they seek to accomplish by the formation of ethical principles is to“enable their
adherents to achieve the ultimate objective of the tradition—the attainment of salva-
tion, redemption, enlightenment, and the‘liberation of the soul.’”^58 Because of the
importance of ethical behavior to human interaction, we will look at ethics through-
out this chapter as applied by the specific denominations.
Before we begin our discussion of the great religions of the world, we urge you to
keep a few points in mind. First, remember that religion is but one kind of worldview,
and even a secular person who says,“There is no God,”has likely sought answers to
the large questions about the nature of truth, how the world operates, life, death, suf-
fering, and ethical relationships.
Second,“religion pervades many spheres that others might call secular and it can-
not easily be separated from them.”^59 It is often difficult to draw a line between secu-
larism and a subtle manifestation of religion. What one person might call“religion”or
“worldview”another person might call“philosophy.”For example, when a group of
people prefers intuitive wisdom to“scientific facts”as a means of discovering reality,
they may do so without invoking the principles of Buddhism or Hinduism. For our
purposes, labeling is not nearly as important as the notion that a culture’s heritage
includes ways of dealing with timeless and fundamental questions.
Finally, it is not our intent to offer
a course on world religion. Therefore,
we have omitted much of the theol-
ogy and doctrine of the world’s great
religions and instead concentrated on
the ways religion influences percep-
tion and communication.Christianity
We start with Christianity, a faith that took its name from Jesus Christ, who with
a small band of disciples traveled throughout the Holy Land preaching, teaching,
and healing the sick. Today, with over two billion adherents (one-third of the
world’spopulation),itisthelargestofallthetraditionsandhasseenitsideology
spread throughout the world. For example, there were 10 million Christians in
Africa in 1990—now there are over 365 million. That same explosion in growth
can be seen in South America, Asia, and even China. The diversity of people who
are Christians produces a multiplicity of denominations. As mentioned earlier,
some estimate that there are 41,000 different Christian denominations. However,
Christianity has historically been composed of three major branches: the Roman
Catholic Church, under the guidance of the papacy in Rome; the Eastern Ortho-
dox churches, with members concentrated in Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, the
Balkans, and Central Asia; and Protestantism, which embodies a host of denomi-
nations, such as Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians.
Although each of these branches and their numerous subsets contain some unique
features, they all share many of the same rituals, beliefs, traditions, characteristics,
and tenets. In fact, one of the strengths ofChristianity throughout the centuries
has been its ability to maintain its basic core while being adaptive, varied, and
diverse. As Schmidt and his associates point out, “For all their disagreements,
however, Christians are united in the belief about the importance of the person
and role of Jesus Christ. In every age and in every setting where Christianity isCONSIDER THIS
Why do most religious traditions have so much in common?Ethics 117Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).