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 | Rabbi: From Hebrew phrase meaning "my master." A leader of a Jewish synagogue. | ||||||
| Racism: Any attitude, action or institutional structure which systematically treats an individual or group of individuals differently because of their race. The most common form of racism in North America is in the form discrimination against African-Americans. However, it occasionally is manifested as preferential treatment for blacks. A secondary meaning is the belief that one race -- normally caucasian -- is inherently superior to other races. See also sexism, religism, and homophobia. | ||||||
| Radical theologies: Nonsupernaturalist concepts of deity that reject belief in a personal God -- one who has a personal consciousness, created the world, and interacts with humans. | ||||||
| Ramadan: A Muslim period of daytime fasting and contemplation which lasts for a lunar month of about 28 days. It commemorates the transmission of the Qur'an by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad. | ||||||
| Rapture: From the Latin "rapio" which means to snatch. The belief held by many conservative Protestants that Christ will soon appear in the sky and that all of saved individuals, both living and dead, will rise to meet him. Although this belief is supported by some passages from the Christian scriptures (New Testament), it is not shared by many mainline and liberal Christians. (See also the secret rapture) | ||||||
| Rastafarianism: A new religious movement centered among persons of African origin in Jamaica and the U.S. They revere the late Emperor Selassie of Ethiopia (1892-1975), as the Elect of God and savior of the black race. They regard black people to be the reincarnation of Israel in the Bible. | ||||||
| Rationalism: A movement in the 18th century Protestantism which abandoned the idea of Biblical inerrancy and adopted the belief that the Bible can be analyzed as a historical document. Some Rationalists assert that the existence of some form of deity can be proven by reason. Others see Rationalism and Atheism as synonyms. | ||||||
| Real Presence:
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| Rebirthing: A form of therapy in which the patient engages in continuous deep breathing. It is supposed to cure emotional problems in adulthood. | ||||||
| Redactor: A document editor. The term is often used to refer to individuals who revised books in the Hebrew Scriptures. | ||||||
| Redaction criticism: A method of analyzing those portions of the Bible which appear to have been created by an editing process in which redactors (editors, compilers) have combined various source document into the form that we see in the Bible. The Gospel of Luke, for example, is regarded by most liberal theologians as being compiled from the Gospel of Q, the Gospel of Mark, and some independent oral or written material. Through redaction criticism, the theological goals and purposes of the redactors can be inferred. Conservative Christians generally have a dim view of this technique because it impacts on their belief of the inerrancy of the Bible. | ||||||
| Rede: Old English word for a law or rule. The Wiccan Rede is the main behavioral rule for Wiccans. In modern English it can be translated as "As long as it harm non, do what you wish." | ||||||
| Redemption: A general term meaning to set loose or release a person from bondage. In Christianity, it generally refers to the deliverance of believers from a state of sin which is possible because of the death of Jesus on the cross. | ||||||
| Red letter Christian: A Christian who follows a conservative typically Evangelical theology, but who rejects most of the concerns of the religious right. They stresses issues related to human suffering, justice, poverty, and human rights, including the environment, global warming, the AIDS crisis, war, violence, education, gun control, etc. | ||||||
| Reflexology: A holistic, alternative, health treatment which associates each organ in the body with a spot on the individual's foot or hand. Massage of the foot or hand is then believed to unblock the body's energy and heal the organ. Medical researchers generally discount any mechanism linking points on the feet and hand to internal organs. | ||||||
| Reformation: A Christian movement which was started by Martin Luther in the early 16th century as an attempt to reform Roman Catholicism. It was joined by Zwingli, Bucer, Calvin and others, and resulted in a complete break with Catholicism. Millions of people died during the resulting religious wars. The reformation led to the fracturing of Christianity into approximately 35,000 faith groups. | ||||||
| Reformed theology: A system of religious belief based on the writings and beliefs of Calvin. | ||||||
| Regeneration: The process by which God is believed to work on a born-again person, whereby her/his soul is renewed and becomes a new creation. | ||||||
