Religious information / Comparison of religions

Definitions of the word "religion"
(None are totally satisfying)

Problems with definitions:

The English word "religion" is derived from the Middle English "religioun" which came from the Old French "religion." It may have been originally derived from the Latin word "religo" which means "good faith," "ritual," and other similar meanings. Or it may have come from the Latin "religăre" which means "to tie fast."

Defining the word "religion" is fraught with difficulty. Many attempts have been made. Most seem to focus on too narrowly only a few aspects of religion; they tend to exclude those religions that do not fit well. As Kile Jones wrote in his essay on defining religion:

"It is apparent that religion can be seen as a theological, philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological phenomenon of human kind. To limit religion to only one of these categories is to miss its multifaceted nature and lose out on the complete definition." ₁

All of the definitions that we have encountered contain at least one deficiency:

Dictionary definitions:

Dictionaries have made many attempts to define the word religion:
 

Definitions by academics and others:

"A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."

"Religion is the individual and social experience of the sacred that is manifested in mythologies, ritual, ethos, and integrated into a collective or organization." ₈

"Religion originates in an attempt to represent and order beliefs, feelings, imaginings and actions that arise in response to direct experience of the sacred and the spiritual. As this attempt expands in its formulation and elaboration, it becomes a process that creates meaning for itself on a sustaining basis, in terms of both its originating experiences and its own continuing responses." ₄

He defines the sacred as:

"The sacred is a mysterious manifestation of power and presence that is experienced as both primordial and transformative, inspiring awe and rapt attention. This is usually an event that represents a break or discontinuity from the ordinary, forcing a re-establishment or recalibration of perspective on the part of the experiencer, but it may also be something seemingly ordinary, repeated exposure to which gradually produces a perception of mysteriously cumulative significance out of proportion to the significance originally invested in it."

He further defines the spiritual as:

"The spiritual is a perception of the commonality of mindfulness in the world that shifts the boundaries between self and other, producing a sense of the union of purposes of self and other in confronting the existential questions of life, and providing a mediation of the challenge-response interaction between self and other, one and many, that underlies existential questions."

"A shared positing of the identity of and relationship between the world, humanity and the supernatural in terms of meaning assignment, value allocation and validation enactment. A religion need not accept or believe in the supernatural, but it takes a position on. Likewise, some religions deny the reality or at least value of the world, but they still take a position."

We feel that this is one of the most inclusive of any definition found to date.

"The sum total of answers we give to the problem of our relationship with the universe, we call religion."

However, this definition contains an element of controversy, because it implies that religions, and thus perhaps deity/deities, are created by humanity and not the reverse. A less contentious meaning might be:

"The sum total of answers to the problem of our relationship with the universe, we call religion."

"A fundamental way of thinking and approaching things. Those who don't do things in the way they are told by their religion will be punish by some supernatural power. " (Slightly edited).

"Religion originates in an attempt to represent and order beliefs, feelings, imaginings and actions that arise in response to direct experience of the sacred and the spiritual. As this attempt expands in its formulation and elaboration, it becomes a process that creates meaning for itself on a sustaining basis, in terms of both its originating experiences and its own continuing responses."₁₀

Some people do not consider their personal spiritual path to be a religion:

Our compromise definition:

This website's essays use a very broad definition of religion:

"Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview."

(A worldview is a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe.) Thus we would consider Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Native American Spirituality, Wicca, and other Neopagan traditions to be religions. We also include Agnosticism, Atheism, Humanism, Ethical Culture etc. as religions, because they also contain a "belief about deity." Their belief is that they do not know whether a deity exists, or they have no knowledge of God, or they sincerely believe that God does not exist. 

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References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Kile Jones is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. See: http://www.kilejones.com 
2. A summary of postings on alt.memetics is at: http://virus.lucifer.com/
3. H.L. Mencken, "Treatise on the Gods," Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, (1930, revised 1946)
4. Paul Connelly, "Definition of Religion and Related Terms" at: http://www.darc.org/
5. Joel Elliott, slide set on "Defining Religion," at: http://www.unc.edu/
6. David Carpenter of Saint Joseph's University has a list of definitions at: http://www.sju.edu/
7. Irving Hexham, "By Religion I  Mean...," at: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/
8. Don Swenson, "Society, Spirituality, and the Sacred: A Social Scientific Introduction," Broadview Press, (1999-JAN).
9. Dhruvtara, "There should be no religion now!!!," Sukekh Weblogs, 2003-JUN-26, at: http://www.sulekha.com/
10. Paul Connelly, "Definition of Religion and Related Terms," at: http://www.darc.org/
11. "Agnosticism / Atheism: What is Religion? The Problem of Definition. The Difficulty with Defining Religion," About.com, at: http://atheism.about.com/
12. There are at least two different books titled "Encyclopedia of Philosophy:" one by Paul Edwards Paul Edwards and the other by Donald Borchert.
13. "Pantheism - Rosary," Dictionary of Theology, The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM), at: http://www.carm.net/
14. Bruce Lincoln, "Holy Terrors: Thinking about religion after September 11." University of Chicago Press, (2003), Page 1.
15. Qumran Bet is "A Community Striving to Come to the Pure Essence of the Worship of YHWH." See: http://qumran.com/religion.htm

Copyright 1997 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-DEC-15
Compiler: B.A. Robinson