Religions across the globe have been shaped by divergent histories of human interactions and socio-cultural dynamics. We can trace these religious developments by the movement of people and ideas across space and time. For example, Animism was practiced by many nomadic hunter-gatherer societies; this religion eventually would evolve into Shamanism once the societies collected in permanent settlements and turned towards agricultural cultivation. For this paper, I will be focusing on two different extremes of religion--Christianity and Vodou--and analyzing how these religions’ practices developed, specifically Catholicism and Haitian Vodou, from their original forms to coincide with the knowledge discovered during the different eras. It is important
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First and foremost, it is important to differentiate between science and religion. Science examines the natural world tentatively while religion expresses the ultimate meaning which transcends beyond the physical world. Science answers the question of how things happen while religion concerns itself with why we exist. Since they answer different questions, religion and science should work together to attempt to answer the questions posed not only by scientists and religious followers, but also the world as a whole. Science should not be viewed as a tool to totally disprove the beliefs of religions as a whole, but as an aid to bring religious practices up to date with scientific discoveries. One thing found common in all religions is the differentiation between the sacred and profane. All religions have a form of ritual or rite that allows access to the sacred and this is why the study of science’s impact on religious practices is evidence that religion could not exist without science. Science and the development of the modern world shaped religions whether it was directly or …show more content…
Today exists previously misconceived notions from literature and film that commonly associate voodoo with witchcraft, cannibalism and evil witches who wish to inflict pain. When in fact Vodou, like all religions, is a system of beliefs and practices that gives meaning to life, instills a need for self-examination and relates the profane world to that of the divine entities called Iwas. There is also one God who closely resembles the God of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Although commonly thought to be a dark practice, a central aspect of Vodou is healing people from sickness. The birth of Vodou in Haiti was a result of French colonial rule, African slave trade/slavery, and the plantation system in the seventh century. Originating from Africa, the oldest roots of voodoo are thought to be 6,000 years old. African slaves introduced voodoo to Haiti during the 17th century of French, colonial rule. During colonial rule, Vodou acted as psychological liberation which enabled its members to express their self-existence in their own labor. Under French occupation, the Catholic Church found the “superstitious practices” of the Vodou religion to be an embarrassment leading to the Church’s seizing, burning and destroying of the Vodou temples and ritual paraphernalia. This led to the secretive nature of
First and foremost, it is important to differentiate between science and religion. Science examines the natural world tentatively while religion expresses the ultimate meaning which transcends beyond the physical world. Science answers the question of how things happen while religion concerns itself with why we exist. Since they answer different questions, religion and science should work together to attempt to answer the questions posed not only by scientists and religious followers, but also the world as a whole. Science should not be viewed as a tool to totally disprove the beliefs of religions as a whole, but as an aid to bring religious practices up to date with scientific discoveries. One thing found common in all religions is the differentiation between the sacred and profane. All religions have a form of ritual or rite that allows access to the sacred and this is why the study of science’s impact on religious practices is evidence that religion could not exist without science. Science and the development of the modern world shaped religions whether it was directly or …show more content…
Today exists previously misconceived notions from literature and film that commonly associate voodoo with witchcraft, cannibalism and evil witches who wish to inflict pain. When in fact Vodou, like all religions, is a system of beliefs and practices that gives meaning to life, instills a need for self-examination and relates the profane world to that of the divine entities called Iwas. There is also one God who closely resembles the God of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Although commonly thought to be a dark practice, a central aspect of Vodou is healing people from sickness. The birth of Vodou in Haiti was a result of French colonial rule, African slave trade/slavery, and the plantation system in the seventh century. Originating from Africa, the oldest roots of voodoo are thought to be 6,000 years old. African slaves introduced voodoo to Haiti during the 17th century of French, colonial rule. During colonial rule, Vodou acted as psychological liberation which enabled its members to express their self-existence in their own labor. Under French occupation, the Catholic Church found the “superstitious practices” of the Vodou religion to be an embarrassment leading to the Church’s seizing, burning and destroying of the Vodou temples and ritual paraphernalia. This led to the secretive nature of