Religion helps humans cope with stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. Sigmund Freud concluded that religion provides assurance in the face of insecurity. He also argued that religion cannot be mastered by humans due to their universal privations of mortality. According to Nigel Barber, religious disbelief should increase as countries achieve more economic development, reduce income inequality, and redistribute wealth.
Animism
Animism is a belief in the spiritual essence of objects. According to this belief, all objects are alive, and are therefore regarded as a kind of life. Animists also believe that animals are living, and that they can communicate with humans. This belief is popular in Japan, and has many adherents.
Animism is a religion that is closely related to Shamanism. The name derives from the Latin word anima, which means “soul” or “breath”. The religion teaches that everything in nature has a spirit or soul and that humans are only a small part of this world. Animists also believe that there is no distinction between the physical and spiritual worlds. As a result, spirits can live in anything and control any physical thing.
Judaism
Judaism is a worldview that stresses moral behavior in this world as well as personal salvation in the next. It is a religion that promotes nonviolence and the teachings of Jewish sages. However, there are some differences between Judaism and other faiths.
The basic beliefs of Judaism include belief in one God and the Jewish people. As a monotheistic religion, Jews believe in one God and that the Jewish people were chosen by God to be messengers to the world. These messengers passed on God’s details to other people.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and is one of the world’s oldest organized religions. Its central beliefs include a dualistic cosmology of good and evil, a monotheistic ontology, and an eschatology, which predicts that the forces of good will one day conquer evil.
The religion traces its origins to approximately 3500 BC. Its founder, the prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra), lived in ancient Iran. The religion was the official religion of Persia (Iran) from 600 BCE to 650 CE. Today, it is one of the world’s smallest religions, and its followers follow the teachings of a single God, Ahura Mazda.
Other religions in East and Southeast Asia
The region has many religions, but Christianity is by far the most common. Almost 90% of Timorese and Philipinos are Roman Catholics. Christianity was spread throughout the region by the Spaniards, Portuguese Dominican Friars, and French missionaries. It was easy for the Filipinos to convert to Christianity, as it provided a more structured belief system without centralized power. Major churches in the region include the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, Christ Church Melaka, and Daraga Church in the Philippines.
Historically, Southeast Asia has been a cosmopolitan region of religious diversity. Though the arrival of Buddhism and Islam reshaped the region’s culture, the region has maintained religious tolerance. In the past, religious movements have worked together to resist colonial powers and protect their native cultures. However, in recent decades, religious intolerance and communal violence have eroded the religious diversity of Southeast Asia.