What is a religion?

[Sanmario]

Dear Christian theists and also atheists here, I was having very enjoyable attempts to get to exchange ideas with atheists in another web forum on How to prove God exists.

Then I started a new thread there but had to leave that forum for a personal reason.

The occasion was when I started that new thread, on What is a religion.

So, if I may, I like to introduce that thread now in this web forum of religiousforums.com.


Read my concept on What is a religion, and please contribute your ideas on what is a religion, so that we both I a theist and you guys atheists, at least in your heart - as some of you take the care to state that you are agnostics, but your words and acts are certainly with explicit atheists.

Here is my concept of What is a religion:

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.

Now, what is my religion?

My religion is the Christian faith, as proclaimed in The Apostles’ Creed; here is my memory of The Christians’ Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten son, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended unto heaven seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty.
From thence He shall come back to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

There, that is my religion, I could have gotten some words not so correctly written by me from memory.

I can recite also the No. 1 prayer of Christians, The Lord’s Prayer which is the Our Father, here goes, the Our Father:

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.]

There that is my from memory the recitation of the No. 1 prayer of Christians.

Shall I now go into the recitation of The Ten Commandments, the list of moral rules Christians must live by, otherwise they will not ever get to heaven, but will land in hell when they die?

What about you guys, fellow Christians and also atheists here, what is your concept of religion?

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Dear Christian theists and also atheists here, I was having very enjoyable attempts to get to exchange ideas with atheists in another web forum on How to prove God exists.

Then I started a new thread there but had to leave that forum for a personal reason.

The occasion was when I started that new thread, on What is a religion.

So, if I may, I like to introduce that thread now in this web forum of religiousforums.com.


Read my concept on What is a religion, and please contribute your ideas on what is a religion, so that we both I a theist and you guys atheists, at least in your heart - as some of you take the care to state that you are agnostics, but your words and acts are certainly with explicit atheists.

Here is my concept of What is a religion:

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.

Now, what is my religion?

My religion is the Christian faith, as proclaimed in The Apostles’ Creed; here is my memory of The Christians’ Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten son, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended unto heaven seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty.
From thence He shall come back to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

There, that is my religion, I could have gotten some words not so correctly written by me from memory.

I can recite also the No. 1 prayer of Christians, The Lord’s Prayer which is the Our Father, here goes, the Our Father:

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.]

There that is my from memory the recitation of the No. 1 prayer of Christians.

Shall I now go into the recitation of The Ten Commandments, the list of moral rules Christians must live by, otherwise they will not ever get to heaven, but will land in hell when they die?

What about you guys, fellow Christians and also atheists here, what is your concept of religion?

A religion is a cult with better PR.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

Thank you for this thread. I was thinking of starting a similar thread. There is a lot of confusion on here on what a "religion" is. While, people like myself, are very happy to accept my religion, Hinduism, is a religion. There are some in our group who do not want to recognise Hinduism as a religion. The alternatives terms they prefer are it is a culture, a way of life, a philosophy or even a science. This is bad argument, because there are some in every religion that claim the same. I have seen Christians and Muslims also argue they are not a religion but a way of life. Critics of Islam have called Islam a political ideology, or "communism with a God" Some Buddhists, Taoists and Jains argue that they are not a religion, because they do not believe in God. Some argue, myopically may I add, that only Abrahamic religions are religions. Secular Humanism has no God either, but it has been declared a religion and began as a religious movement.

As such, the word "religion" becomes redundant. Either there is such thing as a religion or nothing is a religion.

I would argue a religion is any worldview that makes an ontological or metaphysical claim i.e., tell you what exists and then tries to order your life around those beliefs. I do not think it is necessary that those beliefs be supernatural or theistic, even Secular Humanism makes certain ontological claims about what the truth of reality is and then based on that makes moral prescriptions on how to live ones life. Those who follow that are adherents of that religion.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings

That is not a workable definition for most religions. I think what you have done here is to define your beliefs as the definition of religion, but religion includes everybody and the way everybody does things. Everybody can have a totally different religion and still be religious.

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.

You are describing a group of religions but not 'Religion'.

 

[Cobol]

Religion is outmoded superstition and has a damaging impacts on modern culture. Centuries of oppression and exploitation have been perpetrated by the institutions of organized religion.

Rather than assuming good intentions, adherents often are taught to treat outsiders with suspicion. “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers,” says the Christian Bible.

The Iron Age was a time of rampant superstition, ignorance, inequality, racism, misogyny, and violence. Slavery had God’s sanction. Women and children were literally possessions of men. Warlords practiced scorched-earth warfare. Desperate people sacrificed living animals, agricultural products and enemy soldiers as burnt offerings intended to appease dangerous gods.

