Revision:Authority Within Religion
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Sources of authority within religion
- Sacred writings eg. the Bible and the Qur’an
- ‘Secondary’ writings eg. Hadith and writings of key thinkers eg. St Augustine or Thomas Aquinas (Natural Law)
- Religious Leaders eg. the Pope or Imams in Shi’ite Islam
- Religious Teachers eg. Sufi teachers or Evangelical preachers
- Religious Organisations eg. the synod of the C of E or the Muslim Council
- Religious traditions eg. RC emphasis on Mary or the differing Muslim views on hijab
- Personal experiences eg. of conversion or mystical experiences
- Individual conscience eg. based on meditation or study
God
- God can be seen as the ultimate source of authority.
- The other forms of religious authority all follow God and his revelation.
- Without God there would be no religion therefore on a hierarchy scale God would be seen as most important authority as it is through God which the laws and ways to live were set.
Codes and Law
- crucial text or teachings of a faith (Qur'an, Bible)
- not only held to contain key truths of religion
- Often provides clear codified guidance on how a believer should lie and worship.
- Codes and laws are vital in that adherence to them is most direct and important way for a believer to demonstrate their faith.
- The demonstration of faith and adhering to the codes and laws if usually the key to reaching ultimate goal concerning afterlife.
- Shara'h- Allah has not revealed himself or his divine nature but instead he has chosen to reveal his law.
- Sharia'h is therefore considered to be timeless in that the word of god will never change.
- 'a timeless manifestation of the will of god, subject to neither history nor circumstance...'
- sharia'h is referred to as an all encompassing ideal as it covers all areas of faith and morality.
- However such authority is subject to interpretation as sharia'h contains hadith, sunnah etc therefore this may be seen as subjective as people interpret things differently i.e different school of laws look at it differently.
- Sharia'h also look at qiyas and ijma which are not referred to in the Qur'an therefore can say it distorts the word of God in a way as logical reasoning is not considered in the holy book.
- Disagreement amongst Muslims about how strictly the law should be adhered to and how relevant the aspects are to modern life.
Scripture
- Muslims may use the holy book to help them live in the way of God as they consider the Qur'an to be word of God
- Therefore Muslims may see the book to be most closest way of living life according to Gods law as it is directly from God, therefore this may be seen as primary source of authority to Muslims today as they cannot get in touch with God therefore Holy book is only true way of living in acceptable way.
- Scripture can be seen to guide a believer through their spiritual journey.
- Bible gets most of authority as it is believed to have come from God, God being the ultimate authority.
- Scripture from most religion is old and so can be wrongly interpreted which changes the true meaning of what is being looked at.
- All scripture is a way of seeing God' power and knowledge. God reveals himself through scripture so humans can gain knowledge of God. God is ultimate authority but due to fact that we can see God through scripture, it itself become authority.
Religious figures
- Qur'an and shari'a are not the only sources of guidance and authority fro shi'ite Muslims.
- Shi'ite Muslims regard authority lies in the imam (Allah's appointed leader over community)
- they believe imams uphold justice and act as source of guidance for mankind.
- They believe it is unlikely that God would leave humankind without a spiritual guide after death of Muhammad.
- They believe an imam is in-between God and humankind and he receives authority from 'on high'
- Pope- position in Roman Catholic church is unique.
- He does not command status of being in-between man and god nor is he a manifestation of god.
- But he possesses sufficient authority to rule on matters of faith, morality and the church's own manner of government and organisation.
- Doctrine of Papal infallibility- this means all Catholics from children to cardinals must obey the popes rulings.
Other sources of authority may include
- conscience – people may use their conscience to backup what they believe to be right or wrong in specific situations. However religion does not allow us to rely on our conscience as at times this may go against scripture. e.g. Our conscience may tell us to steal but scripture suggests it is morally wrong.
- tradition
- institutions i.e. Mosques, Church, different schools of law.
- Community
Challenges to religious authority
Challenges from within
- problem with the early development of Islam.
- Malise Ruthven- most significant problems facing Islam today is not due to being encroached in *westernisation but it is a crisis of authority within.
- Crisis is much to do with the fact that there has never been a church in Islam.
- Muslims have never been able to look to a formal centralised leadership structure to set an official Islamic agenda like the papacy in Rome.
- After death of prophet authority was entrusted to an ulama ( learned men) but their status became weak after the fact that their judgements could be overruled by a state judge.
- Challenges from within can occur due to a result in differences in interpretation and method.
- There are groups of which believers wish that a religion is updated to survive. This creates a tension between the new approach and the traditional.
