What does it take to be considered a religion?

[Bear Wild]

Like descriptors for any human social institution, religion is a construct. Being members of the English-speaking world, the constructs we use to delineate social institutions is biased towards Western norms. For religion, this means that the Western construct called "religion" is strongly biased towards Abrahamic religions and classical monotheism. In the United States, Protestant Christianity in particular seems to be the benchmark for understanding what religion is, which is why religion is often spoken of as a "belief system" or "faith." At the end of the day, it's vital to remember that religion is a construct and that once upon a time, religion was (and in many respects still is) indistinguishable from culture in general. Modern academia is aware of how problematic defining religion can be, and there's no consensus regarding what it is (nor is such a consensus on the horizon).

That said, this is basically what I look for:

• Mythos - first and foremost, religion is about myth making or storytelling. It is a body of narratives that informs us about ourselves, others, and relationships. In short, it's about the meaning of life and living.
• Ritual - religion also includes practices that engage those narratives on an active basis. Stories are not simply told, they are living entities and enacted through behavior. In short, it's about outlining a way of life and living.
• Values - inevitably, the myth and ritual as an articulation of personal and/or cultural values. Religion deals with our sacred things, that which we deem worthy of worship, that which we hold as a centerpiece in our lives.
• Community - humans are social animals, and shared myth and ritual among humans creates community. It is through this community that religions become organized or institutionalized, a structure that facilitates passing mythos, ritual, and values between generations.

This is one of the best depiction of religion I have seen. It recognizes the importance of myth which to me seems to be misunderstood in many religious attitudes were absolute belief in the words themselves seems to miss the true message the myth has. Myth is a powerful teaching method. Ritual is a symbolically meaningful method of reminding us of what is important. It takes us out of the mundane into the spiritual - the connection to what is important. Thanks for your viewpoint.

 

[Bear Wild]

What Constitutes a Church Under Federal Laws?
by Heleigh Bostwick, December 2009

Most churches are easy to recognize when we see them -- a congregation hall, rows of pews, probably a steeple. But what constitutes a church in the eyes of the IRS?

Definitions of Church

The issue of establishing definitions for a church has big implications. Institutions that are considered churches are granted tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Tax Code.

Common definitions of the word "church" refer to the religious entity or organization, not just the building itself. The definition becomes more complicated when taking in to account each religious group's own definition of what constitutes a church.

Churches and the IRS

To clarify the federal government's definitions of a churches and other religious institution, the Internal Revenue Service uses clearly-defined guidelines. Over the years, the IRS has revised this list in response to various court decisions. To define churches and other religious entities, some of the IRS guidelines consider whether or not an institution has:

• a distinct legal existence and religious history,
• a recognized creed and form of worship,
• established places of worship
• a regular congregation and regular religious services, and
• an organization of ordained ministers

Most mainstream religions such as Catholicism, Judaism, and common Protestant sects fit easily within the IRS guidelines. However, churches that are less traditional sometimes face difficulty in meeting the federal government's definition.

Qualifying as a Church

Some of the confusion over churches arises when the IRS differentiates between religious institutions like churches, and religious organizations. The IRS offers the following with regard to religious organizations, "Religious organizations that are not churches typically include nondenominational ministries, interdenominational and ecumenical organizations, and other entities whose principal purpose is the study or advancement of religion."

However, in some cases a religious organization may qualify as a church even if it does not appear to be a church in the traditional sense. This is the case with Young Life, a nonprofit organization that the IRS officially recognized as a church following a July 2005 Ruling.


The bottom line is that the IRS has created specific guidelines on churches and other religious entities to determine their tax status. However, it is not a requirement that a church meet all the criteria. Instead, the IRS offers some flexibility, giving various religious institutions the opportunity to qualify for the highly coveted tax exempt status.

What Constitutes a Church Under Federal Laws?

That is fine but I could care less what the federal laws say about churches or religion. It has nothing to do with what really makes a religion.

 

[Bear Wild]

Language is a social phenomenon. If you ask "what does the word X mean in language Y?" the answer is "what the majority of competent first-language speakers of Y say it does". Such usage is carefully recorded in dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Dictionary:

Whether we can come up with a superior usage is beside the point. Words mean what the majority think they mean, not what we'd prefer them to mean.

Words take on many different meanings depending on who you talk to that's why I was interested in what people think is necessary to be a religion. I certainly do not believe you need to believe in a deity or controlling power to be a religion.

 

[Brickjectivity]

1. What is the minimum requirement for a belief system to be considered a religions? What do you have to have to say this is or is not a religion?

There is no minimum, however that doesn't mean every religion gets a Dir on Religious Forums.

2. Why do we have to have a religion? - What does a religion provide for us that makes it so important?

Your question assumes people must have a religion.