As science eats away at territory once held by religion, traditional religious beliefs require greater and greater mental defenses against threatening information. To stay strong, religion trains believers to practice self-deception, shut out contradictory evidence, and trust authorities rather than their own capacity to think.

Besides exploiting positive moral energy like kindness or generosity, religion often redirects moral disgust and indignation, attaching these emotions to arbitrary religious rules rather than questions of real harm.

When today’s largest religions came into existence, ordinary people had little power to change social structures either through technological innovation or advocacy. Living well and doing good were largely personal matters. When this mentality persists, religion inspires personal piety without social responsibility.

Harming society may actually be part of religion’s survival strategy. Not a single advanced democracy that enjoys benign, progressive socio-economic conditions retains a high level of popular religiosity.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Dear Christian theists and also atheists here, I was having very enjoyable attempts to get to exchange ideas with atheists in another web forum on How to prove God exists.

Then I started a new thread there but had to leave that forum for a personal reason.

The occasion was when I started that new thread, on What is a religion.

So, if I may, I like to introduce that thread now in this web forum of religiousforums.com.


Read my concept on What is a religion, and please contribute your ideas on what is a religion, so that we both I a theist and you guys atheists, at least in your heart - as some of you take the care to state that you are agnostics, but your words and acts are certainly with explicit atheists.

Here is my concept of What is a religion:

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.

Now, what is my religion?

My religion is the Christian faith, as proclaimed in The Apostles’ Creed; here is my memory of The Christians’ Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten son, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended unto heaven seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty.
From thence He shall come back to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

There, that is my religion, I could have gotten some words not so correctly written by me from memory.

I can recite also the No. 1 prayer of Christians, The Lord’s Prayer which is the Our Father, here goes, the Our Father:

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.]

There that is my from memory the recitation of the No. 1 prayer of Christians.

Shall I now go into the recitation of The Ten Commandments, the list of moral rules Christians must live by, otherwise they will not ever get to heaven, but will land in hell when they die?

What about you guys, fellow Christians and also atheists here, what is your concept of religion?

By default, I'm an atheist; but, it was and still is never really important to identify myself as such.

Religion, in general, has to do with beliefs, traditions, what we do and what we say that reflects and are our morals, worldview, and outlook in life. It is what shapes who we are as people whether our religion involve a supreme being or the value and passion for creating art. Religion is a personal devotion to a passion and to some define it as a calling that in one word summarizes gratitude for living. I heard it once when I practiced Catholicism in a group, the question similar to this was asked. The woman answered "all I can think of is saying thank you to jesus." That was her answer. Nothing exotic. Just thank you.

For me, religion has to do with my past as my past reflects my present and who I am today. I love family but never was raised family oriented; so, getting in touch with living family, prayers to recently deceased, and communing with ancestors have been a starting part of learning who I am as a person. Religion, to me, has to do with creativity. It is the cornerstone of my being, art such as drawing, painting, journaling, and writing.

Religion brings people alive. To an atheist, I think the closest non "religious" way to compare religion is like being in a committed relationship or marriage. It's different than just feeling love or infatuation. It's unconditional and it's patience to let things grow.

That's how I define religion. Any bias or anything that criticizes religion sounds like, to me, criticizing the human being who chooses to devote himself to being grateful for living.

 

[Augustus]

Religio was contrasted with superstitio in the Roman world. Religio was 'knowledgeable and ritually correct worship of the gods', while superstitio was 'overzealous or deviant worship of the gods'. Over time religio became applied to Christianity only and superstitio to all of the rest.

I suppose today it would relate to 'a transcendent ideology with some form of ritualistic veneration', but it's a pretty clumsy word to describe a lot of diverse traditions that are not really analogous.

 

[Sanmario]

Dear everyone, thanks a lot for your contributions to this thread, What is a religion.


My own concept is that “Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.”


Suppose if I may, let us all think on how we can produce our respective concept of religion from our own observation, and thus pinpointing what to us is a religion and what not.


And write just in 50 words or less, to tell everyone else what is our each one’s respective concept of religion, as I said, based on our own each one’s observation of what to each is religion, and thus in that way, we each one knows what is not a religion.


My concept of religion in written language makes up 43 words:


“Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.”


I use 50 words, as counted by MS Word 2003.

Please, everyone, produce your concept of religion in just 50 words or less, in this way you will get the most essential components of what to you is a religion, based on your observation of what you see to be a religion for yourself, and for what you might see to be also what the generality of thinking people know to be a religion.



This exercise will enable us to come to concur on what is a religion, when we work together on all our respective concepts, as to come to a common definition of what is a religion in 50 words or less.

 

[HonestJoe]

I think the key element when defining the word religion (in this context) is that it is something people do. It’s the practices that come from beliefs, typically referring to more formal, structured and collective forms.

