Sabbat: A seasonal day of celebration observed by Wiccans and
other Neopagans. There are eight each year. The two solstices and two
equinoxes are minor Sabbats. Between each solstice and equinox is a
major Sabbat. Samhain (Oct. 31), Imbolc (Feb. 2), Beltane (May 1), and
Lammas (Aug. 1) are among the most common names used. 1
Sabbatarianism: The belief that the weekly Sabbath must be observed
from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Often, Jewish dietary laws
and seasonal days of service are also observed by Sabbatarians.
Sabbath, weekly: Originally Saturday: a day of rest and
holiness; observed by Jews and a minority of Christian denominations.
Most Christian groups observe Sunday as the Sabbath.
Sacramental Union: A Lutheran term meaning "real
presence."
Sacraments: A formal church ritual frequently described as an
outward and visible sign of an internal and spiritual grace. The
Roman
Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize seven sacraments, popularly known
as: Baptism, Confirmation, Mass, Penance, Anointing the dying, Ordination
and Marriage. Most Protestant denominations only recognize two: Baptism
and Communion. A few denominations, such as the Amish,
add foot washing. Sacraments are believed by most Christian
denominations to have been instituted by Jesus. The Society of Friends (Quakers)
and the Salvation Army do not recognize or use any sacraments.
Sacrilege:
The violation or misuse of a sacred object.
Sometimes used to describe any irreveence to sacred persons, places
and things. (From Wikipedia)
Sadaqa: Islamic term for the giving of a charitable donation.
This is an obligation for Muslims.
Sadducees: A small group of priests who controlled the temple
at Jerusalem. One of about two dozen Jewish religious groups active during the
1st century CE. They rejected belief in immortality. They were religious
conservatives who felt threatened by Pagan influences due to Roman and
Greek occupation of Israel.
Sahaba: This is the Arabic word for "companions." In
Islam, it generally refers to the people who lived and witnessed with the
Prophet Muhammad.
Saint:
In Roman Catholicism, a person of great spirituality who has died, is
responsible for at least three miracles, and who has been elevated to
the sainthood by the church.
In Protestantism, a
saint is one of the ancient leaders of the church, like St. Peter and
St. Paul.
In Evangelical Christianity, all saved Christians are
saints.
Sajdah: (Full name: As-sajdah) This is the the act of
prostration by a Muslim during which seven parts of the body are to
touch the ground: the forehead, palms, knees and big toes.
Salat: A Muslim prayer. Islam expects each Muslim, where
possible, to perform the salat prayer five times a day. It is
the second of the Five Pillars of Islam.
This is recited while orienting
one's body towards Mecca. 2 It is done at specified times
in the morning, at noon, mid-afternoon, after sunset and just before
sleeping. 3
Salvation:The remission of sins and
healing of the gulf between an individual and God.Various passages
in the Christian Scriptures imply that salvation is achieved either by
good deeds; or by belief in Jesus' resurrection; or belief that Jesus is the
Son of God; or by church rituals such as baptism or penance; or by avoiding certain behaviors; or some
combination of the preceding. Various traditions within Christianity have
resolved the Bible's ambiguity by stressing some passages and largely
ignoring others.
Salvific pluralism: The belief that individuals can achieve
salvation by following any one of many different world religions.
5 If salvific pluralism is true, then the belief that all those who have
not repented of their sins and trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior will go to Hell at death is false.
More details.
Samahdi: In Buddhism, a type of insight achieved through
meditation or wisdom.
Samhain: A major sabbat -- a seasonal day of celebration --
observed by Wiccans and other Neopagans on OCT-31. Samhain is often
incorrectly defined as a Wiccan God of the dead within many conservative
Christian and secular sources.
Samsara: A Buddhist term referring to the
endless cycle of
birth, life, death, and rebirth. The goal of a Buddhist is to achieve
enlightenment and to escape from samsara.
Sanctification: A Christian term which refers to the process by which
the Holy Spirit helps a born-again Christian to grow spiritually, become more
Christ-like, and abandon sinful behaviors.
Sangha: A Buddhist term for a community of believers.
Sanhedrin: A council of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. They formed a
court which was the highest religious body in Palestine. They acted as an
advisory board to the Roman governor.
Santeria: A syncretistic religion
which combined Roman Catholicism with Pagan religions from Western Africa.
It is found throughout the Caribbean and in North America.
