Deck 1: Beginning Your Study of World Religions

Question 1

The secular approach to life rejects religion because of:

A)the rising number of private religions.
B)the lack of institutions offering religious studies as a subject.
C)the lack of cross-cultural understanding among people.
D)the perceived evils of extremism.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The prayer services attended by people during Christmas every year best exemplifies which dimension of religion.

A)aesthetic
B)ritual
C)ethical
D)cognitive

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following skills is likely to be taught by an academic course in world religions?

A)the ability to help people understand the importance of a secular way of life
B)the ability to convert people to a particular religion
C)the ability to promote private religions
D)the ability to understand and explain important religious texts both critically and empathetically

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Émile Durkheim, French sociologist of religion, defined religion as:

A)"The daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable"
B)"A set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of"
C)"A unified system of beliefs and practices ...which unite into one single moral community"
D)"The key to the ultimate truth about life"

Question 5

The belief in many gods is called:

A)multitheism.
B)nominalism.
C)polytheism.
D)contratheism.

Question 6

Identify a true statement about preunderstanding.

A)One's preunderstanding ensures that new experiences do not overload one's brain.
B)It is the state of one's understanding of reality.
C)One is born with a preunderstanding of one's environment.
D)It is not dynamic in nature.

Question 7

Which of the following has challenged most religions for the past decades?

A)the rise of polytheism
B)the rise of secularism
C)the rise of monotheism
D)the rise of patriarchal systems

Question 8

Which of the following is a dimension of religion?

A)the aesthetic dimension
B)the analytic dimension
C)the doctrinal dimension
D)the scientology dimension

Question 9

Which of the following is a defining characteristic of monotheists?

A)They follow a private religion and set their own rules.
B)They do not worship idols.
C)They owe allegiance to multiple religions.
D)They believe in one God.

Question 10

In the context of the ethical dimension of religion, which of the following statements is true?

A)Religion lays more emphasis on personal ethics than on social ethics.
B)Religious ethics are "rules" that have negative connotations.
C)All religions have moral expectations for marriage.
D)Social ethics are always separated from the formal laws of a nation.

Question 11

Karl Marx influentially defined religion as:

A)"The daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable."
B)"A set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."
C)"The opiate of the people."
D)"The key to the ultimate truth about life."

Question 12

Which of the following is an effect of secularism?

A)the widespread illiteracy about religion in North America
B)the decrease in atheistic views
C)the growing popularity of private religions
D)a decrease in the number of existing religions in North America

Question 13

How many North Americans regularly participate in religious practices?

A)about one quarter
B)about one third
C)about one half
D)about two thirds

Question 14

The cognitive dimension of religion involves:

A)the use of religious principles to understand evolution and tackle the questions posed by the progress made by science.
B)the development of a systematized method for studying religion.
C)the aspects of a religious system that teaches its adherents what they need to know about their world and their traditions.
D)the level of study needed to become a priest or minister.

Question 15

Which of the following is a reason why some scholars of religion doubt that "private religion" is really religion at all?

A)It is so personal that scholars can't know about it accurately.
B)It is not oriented to a community's religious practice.
C)It is based primarily on feeling, not teachings.
D)It is not based on ideas of the sacred.

Question 16

Which of the following is an example of a private religion?

A)the practices of an individual congregation
B)the belief that the government should not interfere with the religious beliefs and practices of people
C)a pattern of belief held by only one person
D)a congregation that purchases its own property for building a church

Question 17

With what question does understanding your own personal preunderstanding of religion begin?

A)Can I be humble and provisional in my conclusions about religion?
B)Can I study other religions without feeling threatened in my own?
C)Can I encounter religious practices that seem unusual to me without getting too upset?
D)Do I have an unprejudiced view of what religion in general is?

Question 18

Xena considers her religion superior to other religions.Her attitude has been molded by the beliefs of her parents.Xena's attitude best reflects:

A)her belief in a private religion.
B)her negative views toward monotheism.
C)her pluralist views of religion.
D)her preunderstanding of her religion.

Question 19

The cognitive dimension of religion primarily entails:

A)analyzing, systematizing, and passing along knowledge.
B)emphasizing the sensory element of religion.
C)memorizing passages of sacred texts to recite during rituals.
D)refraining from violence to achieve enlightenment.

Question 20

How do most people in the Western world typically define religion?

A)Religion is a system of morality.
B)Religion is a way to feel about the world.
C)Religion is a way to get to heaven.
D)Religion is belief in God and obedience to God.

Question 21

What is an example of a new religious movement?

A)Civil rights movement
B)Expressionist movement
C)Anti-Apartheid movement
D)Scientology movement.

Question 22

Why does the emotional dimension of religion loom large in the Western world today?

A)It has been studied less than the other dimensions.
B)Religion is for many Western people the most important thing about religion.
C)Emotion goes deeper into individual human life than the other dimensions of religion.
D)Emotion is easier to understand for most people than the other dimensions of religion.

Question 23

What was the name of the movement for women's equality, which came to full bloom in the United States in the 1970s?

A)The Women's Suffrage movement
B)The New Thought movement
C)Spirituality
D)Feminism

Question 24

Identify a true statement about women's studies.

A)It studies the social pressures on both genders but focuses on women.
B)It came into full bloom in the United States in the 1940s.
C)It is based solely on a prescriptive aspect aimed at giving advice to women.
D)It is flourishing in Europe but is not yet strong in North America.

Question 25

The study of the past using careful scholarly methods such as archaeology is a part of what method?

A)historical-critical method
B)empirical method
C)quantitative method
D)neoclassical approach

Question 26

Identify a true statement about religious violence.