- Difference in key beliefs may also prove to be a challenge. For example Shia's believe Ali is mentioned in shahada, this may prove to be a challenge as it may question Muslims to think about which belief is correct and this may cause difficulties within the religion as the different sects argue their point.
- Scriptural criticism – people may argue that scriptures are open to interpretation therefore can be used in different ways. Scriptures tend to be old and so may be seen as weak to modern issues.
- Rejection of tradition –
- Practice of faith – liturgical or non-liturgical worship.
- Contemporary or traditional practice (prayer v. electric guitar!)
- Actual beliefs challenged, historical content accepted BUT
- Views reflect zeitgeist and are typical of the time when written. Outdated for today’s society so less accepted.
- View that issues should be re-interpreted for today’s standards/morals so that we can learn from it correctly (but who decides?)
- Links to scripture – should it be changed – is it word of God?
- Alternative views of God – gical or non-liturgical worship.
- God has a different meaning or purpose to different people.
- Monotheism/polytheism
- stereotypical view- omnipotent, benevolent, omniscient
- Purpose – people have been created purposely by God – they have a reason to be alive
- OR like a parent figure (Freud)
- OR idea of having a ‘being’ guiding your actions and morals – barrier between good and evil.
- OR just having a religion to help you spiritually and emotionally – sense of community, ethical guidelines, sense of morality, lifestyle, heaven, hell etc.
Challenges from outside
- feminism- People believe that women and men are equal therefore some teachings which may be interpreted as men are superior to women may be rejected. It also challenges religious authority as it suggests that religion promotes inequality therefore this may be used against religion. 'man are protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah made one to excel the other'
- Altruism- loving others as oneself, behaviour which promotes the survival chances of others at at a cost to ones own, it can also be seen as the self sacrifice fro the benefit of others.
- Science:-
- Darwin – theory of evolution; humans developed over time SO God did not create us immediately in our present state – SO are we created in His image, are we the pinnacle of His creation, did He even create us at all?
- Newton – Theory of relativity (gravity etc) showing scientific comprehension of our earth’s structure and creation, its abilities etc, undermines God – scientific not religious view of the way the world works. Not explained by religion.
- Copernicus & Galileo – Heliocentric theory of solar system (where the sun is central and everything orbits around it) which challenges religion because earth should be at the centre because God created it SO God’s creation questioned, why aren’t we in the centre – did HE create it at all? Basically CREATION V EVOLUTION is biggest challenge.
- Science is the most influential in challenging authority because it can provide evidence and proof - Religious views are difficult to prove right and science instead can offer answers which have more believability, and gains peoples trust. But, religion does give the answers WHY as opposed to sciences showing HOW.
- New Morals –
- Morals/beliefs adapting to social norms e.g. homosexuality.
- Traditional views and roles not as accepted in today’s society, Such as feminism – Equality of genders challenge to patriarchal systems of religion.
- Some actions which are ‘wrong’ 10 commandments etc have psychological/scientific basis for it which suggests religion has no impact on lifestyle, it is biological make up. (Rape, evolutionary psychology, Chastity, Adultery etc)
- Philosophy – Kant, Bentham, Mill, Aristotle etc all offer alternative theories of guidance for successful living differential to religious ones.
- Politics - Further itself from religion so differential views aren’t detrimental to law making decisions. Religion shouldn’t affect law – people have different religions and in a democracy this means law would not reflect the whole of society. Needs to suit everyone and not favour one religion.
Examples of where religion has challenged secular authority
In case of Iran
- in revolution of 1978 followers of Ayotollah Khomeini led people to overthrow the shah.
- Shah wanted religion out of Iran as he wanted to introduce secularism as he though religion held them back from becoming a successful country.
- Shah was a selfish man as he wanted competition in the country so that work was made more efficient which meant they had a greater chance of succeeding as a country.
- However Ayotollah suggested religion was more important as this was what would count which led to shah being overthrown
Socially inspired challenges
- challenges to secular authority is not always carried out in the name of self preservation.
- Some religious groups believe that religion shouldn't limit themselves to spiritual concerns, as they should have a duty to make the secular world a better place.
- In Britain Church of England published a report in 1984 called faith in the city.
- The report drew attention to problems being faced by people in inner cities who lived deprived lives and called for the church to take action.
- This criticised Margaret thatchers government for not doing enough to lessen social inequality and identified 'urban priority areas' where church of England focused its efforts to care for deprived.
Comments
These notes are aimed at A Level Religious Studies students for the module 'RS12: Studies in Religion and Human Experience'.
Originally written by BlondKelly18 on TSR Forums.
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