.

250 Words Essay on Religious Beliefs And Practices

Religious beliefs and practices are the things that people in different religions think are true and the actions they do because of these thoughts. These beliefs and actions usually come from sacred texts, traditions, or teachings from religious leaders.

Types of Religious Beliefs

There are many types of religious beliefs. Some people believe in one god, like in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Others believe in many gods, like in Hinduism. Some people don’t believe in a god but follow teachings about how to live, like in Buddhism.

Religious Practices

Religious practices are the things that people do because of their religious beliefs. This can include praying, going to a place of worship, or following special rules about food or behavior. For example, Muslims pray five times a day, Christians go to church, and Hindus have a festival called Diwali.

Importance of Religious Beliefs and Practices

Religious beliefs and practices are important because they help people understand the world and their place in it. They can give people a sense of purpose and community. They can also guide people’s actions and choices in life.

Respecting Different Beliefs

It’s important to respect people’s religious beliefs and practices, even if they’re different from our own. This helps us live together in peace. We can learn from each other and grow as people when we understand and respect different religions.

In conclusion, religious beliefs and practices are a big part of life for many people. They shape how people see the world and how they live their lives. Even though there are many different religions, they all have something to teach us about life, purpose, and respect for others.

500 Words Essay on Religious Beliefs And Practices

Religious beliefs and practices are a part of many people’s lives. They are ideas and actions that are linked to a religion. A person’s religious beliefs can shape their views on life, the world, and other people. Religious practices are the things that people do to show their faith. This can include going to a place of worship, praying, or taking part in special ceremonies.

Different Types of Religious Beliefs

There are many different types of religious beliefs in the world. Some people believe in one God, like in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. These are called monotheistic religions. Other people believe in many gods, like in Hinduism. This is called polytheism. Still, others, like Buddhists, do not believe in a personal god but follow a spiritual path towards enlightenment.

Common Religious Practices

Religious practices can be very different from one religion to another, but there are some common ones. Prayer is a practice found in many religions. It is a way for people to communicate with their god or gods. Other common practices include reading holy books, going on pilgrimages to sacred places, and taking part in religious festivals.

The Role of Religious Beliefs and Practices

Religious beliefs and practices play a big role in many people’s lives. They can provide comfort and guidance in difficult times. They can also help to create a sense of community among people who share the same beliefs. For many, their religion gives them a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Respecting Different Religious Beliefs and Practices

It’s important to respect other people’s religious beliefs and practices, even if they are different from our own. Everyone has the right to choose their own beliefs and to practice their religion freely. We can learn a lot from each other’s religions and grow to understand each other better.

In conclusion, religious beliefs and practices are an important part of human culture. They shape our views of the world and guide our actions. They also help to create a sense of community and give us a sense of purpose. By respecting each other’s beliefs and practices, we can create a more understanding and peaceful world.

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• Essay on Religion Science And Society

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Religion Essay Topics: 40+ Interesting Ideas to Explore

by  Antony W

December 8, 2023

There nothing more complicated under the sun than religion. It’s a system of belief packed with controversies, differing opinions, and thousands of questions about human origin and the meaning of life. Let’s not even get started on the fact that religion has been and continues to be a driver of ethnic disputes and endless wars between nations.

As confusing and sensitive as it is, religion opens up an opportunity to explore different topics, even in your essay assignment. From the existence of God and proof of a deity to the concepts of love and harmony in human existence, there’s no limit to what you can write about religion. You just have to find a topic that fascinates you and start working on it.

Key Takeaways

• Choose a topic that you can explore objectively without a stint of bias or emotional attachment.
• Remember, religion is a controversial subject that requires the use of appropriate language that sounds fair and respectful.

Best Religion Essay Topics

The following is a list of 50+ topic ideas that you may find interesting to explore in your religion essay assignments:

Christianity Essay Topics

• How Christian perspectives on same-sex relationships has evolved over time
• The concept of salvation, as well as how it differs among various Christian denominations
• Progress made regarding the role of women in leadership positions within Christian communities
• Ways Christian traditions have influenced and shaped Western literature throughout history
• How globalization has affected the formation and maintenance of Christian identity worldwide
• How does Christianity intersect with and contribute to various social justice movements?
• What were the lasting effects of the Protestant Reformation on the diversity and structure of Christianity?
• The theological perspectives on suffering within Christian traditions
• How the historical relationship between Christianity and science has evolved
• What aspects of Christian values remain relevant and essential in addressing modern societal challenges?
• Has the Bible served as the cornerstone for shaping and informing Christian theology throughout history?

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Society and Religion Topics

• How religion has historically influenced and shaped cultural norms across different societies
• What transformations have occurred within religious institutions due to the rise of secularism?
• How religion has played a role in various social justice movements throughout history and in contemporary times
• The dynamics and consequences of the intersection between religion and politics in today’s society
• How globalization has affected the diversity of religions and belief systems worldwide
• In what ways has technology affected religious practices and rituals in the modern era?
• Does religion generally promote or hinder efforts toward achieving gender equality, and why?
• How does religion affect educational systems and curriculum development?
• What are the challenges and opportunities posed by religious pluralism for fostering interfaith dialogue?
• What societal impacts emerge from religious fundamentalism in various parts of the world?
• How does religion influence mental health perceptions and treatments within different cultures?
• To what extent do religious beliefs shape attitudes and actions towards environmental sustainability?
• How have religious traditions influenced healthcare practices and medical ethics across different societies?

