Glossary of religious and spiritual terms
(Starting with "F")
By
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance,
Toronto, Canada
http://www.religioustolerance.org/glossary.htm
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Faith:
A system of religious belief. |
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Faith
group: a general, inclusive term that might
be used to refer to a religion, denomination,
sect, or cult. |
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Faith-formula
movement: (a.k.a. Word of Faith movement,
Health & Wealth Gospel, Positive Confession,
Name it and Claim it, and ). 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 |
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Faith
tradition: A synonym for "faith group." |
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Fall
of mankind: The belief, based on a literal
translation of Genesis, that when Adam and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden
they lost communion with God and brought themselves
and all their descendents (including the present
and future generations) into a condition of sin
and misery. Many religious liberals reject this
belief, and interpret Genesis symbolically to
indicate the rise of Adam and Eve from a pre-human
state to full humanity, becoming aware for the
first time of the differences between good and
evil -- that is, developing a moral sense. |
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Fallibilism:
The belief that no belief, theory, view, postulation,
etc. can be proven with absolute certainty. Any
of our beliefs are subject to change in the future. |
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"Fall-sin-redemption"
model. This is a key theological belief about
sin and salvation that is held by many Christians.
It consists of a series of beliefs:
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Adam
and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden
when they ate of
the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil. |
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By
their actions, sin entered the world for
the first time, and produced a gulf between
God and our first parents. |
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Through
the concept of imputation, Adam and Eve's
sin has been assigned to their children,
their grandchildren, and all the way down
to present-day humanity. Not a single person
since our first parents has avoided sin.
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Because
of the incarnation in which God took human
form in the body of Jesus, and because of
Jesus' sinlessness,
he had the power to forgive sin. |
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Persons
can be saved today by repenting of their
sin, and trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
They will then attain
Heaven when they die. They become
a new creation. Through a process of sanctification
God helps them change and become more like
Christ. The other alternative is to not
trust Jesus; they will then be tortured
in Hell for all eternity. |
Many liberal Christians reject
this model. In part, this is because they view
the Garden of Eden story as a religious myth,
and Adam and Eve's actions as symbolizing
the rise of humanity -- not its fall. |
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False
Memory: A recollection of an event that never
happened, or a very heavily distorted recollection
of an event that did occur. During the 1980s and
1990s, false memories were created in tens or
hundreds of thousands of North American adults
through the use of suggestive techniques like
hypnosis, "truth drugs," guided imagery,
etc. Most "memories" were generated
during therapeutic sessions; some during mutual
support groups; still others through individual
self-hypnosis. Tens of thousands of innocent parents
and relatives were accused of child sexual abuse
as a result of false memories. Some victims of
recovered memory therapy
were driven to suicide by the memories. The therapeutic
technique still continues at a low level and new
victims are still being created. However, it has
largely been discredited and abandoned. |
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Familiar
spirit: An evil spirit who can allegedly possess
the body of a human, and communicate with them.
Belief in evil spirits is widespread among many
religious conservatives, but has been abandoned
by mental health experts for over a century. |
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Fantasy
Role Playing Games: (acronym RPG)
A game like Dungeons and Dragons™ in which
individuals play the roles of characters that
they have chosen. Typically, these characters
live in a pre-scientific, often medieval society,
and are subjected to many challenges. Some conservative
Christians have expressed concern that some characters
are non-Christian; some parents are concerned
about stories of suicides among RPG players. Studies
have indicated that players tend to be more stable
and less likely to commit suicide. |
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Faqih:
Muslim term for a man skilled in Shari'ah law
who has the authority to issue fatwas. |
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Fascism:
A political concept in which the state is
considered paramount, and individual freedoms
and human rights are of minor importance. |
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Fast;
Fasting: The act of doing without food and/or
water for an interval of time -- generally to
attain a spiritual goal. Muslims are expected
to fast completely between sunrise and sunset
during the lunar month of Ramadan. The practice
is widespread among followers of many religions,
including Native American Spirituality, Islam,
Christianity, etc. |
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Fatalism:
The belief that any effort to improve oneself
or the world is useless because everything is
predetermined by blind, irrational forces. |
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Fatwa:
This is an Islamic term that literally means "an
answer to a question." Traditionally,
it has been a recommendation, an opinion issued
by a Muslim scholar on a specific subject. |
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Feminist
Theology: A rejection of the patriarchal,
sexist, homophobic, and other teachings in the
Bible which are considered immoral by today's
religious and secular ethical standards. It promotes
a theology which stresses human rights, sexual
enjoyment, feminine ordination, and equality.
