Posting number four in the Pagan Blog Project. This is taken from a lesson plan that I'm writing for a discussion group/class on the Roots of Religion.
What are Beliefs?
New Oxford American
Dictionary:
1. an acceptance that a
statement is true or that something exists
2. something one accepts as true
or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction
3. a religious conviction
Merriam-Webster:
1. a state or habit of mind in
which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing
2. something believed;
especially: a tenet or body of tenets
held by a group
3. a conviction of the truth of
some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based
on examination of evidence
Dragon Spirit Tradition Definition: Something that can’t be proven (or is currently unproven) that a person or group holds to be true because it seems to make sense and is, therefore, a satisfactory explanation for an otherwise unexplainable experience or concept.
Why Do We Have Religion and Beliefs?
Beliefs
explain experiences. People need
explanations. Not only do we need
explanations, but we need explanations that make sense on a personal
level. Because everyone thinks
differently, there are different explanations for the same experiences. Because there is no way to prove most beliefs
that exist today, there’s no way to have an explanation that every single
person can agree with.
Ironically,
in the arena of religion versus science, religion was the original
science. Religion and science became two
different branches for explaining experiences because some beliefs were proven
to be true and others to not be true. We
now know why the sun rises and sets; why there are different seasons; why
plants grow (or don’t grow); why an eclipse happens; how weather patterns work;
why there’s thunder and lightning; and many other things that people once
attributed to supernatural beings and/or magic.
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