World Religion Essay Topics

• How do various world religions conceptualize the afterlife?
• Roles that prayer and meditation play across different world religions
• How religion has entangled with or contributed to instances of violence throughout history
• The ways in which globalization has affected the diversity and interactions of different religious beliefs and practices
• The portrayals of women within the narratives and teachings of various world religions
• How Eastern religions have influenced and contributed to the development of spiritual thought in Western societies?
• The significance of prophets and messengers within different world religions
• How does the concept of karma manifest differently in Hinduism and Buddhism
• Tracing the evolution and changes in religious beliefs and practices across different historical periods
• How monotheistic and polytheistic religions differ in their approaches to spirituality and understanding of the divine
• What impacts did colonization have on the indigenous religious traditions of different cultures?
• How world religions inspired or influenced artistic and architectural expressions throughout history

Islamic Religion Topics

• How has the rich history of Islamic civilizations contributed to global culture and knowledge?
• What fundamental changes might we anticipate in the world if Islam had not existed throughout history?
• How the West shaped and created an image of Islam
• The nature and extent of Islam’s influence on political structures and governance in various regions
• How we can redefine and perceive a woman’s role within Islamic teachings and practices
• Challenges that arise in integrating Islamic legal principles into modern legal systems
• Prevalent prejudices and misunderstandings exist about Islam and the way they affect societal perceptions
• Is there an inherent connection between Islam and traditionalism?

Religion Argumentative Essay Topics

• Does doctrinal competency influence religious practice and belief systems within various faiths?
• Should we consider abortion as permissible or is it an evil practice from a religions and legal perspective?
• Are there core beliefs and practices in the world’s major faiths?
• Is situation ethics necessary to uphold a moral code in modern society, and what implications does it have?
• Does the concept of rebirth resonate and evolve within contemporary societies?
• Are there any reliable religious perspectives on the moral and ethical considerations surrounding abortion?
• Is there evidence that Martin Luther really leave the Catholic Church?
• Is adversity and pain across religious teachings and cultures?
• Women should not hold any role within religious congregations.
• What societal, cultural, and individual factors contribute to the emergence and spread of new religions?
• How relevant is Zoroastrianism in addressing contemporary environmental issues?
• Explore and analyze non-theistic world faiths and their core principles.
• How do various world religions reconcile their beliefs with scientific advancements in the modern era?
• What perspectives do different religions hold regarding LGBTQ individuals, and how do these views vary globally?

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223 Belief Essay Ideas, Topics, & Examples

Looking for belief essay ideas? Being a subject of numerous philosophical debates, the concept of belief is worth exploring.

🏆 Best Belief Essay Examples

⭐ personal belief essay topics, 💡 most interesting belief topics to write about, 📑 simple & easy belief essay titles, 📌 top belief topics to write about, 👍 exciting belief essay ideas, ❓ belief system research questions.

In your belief essay, you might want to focus of various philosophical approaches to the concept. Another idea is to compare religious and secular belief systems. One more option is to talk about your strongest personal beliefs and practices. Whether you have to write a high-school or a college assignment, our article will be helpful. Here you’ll find everything you might need to write a belief essay. Best personal belief essay topics and examples written by A+ students are collected below.