A)Religious violence often tends to place differing emphases on the symbolic aspects of violence.
B)Religious violence committed by groups must be analyzed in isolation without any cultural context.
C)Religiously motivated violence includes only those events in which a follower of a religion is the perpetrator.
D)Religious violence is a relatively new phenomenon.

Question 27

The history of religions school began in which country in the nineteenth century?

A)Germany
B)Austria
C)America
D)England

Question 28

Which of the following is a reason for the waning presence of the new religious movements?

A)increasing minority groups in North American society
B)increasing number of monotheists
C)decreasing number of atheists
D)increasing secularization in North American society

Question 29

What methodology is most likely to involve the study of religious texts in their original languages?

A)psychology
B)the historical-critical method
C)bibliology
D)the traditional method

Question 30

Which of the following goes beyond toleration and typically attempts to deal with religious differences constructively.

A)monotheism
B)religious pluralism
C)religious fanaticism
D)atheism

Question 31

Religiously motivated violence includes:

A)only those events in which a follower of a religion is the perpetrator of a violent attack.
B)events in which a follower of a religion is the recipient of violent behavior.
C)events in which people reject religion totally.
D)only those events in which people choose one religion over another.

Question 32

Which academic discipline studies the process of a religion's beginnings, growth, diversity, decline, and so on?

A)Psychology
B)History
C)Biology
D)Archaeology

Question 33

William James maintained that the primary focus of the psychology of religion and of religion itself should be:

A)history of religious studies.
B)social role of religion.
C)religious experience of individuals.
D)importance of religious institutions.

Question 34

Which of the following is most likely to facilitate religious pluralism?

A)cultural ethnocentrism
B)monotheism
C)religious belief
D)interfaith dialogue

Question 35

The term "civil religion" is best defined as:

A)a personal belief system in which individuals choose whom to worship and also set the rules themselves without relying on the rules of organized religions.
B)a religious system that employs a democratic system for establishing leadership.
C)the system of religion that is dictated by the state.
D)the popular, dominant religion of a nation or culture that typically involves some religious conviction about that nation or culture.

Question 36

Elaborate wedding ceremonies performed by priests best exemplify which dimension of religion?

A)aesthetic
B)ritual
C)ethical
D)cognitive

Question 37

According to which of the following is the current ecological crisis can be connected to religion through cultural values?

A)Lisa Kuly
B)Seyyed Nasr
C)Dean Hamer
D)Edward O.Wilson

Question 38

_________ are important in almost all religions because religions seek to correct what they perceive to be wrong in the world.

A)Ethics
B)Myths
C)Rituals
D)Aesthetics

Question 39

Religious pluralism owes a great deal to the American and European experience of:

A)cultural ethnocentrism.
B)monotheism.
C)atheism.
D)religious diversity.

Question 40

What dimension of religion includes formal and informal prayer, sacrifice, chanting of scriptures, public processions, and even travel for religious purpose?

A)aesthetic
B)ritual
C)ethical
D)cognitive

Question 41

Religious violence includes indirect means such as inducing famine.

Question 42

Our English word "religion" is derived from the Latin word "religio."

Question 43

One's preunderstanding of religion remains static throughout life.

Question 44

The term secularism means life without religion.

Question 45

Can religion be considered a pattern of beliefs and practices?

Question 46

If Americans are "deeply religious people," what does religious studies scholar Stephen Prothero mean when he claims that many Americans are also "religious illiterates"?

Question 47

What is the term describing new religious movements (NRMs) that is now seen as derogatory?

A)myth
B)ritual
C)sect
D)cult

Question 48

Feminist scholars of religion have pointed to religion as one explanation of the nearly worldwide subordination of women to men.

Question 49

All religions view the world as significant and would view the loss of a viable home for humanity as a tragedy.

Question 50

The study of theology is a Christian endeavor, and is not found in other religions.

Question 51

According to Seyyed Nasr, the environmental crisis is fundamentally a crisis of:

A)myths.
B)values.
C)rituals.
D)opinions.

Question 52

An indication of the widespread acceptance of the secularization hypothesis is that the study of religion is not found in Chinese universities.

Question 53

Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist of religion, theorized that secularism would eventually fade away in Europe.

Question 54

The leading scholar into the value of meditation for human health is:

A)Andrew Williams.
B)William James.
C)Carl Jung.
D)Andrew Newberg.

Question 55

What religion arose in the nineteenth century from Shi'a Islam and sees itself as the successor of Islam?

A)Daoism
B)Scientology
C)Baha'i
D)Falun Gong

Question 56

What term describes the idea that one cannot be sure if God or gods exist?

A)agnosticism
B)atheism
C)absolutism
D)multitheism

Question 57

The number of people in North America who formally adhere to no religion at all is holding steady.

Question 58

People who make sharp public attacks on religion are referred to as:

A)New Agnosticists
B)New Atheists
C)New Monotheists
D)New Multitheists

Question 59

Some Islamic nations follow the religion-based law called Shari'a.

Question 60

Agnosticism is the belief that there is no God or gods.

Question 61

What is the difference between atheists and agnostics?

Question 62

Is Western Christianity responsible for the modern environmental crisis?

Question 63

In the context of religion, what is the significance of moral rules?

Question 64

How do cultural anthropologists study religions?

Question 65

What constitutes the ritual dimension of religion?

Question 66

How would becoming religious literates encourage religious pluralism?

Question 67

In the context of religion, explain the concept of "stained-glass ceiling."

Question 68

What is Dean Hamer's controversial claim?

Question 69

Explain the view, "Religious studies is a human, not a divine, way of knowing."