Religius Studies

So this year, our Religius Studies exam will only contain 1 topic: alternative religions.

The Amish:

The Amish are a Christian denomination formed in 1693. Their religioius beliefs are very similar in most respects to mainstream Christians, however, they have much more stricter rules of living.

Some include:

• Not used to seeing lots of people at once.
• Not used to using elevator.
• In the Amish, men don't do the shopping or any of the house chores.

Amish life: Amish men are scared to be seen doing housework. They have to use an outhouse which is literally a toilet that is outdoors. At least 2 problems associated with this is that it is very smelly when it is hot, and it is extremely freezing when it is winter. They aren’t allowed to have phones in the house, no electricity, they can’t have a car but instead use a horse and buggy, neither are they allowed modern conveniences. Since they don’t have electricity, they have to use gas lights at home which are extremely flammable and dangerous. However, for fun, they do have access to a trampoline. Amish people keep their hopes and dreams in the Amish cabinet. They leave school early as well, and issues caused by this include a deprived education – they wouldn’t be able to find a job outside the Amish community. If you leave the Amish, you get shunned by the bishop, he makes all the rules. This means you wouldn’t be allowed to see your family and friends there, or even anyone, at all, even if there’s a funeral. Amish people don’t take pictures of themselves because they think it’s vane. They don’t wear sunglasses for the exact same reason. Anyone who isn’t Amish is referred as ‘English’, whether they speak English or not, or whether they’ve been there or not, it doesen’t matter, everyone who isn’t Amish is referred to as ‘English’. Mennonites are different to Amish people because they are allowed to drive cars and have electricity. The language Amish people speak is Pennsylvania Dutch – first language of Amish – dialect of German. Amish people also have strict dress codes well.

Scientology:

Founded in December 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard (1911 – 1986) He was probabl best known for being a sci-fi writer, and still holds the world record for the most published author.

• Nation's youngest eagle scout at 13.
• Led expeditions into remote islands as part of the explorers club
• US Navel Officer — commanded corvettes in WW2
• 'Brilliant at everything'.

‘Brilliant at everything’.

What do scientologists say scientology is: Learning about yourself and the world. Being responsible for the world around you. It is to help yourself and other people. Like you feel obliged to help yourself and other people.

How scientology has helped people: Helps people do the right thing. THey help other people a lot. Improved grades. Makes people feel good.

Auditing is simply just asking questions, find where your stress is. The purpose of it is to look at our own existence. To bring someone from blindness to enlightenment. An E-meter was used to audit a person to show stress.

The scientology website dosen’t refer to thetans because it could scare them away. If you’re a scientologist for a specific amount of years, you would be educated on their creation story: 75 million years ago people lived in a world that was very similar to 1950s America. A major problem on this world was overpopulation. The Galactic overlord, Xenu solved overpopulation by freezing people, putting them onto planes and flying them to the prison planet, Teegeeack (Earth). The bodies were dropped in volcanoes and hydrogen bombs were dropped on them. The spirits of the bodies, called thetans, were captured and forced to watch films. When a person is born, one or many thetans attatch themselves, acting like a person’s soul, causing all the person’s fears and anxiety.

Criteria for a belief to be a religion:

• It involves believing in something that exists beyond the physical world we live in.
• It involves religious practises aimed at understanding the things that exist beyond the physical world we live in.
• It involves a community of believers who aim to better understand the things that exist beyond the physical world we live in.

Jehovah's witnesses:

Jehovah’s witnesses are a denomination of Christianity which originated in the USA in the 1870s. While they are classed as Christians, what they believe is very different to what ‘mainstream’ Christians believe, and so Jehovah’s witnesses can be classed as an alternative religion.

Knowlege on Mainstream Christianity

• Holy book: Bible
• Catholicism has a pope
• Church services on Sunday
• They pray to God
• Believe in Jesus Christ
• Believe in the Miracle Birth
• 2 Festivals: Christmas and Easter
• Heaven and Hell
• Concept of the trinity – 3 forms of God – God the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit
• They believe in the 10 commandments
• Adam and Eve
• Old Testament and the New Testament
• Crucification and Resurrection
• Lent — 40 days before Easter

Jehovah's witnesses beliefs:

• Jesus was the Archangel Michael before he became a man.
• Don’t agree with blood transfusion.
• Don’t celebrate Christmas.
• Don’t celebrate Easter.
• Follow the Bible.
• Well known for going door to door
.