Satan: (a.k.a. the Devil, Lucifer): In the older parts of the
Hebrew Scriptures, he is described as a type of District Attorney in God's
court. In the New Testament, he is described as a supernatural being who
is profoundly evil and who seeks to destroy people's lives. The religion
of Islam also recognizes the existence of Satan. Many conservative Christians believe
that followers of Wicca and other
Neopagan religions worship Satan.
However, the latter do not recognize any all-evil deity called by the name of
Satan or by any other name.
A religion based upon Satan, either as a
form of deity or as a principle. Adherents follow simple rules of behavior: give kindness
to those who deserve it; indulge in their lusts and wants; return vengeance rather than
turning the other cheek. With some justification, Satanism has been called the religion of
the U.S. corporate boardroom. Although their beliefs are different from
Christianity,
Satanists are not particularly anti-Christian any more than they are anti-Hindu or anti-Buddhist. However,
some have included references opposing Wicca in their rituals.
Most Satanists are either teenage dabblers, or members of the Church of
Satan, Temple of Set or Church of Satanic Liberation. Their total membership in North America is
unknown, but probably numbers about 10,000. Total membership is believed to be decreasing.
Common Evangelical
usage: a violently anti-Christian religion worshipping Satan. Some are teenage dabblers;
others are religious Satanists belonging to an established church or temple; others are
mass murderers; still others form a secret, underground international, multi-generational
conspiracy which engages in Satanic Ritual Abuse and human
sacrifices - usually of infants or children. Membership rapidly rising.
Common Fundamentalist usage: Any non-Christian faith group, such as
Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism is Satanic. By this definition, two
out of three people in the world are Satanists..
Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA): psychological, sexual, and/or
physical assault committed by two or more people whose primary motive is to fulfill a
prescribed religious ritual involving the worship of the Christian devil,
Satan. A large percentage of the
population (90% in Utah) believe that SRA is widespread. Numerous
government studies into SRA have revealed it to be non-existent, or
essentially so.
Satyagraha: A Sanskrit term that describes a type of nonviolent
resistance developed by Mohandas Gandhi to win Indian independence. Later it
was used by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the fight against racial
discrimination. It is now being used by Soulforce to promote "...freedom
for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and
political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent
resistance." 6
Scapegoat: Originally a religious term. Ancient Israelite
priests would transfer the sins of the community to a goat who would then
be driven into the desert to die. The term is currently used to refer to a person
or group who is unjustly accused of a crime or improper behavior.
Schism: From the Greek word "schisma" - a rent or tear.
A division of a faith group into two or more smaller groups. One result of
the Protestant Reformation was a series of schisms leading to the
approximately 35,000 present-day Protestant faith groups.
Schism, great: The formal split between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic
churches in
1054 CE. Also used to refer to the interval from 1378 to 1417 CE
when as many as three individuals simultaneously claimed to be pope.
Scripture:In Christianity, this is the Bible.It is
composed of the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old
Testament) and the 27 books of the Christian Scriptures (a.k.a. New
Testament). Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox churches and some Protestant denominations add the
14 books of the Apocrypha.
Seance: A gathering of individuals who attempt to communicate with the spirits of
the dead, generally with the help of a medium.
Second coming: The return of Jesus Christ to earth.
Second probation: The belief that after death, non-believers
will be given a second chance to be saved by accepting Jesus as Lord and
Savior.
Second Temple Period: The interval from 520 BCE to 70
CE, between
the reconstruction of Solomon's temple and the destruction of the temple by
the Roman Army.
Secret rapture: The rapture is a
belief that Jesus will soon return towards Earth, and that all saved
individuals will rise through the air and meet him. The secret rapture is a
variation on this belief, that has those left behind confused about the
nature and reason for the rapture.
Sect: A small religious group that has recently split
away from an established religion. The early Jewish Christian group under
James, the Brother of Jesus, in Jerusalem circa
30 CE
would have been considered a sect of Judaism at the time.
Sectarian: Acceptance and adherence to a particular faith group.
Often implies rejection of religious beliefs by those outside of the group.
Most world conflict today involves violence inspired by sectarian beliefs.
Secular: something that is free of religion.
Secularization: A process in which religious consciousness,
activities, and institutions lose social significance
Security, eternal: The concept
that once a person is saved, that they cannot lose their salvation.
Christian faith groups have different beliefs on this topic.
Seder: A Jewish ceremonial meal held on the first day (and
sometimes also on the second day) of Passover. It recalls the alleged
Exodus of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, variously dated as 1440 to
1290 BCE. The meal and associated rituals are typically held in the home.
Selah: A biblical term used 71 times by itself in the Psalms.
It invites the reader to pause and to meditate or reflect on the message.
