Paint by French artist Paul Gauguin Title: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Reasons why religion exists: 1.It serves many human needs. One primary need is having a means to deal with our mortality. Religion can help us cope with death, and religious rituals can offer us comfort. 2.It helps us to respond to our natural wonder about ourselves and the cosmos 3.It’s a human attempt to feel more secure in an unfeeling universe. 4.It grows out of psychological needs 5.It is a way of life founded upon the apprehension of sacredness in existence

1.Religion must provide answers to the great questions that people ask: What should be our relationship to the world of nature? Why do human beings exist? How do we reach fulfillment, transformation, or salvation? Why is there suffering in the world, and how should we deal with it? What happens when we die? What should we hold as sacred? THE QUESTIONS DO NOT VARY, BUT THE ANSWERS DO.

Religion is “to join again,” “to reconnect.” The Latin roots of the word religion are thought to be re and lig Re means “again” Lig means “join” or “connect” (as in “ligament”) The word religion suggests the joining of our natural, human world to the sacred world.

First, we are not looking to validate them or to disprove them or to enhance our own belief or practice First, we are not looking to validate them or to disprove them or to enhance our own belief or practice As a result, we want to comprehend the particular religions as thoroughly as possible and to understand the experience of people within each religion. As a result, we want to comprehend the particular religions as thoroughly as possible and to understand the experience of people within each religion.

Each religion is interesting in its own right, as a complex system of values, relationships, personalities, and human creativity. The study of religions require sympathy and objectivity. While it is true that being a believer of a particular religion brings a special insight that an outsider cannot have, it is also true that an outsider can appreciate things that are not always obvious to the insider. In a multicultural world, tolerance of differences is valuable, but enjoyment of differences is even better. The value of the study of religions is that it helps us recognize and appreciate the religious influences that are everywhere.

“Matters of faith are serious for those whose faith matters” The catholic church rejects nothing of those things which are true and holy in these religions.

There are those who without any fault do not know anything about Christ or his church, yet who search for God with a sincere heart and, under the influence of grace, try to put into effect the will of God as known to them through the dictate of conscience: these too can obtain eternal salvation.

With the world religions we share a common respect for an obedience to conscience, which teaches all of us to seek the truth, to love and serve all individuals and peoples. All hold conscience and obedience to the voice of conscience to be an essential element in the road toward a better and peaceful world.

Christians: Percent of World: 33% Catholics Other groups make up the rest (Orthodox, Anglican, etc). Muslim: Percent of World: 21% Judaism: Percent of world: 0.22% Sikhism: Percent of the world:.24% Hinduism: Percent of World: 14% Buddhism: Percent of World: 6% (Chinese traditional religion stats exactly the same, as is primal traditions) non-religious”: Population of world: 16% (Includes atheists, agnostics) As cited in:

We begin with the knowledge that at the end of every journey we are not quite the same as we were when we started.