When we study the history of life, it easy to see that life has evolved over time. The fossils of creatures that lived before us faithfully record the innovations and changes leading to the diversity of life that we observe today. The history of religion is much shorter, yet it too has left a fossil record revealing some of the innovations and changes leading to the diversity of religions which...

Abstract Up to now, a very large majority of work in the religious philosophy life's meaning has presumed conception God that is Abrahamic. In contrast, this article I critically discuss some desirable and undesirable facets Traditional African Religion's salient conceptions as they bear on life. Given an interest maximally meaningful life, supposing would come from fulfilling God's purpose for...

This article argues the global environmental crisis shows the need for a broad, inclusive definition of sustainability. It shows how religious traditions can help contribute to broader definitions, and describes how work from the field of Religion and Ecology has developed resources. It argues that the next step for the study of Religion and Ecology is to address sustainability, and then propos...

Few seem to have difficulty in distinguishing between religious and secular institutions, yet there is widespread disagreement regarding what “religion” actually means. Indeed, some go so far as to question whether there is anything at all distinctive about religions. Hence, formulating a definition of “religion” that can command wide assent has proven to be an extremely difficult task. In this...

This paper quantifies the association between religions, religiosity and educational attainment of new lawful immigrants to the U.S. This paper considers a broad set of religions that includes most of the major religions of the world. Using data from the New Immigrant Survey (2003), we show that affiliation with religion is not necessarily associated with an increase in educational attainment. ...

As far as we can go back in human history we find a multiplicity of languages, cultures and religions. Thus has religious pluralism been a fact for millenia, most probably from the very beginning of human history. What is new is that we become increasingly aware of that fact.% But even this is not a new phenomenon since religions called world religions are the result of processes of mutual assi...

Among the "Great Religions" of the world may be discovered repetition and similarity, as well as, variations and significant differences. This similarity becomes clear when it is understood that of the five great religions-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism-a reduction to two may be made historically. Hinduism and Judaism may be considered the genesis of the other three: Hinduism ...