• Omnism: Belief in All Religions The practice of omnism has been in here for a while, but the definition of the term is quite young. In Japan, an omnism religion is called Kokyo was formed in the 1800s, and the […]
• Religion in Moliere’s Tartuffe: True Faith Versus Hypocrisy Notably, he uses religion as the major instrument of his influence as it is easy to become a mentor and guide through the hazards of the world.
• The Faith Concept and Types The concept of faith, types of faith and the criticism of faith are the key areas explored in this paper. The most common type of faith in the world is the religious faith.
• Faith and Materialism in Matthew 6:24-30 Due to simplicity, readers do not have to refer or infer to the original text in Greek or to the bible dictionary to get the meaning of the complex words in the text.
• “Confessions of Faith” Written by Cecil Rhodes In particular, the author argues that the citizens of the British Empire have a right to rule different regions of the world.
• Cultural Belief System: Experiences and Traditions In most communities, the belief systems form the basis for validity of governance systems in the community as well as the acceptable laws governing behavior in the society.
• Ethics and Faith in the Movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” In this motion picture, he seems to support the defeat of the religious as seen through the death of the most religious person in the story – Ben.
• Health Belief Model: Description and Concepts The concept is based on a person’s sufficient motivation to affect an issue, the existence of a threat, and the realization that the benefits are worth the cost.
• “The Ethics of Belief” by William K. Clifford On religious beliefs, Clifford advises that belief matters are private and that people have the right to choose whichever religion to believe.
• Kant’s Categorical Imperative vs. Kierkegaard’s Notion of Faith The reason of why Kant’s ideas are preferable to me is that the categorical imperative allows to define what actions are obligatory and which ones should be forbidden and to choose the way that is […]
• Ecologies of Faith in the Digital Age and Surviving and Thriving in Seminary Therefore, based on this powerful technique, I believe that embracing the concept of spiritual growth through the use of the online platform will enable me to learn from the online community as well as to […]
• Critique of Health-Belief Model by R. Davidhizar The primary objective of concept analysis is to examine the main idea critically to identify the themes of the design. The concept of health-related behavior is used in the field of breast cancer to enlighten […]
• “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” by Gettier In addition, the article reveals that the concepts of ‘the right to be sure that’ and ‘has adequate evidence for’ only work if the element of ‘justified true belief’ is not introduced in an analysis.
• Relationship Between Psychology and Christian Faith Truly, I have realized that sincerity is found in Jesus discipleship and the study of persona, but the varying aspects guiding the honesty are the belief in Christ and analytical thinking.
• The Circle of Life: Belief of Native Americans He shows the weakest and frailest infants being at the base of the hill while the oldest were on the top.
• The Relationship Between Faith and Charity The word church in the Apostles’ Creed, similarly to the Bible, refers to the people of God, the holy society made up of individuals who profess faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy […]
• “Midsommar” and Sublime Nature of the Belief The work’s title hints at the central theme that follows the plot’s narrative the power of belief in the higher force in the world.
• Martin Luther: Justification by Faith Alone The basis of the doctrine of justification by faith is the doctrine of grace as undeserved favor of God to fallen humanity.
• Christian Ministry and Personal Faith Moreover, should we want to focus on the Christian Ministry, and any other ministry for that matter, I think we have to get back to the basic teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this […]
• Human Experience and Development Of Religious Belief In an analysis of the role of the human experience in the development of religious beliefs, it is necessary also to note that the relation between human experience and religion is the exact background to […]
• Christian Faith and Scientific Disciplines It is believed that the introduction of philosophical naturalism to scientific thinking led to the development of the natural sciences. In contrast to the natural sciences, the social sciences focus on particular people and communities […]
• Mary Rowlandson’s Strong Faith, Captivity and Restoration Her strong faith helped her to endure her captivity and ultimately be restored to her family. Rowlandson’s faith in God gave her the strength to endure this difficult situation.
• The Importance of Perseverance and Self-Belief Of course, I was fluent in Spanish, which was my native language, but I faced a problem in the USA – I needed to learn English to feel comfortable and free.
• Adam’s Apples: Testing of Faith Adam, on the other hand, is skeptical and eager to confront the vicar, seeking to prove that Ivan’s miserable life is a sign of God’s hatred.
• Change in Belief System Their life experiences, friends, and exposure to reality are some of the factors that contribute to such shifts in belief and attitude towards diverse occurrences in life.
• Without Faith, There Can Be No True Virtue? It relates to the author of integrity and the dishonest virtue that occurs where there is no faith in God even if the qualities of an individual are the best.
• Faith Integration in the Hebrew 11 Passage The examples of people leading by their example and convincing others to accept the Christian faith as the [path to salvation are incredibly inspiring, which is why the specified part of the Scripture has a […]
• Human Belief in Myths and Legends However, suppose one understands the meaning and the reasons for their creation, which in most cases are similar regardless of the area of origin of the legend.
• The “Dynamics of Faith” Book by Paul Tillich Relying on the study of Dynamics of Faith, Paul Tillich would analyze the “dynamics of faith” present in The Plague’s Fr.
• God’s Healing Is Not Influenced by Level of Faith For example, in response to the courage that the woman with the flow of blood demonstrated, Jesus said that the faith she had made her whole.
• The Role of Faith in the US-Middle East Foreign Policy Moreover, the belief that the US was the nation assigned the role of fulfilling God’s promise to his people and the whole of humanity encouraged them to contribute to the well-being of settlers and natives […]
• Reason and Faith in Christianity It should be stressed that the two entities of theological justification are seen to be reason and faith. People must have both the right justification and faith in order to believe, as those are the […]
• Faith Integration: 1 Peter 5:1-4 The Bible verse can be applied to corporations that may take advantage of vulnerable consumers. Such an approach is detrimental to the consumers and the organizations.
• Pascal’s Wager: Belief in God as a Rational Choice It is one of the favorite tools of religious preachers who try to appeal to famous names and a kind of logic to convince people to enter their faith. The second argument against Pascal’s wager […]
• Evangelism in Daily Life: Sharing the Christian Faith The main Bible statement for Evangelism is “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”.
• How Christianity Faith Influenced Mathematics Christianity displays God to have qualities of order due to the fashion and timeline of creation. Divisive interpretations between Christianity and science challenge the interconnectivity of both fields.
• Faith and Transformational Teaching The authors say that being deeply and comprehensively trained in the field being taught is the path to success as a teacher.
• Perception of Faith: Perspective and Science I became kinder, more righteous, and wiser as I began to deepen my understanding of the Nature of things. I first noticed the influence of the gospel when I had to make a difficult decision.
• The “Your Grown-Up Faith” Book by Kenneth Parker The author shows the importance of the spiritual path in avoiding the traps of pseudo-spirituality and mysticism. The Youth’s Way is a challenging stage of doubts and searches for a place in the world and […]