Other Core beliefs of Jehovah's witnesses:

• The Watchtower: The watchtower is a common symbol for Jehovah’s witnesses and the name of magazine which provides their information for spiritual guidance. They use a watchtower as a symbol because of their rejection of the cross and to symbolise keeping watch signs of Armageddon.
• Blood Transfusions: Jehovah’s witnesses do not agree with blood transfusions because the Bible teaches against ingesting blood. They also believe that life is a gift from God which can be taken away by God at any time, and they do not have the right to interfere with God’s plans.
• Birthdays: Jehovah’s witnesses don’t celebrate birthdays as they were originally from pagan celebrations. Info from Watchtower: ‘The only 2 birthday celebrations spoken in the bible were held by persons who did not worship Jehovah. The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. The custom of celebrating birthdays comes from ancient false religions.’
• Christmas and Easter: They don’t celebrate Christmas nor Easter as they were originally pagan celebrations. Also, Jesus never commanded anyone to commemorate his birthday. Info from Watchtower: Jesus was not born on December 25. Around Oct 1, a time where shepherds kept their flocks out of doors at night, Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to commemorate his death.
• Spreading the religion: Jehovah’s witnesses are well known for going door-to-door to tell people about their religion. They believe that they should tell people about God because it says in the Bible ‘Go therefore and wake disciples of people of all the nations, baptising them (...) teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you’.

They believe that Jesus existed as a spirit creature before he became to Earth adn was the first creation of God as Archangel Michael. They believe that Jesus became Christ when he was baptised. They believe the cross was nothing more than a pagan symbol used by apostate Christians. They believe Jesus died on an upright stake. They believe that his human body was disintegrated by God after placed in the tomb. They believe he came back after death as he was recreated by God. They believed that Jesus made people believe he was resurrected by coming back as different people. They believed that when Jesus returned to Heaven he became the Archangel Michael again.

Jehovah’s witnesses believe that at the end of the world Jesus will judge all the living, and destroy all bu the faithful Jehovah’s witnesses, leaving hte world a paradise free from evil. They believe that Jesus will rule from the Heaven with 144,000 Jehovah’s witnesses chosen by him. Everyone else will live forever on Earth.

Sufism:

A sunni muslim can also be a Sufi muslim, but they can’t also be a Shia muslim because Sunni and Shia have contrasting beliefs while Sufis have additional beliefs. Mysticism is the belief that one can recieve revelations from God through the act of complementation or meditation.

• Monasticism: Monasticism is the religious practice which involves giving up worldly pursuits in order to devote their life to religious living. Some things people may give up is haircuts/hair, revealing/expensive clothing, and material possessions. The Quran speaks against it and says that it was invented and observed with not the right observance. Muhammed is thought to have said there is no room for monasticism in Islam.
• The Quran: Sufi Muslims believe the Quran to be the direct words of God spoken to the Prophet Muhammed. They believe Muhammed’s revelation to be incomplete, that Islamic knowledge can also be learned from teachers called Tariqas. They believe they can become more like the prophet by modelling themselves on their teachers. Sufi beliefs contradict those generally held by mainstream Muslims because mainstream Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammed received the final and complete revelation from God. It is a core belief of mainstream Islam that Muhammed was the last ever prophet so it is controversial.
• Direct Revelation from Allah: The core belief of Sufism is that all humans can gain spiritual liberty through receiving direct revelations from God, they don’t rely on intellectual proof or logical understanding. They believe they can receive direct revelation through contemplation and meditation. Dhikr Allah is the glorification of God. Mainstream Muslims believe that direct revelation is an impossibility.
• Many liberal Sufis allowed other faits to combine with their own. Some Sufis began to teach that there isn’t only one God. They believe that they could worship a god-like force that they believed all humans could reach and become part of. This contradicts a major core belief of mainstream Islam. Many were accused of blasphemy and some were killed in the past.

Everyone would be welcomed by Sufi teachers. They believe that dancing and music is sopposedly able to free you from all Earthly imitations and it was a form of liberation from it. The Whirling Dervishes wear a robe with belt and bottom part of the garment is floating as they spin. They also whear big hats. The whirling represents the agitated state of the souls in this life. Their right arm points to the sky and the left arm is kept down to remain in contact with the Earth.