Class on Friday was thought provoking. It was interesting what we came up with when we brainstormed words we thought of when we heard belief, religion, and system. I noticed that religion and belief had a lot of overlap, but system had some words that were only in that category. That may be because the word system in and of itself does not necessarily refer to belief or religion. Then when we tried to determine the difference between religion and belief systems, we had some similarities and some differences between the two. We said that religion is a belief system, but religions are more widely used throughout the world instead of being unique to a specific place.

Based on the article “Overview of Belief Systems” that we read in class, it was interesting to read about how belief systems seem to stem from wanting to find answers to the “big questions.” I noticed how the article said belief systems and religions are not inherently the same. It seems like a belief system becomes a religion when it is “portable.” People around the world follow the belief system, and the belief system is no longer about a small group of people’s individual beliefs.

Animism is a new word I learned from the article. The article lets us know that animism predates the kind of religions that we think of now. People had a generic belief in spirits, but there did not seem to be any sacred texts. However, animism and modern religions both perform rituals. The article loosely defines religions as “portable and universal systems of belief.” I think the main point of this definition is to make sure the reader understands that religions can be practiced anywhere by anyone.

I thought the article was very informative. It was helpful that the article was organized in chronological order to help the reader see how belief systems changed over time. It seems like the belief systems became more solidified over time as well. However, I still have some questions. When humans first started asking the “big questions,” why did they think of a spiritual answer instead of some other kind of explanation to the questions? Is it possible that spiritual thoughts are necessary for humans to comprehend the world around them? Is the ability to formulate spiritual thoughts embedded in the human brain for that purpose? How do the historians know for sure the accuracy of the information in the article? These are just some of the questions that I thought of after reading the article.

Also, there was the topic we covered earlier in the week about science and religion and how they can be used against each other or to support each other. I think that both are important for learning about the world. I tend to think science is grounded in facts and experiments, and the research is based only on what people can theorize, measure, prove, or see with their own eyes. Religion, on the other hand, tends to deal with beliefs and explains things that cannot be easily explained by science. A common example is about the start of the Universe. Science cannot explain what caused the Universe to begin, but religions can. Similarly, religions don’t involve formulas to calculate the age of the Universe or how gravity and inertia keep the planets in orbit around the sun, but science does.

Overall I think these first several classes have been a good introduction to the course, and I am excited to learn about the history of religions and revolutions!