One example is Psalms 3:2: "Many there be which say of my soul, There
is no help for him in God. Selah."
Semite: The term has various meanings:
A family of languages, mainly of Middle Eastern origin, including
Hebrew, Arabic, Hebrew
A Jew, Arab, or member of a group of semitic-speaking peoples from
the Middle East or Northern Africa.
A descendent of Shem, one of Noah's three sons.
In this website, we associate semite and semitic with a language group,
and thus write the word in lower case. The word is most commonly
capitalized, as in "anti-Semitic."
Separationist: A person or movement advocating the dividing of a
country into two or more parts. Evangelical Christian use: A person or
group advocating the separation of church and state
in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution.
Sephardi: Jews who are descended from persons
who lived in Spain and Portugal. See also Ashkenazi.
Septuagint: A Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures,
made in Egypt, perhaps in the third century BCE.
This was the version known to, and used, by the early
Christians. Many theologians believe that a mistranslation in
Isaiah contributed to the Christian belief in the
virgin conception of Jesus.
Serpent Seed doctrine: The belief that Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden was to
engage in sexual intercourse with the serpent. Together, they produced Cain. Various
faith groups identify the descendents of Cain in various ways: They are: "Jews
according to the Christian Identity Movement, Communists/Atheists according to the Unification
Church, Whites according to the Nation of Yahweh, and the lost according to William Branham."
4
Service: In a religious sense, a formal worship meeting of
a group of believers.
Sexism: Any attitude, action or institutional structure which
systematically treats an individual or group of individuals differently
because of their gender. The most common form of sexism is discrimination
against females. However, it occasionally is manifested as preferential
treatment for women. A secondary meaning is the belief that one gender --
normally female -- is inherently inferior to other genders (male and
intersexual). See also racism,
religism, and homophobia.
Sexual Orientation: There are
at least three quite
different meanings to this term. This makes it imperative in reports, essays,
legislation etc. to define what the author(s) define the term to mean:
Gays, lesbians, sociologists, psychologists, researchers into human
sexuality, members of liberal and some mainline faith groups normally
define this as a measure of a person's feelings of sexual attraction to males and females.
In congressional testimony in support of the ENDA bill, the American
Psychological Association (APA) stated:
"Sexual orientation is a component of sexuality that is
characterized by enduring emotional, romantic, sexual and/or
affectional attractions to individuals of a particular gender. Thus,
sexual orientation refers to more than just certain behaviors.
Persons may or may not express their sexual orientation in their
behaviors. Some people may engage in sexual behaviors with persons
of the same gender but not identify themselves as gay. On the other
hand, homosexual intimate relationships, like their heterosexual
counterparts, do not always include sexually overt behavior. Three
sexual orientations are commonly recognized: homosexual, attraction
to individuals of one's own gender; heterosexual, attraction to
individuals of the opposite gender; and bisexual, attractions to
individuals of both genders." 7
Evangelical Christians and some mainline faith groups
sometimes define the term more
broadly as a measure of a person's sexual behavior with men and women, animals, and
children. They define sexual orientations as including heterosexuality, homosexuality, bestiality,
pedophilia. They consider only the first to be normal and natural. Many conservative Christians do not
acknowledge the existence of bisexuals, believing people to be either heterosexual or
homosexual, based on their behavior. They often use the term 'sexual preference' in place of
'sexual
orientation,' thus implying that orientation is a choice.
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) has created a unique
definition of the term "sexual orientation" that differs greatly from
the meaning used by others. They took a list of 30 sexual paraphilias -- defined
as sexual arousal in
response to sexual objects or situations, and including incest, necrophilia,
pedophilia, masochism, sadism, voyerism -- and redefined them as sexual
orientations. They state:
"A person�s sexual orientation can include sexual attraction to
children, animals, feet, and a whole range of bizarre behaviors that are
listed in the American Psychiatric Association�s Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In fact, there are
30 sexual orientations listed in the DSM." 8,9
Rowan Moonstone & Durwydd MacTara, "Glossary of Terms Used Frequently in
Wicca," at:
http://www.msu.edu/
Dr. Monzur Ahmed publishes QiblaCalc, a Windows program that
calculates the Qibla direction -- the direction of the Kabbah -- from
any location on earth, as determined by a compass. See:
http://www.starlight.demon.co.uk/
"Testimony of the American Psychological Association," 1997-OCT-23, at:
http://www.apa.org/
"What is a 'sexual orientation'," Traditional Values Coalition, at:
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
"Paraphilias," in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fourth Edition, Text Revision, American Psychiatric Association, (2000), Pages
566 to 582.