• The Jewish Belief of Heaven and Hell in Comparison to New Testament The Old Testament Sheol is both the plan of dead souls in the direct and the state of the fallen soul in the figurative sense.
• Shintoism as a Faith Indigenous to the Japanese Currently, no central authority exists in Shinto, and practitioners employ a diverse number of ways to practice their faith Though the exact date of the creation of Shinto is not known, the variation of the […]
• Personal Reflection on Integrating Faith and Work The relevance of a Christian’s positive view of the sociocultural practices of other people is biblically supported by the story of creation.
• Augustine on Instructing Beginners in Faith The main thesis of this book is how to provide relevant instructions to the new converts. Therefore, improvements should be made to help in addressing the situation in most of the Christian conventions.
• Aspects of Belief of Jainism When learning about religions and philosophies, I find that origins or backgrounds are essential in interpreting the context and content of a religion.
• Christian Faith: Influence on Learning He discusses science and how humans are the products of the world they are endowed with feeling and thought, which are beyond natural.
• “Faith and Learning” by David Dockery The main feature of this perception of the literary text is that the reader should not look for the secret meaning of the writer.
• Preaching: Communicating Faith in Age of Skepticism Keller provides six approaches to preach Jesus from all of Scripture that are appropriate to both the message and the context of a given chapter to assist avoid these pitfalls.
• “Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism” Book by Tim Keller In his book, Timothy Keller underlines the centrality of the gospel as one of the major means to connect an individual and the Church and establish fair and effective relationships.
• Faith and Other Areas of Human Development From my point of view, there is undoubtedly a certain kind of connection between the development of faith and other areas of human development.
• Evolutionary Ethics vs. Belief in God In addition, the disadvantage of the evolutionary theory is that moral and ethical norms cannot be determined only to a biological degree.
• Spiritual Formation Reflection: Integrating Faith and Learning This strengthened understanding of the mutual necessity of faith and learning in becoming closer to God is a crucial result of this course for me.
• Philosophy of Religion: Approaches to Faith and Church The epistemology in this work is not based on avid socialism but a specific definition of concepts and their application to religion.
• Integrating Faith While Caring for Pediatric Patients: The Concept of Health The key points that the paper discusses are the need to care for patients, the desire to offer emotional support to them, the responsibility of personal sacrifice, and the call to be committed to the […]
• The Experience of Faith The major concern in religion is that the relationship between faith and spirituality is a frequently debated subject among all Christians.
• “The Ethics of Belief” by Clifford and “The Will to Believe” by James Belief in God is a momentous decision, and the benefits of yielding to religious faith outweigh the potential risks of error.
• Faith and Justice in the City. Seek for Justice It is crucial to have the same law and the same treatment to a foreign person and for a native-born, as equal treatment is one of the main aspects of justice, promoted in the Bible.
• Public Health Theories. Health Belief Model For example, it is difficult to understand the relationship between perceived severity of HIV and perceived benefits of engaging in positive sexual health behaviors.
• Discussion of Miracle and Faith in Medicine Thus, one of the most interesting concepts tackled in the topic readings is the evaluation of scientism as a means of explaining the phenomena of death, illness, and morality.
• Identity Formation: Faith Overview As a result, I made a commitment and took the responsibility for my decisions, which was a long process. Undoubtedly, my faith was helpful in the process of my identity formation in other areas as […]
• Islamic Belief Is Comprehensive The central theme of Islam as carried in all beliefs is peaceful co-existence and respect for other people’s religion.
• Spiritual Growth: The Sense of Spirituality and Faith In the read story, the author mentioned two basic methods of development, which consist in the sense of spirituality and faith.
• Religious Belief and Buying Behavior The main categories to be assessed are religious affiliation and religious dedication in respect to Hinduism and Islam. According to the research, religious affiliation and religiosity play a vital part in shopping conduct.
• Faith and Gods in Ancient Civilizations Thus, it was important for the people of Ancient Greece, Rome, and China to have faith and praise the gods they chose.
• Role of Faith in Social Work The first lesson of this book is that social work should be multifaceted to meet the specific needs of people, and it should consider the opportunities that every person has.
• Faith Integration and Strategic Management At the Adult and Teen Challenge Ohio organization, which seeks to offer support and encouragement to women struggling with substance addiction, the focus on the search of a spiritual core as the key source of […]
• Faith Integration: Opportunities and Threats Adult & Teen Challenge Ohio presently operates in Columbus, OH, yet the organization may expand in the future to embrace larger markets and address the needs of a more diverse range of clients. It is […]
• Analytical Processing, Religion Belief & Science In order to test validity of the difference, it may be necessary to conduct an investigation on analytical processing skills of individuals in science and in religion.
• Health Belief and Precautionary Adoption Process Models The agreement to change depends on the susceptibility of the risk. The study established that the construct of risk perception among the parents played a crucial role in determining the completion of the vaccination process.
• Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity in Health Care The universal Christian community believes in the power of prayer in healing and the clergy offer prayers and spiritual nourishment to the sick.
• Faith Diversity: Healing Prospects Muslims believe in the effect of the evil eye, jinns or magic, and it is this effect that results in illnesses with a supernatural cause.
• Reason, Motivations, and Belief for Conducting Cyber Attack The end is beneficial to the threat source and detrimental to other users. In fact, activities of cyber attackers make the Internet both a blessing and a curse.
• An Ethical Dilemma – Religious Belief Versus Medical Practice In the first step, the ethical dilemma is between the principle of beneficence in the treatment of meningitis and the principle of autonomy with respect to the decision of the parents.
• Religion: The Canons as a Standards to Measure One’s Faith The authority of God in the New Testament cannot be exclusively attributed in the writing of the twenty-seven books that make up the New Testament as is the case with the Old Testament or Hebrew […]
• Religion: Christians’ Belief in God So, in essence, he might take such turbulent times as a test of faith since the belief in the existence of God lies within the affirmation that God is in all things that we encounter.
• Modality of Family Faith and Meanings and Relationships in Family Life The theme of this study is to investigate two broad categories of modalities of faith in family life: first, what they value or seek, and how they relate to God or to others and the […]
• Acting in Good Faith: Contract and Agency Law To start with the validity of the contract should be analyzed; and in this case, the two contracting parties had agreed mutually to reduce the amount to a nominal amount of $150.
• “Strength in the Unfeigned Faith” To the extent of questioning the incarnation of Jesus Christ, I become skeptical in basing my belief on the knowledge of this world.
• Christian Faith and Work With Service Members In their article, Kick and McNitt discuss the importance of faith in providing help to the military members, veterans, and their families.