 

[Sanmario]

That is a very good insight, dear HonestJoe.


So, if I may, do you concur with me on my concept of what is religion?


“Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.”


Next, let us work to determine what is in the mind of religion practitioners among the masses, and of course also in their heart.


The way I see them, the greatest majority of humans who are into the practice of their religion, they are harboring in their mind beliefs, and in their heart, the hope to obtain from the superior beings they believe to exist, to come to their assistance.


For example, let me and you point out any act of a religious person in his practice of his or a religion.


Take for example, people who go to the Catholic church to hear Mass, what do they seek with this action of hearing Mass; or people who go to a protestant church to attend a religious service of praying with fellow protestants, hearing a sermon, etc., what do they seek to realize in this action of attending a service in a protestant church?


And what do Catholics and protestants harbor in their mind?

I think the key element when defining the word religion (in this context) is that it is something people do. It’s the practices that come from beliefs, typically referring to more formal, structured and collective forms.

 

[HonestJoe]

So, if I may, do you concur with me on my concept of what is religion?

Not entirely. I think it's too specific given that religion doesn't always involve a superior being and even those which do don't always have the concept of that being directly impacting the lives of the faithful.

Frankly I'm not convinced we need to create some kind of specific definition of a term like religion. There's too much fuzziness for it to be of any practical use.

The way I see them, the greatest majority of humans who are into the practice of their religion, they are harboring in their mind beliefs, and in their heart, the hope to obtain from the superior beings they believe to exist, to come to their assistance.

In my experience, a lot of religious practice is followed out of habit or tradition without any deep thought or motive. Even within the religions based on an "active" deity, I'm not convinced many of the followers really believe that god will have any direct impact on their lives.

And what do Catholics and protestants harbor in their mind?

Mostly the same kind of things the rest of us do I expect. We all have a whole load more in common with each other than we do differences.

 

[Quintessence]

@Sanmario - I'm unclear on who you want to participate in your thread. Is participation by anyone who isn't Christian or who isn't an atheist unwelcome? If so, wouldn't that limitation heavily skew any data collection about the nature of religions? Or is it your intent to only assess Christian conceptions of "religion" contrasted with atheist ones? If so, might it be more useful to be more precise within those two very broad demographics?

 

[LuisDantas]

Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings

No. That is theism, which is only related to religion marginally and IMO by an unfortunate accident.

resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.

That might perhaps be Abrahamic religion. I don't know. I don't think it is religion at all. Sounds more like Islaam or something even more distant from religion proper.

Religion IMO, far from being related to deity-beliefs in any significant way, is instead an entirely human activity that deals with the definition and actualization of values, morality and moral virtue.

 

[Vinayaka]

The term 'religion' itself is troublesome, let alone defining what is, and what isn't.

 

[LuisDantas]

The term 'religion' itself is troublesome, let alone defining what is, and what isn't.

So true. It is difficult to define in the first place; it is all too often confused with Abrahamic religion; and we have reached a point in time when there is so much baggage coming with the word that it is often used as an unqualified pejorative, IMO unfairly and unhelpfully.

 

[Vinayaka]

So true. It is difficult to define in the first place; it is all too often confused with Abrahamic religion; and we have reached a point in time when there is so much baggage coming with the word that it is often used as an unqualified pejorative, IMO unfairly and unhelpfully.

But times are changing too. Forums like this, but more importantly the diversification of society all around from trade, travel, immigration, and more are forcing people to get out more.

The OP here is clearly defining it according to Abrahamic world view, and hopefully from the several countering viewpoints given here, given any degree of intelligence, he/she might just expand that world view to include other paradigms. Maybe, Maybe not. But for sure some people would.

I remember small rural Canadian town where i got my first job. Some nosy Christian neighbour told us rather defiantly, "Well, you sure better not expect us to bury you," implying there was only one way to go. Based on her experiences to that date, her assumption was valid. But even that poor old woman or her daughter, 40 years later, has most likely at least heard of cremation. So we're getting there, albeit slowly.

 

[Sanmario]

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

My purpose is to formulate a concept of religion that is applicable to all religions from all peoples who practice a religion, and who want to identify a religion when they think they see one, even though the religion he sees it to be a religion is not into supposedly any superior beings, or is not into anything which he holds to be of the core components of a religion.

From my part, any behavior from a human is a religion when it satisfies all the features of the following concept of a religion, from yours truly:

“Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.”

Suppose, and please bear with me, you anyone set forth to me what is apparently a religion but which you hold to be not a religion, then we can work it out together as to concur: No it is not a religion, or Yes it is a religion.

No, because it does not exhibit all the features of religion in my concept of religion, or Yes, it is a religion because it exhibits all the features of religion in my concept of religion.

