Evidence indicates that people have had religious beliefs since pre-historic times. These beliefs usually include supernatural explanations for the existence and nature of the universe. One common supernatural element is a god, or group of gods, who may have created the universe, and who control everything that happens in it. The worship of these gods is an important element of many cultures.
Religious beliefs are usually shared by members of a particular community or society, and are passed down from one generation to the next. This sharing is often achieved through teaching, worship, and participation in rituals, all of which generally take place according to traditional rules. The resulting commonality of beliefs tends to encourage conformity to the prevailing views and moral values of the society. In many places religion plays a big role in birth celebrations, marriage ceremonies, and funeral rites.
Many religions represent an attempt to answer basic questions about the human experience and the meaning of life. They typically try to explain suffering, the existence of evil, and what happens after a person dies. The answers to such questions are often sought in sacred writings preserved from the distant past. In primitive societies religion is often invoked to explain natural phenomena such as storms, lightning, changing seasons, lunar cycles, and eclipses.
In the broadest sense, a religion is any belief system that provides a set of teachings about ultimate reality, the meaning of life, and how an individual should behave. This definition could include various philosophies, deism, agnosticism, spirituality, skepticism, and even atheism under its umbrella.
Unfortunately, conflicts have sometimes arisen between groups that adhere to different religions. Invasions, wars, persecutions, oppression, enslavements, and even torture have occurred in many places. In western countries persecution of Jews, atheists, and other religious minorities has a long history. Hopefully lessons will be learned from these past conflicts, and more toleration will be practiced in the future.
A number of beliefs and practices are common to many religions. These include the study of sacred texts such as the bible, Quran, and Christian gospels, the belief in an afterlife in places like heaven, purgatory, or hell, spirits and demons, rites, secret knowledge, lost books, reincarnation, gods visiting earth, spirit possession, and prophesy.
Religion Gateway can serve as a guide to some of the religious resources available on the web. However, it doesn't provide links to websites that advocate violence, slavery, or religious oppression. It also doesn't list sites which promote gambling or pornography, or encourage aberrant sexual practices or child abuse.
Religion Gateway is a non-commercial ad-free site. The image at the top of this page, a depiction of a Buddhist Mandala, is a public domain work reproduced courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.
In web directories, Religion Gateway is usually listed in the categories such as Religion, Spirituality, or Society.
