What is the difference between beliefs and rituals

A major investigation continues …. A Christian movement has become one of the fastest-growing faith groups in the country recently, attracting millions of followers with promises of direct access to God. We often make the mistake of identifying religious vitality with assent to particular beliefs.

In this process, we forget that intellectual assent to beliefs is merely one element of religious experience. We are in ….

They are the standards of moral conduct and ethical behavior that the people in a cultural community expect of one another. They include such things as rules against killing, rules about who can or cannot have sex with whom, and so on. The mores of a society are enforced in various ways.

The most important mores are upheld by means of laws, which are explicitly stated rules. People who violate laws may have to pay a penalty, for example, going to jail, or paying a monetary fine. Other mores may not be strictly against the law but are nevertheless strongly endorsed by a society.

For example, people who violate mores for which there are no formal laws may find that the people of a community make life uncomfortable for them. One way to look at the difference between folkways and mores is to say that folkways reflect what a cultural community regards as appropriate or inappropriate, polite or rude.

Mores, however, reflect what a community considers as morally or ethically right or wrong. Customs and traditions are two more terms often employed in discussing culture. A custom is a widely accepted way of doing something, specific to a particular society, place or time, and that has developed through repetition over a long period of time. So defined, it is hard to see how customs differ from folkways as discussed above. I am not sure they do. Whether a practice is called a folkway or custom might revolve around whether the practice is being discussed by a sociologist or a social historian.

But what is a tradition? Gross 12 acknowledges that customs and traditions have much in common and that therefore the differences between them are easily blurred. He insists, however, that from the perspective of society as a whole, customs are less important than traditions. To call any practice a tradition, however, is often taken to imply that the practice is not just of great value but also ancient, something that has been passed down through many generations unchanged.

Scholarly studies of tradition, however, contradict this widely held assumption. Although some traditions may have ancient roots, rarely, if ever, does any practice remain fixed for all time.

Times change, and traditions disappear or are significantly transformed. Even more startling, traditions are often invented and passed off as ancient, when in fact they are fully modern. Rituals are sequences of actions involving gestures, objects, and sometimes the utterance of words performed in prescribed ways and carried out at specific times and places.

When I ask American students to identify rituals, they sometimes give examples such as:. But these not good examples of ritual as most anthropologists would define it. True, some activities that are not clearly rituals, may seem to have some ritual-like characteristics, an observation that prompted Catherine Bell in her book, Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions, to propose a distinction between ritual and ritual-like activities.

According to Bell, ritual-like activities have some characteristics of ritual. Routines of greeting and parting, and table manners, for instance, are performative and exhibit formality both of which are characteristic of ritual. On the other hand, the American celebration of Thanksgiving is ritual-like because of its appeal to tradition.

As for full-fledged rituals, scholars have found it convenient for the purpose of study to group them into categories according to shared characteristics. Religious studies scholar, Catherine Bell, has identified six basic categories of ritual. Rites of passage or life-cycle rites are ceremonies that call attention to major events in the social life of individuals, such as birth, the transition from childhood to adulthood, marriage, and death.

Rites of passage can also mark initiation into religious communities, for example, baptism in Christian communities.

Clubs, fraternities, and secret societies often put new initiates through ritual ordeals before accepting them into the new community. In some societies, rites of passage may be short and simple while in others they may be lengthy and complex.

In rural China, says Bell 96 , birth rituals are often still observed in all their traditional complexity. Her mother-in-law may engage in rituals involving presentation of offerings to special maternal deities. Pregnancy and childbirth are also surrounded by a seemingly endless series of ritual observances. This is not generally the case, however, in modern, urban China. Calendrical rites fall into two subcategories.

Seasonal celebrations are associated with cycles of planting and harvesting among agriculturalists and with grazing and moving the herd among pastoralists. In many societies, sowing seeds is accompanied by offerings to ancestors or deities, and harvesting often involves giving the first yield to the gods or ancestors.

Communal feasting is also common, accompanied by music, dance, and a relaxing of social restraint. Commemorative celebrations revolve around remembrance or re-enactment of events with religious significance, or importance for national heritage.