• Faith-Based Organization Services as the Best Means to Prevent HIV and AIDS in Southern Cameroons The HIV/AIDS issue was complicated by the fact that at the moment of this research, there was no cure and the only way of addressing the infection spread was through prevention and ensuring that people […]
• Belief and Evidence Between Religion and Science Therefore, they base their hopes on the belief that all will be well with them, and they will wake up to continue with their daily activities.
• “Faith-Sharing” by Fox and Morris The three concepts that I have learned from the text include the meaning of faith, the motivation for faith sharing, and the appreciation of the meaning of faith sharing.
• “Ferguson and Faith” by Leah Francis In this way, the religious activists may raise public awareness about the topical social issues in relation to the spiritual dimensions of human life, and engage people “in conversation about the theological imperative” in the […]
• Four Apostles’ by Albrecht Dürer: Protestant Faith Protestantism emerged in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century as the opposition to the Roman Catholic Church and based on the belief in personal faith and the connection to God.
• Spiritual Belief Is the Integral Parts of Human Beings In other words, the fact of the existence of the universe proves the idea of God responsible for the creation of such ideal objects and things.
• Reason and Religious Belief. An introduction to The Philosophy of Religion’ by M. Peterson The chapter reveals that God is imperceptible to the senses of a man, and unconditionally pervades all the reality known to man. Therefore, it is challenging to reconcile the concept of God with evil and […]
• The Chinese Belief on Death and Dying These distinctions are visible due to several cultures act of subjecting to an influencing experience of death in the African perspective, the keeping with the nature of the Bible or its times, the people from […]
• Discovering Faith: The Search for Truth and Certainty The author starts his article with “truthseekers” using reason and faith as tools to find the truth. As opposed to both extremes- Fundamentalist Protestantism and Christian apologetic- Taylor argues that it is wrong to ridicule […]
• Creationism as a Religious Belief The evolutionary scientists believe that the positions taken by creation scientists on the origin of the earth and life forms are irreconcilable to theirs.
• Aquinas and Faith: Theological Theories Aquinas asserts that true faith should believe in what has been revealed by God The agreement that characterizes faith is being wholehearted and not timid. Through revelation one accepts the propositions in faith that God […]
• Martin Buber: Two Types of Faith The first type of faith is expressed in the continuity of the nation which one is born in and he is a member.
• Voluntaristic Faith: Readings by Clifford and James Faith, according to the readings of Clifford and James is a strong belief inscribed in the mind of an individual that that what they think is right.
• Ethics of Belief: Term Discussion For instance, in the above example of taking your friends to a restaurant, you have to follow epistemic norm and the moral norm almost becomes obligatory.
• ”The Believers”: An Analysis of Belief & Faith Thus faith involves a process and belief is only a part of the process by way in which you acquire faith faith being the ultimate expression of belief.
• Islamic Faith and Ritual Practice In the Islamic faith, rituals, known in their religion as ibadat, meaning acts of obedience, service, and worship to God, form the foundation on which the whole faith is anchored.
• Vedic Hinduism, Classical Hinduism, and Buddhism: A Uniting Belief Systems The difference between Vedic and Classical Hinduism is fundamentally approach towards life rather than beliefs or reformation and the progression from the former to latter is not clear in terms of time.
• Ethics and Combination of Religious Faith, Ethical and Aesthetic Beliefs It is essentially described by the existence of pleasure and in living an aesthetic life to the maximum one has to aim at maximizing the given pleasures.
• Islam: a Restatement of Israeli Faith He did not have formal training or wisdom to have made any editorializing or modification to the word of God hence Muslims believe that the Koran is the pure and unadulterated word of God as […]
• Cherokee Indian Belief: Gateway to Modern Civilization The Cherokee learned the art of combat war from the Europeans and they used the same tactics later on to attack their neighbors in the frontiers.
• The Christian Faith in Geisler’s and Feinberg’s “Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Perspective” In spite of all this reason vs.revelation debate, there is an underlying determination that is made apparent in the book: this is the determination to overcome any kind of rationalist thought or idea and discount […]
• Islam: Connection of Belief With a Traditional Life Knowledge of the bases of Muslim doctrine is rather variously at various layers of the population and in the different countries of traditional distribution of Islam.
• The Conditions in Formulating a Reasonable Belief 2 Both ideas make sense, and the goal of this review is to compare the opinions of James and Clifford to strengthen an understanding of the connection between beliefs, evidence, and sentiments.
• Faith and Critical Reason Issues My understanding of faith is close to the definition suggested by Tilley, who argues that faith is the relationship between the person who has faith and that “which one has faith in”.
• Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith and Chinese Culture To support this argument, it is possible to read through the Awakening and note the parts that might have been influenced by the situation in China at the time.
• Cardiac Surgery vs. Faith Healing However, I believe that it is our duty as true Christians to forego any other interventions, including operations, since it has already been proven that it is wrong to go against God’s will.
• Core Values in Personal Belief System These are my core values and include happiness, family, friends, pleasure and financial security and stability. In conclusion, I agree that values are important to my life.
• Belief Systems in Generation X and Millennials As the purpose of the project consists in analyzing various belief systems pursued by Generation X and Millennials, it is purposeful to represent photos, statistics, and graphs uncovering the percentage characteristics in terms of the […]
• Reformation Theology as the Source of Religious Faith The three major teachings from Martin Luther regarding reforming the church include the fact that faith in God’s gift of forgiveness is very essential and is the only way through which individuals could win salvation […]
• Faith Development in Adolescents I believe my input was valuable for the patient and her faith development as she carved some of the spiritual pillars that would be helpful in her adulthood.
• Religious Belief and Academic Content It should adapt to the overall situation and change the nature of the speeches to reflect that the people’s righteousness was the cause of the good times and that their perseverance would help them overcome […]
• Faith and Excellent Systematic Knowledge In the context of a specific parish, one will need to encourage the promotion of parishioners’ education to ensure that they are aware of the key market principles.
• Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith is one of his writings that discusses religion that is close to the author.
• Philosophical Views: Faith vs. Science It is important to look at some of the philosophical views and philosophers that supported the concept of faith, science or both.
• Morality, Faith, and Dignity in Modern Youth The blistering evolution of society combined with the appearance of new opportunities resulted in the significant deterioration of moral and values which determine the nature of human actions.
• Mindfulness in a Faith-Based Education Setting The College’s overall strategy for the following years is to continue promoting education in faith to form the staff around the Lasallian values, improve their appreciation of these values, use the Lasallian principles as a […]
• Testing a Person for His Faith and Devotion to God Suffering is usually perceived as a negative experience since it is commonly believed that it is a punishment for the sinner.
