What is your definition of "religion"?

[More Than A Feeling]

I've seen broad definitions (so broad they try to sweep atheism in) and narrow (so narrow that Buddhists become non-religioua). What's yours?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. This is some sort of organization to a creed as opposed to freestyle spirituality

that is personal and designed by the individual.

[Glorfindel]

2. I agree with H. L. Mencken

religion is "an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable." That belief excludes atheism, but does include Buddhism. Actually, as practiced nowadays, religion is a monstrous combination of hatred and greed. Maybe it always has been. :evilgrin:

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Religion is whatever the adherent says is religion

:shrug:

You are asking a very broad question, as believers in Brand X Snake Oil, believers in Brand Y Snake Oil which advertises that Brand X is a useless patent medicine, believers in Brand Z Snake Oil which advertises death to those who use other brands, those who oppose brand loyalty and favor buying whichever Snake Oil is cheapest at the moment, and those who who think the whole idea of snake oil is stupid all have different opinions. Not to mention the market analysts who are tasked with finding out why people hold to one brand of snake oil (or the lack thereof.)

[sui generis]

4. there are two kinds of adherents

1. those who view the parables of their religion as literal truth
2. those who view the parables of their religion as a philosophical study.

Pretty much everyone falls on one side of the line or the other. Evangelicals and proselytizers who want and demand that the world should have faith and acknowledge the unseen are ALWAYS literalists.

In fact, literalism in constitutional law (as Scalia practices) is a form of faith taken to absurd extremes. When you can't believe what is in front of you because you have so much "faith" in the unseen, you're nuts. Not in the same reality, and dangerous.

Fortunately, MOST people who call themselves religious (in America and Europe) take faith on philosophical principle rather than literal belief.

Even our use of the word "scripture" seems to hold that writing is somehow magical, especially if it's the Bible/Torah/Talmud/Koran/Book-of-Shadows, whatever.

I think that a better question is what is your definition of "spiritual".

[Submariner]

5. An illogical concept conceived from the ignorance of the early

hominids who all belonged to the flat earth society and had zero understanding of scientific principles.

Religion is just a pile of horseshit that is way overdue to become extinct in the human condition if we are to survive as a species.

[SidneyCarton]

9. Not an easy thing to eradicate, religion...

How exactly do you propose doing it?

[Submariner]

10. The only way it can be done

is by providing a quality education to everyone on the planet that includes a good dose of physical sciences, so that the student has a reference point to compare to the religious world of make believe, the myths and fairy tales.

When armed with facts the phony nature of religion will wither away over time. Probably a century or so from happening, but it must happen to wake the planet up out of the fog they are living in looking up to imaginary sky people.

[SidneyCarton]

11. And yet...

Statistics show more believers at the level of higher education among professors of the physical sciences than among the humanities. Knowledge alone does not seem to eradicate belief. Perhaps humans are not completely rational, and irrational belief is, to some degree, hardwired into us. (whether a quirk of evolution, or the work of a higher power, being totally beside the point)

[Jim__]

15. "Perhaps humans are not completely rational..."

Humans are not completely rational. That much is clear.

[SidneyCarton]

16. Yep, that is the problem.

There are times I wish humanity was rational, there are times I'm glad it isn't, its a mixed bag.

[pokerfan]

38. Most polls indicate the opposite

I recall a Harris Poll from a couple years ago that clearly showed an inverse relationship between belief in say, creationsim and level of education.

[knitter4democracy]

12. They tried that in Russia. Didn't work.

They had 70 years, got the national literacy rate to 98%, had compulsory education laws that were strictly enforced (along with compulsory summer camps), and had a strong atheist bent to the curriculum--and people still believed. Heck, Gorbachev himself was baptised as a baby and never quite gave up his Christian beliefs, and he was the head of the Party for crying out loud.

You can't beat it out of people, you can't rationalize it out of people, and you can't educate it out of people. Some of us are just born believers.

[SidneyCarton]

17. Such is my absolute point.

Persecution only makes belief stronger, and while what the poster is advocating isn't persecution in any normal sense of the word, believers will interpret it as such, and will become all the more strident, even if they have to go underground. The worst possible scenario for a society built on reason is a secret sub-culture based on fanatical belief with a persecution complex. It's a perfect recipe for instability.

[knitter4democracy]

18. Add in real persecutions, like the purges, and it can get nasty.

The reality is, the Soviets didn't go after most believers. From what we read and were told when I studied there in college, no more than 10% of the populace was in the Party, and about that was atheist as well, maybe more but never the majority of the population. Part of the reason the purges ended was because no one could stomach it anymore after so many were "disappeared." They would've had to keep going and killing more believers in order to wipe out all faith, and they'd already killed 20 million.

[SidneyCarton]

19. Stalin had what he wanted.

Even if they didn't worship him with their whole soul, the Caligula principle was in place, they feared him totally, even if they secretly loathed him.

[Sanctified]

14. So you believe all scientific discoveries for the past 6,000 years have been developed

by atheists. And for the most part educated people (including religious) have believed the earth to be a sphere since 3,000 BC.

[nancyr]

6. A belief in fairy tales.

[cosmik debris]

7. Combination of belief and behavior related to god(s)

But you can't define religion until you define god. So don't waste your time.

[elocs]

8. Yes, DU is definitely the place I would come to for a definition of religion. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

13. A system of beliefs that tries to explain the unexplainable.

Usually, there's a belief for what happens after death, before birth, and what happens if people do bad things as well.

[ZombieHorde]

20. I use this one from Dictionary.com

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.

This definition has caused some people here on DU to become angry and insult me.