Rites of exchange and communion involve the making of offerings to a god or gods, sometimes with the expectation of getting something in return, like a good harvest. Offerings may also be made to praise or please or appease a god or deity. In some cultures, the offering consisted of the sacrifice of an animal e. Rituals of affliction involve actions taken to diagnose and deal with the unseen causes of misfortune or to alleviate physical or mental illnesses. In such situations, religion and religious arguments may become confused with the political, economic or social reasoning.

The extent to which freedom of thought, conscience and religion allow distinctive practices of a community of believers to diverge from those of the rest of the society is often debated within the human rights community.

Examples of this include attitudes towards women in religious leadership positions, traditional ceremonies involving children, laws surrounding marriage, divorce or burial, prohibition on the depiction of divine beings or other religious figures, and so on. Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not. In such contexts, the human rights bodies would criticise harmful practices, regardless of whether they were traditionally condoned by particular cultures, nations or religions.

Such criticism is not an attack on culture, nationality or religion but an attempt to strike a balance between the right to one's religions and belief and other human rights, since several of these practices can result in serious human rights abuse. Harmful traditional practices include female genital mutilation, son-preference which can manifest itself in sex-selective abortion, failing to care for newborn girls, discrimination in education in favour of sons, discrimination in nutrition , arranged or forced marriages, marriage of children, dowry-related crimes and crimes justified by "honour", exclusion or limitation of some rights of non-adherents to a more powerful religious group in a given community, segregation according to religious lines, and so on.

Such practices disproportionately affect women and children: invoking tradition is used to justify discrimination on the basis of gender and age. Furthermore, in several cases, situations which, from a human rights perspective, are a violation of human dignity, remain unrecognised, taboo and unpunished.

Few of these practices are based on religious precepts; the fact that they are deeply anchored in culture and tradition do not make ending them any easier.

Changes have to come through legislative change, education and empowerment. Throughout history, religions have played a crucial role in imposing limitations on human action in order to protect the physical and psychological integrity or dignity of other people.

Yet, even though religious philosophies have contributed to the development of a conscience of human rights and dignity, the human rights related to religion and belief are no more exempt from the tensions and contradictions that are present in human rights instruments, than are other rights. As seen in the case of harmful traditional practices, sometimes convictions or beliefs are used to justify outright physical harm with severe health consequences. Religious intolerance can be observed at different levels: among adherents of the same religion intra-religious intolerance ; between one religion or religious attitude and another, manifesting itself in various forms of conflicts between persons and groups of persons inter-religious intolerance ; in the form of confrontational atheism or confrontational theism, which are intolerant of free choice and practice of other religions or belief commitments; or in the form of anti-secularism.

Religious intolerance is often confused with xenophobia and other forms of discrimination; sometimes it is also used to justify discrimination. Most human rights violations related to freedom of religion and belief are also related to freedom from discrimination.

Discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief is contrary to human rights but it is nonetheless experienced daily by many people across Europe. The fact that religion and belief are often confused with culture, nationality and ethnicity makes it more complicated but also more painful on an individual level: you may be discriminated against on the grounds of religious affiliation even if you happen not to believe in the religion you are associated with.

Discrimination and intolerance impact negatively on society as a whole, and particularly on young people who experience it. Such effects include:. Religious intolerance is also used to feed hatred in, and to contribute to, armed conflicts, not so much because it is the cause of conflict but because religious belonging is used to draw dividing lines, as armed conflicts in the Balkans and Caucasus demonstrate.

The consequences of international terrorism and the "wars on terrorism" have been particularly devastating in Europe and beyond, notably because religious intolerance becomes mixed with xenophobia and racism. No single social group, religion or community has the monopoly of discrimination. Even though the levels of protection of the freedom of religion and belief vary significantly across the member states of the Council of Europe, religious intolerance and discrimination affects everyone in Europe.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Saint Paul. Of particular concern in several European countries is the rise of Islamophobia, the fear and hatred of Islam, resulting in discrimination against Muslims or people associated with Islam.