• The Faith and Ethics Course: Attaining Ethical Maturity In Christian context, the Bible is the principle guide to ethical conduct and all actions should be in conformity to it.
• Faith and Ethics Role in Religion We will discuss two of the characteristics of the ethics of Jesus, that is, His new concept of love and the value of the individual person and how they can be incorporated in our own […]
• Christian Faith: Ancient Religion For example, ity teaches that Jesus is the son of God, he is the way to salvation, and he was sent by God to save the world from sin.
• Islamic Faith: Teachings and Practices Ahmed elaborates that Muslims in Middle East, India and Pakistan are keen and aware of the distinctions between the two factions.
• Religious Studies: The Rahman Discussion and His Faith in Islam Yes, Rahman believes in the teachings of the Quran because they are the basis of all his writing. He cites from the Quran that this day will be the Day of Decision.
• Religious Studies: Shinto’ Belief System This differs significantly from a vast majority of current belief systems such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and the Hindu religion wherein some form of the profession of faith is necessary to be considered a member […]
• Faith, Justice, War – and Human Rights in the Realm of the Present-Day World Quran: The Most Ancient and Sacred Islamic Book as the Basis for the Laws on Human Rights Considering the Issue from a Different Perspective: The Fifteen Postulates Security of life and property: bi-al haqq and […]
• Ushpizin: An Unshakable Jewish Faith This is a Jewish film owing to the title, language, setting, themes and even the actors involved in the film. The level of concern that they have for the Sukkot festival is indicative of their […]
• The Main Problems of “Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief” by John Frame One of the best ways to solve this problem is to approach it from the point of view of God’s love for mankind.
• “Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief” by John M. Frame The book goes further to analyze God’s will and power. Christians should use this book in order to establish the best relationships with their God.
• Integrating Faith and Learning Kotter and Keller provide that marketing management is the process of formulating and organizing marketing strategies to control the organizational activities as well as allocate the marketing resources.
• ‘Belief in Action: The Salvation Army, a Global Not-for-Profit Organization’ Strategic planning goes through a process from setting the mission, objectives, situation analysis, strategy creation, execution and finally control so as to achieve positive results and an effective plan of action.”Strategic planning is inextricably interwoven […]
• Rational Approach to the Issue of Belief In spite of the fact, objecting the position of Clifford, the person can support James’s views, and objecting the position of James, the person can discuss Clifford’s ideas as relevant, it is possible to provide […]
• The Individual, Faith, and Society Hobbes managed to overcome all the political and social havocs that affected his life and which were the major things that shaped the way he was thinking.
• Empowerment Through Art: A Biographical Study on Faith Ringgold But the key lies in knowing that the sickness is real, and her art strives to inform the masses of just that.
• Faith and Grace as the Peculiarities of Religion Analyzing the opinions of different researchers, it is possible to consider faith as a set of the moral principles caused by the personal experience of God, while grace is a gift given by God in […]
• Analyzing the Inculturation Process of Specific Historical Moments in the Development of the Christian Faith Inculturation refers to the process of going against the culture or societal values in the process of developing faith. This paper seeks to analyze the inculturation process of specific historical moments in the development of […]
• W. K. Clifford, ‘The Ethics of Belief’ Clifford provided an opinion in opposition to theism where his statements can be put in three points; there is inadequate evidence to believe that there is existence of God, it is incorrect forever, all over, […]
• Relationship Between Christian Faith and Science For this reason, science and faith are integral fields of knowledge that enhance understanding of the universe and human existence in the society; thus, theology should allow faith to correlate with science and seek understanding […]
• Cross-Cultural Psychology: Similarities and Differences in Belief Systems and Behavioral Patterns These similarities and differences in cultural backgrounds have led to emergence of cross-cultural psychology, a study on the interaction between diverse human culture, belief systems and behavioral patterns.
• Belief, Doubt and Modern Mind With the efforts to try and find solutions to one of the greatest mysteries, the ancient societies tried to come up with different suggestions that became a foundation for the creation of religion and religious […]
• Faith and the Future: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Jews can gloat and say that they are the chosen people but this is not a wise decision to make because they will be threatened on all side and in fact since two thousand years […]
• Philosophy of Religion: Argument According to Pascal’s Wager on the Belief in God In the philosophical argument presented by the book, Pascal’s Wager, by Jeff Jordan with regard to the existence and work of God, it emerges that people’s belief in God is often enhanced by self-interests rather […]
• Belief Without Prior Evidence This is one of the main points that one can make in response to William Clifford’s essay The Ethics of Belief.
• “The Ethics of Belief” by William Clifford While advancing his idea that there can be no justification for people to be blinded with irrational beliefs to such an extent that they grow deaf to the voice of reason, Clifford resorted to the […]
• An Individual’s Belief is a Private Matter In Clifford’s article “The Ethics of Belief”, the author argues that individuals’ beliefs are not private matters. In the story of the ship, had the ship not capsized, the owner would have achieved his aims.
• Faith and Family: Video Review The significance of a family as a building block of the community is enormous because it is important for each individuals to have a feeling of connection.
• Blind Faith vs. the Rational Approach However, the novelty of the approach wears off quickly, since the only original idea of the presuppositional apologetics is that Christian religion is the only rational explanation for everything that happens in the world.
• The Ethics of Belief: Based on Evidence or Inquiry In his essay The Ethics of Belief, William Clifford argued that every form of belief had to be based on some evidence or inquiry.
• Families of Faith East and West, Their Cosmologies, Core Beliefs and Practice Christians believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church and that God is the creator and the savior of mankind.
• Historical Background of Islamic Faith The fundamental goal of this pillar is to ensure sharing among the Muslims. Muslims believe that the purpose of sexual relations is to beget children.
• Buddhism: Analysis of the Religion’s Faith and Practices This includes the name of the religion followers, the history and origins of the religion including the founders, the name of the Supreme Being or God, as well as the name of the place of […]
• Criticism of “Our Faith in Science” The authors imply that scientific methods can help to prove the positive effect of Tenzin Gyatso’s practices in order to tell about this phenomenon to the international community.
• Belief in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” This is the beginning of his disbelief and loss of faith in good. This is the main factor which points to the weakening of the society in general.
• Religion: Reason and Faith Judaism According to Anon, this is one of the religions that have their origin in the covenant of Abraham with God.
• What is Theology – Faith and Reason in Theology Paul Ricoeur specialized in philosophy and of relevance to this paper are his thoughts on the effect of the past on the present.
• The Belief in God The existence of God is justified in the sense that existence in the mind as a concept limits the idea of God already in the minds of people.
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The Spiritual Beliefs and Practices of Incan Religion

