On 25 Jun 2005, at 12:36 pm, Andrew Paul wrote:
The question I want answered is what is religion.
(apart from evil of course)
The first thing to note is that there is no single simple identifier
of religion (even obvious candidates like human sacrifice or temple
prostitution are not universal across all religions) [1]
Anyway, here are the thoughts of some professionals on the subject:
"An acceptable definition of religion itself is difficult to attain.
Attempts have been made to find an essential ingredient in all religions
(e.g., the numinous, or spiritual, experience; the contrast between the
sacred and the profane; belief in gods or in God), so that an
"essence" of
religion can be described. But objections have been brought against such
attempts, either because the rich variety of men's religions makes it
possible to find counterexamples or because the element cited as
essential
is in some religions peripheral. The gods play a very subsidiary
role, for
example, in most phases of Theravada ("Way of the Elders") Buddhism.
A more
promising method would seem to be that of exhibiting aspects of religion
that are typical of religions, though they may not by universal. The
occurrence of the rituals of worship is typical, but there are cases,
however, in which such rituals are not central. Thus, one of the
tasks of a
student of religion is to gather together an inventory of types of
religious
phenomena."[2]
"Keeping in mind the dangers of general characterizations, what are the
distinctive features of religion? Several concepts may be isolated that,
even though not necessary or sufficient conditions if taken
separately, may
jointly be considered "symptomatic" of religions.
The Holy
Religious belief or experience is usually expressed in terms of the
holy or
the sacred. The holy is usually in opposition to the everyday and
profane
and carries with it a sense of supreme value and ultimate reality.
The holy
may be understood as a personal God, as a whole realm of gods and
spirits,
as a diffuse power, as an impersonal order, or in some other way.
Although
the holy may ultimately be nothing but the social order, a projection
of the
human mind, or some sort of illusion, it is nevertheless experienced in
religion as an initiating power, coming to human life and touching it
from
beyond itself.
Religions frequently claim to have their origin in revelations, that
is, in
distinctive experiences of the holy coming into human life. Such
revelations
may take the form of visions (Moses in the desert), inner voices
(Muhammad
outside Mecca), or events (Israel's exodus from Egypt; the divine
wind, or
kamikaze, which destroyed the invading Mongol fleet off Japan; the
death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ). Revelations may be similar to ordinary
religious experience, but they have a creative originating power from
which
can flow an entire religious tradition.
Response
Response to the holy may take the form of participation in and
acquiescence
to the customs and rituals of a religious community or of a
commitment of
faith. Faith is not merely belief but an attitude of persons in which
they
commit themselves to the holy and acknowledge its claim upon them. In a
deeply religious person, faith commitment tends to shape all of that
person's life and character.
Beliefs
As religious traditions develop, they generate systems of belief with
respect to both practice and doctrine. These systems serve to situate
the
members of the religious tradition in the world around them and to make
intelligible this world in relation to the holy. In early or primitive
traditions this practice and doctrine usually find expression in
bodies of
myth (see mythology) or in ritual law. In those traditions which
develop an
extensive literate class, theology often comes to supplant myth as the
vehicle for refining and elaborating belief. The more this happens,
the more
the belief system has to be evaluated. The importance attached to right
belief ("orthodoxy") has varied from religion to religion and from
period to
period. It has loomed large in Christianity, as for example in the great
Christological and Trinitarian controversies from the 3d century onward.
Rituals and Liturgy
Religious traditions almost invariably involve ritual and liturgical
forms
as well as systems of belief. These may take the form of sacrifice or
sacrament, passage rites, or invocations of God or the gods. The most
important cultic acts are in most cases those performed by the entire
community or a significant portion of it, although in many traditions
private devotional forms such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage are
also
practiced. A distinction is often made between religion and magic in
this
context. In magic, attempts are made to manipulate divine forces through
human acts. In truly cultic acts such as prayer and sacrifice, the
prevailing attitude is one of awe, worship, and thanksgiving.
Participation in communal rituals marks a person as a member of the
community, as being inside and integral to the community that is
articulated
in the system of beliefs. That in many traditions the disfavor of the
community is expressed in its barring a person from the important cultic
acts is not surprising because these acts insure the proper standing
of the
individual and community in relation to the holy.
Ethical Codes
Connected with beliefs is yet another aspect of religion, the
possession of
an ethical code incumbent upon the members of the community. This is
particularly evident in highly structured societies such as India,
where the
caste system is an integral part of traditional Hinduism. Marduk in
ancient
Babylon and Yahweh in ancient Israel were believed to be the authors
of the
laws of those nations, thus giving these laws the weight and prestige of
holiness. The prophets of Israel were social critics who claimed that
righteous acts rather than cultic acts are the true expression of
religion.
As religions develop, they come to place increasing stress on the
ethical,
and sometimes religion is almost totally absorbed into morality, with
only a
sense of the holiness of moral demands and a profound respect for them
remaining.
Community
Although religious solitaries exist, most religion has a social
aspect that
leads its adherents to form a community, which may be more or less
tightly
organized. In earlier times the religious community could scarcely be
distinguished from the community at large; all professed the same
faith, and
the ruler was both a political and a religious leader. In the course of
time, however, religious and civil societies have become distinct and
may
even come into conflict. In modern secular states--India and the United
States, for example--a plurality of religious communities coexist
peacefully
within a single political entity. Each religious community, whether in a
pluralistic or homogeneous society, has its own organized structure. A
common though by no means universal feature of these religious
organizations
is a priesthood (see priest) charged with teaching and transmitting the
faith and performing liturgical acts.
FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
The complex phenomenon described above constitutes what may be called
the
religious experience of humankind. In different religions and in
different
individuals, one or more of the characteristics mentioned may
predominate,
whereas others may be weak or almost nonexistent. This difference
explains
why religion is best treated as a polymorphous concept and why it is
better
to see religions as linked by variable family likenesses than by some
constant but elusive essence." [3]
"But even if an inventory of types of belief and practices can be
gathered-so as to provide a typical profile of what counts as
religion-the
absence of a tight definition means that there will always be a
number of
cases about which it is difficult to decide. Thus, some ideologies,
such as
Soviet Marxism, Maoism, and Fascism, may have analogies to religion.
Certain
attempts at an essentialist definition of religion, such as that of the
German-American theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965), who defined
religion in
terms of man's ultimate concern, would leave the way open to count these
ideologies as proper objects of the study of religion. Tillich,
incidentally, calls them "quasi-religions." Though there is no
consensus on
this point among scholars, it is not unreasonable to hold that the
frontier
between traditional religions and modern ideologies represents one
part of
the field to be studied." [2]
[1] It is contingent rather than defining that religions are evil.
[2] Ninian Smart(d. 2001)J.F. Rowny Professor of Comparative Religions,
University of California, Santa Barbara. Author of The Religious
Experience
and many others. In Encyclopaedia Britannica 2002.
[3] John MacQuarrie. Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford
University,
Oxford, England. In Grolier Multimedia Encyclopaedia 1997.
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse.'
There is no evidence that people want to use these things."
-John C. Dvorak, SF Examiner, Feb. 1984.
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