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What is the definistion of Religion?

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
The approach I would take to defining the term would be to list a dozen or more characteristics found in some, most, or all religions, then say "If a thing has x number or more of these characteristics, it is most likely a religion."
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.
The classic sociological approach is the separation of the sacred and the profane.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.

I define religion, for many, as a concept created to pigeonhole oneself under a specific label to limit one's will or ability to learn about others or the world around them.

Then again, religion, when used as a tool to improve and advance the self rather than "improve" and "save" others, in my experience, can be quite productive and liberating.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.


I cut out the doubt and opinion by using a dictionary
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Well, to the OP question, it's all too often like this: "I have the truth and you others who disagree with me just have 'religion'" [said with a snarl].

IMO, "religion" is a believe in a deity or deities.
 

arthra

Baha'i
I'm interested in the etymology of the word "religion" and here it is:

"The word religion comes from the Latin and while there are a few different translations, the most prevalent roots take you back to the Latin word “Re-Ligare”. “Ligare” means “to bind” or to “connect”. Adding the “re” before “ligare” causes the word to mean “Re-Bind” or “Re-Connect.”"

Definition of Religion - The Real Meaning of the Word Religion


So for me the etymology suggests connecting with one another and the social bonding of a religious community.

 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
Something conceptual or someone important that is relied on for faith beyond reason.

Religion is the belief that life is eternal and enduring.

My religiousity is that intelligent human beings can only come to exist by intelligent means. Thus evolution is the intelligent method guided by intelligent programming in nature. We are evidence of a greater reality. We have heart, mind, and will and the unified construction of self from these three components. We embody either virtues or vices by way of what we love most deeply. There are about 100 virtues known of by mankind.
 

Agnostisch

Egyptian Man
I have a weird theory.

What if we have lived multiple past lives in this reality, on this planet? Our souls are eternal but have amnesia upon rebirth as a part of our soul is used to inhabit this mortal shell to play here. Somewhere connected to the part of our soul, which is still locked away as we travel the path of this reality, we have all memories of times past.

To disrupt this intuition and create a massive amount of confusion that allows people to accept untruths, our past has been corrupted. Maybe a great part of medieval never happened. Maybe you are a lot closer to the romans and greeks than you think. With the major rewrite of history around 1400-1500 when the modern chronology was created to support the man made bible. Maybe the myths of the past are true with the planets being visible in the skies, appearing as gods.

They corrupt history to create confusion and out of the confusion they are able to corrupt us.

We should know this reality better than we do in today's age. Why don't we? If this message was divine, god doesn't have our best interests in heart. Don't you ever get the sense when trying to read the bible that it is complete BS? Where you read other texts that seem to ring with truth and you can easily retain the information, but trying to read the bible, nothing seems right. Or it is very hard to even remember what the current page was about, rereading it multiple times produces no clear understanding of the text. Almost like we know somewhere deep that our mainstream taught history is a lie.

Just a thought.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.
Here's my try:

A religion is a community of shared belief and practice, usually centered on something considered other-worldly and larger than onesself.
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
"The word religion comes from the Latin and while there are a few different translations, the most prevalent roots take you back to the Latin word “Re-Ligare”. “Ligare” means “to bind” or to “connect”. Adding the “re” before “ligare” causes the word to mean “Re-Bind” or “Re-Connect.”"
There are two problems here.
Firstly, etymology has no necessary bearing on the current meaning of a word. For example, "explode" comes from the Latin explaudere 'to boo off the stage' — explain that one!
Secondly, the Latin word religio did not mean religion but scrupulousness. It only acquired it's modern meaning in the 16th century.
 

Jim

Nets of Wonder
When we hear the word religion, how do we define what is a religion and not?
Here I want both your own understanding but I welcome also the dictionary versions of the word.
I would try to find out what the word means to each person who uses it, so I can understand what they’re trying to say.
 

Hawkins

Well-Known Member
From deep inside, religion exists because it is a human nature to take care of one's own future. That's why when you are getting old you need to consider a pension plan to secure your future live. At the same time humans don't have the ability to tell a future. So in order to prepare for a future we have to assume by faith where is the end of this future. The first assumption is the physical death, so at least our human nature will tell us to use this point as the primary end point for the preparation of our future, so a pension plan and life insurance found their places.

The next question is why do we have to assume the end point ends with our life. A future can possibly go beyond that point. It is however out of humans' reach to know what could possibly lying beyond that point unless someone dead has returned to tell us (and someone did). Since humans lack the ability to get to such a proposed future, and few can returned from death to tell us the more common way for humans to get to the information is through a God who knows. If a God exists (He's God because He knows such a future) and He's willing to tell us then we will know. That's the point of a religion. All left is how we can confirm that such a God exists.
 
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