| Reincarnation: the belief that when a person dies, their soul is reborn into another living human. In North America, belief in reincarnation is found among Buddhists, Hindus, followers of the New Age, and most Neopagans. It was a common belief in early Christianity. Often confused with the Hindu concept of the Transmigration of the Soul. | ||||||
| Relativist: one who is convinced that religious disagreements are neither productive nor important. Relativists tend to emphasize areas of harmony among religions, minimizing or ignoring their differences. | ||||||
| Religion: "Any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life." Thus we would include Agnosticism, Atheism, conservative Christianity, Humanism, Islam, Judaism, liberal Christianity, Native American Spirituality, Wicca and other Neopagan traditions as religions. | ||||||
| Relativism: A philosophical belief that many forms of "truth" -- particularly in the area of morals and ethics are relative and not absolute. That is, it varies from time to time and culture to culture. Antonym: absolutism. | ||||||
| Religious liberty:
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| Religious market, Religious marketplace: We have seen the
following two uses of these terms:
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| Religious Right: A group of very conservative, politically active organizations within Fundamentalist Christianity which is attempting to implement conservative changes to society and its laws. The American Family Association, Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family form part of the religious right. Their main areas of activity are in reducing choice in abortion access, homosexual rights, same-sex marriage, physician assisted suicide, and prayer in the public school. | ||||||
| Religious tolerance:
The second definition is used in this web site. | ||||||
| Religism: Any attitude, action or
institutional structure that systematically treats an individual or group
of individuals differently because of their religion. A secondary meaning is
the belief that persons who follow one religion are inherently superior to
those of other religions. This is a word that is not found in dictionaries, but
is badly needed. There are words in the English language that
refer to bigotry, hatred and/or a desire to limit the civil rights of people
on the basis of race (racism),
sex (sexism), sexual orientation (homophobia),
nationality (xenophobia), etc. But we have no
word that refers to bigotry based of religion. Yet religious bigotry
and hatred may be the most serious threat to the continuation of humanity in
the 21st century. Religism seems to be catching on: On 2006-MAY-07,
Google found 54 hits for the word. By 2008-JAN-01, there were 345. The most common form of religism in North America is in the form of discrimination against non-Christians, up to and including the promotion of genocide against them. However, it also often surfaces as discrimination against conservative Christians. Unfortunately other people have latched onto the word and given it different meanings. For example, Globe-Guardian.com defines it as: any religion that is without merit; i.e. phony religion. | ||||||
| Repentance: Being sorry for past sins against God or transgressions against other humans. It implies a sincere desire to change one's behavior in the future. Conservative Protestants generally consider it the first step towards salvation. The second step is to trust Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, some religious conservatives reject repentance as needed for salvation, because it is a form of good works. | ||||||
| Replacement Theology: (a.k.a. Supercessionism). This is the theological concept that, because the vast majority of Jews in the first century CE did not accept Jesus as their Messiah, God unilaterally terminated his covenants with the Jewish people and transferred them to the followers of Christianity. It relegates Judaism to an inferior position and recognizes Christianity as the 'true' or 'spiritual' Israel. This concept was first developed by Justin Martyr (circa 100 to 165 CE) and Irenaeus of Lyon (circa 130 to 200 CE). It was largely accepted within the church by the 4th century. It has led to a great deal of persecution of Jews by Christians. Although the Catholic Church reversed its stance on replacement theology in the 20th century, many conservative Protestant groups still believe in this principle. In opposition to replacement theology is the dual covenant theory that God's covenants in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) are still in place. | ||||||
| Restorationism: The belief that the true Christian church died out in the early 2nd Century CE, and was restored by Joseph Smith when he established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon). This movement currently consists of almost 100 denominations, many centered in Utah and Missouri. | ||||||