This essay about the Incan civilization explores their intricate spiritual framework, which deeply influenced their society from the early 15th century until the Spanish conquest in the mid-16th century. Central to their polytheistic beliefs was the worship of Inti, the sun god, along with other deities like Pachamama and Viracocha. The essay also discusses the roles of priests, sacred sites, rituals including human sacrifice, and the impact of Spanish conquest on their religious practices.

How it works

The Incan civilization, flourishing in the Andes from the early 15th century until the Spanish conquest in the mid-16th century, developed an intricate spiritual framework that permeated every aspect of their society. Their polytheistic belief system was deeply enmeshed with nature and closely tied to their cosmological views and agricultural practices. Central to their religious beliefs was the worship of Inti, the sun god, considered the progenitor of the Incan people and the most important deity in their pantheon.

Inti was regarded as the divine ancestor of the Sapa Inca, the emperor, who was seen as a living god and Inti’s earthly representative.

This divine connection validated the Sapa Inca’s authority and reinforced the hierarchical structure of Incan society. Worship of Inti involved grand ceremonies and festivals, with Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun, being the most notable. Held during the winter solstice in June, Inti Raymi featured offerings, including animal and human sacrifices, to secure the sun god’s favor and ensure the empire’s prosperity.

The Incan pantheon included numerous other deities, each associated with different aspects of nature and daily life. Pachamama, the earth goddess, was revered as the source of fertility and agricultural abundance. Mama Quilla, the moon goddess, protected women and regulated time. Viracocha, the creator god, was believed to have formed the earth, sea, and sky, and given life to the first humans. These deities, along with many lesser gods and spirits, were integral to the Incan worldview and were worshipped through rituals, offerings, and prayers.

The Incas believed that the natural world was sacred and that deities and spirits inhabited various elements of the landscape, such as mountains, rivers, and rocks. These sacred places, known as huacas, were seen as intermediaries between the human and divine realms. Each huaca had specific myths and legends associated with it, and the Incas built shrines and temples at these sites for religious ceremonies. The most famous huaca was the sacred city of Cusco, the Incan Empire’s capital, designed in the shape of a puma, symbolizing strength and power.