It often involves re-writing the Bible in gender-neutral
terms. |
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Feng
Shui: A belief, originating in Taoism, that
structures and objects need to be properly aligned
in order to promote health and functioning. |
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Filioque:
The Niceno-Constantinopolitan
or Constantinopolitan Creed, which was
written and adopted at the Council of Nicea in
325 CE, and then modified
by the Council at Chalcedon in 451 CE was later
modified during the sixth century CE
with the addition of the filioque. This phrase
states that they Holy Spirit proceeded from the
Father and the Son. The Eastern Orthodox churches
have historically rejected the filioque, citing
John 15:26 as proof that the Holy Spirit proceeded
only from the Father. Friction over the filioque
was a major cause of the split between the Roman
Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy in
1054 CE. |
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Final
Solution: The German Nazi plan for the total
extermination of every Jew in Europe |
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First
Temple Period: The interval from 850 to 586
BCE during which time the Jerusalem Temple was
in place. |
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Five
hindrances: A Buddhist list of feelings that
prevent one's spiritual progress: Lust, aversion,
sloth, restlessness, and skepticism. |
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Five
poisons: A Buddhist list of five harmful influences
commonly found in life: ignorance, hate, pride,
craving and envy. |
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Five
precepts: A Buddhist list of activities to
avoid: Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying
and the taking of intoxicants. |
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Five
ways: These are the five proofs of the existence
of God as derived by Thomas Aquinas from Greek
Pagan metaphysical thought. |
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Flying
bishops: This is an Anglican term used in
the Church of England and the Episcopal Church,
USA. It refers to bishops that are nominated to
provide Episcopal duties in parishes which refuse
to accept women as priests. The parishes have
to petition their bishop for such alternative
arrangements. |
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Foreknowledge:
An attribute of God that he is able to know all
things: past, present and future. |
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Form
criticism: A method of analyzing biblical
verses which involves studying the literary forms
used in the passage. It often seeks to uncover
the oral traditions behind Bible passages. |
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Fortune
telling: A method of divination: predicting
the future. Often performed using cards, tarot
cards, runes, palm reading, tea leaf reading,
etc. |
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Foundationalist,
Foundationalism: "... the belief that
all beliefs are ultimately set upon an unalterable
foundation." |
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Four
constituents: In Buddhism, the fundamental
components which make up the universe: earth,
water, wind and fire. |
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Four
noble truths: A Buddhist list of basic truths
about suffering -- that:
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Suffering
exists. |
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It
comes from one's attachment to desires. |
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It
can be overcome by ceasing one's attachment
to desire. |
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The
Eightfold Path is the way to achieve freedom
from suffering. |
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Free
will: When used by Christian theologians,
means the ability of an individual to freely choose
to repent of their sins and accept Jesus as Lord
and Savior. This is denied by Calvinists, who
say that God cannot be truly sovereign if humans
have free will. |
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Friday,
good: The Friday before Easter Sunday. This
commemorates the execution of Jesus by the Roman
Army. |
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Freemasonry:
A spiritual, fraternal order for men which originated
in guilds of stone cutters. Freemasons see Freemasonry
as supplementing and not in conflict with their
religious belief. They are heavily involved in
charitable works, like the Shriner's hosptials.
Many conservative Christians view Freemasonry
as anti-Christian and condemn membership in the
Masonic Order. Fremasons, like dozens of other
groups ranging from the Roman Catholic Church
to Quakers have been accused of ritual
abuse. However, no hard evidence has been
found to confirm this. |
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Freethinker:
This originally referred to persons who doubted
the Trinity -- the concept that a Godhead existed
composed of a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They
supported the concept of a single indivisible
deity. The meaning of the term has since changed
its meaning to include persons who reject religious
beliefs in general, and who follows her/his own
spiritual and ethical path. |
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Free
will: The ability of humans to choose their
own courses of action. |
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Frum:
A religiously observant Jew. |
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Fundamentalist:
Within Christianity, this is a term used since
the 1920's to refer to the most religiously conservative
group within Protestant Christianity. Within Judaism,
Islam and other religions, the term is used to
refer to the extreme conservative wing who Karen
Armstrong defines as "embattled forms
of spirituality, which have emerged as a response
to a perceived crisis" 1
- namely the fear that modernity will erode
or even eradicate their faith and morality.
Its roots within Christianity can be traced to
the late 19th Century as a reaction against liberal
movements of Biblical criticism and analysis.
A 1909 publication "The Fundamentals:
A testimony to the truth" proposed five
required beliefs for conservative Christians;
they are listed elsewhere in this glossary under
"Evangelicals",
items 1 to 5. Fundamentalists generally believe
that other wings of Christianity, and other religions,
are in error. The largest Protestant denomination
in the U.S., the Southern Baptist Convention,
has recently transitioned to Fundamentalism. Bob
Jones University, the General Association
of Regular Baptists, the Moody Bible Institute
and other organizations are also Fundamentalist.
Among the most generally known leaders are James
Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones and Hal Lindsey.
See the term "Modernism."
The term has three additional meanings in general
usage that cause great confusion:
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A
"snarl" word, used by some non-Fundamentalists
to imply intolerance, bigotry, lack of flexibility
and an anti-intellectual bias. |
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When
applied by the Western media to Muslims,
it often means "anti-American".
Sometimes it means "radical Fundamentalist
Muslim terrorist." who form a very
small percentage of Muslims. |
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When
used by conservative Muslims themselves,
it refers to a person who strictly follows
the teachings of Mohammed, and who promotes
the concept of theocratic government. |
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Furu:
An important, but not a foundational belief,
within Islam. A believer can reject such a belief
and still remain a Muslim. |
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Futurism,
Futurist: Attempts to predict the future.
In Christianity, the term applies particularly
to the interpretation of biblical books such as
Daniel and Revelation
in order to foretell events in our future. |
Reference:
- Karen Armstrong, "The Battle for God," Knopf Publ., (2000)
Read
reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
- "A critical look at the 'Word of Faith' ministries," Ministry Watch
Reflections, 2003-OCT, at:
http://www.ministrywatch.com/ This is a PDF
file.
- Ian Kane, "Logic Nest", weblog. at:
http://www.logicnest.com/
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