| Resurrection: An even in which a dead person returns to life. It is often used to refer to the belief that Jesus died, and later returned to life after about a day and a half in the grave. This is not to be confused with the resuscitation of Jesus, as taught in Islam. Some Muslims believe that Jesus did not actually die, but perhaps entered into a coma and later returned to consciousness. Others believe that Jesus was not crucified; another person may have been substituted in his place. | ||||||
| Retrogression: A Buddhist term that refers to one's rebirth after death on earth or one of the lower realms. | ||||||
| Revelation:
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| Rhema: A Greek word that means any spoken word having a definite meaning. Romans 10:8 uses "rhema" in place of the more common word "logos." | ||||||
| Righteous: This very important term is often mentioned in the
Bible. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, for example, Paul states that
all non-Christians are "unrighteousness." Unfortunately, the word
has three somewhat different meanings. A person:
Of course, an individual may be acting according to divine law, be free from sin, and be moral, within the standards of one religion, but not by another. | ||||||
| Righteous among nations: A term used to refer to non-Jews who helped save Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. | ||||||
| Rite, Ritual: Speech, action, singing, and other activities which often contain a symbolic meaning, performed in a specific order - typically during a religious service. | ||||||
| Ritual Abuse: Involuntary psychological, physical, sexual or spiritual maltreatment, associated with a (normally religious) ritual. There is typically one accidental death per year in North America as a result of ritual abuse in the form of a conservative Christian exorcisms. Satanists were widely perceived during the 1980's and early 1990's as perpetrating widespread Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) involving the torture, murder and even eating of human sacrifices. After two decades without any evidence of its existence, most investigators regard SRA as non-existent. | ||||||
| Role Playing Games: See Fantasy Role Playing Games | ||||||
| Roman Catholicism: This is the largest of the four branches of Christianity; the others being the Anglican Communion, Protestant denominations and Eastern Orthodox churches. During the fourth century CE, the branch of the early Christianity which was founded by Paul became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The authority of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, gradually increased, as Christian missionaries spread out through western and northern Europe. Starting in the 15th century, Roman Catholicism spread to the Americas. The church lost its religious monopoly in Western Europe at the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, but remains today the largest single Christian faith group, by far, with about a billion members. | ||||||
| Rosary: Prayer beads strung on a thread, used primarily by Roman Catholics. | ||||||
| Rosetta stone: A black basalt stone monument found in Egypt in 1799, which contained the same messages in three different languages: one was ancient Greek, which was known by linguists. The other two were Demontic script and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Over time, the stone enabled linguists to understand both of the latter languages. 1 | ||||||
| Rosh Hashanah: The New Year celebration in the fall, according to the Jewish calendar. | ||||||
| Routinization of character: To change your character to have distinct traits that conform to your religious beliefs. | ||||||
| RPG: See Fantasy Role Playing Games | ||||||
| Ruach: Hebrew word for spirit or wind. | ||||||
| Rupa: A Hindu and Buddhist term which generally refers to religious statutes. | ||||||
| Rune: (Derived from an early Anglo-Saxon word "runa" meaning "secret" or "mystery.") It was originally a pictorial alphabet used Northern Italy, circa 500 BCE. Its use later spread across Europe. There are a number of different sets of runes, each derived from a specific alphabet, such as the Elder Futhrk, Saxon Futhork and Norse Younger Futhark. The word "rune" also refers to a small piece of material marked with a rune symbol. The latter are used in divination by many Wiccans, other Neopagans and New Agers. Their use is generally condemned by conservative Christians as a practice forbidden by the Bible. | ||||||
| Russelites: An early name for the bible students who later became the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931. The name is derived from their founder, Charles Taze Russell.. |
Reference:
- Richard Strachan & Kathleen Roetzel, "The Story of the Rosetta Stone, 'Finding a Lost Language'," at: http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/prehistory/
- "Real Presence" Wikipedia, as of 2005-NOV-07, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/
Copyright © 1996 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally published on: 1996-MAR-11
Last update: 2008-JAN-17
Author: B.A. Robinson
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