Editing Religious cosmology (section)

==Biblical cosmology and Abrahamic faiths==
{{Main|Biblical cosmology}}
The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a [[flat Earth|flat disc-shaped Earth]] floating on water, [[heaven]] above, [[underworld]] below.<ref name="Aune2003p119">{{harvnb|Aune|2003|p=119}}</ref> Humans inhabited Earth during life and the underworld after death, and the underworld was morally neutral;<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|pp=117, 124–125}}</ref> only in [[Hellenistic]] times (after c.330 BC) did Jews begin to adopt the [[Hades|Greek idea]] that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an [[afterlife]] in heaven.<ref name="Lee 2010 77–78">{{harvnb|Lee|2010|pp=77–78}}</ref> In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a [[spherical Earth]] suspended in [[space]] at the [[geocentric|centre]] of a number of [[Celestial spheres|concentric heavens]].<ref name="Aune2003p119" /> The belief that God created matter from nothing is called ''[[creatio ex nihilo]]'' (as opposed to ''[[creatio ex materia]]''). It is the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]]. Most denominations of Christianity and Judaism believe that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos.

In his 2023 [[apostolic exhortation]], ''[[Laudate Deum]]'', [[Pope Francis]] outlines several ways in which the human relationship with the created cosmos might be understood:
*the world that surrounds us can be treated as "an object of [[exploitation of natural resources|exploitation]], unbridled use and unlimited ambition" or "a mere 'setting' in which we can develop our lives";
*the human being is extraneous, a foreign element capable only of [[environmental damage|harming the environment]];
*human beings "are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it". This is the interpretation he supports.<ref>Pope Francis (2023), [https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.pdf Laudate Deum], paragraphs 25-26, accessed 7 June 2024</ref>

[[File:Islamic cosmology.jpg|thumb|[[Zakariya al-Qazwini]] says the Earth is flat and surrounded by mountains including [[Mount Qaf]]; it is supported by an ox standing on [[Bahamut]] in a cosmic ocean inside a bowl that sits on an angel or [[jinn]].<ref>Zakariya al-Qazwini. ''ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt'' (The Wonders of Creation). Original published in 1553 AD</ref>]] Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e459?_hi=10&_pos=2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528231204/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e459?_hi=10&_pos=2 | url-status=dead | archive-date=28 May 2012 |title = Cosmology |publisher= Oxford Islamic Studies Online}}</ref>