Studies of Religion Level 3 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Substantive definition of religion

Defines religion by its content, typically belief in supernatural or spiritual beings. It includes theistic systems but can exclude non-theistic traditions such as some Buddhist schools.

Functional definition of religion

Defines religion by the social or psychological work it does, such as integrating community or answering ultimate questions. It can classify nationalism or political ideologies as religion-like.

Transcendent and immanent

The transcendent is a reality beyond the material world, such as God or Brahman. The immanent is a reality experienced within the world, such as an indwelling divine presence.

Five characteristics of religion

Beliefs and believers, sacred texts and writings, ethics, rituals and ceremonies, and social structure or community. These features are used to compare traditions systematically.

Worldview

The comprehensive framework of assumptions, values and beliefs through which a person or culture interprets reality and decides what counts as meaningful or true.

Section 116 of the Constitution

The clause preventing the Commonwealth from making laws to establish religion, impose religious observance, or require a religious test for public office. It limits federal, not state, power.

2021 Census religion figures

About 43.9% of Australians identified as Christian, 38.9% as having no religion, 3.2% Muslim, 2.7% Hindu, 2.4% Buddhist and 0.5% Jewish.

White Australia Policy

Immigration restrictions from 1901 that favoured white European migrants and limited non-European entry. Its dismantling from the 1950s to 1970s diversified Australia's religious landscape.

Interfaith dialogue in Australia

Structured conversation and cooperation between religious communities, exemplified by bodies such as Religions for Peace Australia and the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, aimed at mutual understanding and social harmony.

Trinity

The Christian belief that one God exists in three co-equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was formalised in the Nicene Creed and distinguishes Christianity from strict monotheisms.

Sermon on the Mount

Matthew's collection of Jesus' ethical teaching, including the Beatitudes, love of enemies and the Golden Rule. It is a central source of Christian ethics and pacifist argument.

Sacraments

Ritual actions believed to convey grace. Most traditions recognise baptism and Eucharist; Catholic and Orthodox churches recognise seven, while many Protestant churches recognise two.

Protestant Reformation

The sixteenth-century movement beginning with Luther's 1517 challenges to papal authority, producing Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican churches and emphasising scripture and justification by faith.

Tawhid

The Islamic doctrine of the absolute oneness and unity of God. It is the foundation of Islamic belief and grounds the rejection of associating partners with God.

Five Pillars of Islam

Shahada (declaration of faith), salah (five daily prayers), zakat (almsgiving), sawm (fasting in Ramadan) and hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). They structure Sunni devotional life.

Sunni and Shia division

The split over leadership after Muhammad's death. Sunnis accepted elected caliphs; Shias hold that authority passed to Ali and the Imams, shaping distinct law and commemoration.

Sharia

Islamic law derived from the Qur'an, Sunnah, consensus and analogical reasoning. Different schools of jurisprudence interpret these sources, producing varied legal and ethical rulings.

Four Noble Truths

Buddhist teaching that suffering exists, arises from craving, can cease, and is ended by the Eightfold Path. They form the framework of the Buddha's first sermon.

Anatta

The Buddhist teaching of non-self: there is no permanent, unchanging soul or essence. What is called a person is a changing bundle of conditioned physical and mental processes.

Three Refuges

The formula of taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. It marks formal commitment to Buddhism for both lay followers and monastics.

Bodhisattva ideal

The Mahayana aspiration to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, postponing final liberation out of compassion. It contrasts with the Theravada arhat ideal.

Multiculturalism policy

Australian government approach from the 1970s accepting cultural and religious diversity as legitimate. It replaced assimilationist policy and supported community language and religious institutions.

Post-war migration and religion

Migration schemes after 1945 brought Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Vietnamese and later Indian communities, establishing Orthodox churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras across Australian cities.

Religious vilification laws

State and federal laws prohibiting incitement of hatred or serious contempt on religious grounds, balanced against implied freedom of political communication and free speech.

Shalom

The Hebrew concept of peace as completeness, wholeness and right relationship, encompassing justice and wellbeing rather than merely the absence of conflict.

Ahimsa

The principle of non-harm central to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist ethics. In Buddhism it supports loving-kindness, reconciliation and nonviolent responses to conflict.

Just war theory

Christian framework developed by Augustine and Aquinas setting conditions for legitimate war, including just cause, legitimate authority, proportionality and last resort.

Inner peace

A state of integration, right relationship with the divine and freedom from destructive craving, cultivated through prayer, meditation, ethics and ritual in many traditions.

Agnosticism

The position that the existence of God is unknown or cannot be known. It concerns knowledge claims and is logically distinct from atheism, which concerns belief claims.

Secular humanism

A non-religious worldview holding that meaning, values and ethics derive from human reason, empathy and experience, without reliance on supernatural authority or revelation.

New religious movement

A recently emerged religious group, often centred on a charismatic leader or novel revelation. Scholars prefer this neutral term to the pejorative label 'cult'.

Believing without belonging

Davie's term for people who retain religious beliefs or practices but do not regularly attend or formally belong to religious institutions, common in contemporary Western societies.