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The Religion Portal

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

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

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

More about religion...
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Selected article

Confucian temple in Jiading district, Shanghai.
Confucianism (simplified Chinese: 儒学; traditional Chinese: 儒學; pinyin: Rúxué [ About this sound Listen (help·info) ], literally "The School of the Scholars"; or 孔教 Kŏng jiào, "The Teachings of Confucius") is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius. It is a complex system of moral, social, political, and religious thought which has had tremendous influence on the history of Chinese civilization up to the 21st century. Some people in the West have considered it to have been the "state religion" of imperial China because of the Chinese government's promotion of Confucianist values.

Confucianism as passed down to the 19th and 20th centuries derives primarily from the school of the Neo-Confucians, led by Zhu Xi, who gave Confucianism renewed vigor in the Song and later dynasties. Neo-Confucianism combined Taoist and Buddhist ideas with existing Confucian ideas to create a more complete metaphysics than had ever existed before. At the same time, many forms of Confucianism have historically declared themselves opposed to the Buddhist and Taoist belief systems.

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Selected picture

The Palliyarai of Swamithope pathi.
Credit: Paul Raj

The Palliyarai contains two oil lamps (kuthuvilakku), an elunetru, and a large mirror. On a raised pedestal, covered with kavi cloth, the temple also preserves some articles believed to have been used by Ayya Vaikundar, including a rattan cane (perampu) and a pair of wooden sandals.

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Selected religious figure

An 1886 depiction of Odin by Georg von Rosen.
Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the chief god in Norse mythology and Norse paganism, like the Anglo-Saxon Woden it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wōdinaz or *Wōđanaz. His name is related to óðr, meaning "excitation," "fury" or "poetry," and his role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is god of wisdom, war, battle, and death. He is also attested as being a god of magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt.

Odin is an ambivalent deity. Old Norse (Viking Age) connotations of Odin lie with "poetry, inspiration" as well as with "fury, madness." Odin left one of his eyes in the purifying waters of Mímir's spring in order to gain the wisdom of the ages. Odin gives to worthy poets the mead of inspiration, made by the dwarves, from the vessel Óð-rœrir.

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Did you know...

  • ...that the Qur'an is believed by Muslims and traditional Islamic scholars to have remained unchanged since its revelation?
  • ...that the Tree of death, also referred to as the Adverse tree, refers to the reflection or opposite aspects of the Tree of Life within the system of the Kabbalah?
  • ...that Wicca was previously an Old English word (pronounced: 'witcha'), meaning a male witch or wizard and 'wicce' was a female witch?
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On this day...

March 18:
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Selected quote

Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.
— Leo Tolstoy, Thoughts of Prince Andrew in War and Peace, Bk XIII, Ch. 16
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Selected scripture

Aesthetic photograph of a modern copy of the Qur'ān
The Qur'ān (Arabic: al-qur’ān, literally "the recitation"; also called al-qur’ān al-karīm "The Noble Qur'ān"; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and Al-Quran), is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'ān, in its original Arabic, to be the literal word of God that was revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years until his death, and believe it to be God's final revelation to humanity. Muslims regard the Qur'ān as a continuation to other divine messages that have started with those revealed to Adam - the first prophet - and including Suhuf-i-Ibrahim (Scrolls of Abraham/Ibrahim), the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injil (Gospel), in between. The aforementioned books are recognized in the Qur'ān, but directs Muslims to follow the Qur'ān--the last and final message, being completely untainted with God promising to protect it: "Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)".

The Qur'anic verses were originally memorized by Muhammad's companions as Muhammad recited them, with some being written down by one or more companions on whatever was at hand, from stones to pieces of bark. The collection of the Qur'ān compilation took place under the Caliph Abu Bakr, this task being led by Zayd ibn Thabit Al-Ansari. "The manuscript on which the Quran was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with 'Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa bint Umar (Umar's daughter)."

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