Buddhism and Religion

Religion is the people's beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life. This is my definition of religion before I started this class. On the first day of the class, a young man walked inside the class room. He has dark hair, facial hair, not really tall but good looking. I thought he was one of our classmates until he introduce himself as our professor. My jaw dropped and was at awe. I was expecting an old, grumpy, nerdy looking professor to spend my eight weeks learning something about religion. Little did I know that I will learn a lot from this young, good looking guy that knows a lot about religion; human experience. I learned that religion addresses the issues of origin, purpose and destiny. Religion also impacts the whole person in three ways: It influences the moral ethos, as well impacting human action; it creates, not only deep-set dispositions, but also a worldview; and it presents an aura of factuality which goes beyond the individual. Humans are religious because it is a distinguishing element from animals. I also learned on the first day the meaning of transcendence which is the ability to visualize from distance, the ability to stand apart and being above and beyond material experience. It also allows people to ask fundamental questions. Thomas O’Dea also suggests religion is intricately connected to three things which are powerlessness, scarcity and uncertainty. There are 4 reasons why people study religion. First, it is part of the human experience. Second, it helps overcome human ignorance. Third to achieve global perspective and lastly, to help understand one self and formulates one’s own belief. This is some of the most striking topics that I learned in one day. It was also surprising that most of my classmates are open talking about religion, and noticed that one is offended. Everyone is encouraged to say what they think and feel. I enjoyed