Question

Some authorities do not consider Confucianism a religion primarily because it does not include

A) Belief in an afterlife
B) Rituals and ceremonies
C) Moral teachings
D) Deities and divine worship

Answer 1

Confucianism is often not considered a religion because it lacks deities and divine worship, emphasizing moral teachings and societal guidance instead. Option D is the correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

Some authorities do not consider Confucianism a religion primarily because it does not include deities and divine worship. While Confucianism does include rituals and ceremonies, its focus on moral teachings and its development as a response to social anarchy and lack of social cohesion underlines its nature as a philosophy or social system. Kung Fu-Tzu, or Confucius, developed this system to offer guidance to society and while his teachings, collected in the Analects, imply a degree of sacredness for ancestral practices, they do not prescribe a belief in an afterlife or focus on the worship of gods.