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 | Hadavar: Hebrew for "the thing that cannot be described." A term used to refer to Yahweh. Many Jews consider the use of God's name directly to be forbidden or restricted. | ||||||||
| Hades: A Greek term generally translated "Hell" in the King James
Version of the Bible. Beliefs about Hades are divided:
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| Hadith: Sayings and practices of Mohammed. They were collected after his death. | ||||||||
| Hajj: A pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia which every Muslim is expected to perform at least once during their lifetime, if they are physically and financially able. | ||||||||
| Hajji: A Muslim who has performed a Hajj. The term is used as a pejorative by U.S. troops in Iraq. | ||||||||
| Halacha (a.k.a. Halaka., Halakha): Jewish law custom, practice or rite. | ||||||||
| Halal: A set of Islamic dietary laws which regulate the preparation of food. | ||||||||
| Hallelujah: A shout or song of praise to God. "Hallel" means "praise." "Jah" is an abbreviation of "YWVH." It appears in many places throughout the last third of the book of Psalms. It is occasionally used as a first name, most commonly for girls. | ||||||||
| Halloween:
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| Handfasting: A Neopagan wedding. Some religious traditions assign it a length of a year and a day. It can be registered with the government as a marriage if the priest/priestess performing the handfasting is registered to perform weddings. | ||||||||
| Haram (a.k.a. haraam): An Islamic term for a forbidden action. | ||||||||
| Harg: A stone altar in Norse Heathenism. | ||||||||
| HaShem: Hebrew for "the name." A term used to refer to Yahweh. Many Jews consider the use of God's name directly to be forbidden or restricted. | ||||||||
| Health & Wealth Gospel: (a.k.a. Word of Faith movement, Positive Confession, Name it and Claim it, and Faith-formula). A group of conservative Protestant para-church ministries which focus on "anointed" ministers and the health, wealth, and success of their viewers and donors. MinistryWatch estimates that their total income is in excess of a half billion dollars annually. 2 | ||||||||
| Heathen: Originally people of the heath or moor. Originally, it was a Christian term to denigrate followers of the old, pre-Christian Religion. Followers of Asatru and other ancient reconstructed aboriginal religions have embraced the term. | ||||||||
| Heaven:
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| Hebephile: This is a word whose meaning is changing. In the past, it referred to an adult who is sexually attracted to post-pubescent person under the age of 18. Currently, it is evolving to mean a person who sexually molests post-pubescent persons under the age of 18. See pedophile. | ||||||||
| Hell: one of two destinations for an individual after death in the Christian, Muslim and some other religions. Various groups within Christianity believe that a person goes there because of their beliefs or their actions, or some combination of beliefs and actions. Up to the early part of the 20th century, Hell was generally believed to be a place of eternal punishment and torment. Lately, more groups describe it as a simple isolation from God. Liberal religious groups generally treat biblical passages on Hell as symbolic. See also Universalism. In the King James Version of the Bible, the Hebrew word sheol and Greek word hades (two very different concepts) are both generally translated as Hell. | ||||||||
| Hellenism: A general term referring to the influence that Greek Pagan culture had on other societies between the time of Alexander the Great (333 BCE) to 76 BCE when the Romans rose to power. Judaism was profoundly influenced by Hellenism after the conquest of Palestine by the Greeks in the second century BCE. | ||||||||
| Henotheism. belief in many deities of which only one is
the supreme deity. This may involve:
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| Heptateuch: A pair of Greek words for "seven" and "container." It refers to the first seven books of the Hebrew Scriptures -- the Penteteuch and the books of Joshua and Judges. Some theologians believe that these books should be considered as a unit because they believe that the books were composed from the same literary sources. |
| Herem esh-Sheif: Arabic for "Noble Sanctuary." The area in Jerusalem where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are located. Most historians believe that the Jewish Temple once stood there. | ||||
| Heresy: From a Greek word for sub-group or sect: Beliefs that are forbidden by the policy-deciding body of a faith group. Heresy is a relative term, because one group's heresy is frequently another group's required belief or dogma, and vice-versa. Consider, for example, the criteria for salvation as taught by three Christian groups: the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Fundamentalist protestants. One group's required belief may also be the same group's condemned past heresy (and vice-versa). Heresies are inevitable in religion because there does not appear to be any mechanism by which religious disagreements can be resolved -- either through reason or by assessing the will of God. More information. | ||||
| Heresiologist: An individual who studies heresies. | ||||
| Heresiology: The study of heresies. | ||||
| Heretic: a person who believes in one or more heresies. | ||||
| Hermeneutics: The word was derived from the Pagan Greek myth of Hermes. A study of methods used to interpreting the Bible. | ||||
| Hermeticism: A Pagan religion that started in Egypt in the 2nd or 3rd century BCE. Its followers believed that its beliefs were revealed to their founder Hermes by his divine father. They taught that a person on earth is a mortal god and that God is an immortal man. It was one of the main competitors to early Christianity. Some religious historians trace certain Mormon beliefs to Hermeticism. | ||||
| Herodian: An interval of Jewish history from 30 BCE to 70 CE. Named after Herod the Great who reigned from 37 to 4 BCE. | ||||
| Heterodox: Greek for "other opinioned." Beliefs that deviate from accepted doctrines. Antonym of orthodox. It is important to realize that one group's orthodoxy is another group's heterodoxy. | ||||
| Heterosexism: "....An an ideological system that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes any non-heterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community. Heterosexism is reflected by personal assumptions that everyone in the world is, or should be, heterosexual." | ||||
| Heterosexual: A person who is sexually attracted only to members of the opposite sex. Conservative Christian definition: a person who is sexually active with members of the opposite sex, and not with members of the same sex." | ||||
| Hexateuch: A theological term for the first six books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament): The Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and the book of Joshua. | ||||
| Higher criticism: The study of a section of the Bible to determine who wrote it, when it was written, its literary structure and its meaning. | ||||