[struggle4progress]

21. Definition of abstract terms is generally impossible: one really gets a sense only from usage. But

the beginning of this one isn't too bad:

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Religion. A system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social consequences of their actions; and a frame of reference by which individuals may relate to their group and their universe ...

http://www.bartleby.com/65/re/religion.html

This sermon extract isn't way off the mark, either:

... So I told him about a plumber in his late forties who had built into his schedule late afternoons of tutoring at a school for difficult kids. A number of these kids he mentored into college. And I told him about a well-heeled financier who had built into his schedule a couple of nights a week cruising bars, something he could manage wherever his work took him. Can't tell whether he is proud or appalled at the number of hook-ups he's had over the years.

Both guys had established certain commitments, I explained. Each had been captured by a larger vision of what life was about. Each had set out on a path and managed the daily routines their path required. Each had acquired the skills, partly through trial and error, that they needed to succeed on the path they had chosen. Each had learned a thing or two. Each was on his way to somewhere.

Everyone has a religion. Everyone functions from a grand operating principle whether or not they admit it. Mostly that principle can be inferred by the wake they leave as they pass through their lives. The tangible, material content of their and our commitments tells the tale for all of us, notwithstanding our words, our stated beliefs ...

http://www.christchurchnyc.org/ser/a/everyone_has_a_religion.html

[Jim__]

23. No one believes in god.

I've been told that by any number of atheists (e.g. an internet example). I put that statement in the same category as the statement: Everyone has a religion. Such statements are just a denial of a person's right to define his own philosophy and beliefs; and proclamation of the right to do it him.

[struggle4progress]

24. Nonsense: "Everyone has a religion" is just a use of the word "religion" in a sense other than

the sense you prefer

[Jim__]

26. It's a denial of the claim by people who say they have no religion.

It's the same thing as an atheist denying that anyone can actually believe in god. People are quite capable of defining their own beliefs. They don't need anyone doing it for them.

My previous post is not a denial of the definition you gave. It is a denial of the unsupported claim that everyone has a religion.

[struggle4progress]

27. A pointless discussion: the word "religion" is being used in different senses

[Jim__]

30. The definition that you cited does not lead to the conclusion that "Everyone has a religion".

religion: a system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social consequences of their actions; and a frame of reference by which individuals may relate to their group and their universe. Usually, religion concerns itself with that which transcends the known, the natural, or the expected; it is an acknowledgment of the extraordinary, the mysterious, and the supernatural. The religious consciousness generally recognizes a transcendent, sacred order and elaborates a technique to deal with the inexplicable or unpredictable elements of human experience in the world or beyond it.

The 2nd article that contains the statement: Everyone has a religion does not contain a definition of religion.

[struggle4progress]

32. Definition of abstract terms is generally impossible: one really gets a sense only from usage

as I said before

You are certain welcome to find nothing of interest in certain examples of discourse, whether or not anyone else finds anything of interest there

[Jim__]

33. My disagreement is not with a definition.

It's with an unsupported statement.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

29. I think it's a sense so distorted as to be basically false, though.

I don't think the word religion has sufficiently strong connotations of worship or veneration of some entity, or belief in some form of supernatural, that using it to refer to belief systems that don't have that is essentially incorrect, not just a different usage.

[struggle4progress]

31. You will use the word as you think proper, and I will use it as I think proper

It is, after all, an abstract word: it does not point clearly to one definition material object, as a proper noun might

[ZombieHorde]

37. No one believes in god.

[Evoman]

22. I agree with Kniiter4democracy's definition...but would add some words at the end.

Religion: A system of beliefs that tries to explain the unexplainable....and fails miserably every time.

[regularguy]

25. A belief, usually shared within a common culture,

that there is a particular way to salvation or some sort of ultimate truth. This path often includes supernatural elements. Lame, I know, but thats what I came up with.

BTW, I'm atheist/agnostic but it's a little dissapointing to hear these "It's all a bunch of horeshit" type of responses. I think that religious belief is worth taking seriously (not talking about right wing or otherwise fanatical nutjobs here) even if you don't partake yourself.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

28. "Worship or veneration of supernatural entities" probably comes close.

Some people would try to add some kind of clause about "organised" or "by more than one person", but I think it's probably reasonable to talk about a personal religion.

But there isn't really one correct usage.

[LiberalFighter]

34. An organization created with the intent to control people based on fear. (Originally)

[DeSwiss]

35. The Middle English origins for the word Religion:

(Origin: 1150–1200; ME religioun (< OF religion) < L religiōn- ( s. of religiō ) conscientiousness, piety, equiv. to relig(āre) to tie, fasten (re- re- + ligāre to bind, tie; cf. ligament) + -iōn- -ion; cf. rely)

Conscientiousness - Guided by or in accordance with the dictates of conscience.

Piety - The state or quality of being pious, especially: a. Religious devotion and reverence to God.

To tie or bind - To fasten or secure with or as if with a cord, rope, or strap.

Fasten - To attach firmly to something else, as by pinning or nailing.

Rely - To be dependent for support, help, or supply.




- DeSwiss' definition: The longest running and on-going error in judgment ever to be made by humanity.

[jody]

36. Faith (belief) in supernatural forces that can cause events contrary to the laws of nature. n/t

[RagAss]

39. The Dogmatic Hijacking of the Nature of Reality as....

revealed by a handful of truly enlightened people.

[former Protestant]

40. Don't assume Protestantism and Christianity are the same thing.

They are drifting farther and farther apart, so I set up a
website to try and clear that up.
Religion is whatever you want to believe, but it's always
aimed AT something or someone.  So, unless the object of your
love is really there, you're just making a fool of yourself.

[LanternWaste]

41. A metaphorical roadmap

Religion is a metaphorical road map. Although each person may (presumably) knows what and where the final destination lies, maps make it a lot easier and a lot more effective to get there...