Religion
What is it?
Etymology of Religion
 From
the Latin:
 Relig(are): “To tie, to bind”
 Relig(io): “Conscientiousness, piety”
 Relegere: “To read over again”
Difficult to Define
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Crosses over so many human experiences
Difficult to tease out
Run into two problems
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1). On one had it can be too broad – Includes
what we would not consider a religion
2). On the other hand it can be too narrow –
Excludes what we would consider to be a
religion
Useful to note/list characteristics
General Approaches to
Religion
http://studyreligion.org/what/index.html
 A way to make sense of natural world/forces
 Human reaction to the sacred
 Addresses ultimate human concerns (death, meaning
of life, how to live, etc.)
 Provides or creates meaning for human life
 Grows out of profound internal experiences (of God,
higher power, etc.)
 Psychological: Grows out of psychological need
 Sociological: Way to bring a community
together/develops out of social need
 Political/Power structure: Power structure that favors
those in charge and used to control those who are not
 Biological: Byproduct of biological and physiological
processes
The Worlds Religions
Huston Smith’s definitions and musings
Page 2
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“What a strange fellowship this is, the Godseekers in every land, lifting their voices in the
most disparate ways imaginable to the God
of all life. How does it sound from above? Like
bedlam, or do the strains blend in strange,
ethereal harmony? Does one faith carry the
lead, or do the parts share in counterpoint
and antiphony where not in full-throated
chorus?
We cannot know. All we can do is try to listen
carefully and with full attention to each voice
in turn as it addresses the divine.”
Page 9 & 10
 “Authentic
religion is the clearest opening
through which the inexhaustible energies
of the cosmos enter human life”
 “Religion is not primarily a matter of facts;
it is a matter of meanings”
Page 19
 “For
though in some watered-down sense
there may be a religion of self-worship,
true religion begins with the quest for
meaning and value beyond selfcenteredness. It renounces the ego’s
claim to finality.”
Characteristics Common to
Most Religions (Page 93)
Authority
Ritual
Speculation
Tradition
Grace
Mystery
Theology (Page 339)
 “Faith’s
focal attention is on a vision of reality
that sets morality in motion, often as a byproduct almost. Religion begins with
experience; “belief, ritual, and spiritual
experience, and the greatest of these is the
last.” Because the experience is of things that
are invisible, it gives rise to symbols as the mind
tries to think about invisible things. Symbols are
ambiguous, however, so eventually the mind
introduces thoughts to resolve the ambiguities of
symbols and systematize their intuitions.”
James’s Definition
“In
its broadest terms,
religion says that there is an
unseen order, and that our
supreme good lies in
rightful relations to it”

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience,
quoted by Huston Smith on page 319 of The World’s
Religions
Smith’s Definitions (Page 183)
Broad
sense: “A way of life
woven around a people’s
ultimate concerns.”
Narrow sense: “A concern to
align humanity with the
transcendental ground of
existence.”
Your Understanding of
Religion
The following slides review how you and your
classmates have tried to define religion, both from
an academic and from a personal perspective
Your definitions
Organized “school of thought” that explains or
gives meaning to human existence
 Set of beliefs and practices, rules, or way of life
that:
 Accomplishes a goal
 Improves human life on the social and
individual level
 Creates social and moral order (social glue,
social contract -- some of you really adopted
the Confucian idea)
 Deepens our understanding of: Ourselves, the
world, and others
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Internal and External
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About the connection between what is within an
individual and what is external (god, community,
environment, etc.)
 “Religion
is the external impression of
what is begun in the mind and heart.
Religion seeks to form an outward
organism around the internal and spiritual
dimensions of existence. Based on what
one believes, they seek to express that
through outward means so that what they
believe is more concrete and tangible.
Without the use of religion, then ambiguity
arises and it is difficult to form a clear
understanding and way of life based on
the internal faith.”
God?
Some said God was necessary since this
higher power perspective is the only way
to get at the set of practices, etc. that
can improve life or the only external that
can truly connect to the internal of an
individual.
 Others emphasized the social aspect.
Religion seems to almost always involve a
connection to or involvement with a
community.
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Your personal understanding
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Involves a higher power, a clear set of recorded
teachings, and a set of practices that, when followed,
improve the connection of the practitioner to that higher
power and allow the practitioner to find peace and love
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Acknowledging/worshiping a higher power (within self or
separate being)
Does not place ultimate value in human life/human being.
Seeks some ultimate meaning to life outside of the human:
i.e., an afterlife, enlightenment, etc.
Belief in how to live life based on beliefs about life’s
purpose and meaning.
Work to increase happiness and avoid pain
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Rituals/traditions bring enjoyment
Used as a crutch and to explain what we have not yet
discovered through science