| High Holy Days: A Jewish term that refers to the yearly observances of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. | ||||
| Hijab: A scarf that many Muslim women use to cover their hair. | ||||
| Hijrah: The flight of Muhammad and fellow believers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. The Islamic calendar dates from this time. | ||||
| Hinayana: Sanskrit for "lesser vehicle." A Buddhist tradition that concentrates on personal enlightenment. There is no consensus on the exact meaning of the term. | ||||
| Hinduism: The third largest religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam. It is a henotheistic faith which exists in many hundreds of variations. It has about 750 million followers and is largely concentrated in India and Sri Lanka. Hinduism does not have a single founder, a specific theological system, a single system of morality, or a central religious organization. It consists of "thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE." 2 | ||||
| Hok Hashvut: The Israeli Law of Return which guarantees every Jew the right to migrate to Israel. | ||||
| Holistic health, holistic medicine: Medical care involving the treatment of the whole person -- body, spirit and mind. Many holistic techniques have never had their efficacy or safety evaluated. | ||||
| Holocaust: From the Greek: "holos" (completely) and "kaustos" (burned sacrificial offering). When capitalized, the term usually refers to the Shoah, (a.k.a. Shoa and Sho'ah) the killing of five to seven million of European Jews by the Nazi government during World War II. Sometimes used to refer to the total Nazi extermination program, which included Jews, Roma (a.k.a Gypsies), Russians, Poles, other Slavs, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. totaling ten to fourteen million humans. The Roma refer to the event as the Porajmos (devouring). | ||||
| Holocaust denial: The belief that either the Nazi Holocaust did not happen, or that the number of Jews killed by the Nazis was relatively small. | ||||
| Holy: A person, place, time, or ritual set apart -- either by humans or by deity -- for the worship of God, Goddess, gods or goddesses. | ||||
| Holy communion: A synonym for Holy Eucharist, Divine Liturgy, Mass, or Lord's Supper. A ritual in which the congregation consumes solid and liquid food, typically bread, a wafer, wine or grape juice in remembrance of the death of Yeshua of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ). Roman Catholics believe that the wafer and wine become the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Most Protestants regard them as symbolic of Jesus' body and blood | ||||
| Holy rollers: A derogatory term used to ridicule members of fundamentalist Christian faith groups who engage in ecstatic worship -- sometimes by dropping to the floor and rolling around while under the "spirit of the Lord." The term is most commonly applied to Pentecostals. | ||||
| Holy Spirit (a.k.a. Holy Ghost): The third person in the Christian Trinity. Some faith groups consider him to be an active force. Historically, Christianity has taught that the Holy Spirit is a person, along with God the Father, and Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ). | ||||
| Homeopathy: An alternative treatment of disease involving the consumption of natural materials that simulate the symptoms of the disease. These materials are first diluted in pure water to such an extent that there are generally no molecules of the original material left. The efficacy of this treatment is rejected by most medical experts. It has the potential of causing harm, because individuals may seek a cure through homeopathy, and ignore the potential for a cure from a physician. The latter generally involve medication and/or treatments whose efficacy and safety have been proven. | ||||
| Homophobia: Any attitude, action or institutional structure which systematically treats an individual or group of individuals differently because of their sexual orientation or their perceived sexual orientation. See also sexism, racism, and religism. The most common forms of homophobia in North America is discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals in employment, accommodation, ordination, church membership, and freedom to marry. However, it occasionally is manifested against heterosexuals. A secondary meaning is the belief that persons of one sexual orientation -- normally heterosexuality -- is inherently superior to persons who have other orientations. A tertiary meaning is fear or loathing of persons with a specific sexual orientation. | ||||
| Homosexual: This term has at
least two conflicting meanings:
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| Homosexualist: A term used by some religious conservatives to refer to anyone -- whether they are heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual -- who support equal rights for persons of minority sexual expression, including: gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. | ||||
| Houris: A Muslim belief that beautiful, virgin women are available to men in Paradise (Heaven) | ||||
| Hudud: Punishments within Islam for spiritual or religious crimes. | ||||
| Humanism: A term with a variety of meanings, ranging from a study of the humanities (languages, literature, philosophy, history, etc.) to secular humanism (see below). | ||||
| Humanism, Secular: a non-theistic philosophy which promotes man as the measure of all things. It had its roots in the rationalism of the 18th Century and the free thought movement of the 19th Century. | ||||
| Huppah: Jewish term for a canopy where a marriage is performed. | ||||
| Hymn: From the Greek "to sing praise." Songs sung -- generally in praise to a God -- by a congregation or choir. | ||||
| Hymnals: A book of hymns. | ||||
| Hyper-Calvinism: The belief by some followers of Calvinism that a person has no responsibility for their own salvation; it is all up to God to choose who will be saved and be destined to live eternity in Heaven, and who will not be saved and will spend eternity being tortured in Hell. | ||||
| Hypnotism, hypnosis: A therapeutic technique in which the patient is placed in a trance. This places the patient in an extremely suggestive state in which false memories can be created. | ||||
| Hypostatic union: The concept that Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) has two natures: one fully divine and one fully human. This is the belief system -- one of many -- about the nature of Jesus that was adopted by the early Christian church and has remained the majority belief. |
References used:
- American Medical Student Association, at: http://www.amsa.org/
- "A critical look at the 'Word of Faith' ministries," Ministry Watch
Reflections, 2003-OCT, at:
http://www.ministrywatch.com/ This is a PDF file. You may require software
to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
Copyright © 1996 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally written on: 1996-MAR-11
Last update: 2007-DEC-23
Author: B.A. Robinson
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