Islam is the most widespread religion in Europe after Christianity and the majority religion in various member states of the Council of Europe. The hostility towards Islam as a religion and to Muslim people, particularly following the "wars on terror", has revealed deep-rooted prejudices against Muslims in many European societies.

With the perception of the religion of Islam as being associated only with terrorism and extremism, Islamophobia has contributed to negative views of Islam and Muslims, wrongly generalising militant religious extremism and ultra-conservatism onto all Muslim countries and Muslim people.

This intolerance and stereotyped view of Islam has manifested itself in a number of ways, ranging from verbal or written abuse of Muslim people, discrimination at schools and workplaces, and psychological harassment or pressure, to outright violent attacks on mosques and individuals, especially women who wear headscarves.

Like other victims of discrimination grounded on religious affiliation, discrimination against Muslims may overlap with other forms of discrimination and xenophobia, such as anti-immigrant sentiments, racism and sexism. Six recurring prejudices about Muslims All the same: Muslims are seen as all being much the same as each other, regardless of their nationality, social class and political outlook, and of whether they are observant in their beliefs and practice.

All are motivated by religion: It is thought that the single most important thing about Muslims, in all circumstances, is their religious faith.

So, if Muslims engage in violence, for example, it is assumed that this is because their religion advocates violence. Totally "other": Muslims are seen as totally "other": they are seen as having few if any interests, needs or values in common with people who do not have a Muslim background. Culturally and morally inferior: Muslims are seen as culturally and morally inferior and prone to being irrational and violent, intolerant in their treatment of women, contemptuous towards world views different from their own, and hostile and resentful towards "the West" for no good reason.

Threat: Muslims are seen as a security threat, in tacit or open sympathy with international terrorism and bent on the "Islamisation" of the countries where they live. Co-operation is impossible: As a consequence of the previous five perceptions, it is claimed that there is no possibility of active partnership between Muslims and people with different religious or cultural backgrounds.

Christianophobia refers to every form of discrimination and intolerance against some or all Christians, the Christian religion, or the practice of Christianity. Like other forms of discrimination based on religion, the perpetrators may be people from other religions — often the majority religions — as much as secular institutions. Hostility against Christians manifests itself in attacks against places of worship, verbal abuse and, particularly in countries where Christians are a minority, restrictions on building and sometimes preserving churches or monasteries.

Particularly worrying is the rise in attacks against Christians in the Middle East. A recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly on this matter calls, amongst other things, for the need to "raise awareness about the need to combat all forms of religious fundamentalism and the manipulation of religious beliefs for political reasons, which are so often the cause of present day terrorism.

Education and dialogue are two important tools that could contribute towards the prevention of such evils" 8. Question: Have you ever experienced any bias towards you because of your religion or belief? How did you react? As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them. Prophet Mohammed. Antisemitism — hostility towards Jews as a religious or minority group often accompanied by social, economic, and political discrimination — is an example of the combination of racism and religious discrimination.

Even though the direct targets of antisemitism are Jewish people, the motivation for discrimination and violence is not necessarily based on Judaism as a religion but on Jews as a people. Reports from human rights organisations regularly state an alarming rise in the number of antisemitic attacks accompanied, in some countries, by the rise of openly antisemitic speech in the political arena.

Events include attacks against Jewish schools, "while Jewish pupils were assaulted, harassed, and injured in growing numbers on their way to and from school or in the classroom, including by their classmates.

Educators report that the term "Jew" has become a popular swearword among youngsters. In its Recommendation No. Religious intolerance and discrimination is not limited to Antisemitism, Christianophobia or Islamophobia. Among the many forms of discrimination is the non-recognition of some religions and the difference of treatment between them.

Religions and systems of belief can thus be banned, persecuted or closely controlled because of their alleged "sectarian" nature or their irrelevance on the grounds of being "insignificant".

It is important to recall that freedom of religion and belief includes the right to change religion and the right not to adhere to, or declare, a religion.