So, let us see any religions from you dear colleagues of Religiousforums.com, and we will work out together as to concur no or yes on the supposedly no (or yes) religion of the behavior presented by you.

Please, just present your example of a religion which to you is not a religion, or a not religion which to you should be called a religion because to you it is a religion.

And of course, if you maintain that what you present is a religion or is not religion, because you have your own concept of what is a religion, then please also produce in 50 words or less your concept of religion.

Just employ only 50 words or less, so that you will be into a concise and precise and clear concept of what is religion.

So, dear colleagues here in Religiousforums.com, present your example of a religion that is not a religion or an example of a religion that is indeed a religion.

Here are my examples of religion and of not a religion:

Christianity is a religion

The Church of Satan is a religion
Official Church of Satan Website | churchofsatan.com
www.churchofsatan.com/
Welcome to the official website of the Church of Satan. Founded on April 30, 1966 c.e. by Anton Szandor LaVey, we are the first above-ground organization in ...

Astrology is not a religion.

Witchcraft is a religion.
Witchcraft is the perfect religion for liberal millennials — Quartz
Witchcraft is the perfect religion for liberal millennials
Oct 27, 2016 - Besides being increasingly of the moment, they are all related to modern witchcraft, a movement that is being propelled out of the forest and ...

Communism is not a religion.

Freemasonry is a religion.
Cf. Freemasonry and Religion - Masonic Service Association
www.msana.com/religion.asp
Prepared by the Masonic Information Center. Basic Principles. Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion. It requires of its members a belief in ...

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

“Religion is the belief in a superior being or beings resulting in affections and actions intended by the believer to influence the superior being or beings to help him the believer in everything in which he the believer is in need of help.”

This is too narrow a definition of religion. A belief in superior beings or supernatural things is not necessarily the requirement for a religion, because this presupposes a certain metaphysics to be the default one and the true one(naturalism) Naturalism has no more right to claim to be the default or standard one, than any other does. The only fair definition would be any kind of metaphysical belief. However, belief by itself would not differentiate it from philosophy, it is only when one agrees to a way of practice, set of ethical norms and rituals etc does it become a religion. In that sense the old Greek philosophical tradition Epicurianism becomes a religion, because it was not just a belief of beliefs but a set of beliefs accompanied by a lifestyle with a set of ethical norms and rituals. In that sense Secular Humanism is a religion, because it is based on the metaphysics of naturalism and it has a clearly well defined charter of ethics and norms, and even has its own equivalent of Churches where secular Humanism is preached and missionaries that go around preaching and converting others.

 

[Sanmario]

Dear Spirit Warrior, thanks for your post.

But please try to formulate your concept of what is a religion, from your observation of religious conducts with humans.

"Just employ only 50 words or less, so that you will be into a concise and precise and clear concept of what is religion.

So, dear colleagues here in Religiousforums.com, present your example of a religion that is not a religion or an example of a religion that is indeed a religion."​

According to your own self formulated concept of religion, in 50 words or less.

 

[Sanmario]

Dear Spirit Warrior, I like very much to exchange thoughts with you on What is a religion, so that we both come to a concurred on concept of what is the core idea of religion, in regard to the what thinking and observing mankind consider to be religion.

Tell me, do you think that it is impossible or not needed for people like you and me to work together to come to a concurred on concept of religion, from our observation of what thinking and observing humans take to be religious conduct?

I also invite any members here in Religiousforums.com to exchange thoughts with me on What is a religion, from your observation and thinking on the what people consider to be religious conducts, I mean people who think and observe and write about what they see to be human activities which make up religious conducts.

But please sum up your thoughts in 50 words or less when you have come to enough insights into What is a religion, from your observation and reason and conclusion.

This should be a most profitable and enjoyable endeavor for us here in this Religiousforums.com, in the enhancement of our knowledge of human thinking and doing in regard to religion.

What do you guys here say?

________________________________


Annex: Google’s hits on religion

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re·li·gion

rəˈlijən/

noun

1. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.

"ideas about the relationship between science and religion"

synonyms:

faith, belief, worship, creed; More

sect, church, cult, denomination

"the freedom to practice their own religion"

o a particular system of faith and worship.

plural noun: religions

"the world's great religions"

o a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.

"consumerism is the new religion"

Origin


Middle English (originally in the sense ‘life under monastic vows’): from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence,’ perhaps based on Latin religare ‘to bind.’

Translate religion to

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Religion - Wikipedia

Religion - Wikipedia

Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide. About 84% of the world's population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion.

‎Cultural system · ‎Folk religion · ‎Religion in South Africa · ‎Religion in Singapore

Religion Home

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Religion | Define Religion at Dictionary.com

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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; ...

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Definition of RELIGION

Define religion: the belief in a god or in a group of gods — religion in a sentence.

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