 

[dfnj]

After hearing so many arguments about atheism and is atheism a religion as well as question about is Wicca really a religion to be taken seriously not to mention the reconstructed pagan religions. It made me wonder about what it takes to be considered a religion if that is even possible. I am not trying to argue against religion in this question but rather to see how people view religion outside of the definition on the internet which are all limited and seem to be too general or specific to cover the variety of religious beliefs.

1. What is the minimum requirement for a belief system to be considered a religions? What do you have to have to say this is or is not a religion?
2. Why do we have to have a religion? - What does a religion provide for us that makes it so important?

Religion exists to answer the four great existential questions:

1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
2. What does it all mean?
3.. What is going to happen to me when I die?

These questions may be unanswerable questions. But people are uncomfortable with not knowing. So people invent a mythology to answer the questions with concrete answers. People feel safer knowing life is a certain way based on faith. Is it right, is it wrong? Who knows. If having make believe beliefs makes you happier in life then I say pass the joint. On the cosmic timescale everything we think is probably inconsequential and meaningless. So I say go ahead and accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. It really makes no difference.

Yes, atheism is a way of answering the four existential questions mostly from a position of nihilism. Choosing to live in a world where nothing is sacred by axiom has its trade-offs like every other way of being.

Atheists are not much different than theists. Atheists word for God is time. You can't hold time in your hand. You can't see it. You can't touch it. Yet atheists swear time exists everywhere in the Universe and is everlasting and eternal. Atheists are just as dogmatic about time as theists are about the existence of God.

I think the only absolute truth is we will never really know who we are, why are we here, what does it all mean, and what is going to happen to us when we die. God is the force in the Universe that keeps reality happening just fast enough to make it impossible to measure it. Our full understanding of nature is always just one step beyond our full comprehension. Always.

 

[masonlandry]

I think there is a more or less practical distinction that makes something a religion. It isn't the questioning of those 4 big philosophical questions that religion (as distinct from a non-religious approach) addresses, but the question of what to do about it, given the answer you came up with. Defining religion has to be somewhat circular, but that is how you must provide any definition. You have to look at what you do consider a religion, then at what would not be considered a religion, and create a definition that includes only the things that are religions without being too broad or too narrow. To include anything as a religion makes the word useless, but to include too few things is not useful enough.

So take for the example of religions things we all agree are religions, the three main Abrahamic religions, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, that should be encompassed by the definition. Then take for the non-example something we can agree is not a religion, like going to work when you're scheduled to, watching/following a sport or a team, family traditions like whose house you go to for holiday meals, that should be excluded by the definition.

We can also keep in mind that there are things that may or may not be considered religions depending on the definition, like Buddhism, atheism, agnosticism, or individual spirituality. So we should try not to base the definition on things in this category to avoid bias that doesn't actually serve the purpose of providing a definition that allows us to determine whether these are religions based on the definition once we have it.

Something religions all seem to do is address:
1) The question of ultimate goal, purpose, and/or meaning.
2) Provide answers about what to do and how to act, given the answers to #1 or based on some understanding that we don't know the answer to #1.
3) Provide a mythology to explain the significance of metaphysical concepts relating to #1 and #2 through the story.
4) Establish a tradition or ritual to symbolize #2 (and to an extent, #1)

Perhaps it isn't necessary that a religion does all these things but must do at least one of the first two and one of the second two (Either 1 OR 2; AND; 3 OR 4). That is if it is possible to meet criteria 2 without meeting criteria 1, but I think it could be because I can imagine a religious tradition meeting all of the other 3 criteria without proposing an answer to the first. For example, we don't know why we are here or how we got here or where we are going, but given that we are here and what we do has knowable consequences of ultimate importance to our current lives, then (meets criteria 2, 3, and 4.) Or it may be a better fitting definition is 3 of the 4 criteria are met in any combination. I'd need input from other people to flesh out the idea better.

 

[viole]

After hearing so many arguments about atheism and is atheism a religion as well as question about is Wicca really a religion to be taken seriously not to mention the reconstructed pagan religions. It made me wonder about what it takes to be considered a religion if that is even possible. I am not trying to argue against religion in this question but rather to see how people view religion outside of the definition on the internet which are all limited and seem to be too general or specific to cover the variety of religious beliefs.

1. What is the minimum requirement for a belief system to be considered a religions? What do you have to have to say this is or is not a religion?
2. Why do we have to have a religion? - What does a religion provide for us that makes it so important?

There is law in Sweden that systematically defines what applies to be considered a religion. Recently, copyism, that is the creed that considers sacred the act to copy files, got accepted as religion, in Sweden.

I don’t know exactly what the rules are, but I am sure you can find them somewhere.

Ciao

- viole

 

[URAVIP2ME]

.........................
2. Why do we have to have a religion? - What does a religion provide for us that makes it so important?

