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Religion: What is it?
- Thread starter allfoak
- Start date
A religion, IMO, requires a group of people rather than one individual to revere/worship a supernatural being(s). I don't believe an eclectic individual can legitimately call his/her own personal beliefs a religion. A religion also requires a belief structure or dogma.
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Religion is socialization of humans to a higher cause. It allows humans to cope with the day to day challenges through socialization and belief. It uses rituals, music and symbols to create a meditative state of being. It allows humans to mitigate problems and collectively solve problems through religion enabling them to concentrate on immediate challenges.
I never heard of these. Can you give me an example of a nontheistic religion?
Very provincial when you take into account the number of Buddhists, Hindus, etc. 'Religion' is what people do. Its how people live. People live a certain way that encompasses what they believe. They regularly behave a certain way. The Online Etymological Dictionary says "...According to Cicero derived from relegere 'go through again' (in reading or in thought), from re- 'again' ..." If a person exercises regularly it is sometimes said they exercise religiously. The word encompasses all regular aspects of life which makes it possible to encompass many lifestyles and beliefs with one word that means "How they live, what they are like, how they think and what they think."
My own view is that "religion" comes from the Latin "religare," meaning "to bind (oneself)." That makes sense, since science also comes from a Latin word, "scire," meaning "to know."
So for me, religion means you've bound yourself no matter you learn later, and science means that everything you eventually learn will modify your understanding of science.
In my mind, one is dedicated to be closed and essentially dead, the other to be open and anxious to grow and build.
So for me, religion means you've bound yourself no matter you learn later, and science means that everything you eventually learn will modify your understanding of science.
In my mind, one is dedicated to be closed and essentially dead, the other to be open and anxious to grow and build.
siti
Well-Known Member
So religion = 'way of life' or 'lifestyle' - that seems a bit redundant to me.
Lirille
Member
Buddhism and Taoism are two that readily come to mind. Apparently, some Hinduist traditions can be considered to be atheistic, too. I'm sure there are other examples...
allfoak
Alchemist
Religion seems to be the exercise of one's beliefs regardless of what they are, God or no God.
Meaning that, how we live our life shows how well we love ourselves and others.
The Golden rule.
I would say if our life expresses this then we have a good idea of who we are and are likely happy people.
The opposite scenario is also true of course.
If we are not happy, our connection to who we are (our source), needs repair because our beliefs may not be working for us.
I can see how Buddhism might be nontheistic, but Taoism is typically described as a pantheistic religion.
siti
Well-Known Member
You picked a couple of interesting ones there...on my definition, Taoism could still be a religion because there is a "higher power" - the Tao - but Buddhism arguably not because the power there is not a supernatural higher power but a better...best self ('self might not be the right word but its internal enlightening not external influence that is 'at work'). I would also argue that neither naturalistic pantheism nor deism are theistic, but both could be religions (on my definition) although many proponents would certainly argue otherwise.
allfoak
Alchemist
I would think that any label is just an expression of one's religion rather than the religion itself.
One's religion is not complete without expression for certain but the expression is governed by one's daily belief and ritual, regardless of whether the ritual is gathering at the coffee maker at work in the morning and centered on the previous evenings T.V. show, or if it is an hour of prayer or meditation in the morning before work.
One's religion is not complete without expression for certain but the expression is governed by one's daily belief and ritual, regardless of whether the ritual is gathering at the coffee maker at work in the morning and centered on the previous evenings T.V. show, or if it is an hour of prayer or meditation in the morning before work.
Lirille
Member
Honestly? Despite the name, I consider Pantheism to be pretty much atheistic... at least for all practical purposes. The Tao is not even close to a "god", IMO. Even to consider it a "Higher Power" would be stretching it, I think.
allfoak
Alchemist
Stretching the Tao seems like a funny idea.
It's kind of like trying to stretch the wind.
People often have multiple terms for things.
arthra
Baha'i
For me religion is a drawing together... Consider the root meaning
of the word "religion":
"the etymology of religion lies with the Latin word
religare which means “to tie, to bind.”
Many say the etymology of religion lies with the Latin word religare
Religion is a social experience as well as a mystical personal experience and it can also influence civilizations...as Wikipedia has:
"Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organization..."
Religion - Wikipedia
I recall a quote from the American Quaker writer John Greenleaf Whittier:
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.
and the following:
O Brother Man, fold to thy heart thy brother:
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn, each kindly word a prayer.
Religion as a tie or binding can also relate to the concept of a Covenant between God and man and you find the concept of covenant very much in the development of religion.
allfoak
Alchemist
We are an expression of who we are, we can't help but be individuals.
Some times we forget this and start demanding everyone think like us.
I do not know any better way to get to know one's self other than through the use of the perspective of others.
I often learn the most about myself when the perspective is in complete contrast to my own.
allfoak
Alchemist
This has come up a lot already on this thread of course.
The question remains: "how the word is to be used"?
I like this dictionary.
I can't find anything else more comprehensive on the word religion than this.
religion (n.)
c. 1200, "state of life bound by monastic vows," also "conduct indicating a belief in a divine power," from Anglo-French religiun (11c.), Old French religion "piety, devotion; religious community," and directly from Latin religionem (nominative religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods; conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation; fear of the gods; divine service, religious observance; a religion, a faith, a mode of worship, cult; sanctity, holiness," in Late Latin "monastic life" (5c.).
According to Cicero derived from relegere "go through again" (in reading or in thought), from re- "again" (see re-) + legere "read" (see lecture (n.)). However, popular etymology among the later ancients (Servius, Lactantius, Augustine) and the interpretation of many modern writers connects it with religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." In that case, the re- would be intensive. Another possible origin is religiens "careful," opposite of negligens. In English, meaning "particular system of faith" is recorded from c. 1300; sense of "recognition of and allegiance in manner of life (perceived as justly due) to a higher, unseen power or powers" is from 1530s.
To hold, therefore, that there is no difference in matters of religion between forms that are unlike each other, and even contrary to each other, most clearly leads in the end to the rejection of all religion in both theory and practice. And this is the same thing as atheism, however it may differ from it in name. [Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, 1885]