Priests, known as amautas, played a crucial role in Incan religious practices. They conducted ceremonies, interpreted omens, and maintained the sacred calendars. The Incan calendar was a complex system combining solar and lunar cycles to regulate agricultural activities and religious festivals. The amautas also performed divination rituals using coca leaves, animal entrails, and other methods to seek guidance from the gods and predict future events.

One of the most distinctive aspects of Incan religion was the practice of human sacrifice, known as capacocha. This ritual was performed on special occasions, such as the ascension of a new emperor, during times of crisis, or to commemorate significant events. Chosen sacrificial victims, often children, were selected for their physical perfection and purity. They were treated with great honor and given a ceremonial send-off before being sacrificed on mountaintops or other sacred sites. The Incas believed that these sacrifices were necessary to appease the gods and ensure the well-being of the empire.

The Incan afterlife was envisioned as a continuation of earthly life, where the souls of the deceased would either ascend to the hanan pacha (upper world) or descend to the ukhu pacha (lower world) based on their deeds and the favor of the gods. The hanan pacha was a paradise of warmth and abundance, while the ukhu pacha was a cold, dark place of punishment. To secure a favorable afterlife, the Incas practiced elaborate burial rites, including the mummification of important individuals. Mummies were revered as ancestors who continued to play an active role in the lives of the living, and they were often consulted for advice and blessings.

Incan religion was not static but evolved over time, incorporating elements from various cultures that were assimilated into the empire. This syncretism is evident in the worship of local deities alongside the principal Incan gods and in the blending of different ritual practices. The Spanish conquest brought a dramatic shift, as Catholic missionaries sought to eradicate Incan religious traditions and replace them with Christianity. Despite this, many Incan spiritual practices persisted in adapted forms, and today, Andean communities continue to honor their ancestral beliefs alongside Christian practices.

The spiritual beliefs and practices of the Incan religion were deeply integrated into the fabric of their society, influencing their social structure, politics, and daily life. The Incas’ reverence for nature, their elaborate rituals, and their complex cosmology reflect a profound understanding of their environment and a sophisticated approach to the divine. While much of the Incan religion was suppressed or transformed by the Spanish conquest, its legacy endures in the cultural traditions and spiritual practices of modern Andean people, who continue to honor the sacredness of the world around them.

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The Spiritual Beliefs and Practices of Incan Religion. (2024, May 28). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-spiritual-beliefs-and-practices-of-incan-religion/

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Daily Southtown | Religion roundup: Outdoor concert, rosary…

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Daily southtown | religion roundup: outdoor concert, rosary relay, parish picnic and more.

Evergreen Park

Immanuel United Church of Christ, 9815 S. Campbell Ave.: Evergreenia Concert on the Lawn on June 8. The picnic starts at 4:30 p.m. and the community concert begins at 5:30 p.m. The theme is “summertime.” The church invites members and friends of nearby UCC congregations to the event: Pilgrim Faith and Salem in Oak Lawn, Christ Memorial in Blue Island and Peace Memorial in Palos Park. Immanuel UCC will provide hot dogs and hamburgers, but attendees are asked to bring a side dish or dessert to share. Participants also should bring blankets or folding chairs and beverages of their choice. Sign up in the church narthex with the number of attendees and what food item will be brought. Information: 708-424-3755.

Incarnation St. Terrence Parish, 4300 W. 119th Place:   Annual Global Rosary Relay for the sanctification of priests is set for 6:30 p.m. June 7. Attendees should arrive by 6:15 p.m. After the rosary for priests is prayed, the first Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will begin at 7 p.m. That service is designed to increase love for Jesus and to make reparation for past and present offenses against his love. It includes quiet, prayerful time. Information: https://incparish.com/

St. John the Evangelist Parish, 2640 Park Drive: Annual parish picnic on June 2. The church has a single service at 9 a.m. that day with the picnic following. Games for people of all ages will be available, but attendees may bring their own. Everything will take place inside because of the cicadas. Friends are welcome.

Wednesday Morning Devotion starts at 9:30 a.m. June 5 and repeats the first Wednesday of each month. It will be held over Zoom and led by a member of the Lydia chapter for Daughters of the King. To join the meeting, find the link on the church website. Information: www.mysje.org or 708-798-4150.

Palos Heights

Palos Bible Church, 12701 S 70th Ave.: The Great Jungle Journey Vacation Bible School Kids! Club starts in late June. It’s open to children 3 years old to fifth grade. Sessions are 5:30 to 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays June 17, 19, 21, 24 and 26. A family fun night is set for June 28. Register in advance at palosbible.churchcenter.com/registrations. Sign up using the grade the child just completed. Information: 708-448-2223.

Wayside Chapel at The Center, 12700 Southwest Highway: Anniversary dinner and renewal of vows at 4:30 p.m. June 16. Couples are welcome to celebrate their July, August or September anniversaries. Begin with fellowship in the Great Hall at 4:30 p.m., followed by a candlelight dinner and then renewal of wedding vows in the chapel. Cost is $100. Reservations are required before June 10. Call 708-361-3650.

What’s going on at your church? Let us know by sending us an email including time, date, place and public contact information at least two weeks before the event or reservation deadline at [email protected].

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