Establishing the foundation of a religious belief
1. Why is the issue of cosmology/origins (i.e. creation in its various forms) important to religion? What
significance does it have in establishing the foundation of religious belief and experience? This question has
more to do with the “why” and not the “how” of creation or origins.
2. Combining the aspects of Religious Symbolism with Religious Ritual, describe how the former (symbolism)
is utilized in the latter (ritual) with a distinct emphasis on the outcome as to how they relate to people’s
individual and/or corporate religious experiences.
3. Combining the section on the Self with the section on Death & Personal Eschatology, compare and contrast
the basic understanding of these between Western religious thought and that of Eastern religious thought.
Sample Solution
Establishing the foundation of a religious belief
Cosmology is one of the predominant research areas of the contemporary world. Religious cosmology is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe, from a religious perspective. The scope of religious cosmology is more inclusive than a strictly scientific cosmology in that religious cosmology is not limited to experiential observation, testing of hypotheses, and proposals of theories. For example, religious cosmology may explain why everything is the way it is or seems to be the way it is and prescribing what humans should do in context. In religion, this cosmic structure is neither speculation nor conjecture nor provisional hypothesis. To the contrary, it is objective, factual, and true. More important, it is normative. It depicts not only how things are, but how things should be.