I find we don't have to have a religion unless we want to have love for God as our Creator. - Ephesians 1:12.
True religion provides what James 1:27 wrote that true religion, or true worship, takes care of orphans and widows during their time of tribulation besides keeping oneself without spot from the world (world of badness around us).
Jesus taught that Scripture is what is 'religious truth' according to John 17:17.
So, perhaps the question could be more like do we have to have a true religion or true worship_______

 

[Bear Wild]

Religion exists to answer the four great existential questions:

1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
2. What does it all mean?
3.. What is going to happen to me when I die?

These questions may be unanswerable questions. But people are uncomfortable with not knowing. So people invent a mythology to answer the questions with concrete answers. People feel safer knowing life is a certain way based on faith. Is it right, is it wrong? Who knows. If having make believe beliefs makes you happier in life then I say pass the joint. On the cosmic timescale everything we think is probably inconsequential and meaningless. So I say go ahead and accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. It really makes no difference.

Yes, atheism is a way of answering the four existential questions mostly from a position of nihilism. Choosing to live in a world where nothing is sacred by axiom has its trade-offs like every other way of being.

Atheists are not much different than theists. Atheists word for God is time. You can't hold time in your hand. You can't see it. You can't touch it. Yet atheists swear time exists everywhere in the Universe and is everlasting and eternal. Atheists are just as dogmatic about time as theists are about the existence of God.

I think the only absolute truth is we will never really know who we are, why are we here, what does it all mean, and what is going to happen to us when we die. God is the force in the Universe that keeps reality happening just fast enough to make it impossible to measure it. Our full understanding of nature is always just one step beyond our full comprehension. Always.

I agree with your 4 questions that are the incentive to create the search for answers which leads to religious beliefs, but humans are social creatures and there is also a social aspect in much of religion. As for atheism I disagree that it necessarily nihilism. Meaning in the would does not require a god or goddess to be present.

 

[Bear Wild]

I find we don't have to have a religion unless we want to have love for God as our Creator. - Ephesians 1:12.
True religion provides what James 1:27 wrote that true religion, or true worship, takes care of orphans and widows during their time of tribulation besides keeping oneself without spot from the world (world of badness around us).
Jesus taught that Scripture is what is 'religious truth' according to John 17:17.
So, perhaps the question could be more like do we have to have a true religion or true worship_______

You can certainly have a religion without a belief in a god or goddess.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

You can certainly have a religion without a belief in a god or goddess.

Seems as if 'one can have a religion without a belief in a god or goddess' because some people's god is their belly.
' belly as god ' I find according to Philippians 3:19.
Then, it does seem that some people just look in the mirror and see their god.

 

[loverofhumanity]

It is my humble view that in order for a religion to be a true religion it must be ordained by God and come through His Prophets and Messengers.

There is only a handful of religions in recorded history and I believe them to have been revealed by Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Christ, Zoroaster, Muhammad and the Bab & Baha’u’llah. But before recorded history I believe there have always been religions although their names have been lost.

But my understanding is that there is only one Faith if God that evolves throughout the ages.

‘This is the eternal faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future’. Baha’u’llah

There are many other man made philosophies but I have found that they base their teachings, but for a few, upon the laws and teachings of the Prophets and Messengers.

But even if it doesn’t come from God, any philosophy which teaches and tries to practice peace, harmony and love is commendable.

 

[tayla]

What is the minimum requirement for a belief system to be considered a religions? What do you have to have to say this is or is not a religion?

I tend to think a religion is more institutionalized, but the exact boundary is fluid, depending on your definition. So technically, before using the term "religion", we should first define it in detail. But no one does this and so we argue and argue.

 

[tayla]

Why do we have to have a religion? - What does a religion provide for us that makes it so important?

In my view, revealed religions and revealed spiritual paths do not generate trustworthy truth and knowledge. So,... no, we don't need religion.

 

[Bear Wild]

In my view, revealed religions and revealed spiritual paths do not generate trustworthy truth and knowledge. So,... no, we don't need religion.

For me nature has been the greatest teacher. If there is a spiritual being at all it lies within nature itself.

 

[Unguru]

Religion is an individualistic spiritual/mystical system and tradition but historically within it's mainstream areas has a leniency towards social and political context (and wrongly so) but is not held together by these things (nor formal ideas of "Church" or sacred text alone.)
Religion itself can be atheist, but is commonly a form of theism.

Parody/satire "religions" don't count because they fall strictly into the category of political and social commentary, around superficial ideas of symbols and stories - and absurdist reductions thereof.

 

[tayla]

If there is a spiritual being at all it lies within nature itself.

Yes, and I would include both the physical realm and the spiritual realm under the category of nature, of everything that is.