This sampler succinctly highlights the diversity in human thinking about major aspects of cosmology and our humanity.  As you explore the sampler, you will view an interesting spectrum of human thinking about significant matters.

You can examine elements of a
particular worldview of interest

You can compare how different adherent groups "understand" a certain element (e.g., how each conceives of time)

You can learn more about [history, context, 
demographics] for a given worldview

Categories and Qualifying Notes

Categories: This sampler presents the essence of nine worldviews.  Treatment is quite terse. There are generalities from the Nonreligious Worldview (see reference 1, below), from seven major religions (see reference 2), and from Deism (reference 3).  Deism is a worldview that was prevalent among many significant intellectuals at the time the United States emerged as a nation.  Although variants of deism continue today, the elements presented in the sampler are of the Enlightenment era Deism that influenced Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and others, and not of any modern version.

 Qualifying Notes:  [1] The sampler's “barebones presentations” can help call attention to the diverse human interpretations of cosmology (e.g., time, nature and deity, beginnings, life after death).  However, they can offer at best just archetypal rudiments of any tradition and name only the most significant of the literature, rites, festivals, prophets. [2]  It would be nice to be able to give attention to U.S. religions with smaller representations and to some of our indigenous religions. However immense diversity combined with only limited resources precludes our doing so.  Hence, the sampler concentrates on major worldviews. It targets those religions having most relevance to standard curriculum resources for "teaching about the world religions" as well as those having a significant population of adherents in the U.S. (e.g., Sikhs). And, it includes the third largest worldview group in the U.S., those having a nonreligious worldview.

References

1 The sampler uses as its principal source for succinctly imparting the Nonreligious Worldview the text, Freethought Across the Centuries, by Gerald A. Larue (Humanist Press, 1996).

2 The sampler uses as its primary source for concise content on the seven listed world religions The State of Religion Atlas, by Joanne O'Brien and Martin Palmer (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1993).

3 The sampler uses as its primary sources for Deism the subsection "Deism: The Religion of Reason," from "Chapter One: Classicism and Reason, 1650 to 1770" in Tradition and Revolt by George K. Anderson and Robert Warnock (Scott, Foresman and Company, 1967)