The Definition of Religion Can Be Academically Useful

This restriction of variation in interpretation and action transfers over to their religious beliefs in such a way that open-mindedness about the interpretation of religious text is forbidden and the words written must be the truth and the only truth.

This quote helps explain the essential question of “Why did Neolithic people develop myths that paleolithic people didn’t need?” because it highlights what was important and sacred to the Neolithic people. In contrast to the Paleolithic people, gathering the harvest or tilling farms brought the Neolithic people to a sacred realm. Encountering the sacred through products the earth had to offer, Neolithic people thought of agriculture with a religious wonder. The Paleolithic people regarded other activities as sacred, and had a different way of entering the sacred realm. According to Armstrong, Paleolithic people were brought to a sacred state through Dreamtime: “It is only when he experiences this mystical unity with Dreamtime that his life

Defining Religion "Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves round man as long as

The Peace of Augsburg and Martin Luther were very important in the shift of Europe after the Reformation.

Pakistan, May 2007 around 8:00 pm, I existed the local madrasa (religious school), completing the 5th daily prayer and recitation of the Quran, and proceeded to head home wearing my light blue Kameez, White Salwar, and a Kufi on my head to offer a sign of humility before God. The reason I remember that warm windy night is because that day the mullah taught me that we humans are sent to earth by almighty god so he can test our loyalty to him. Those who follow his true path will ascend to the heavens upon death, and those who disobey him and his prophets will suffer in hell for eternity. I was 8 back then and life was good. Despite the Taliban decapitating captured soldiers and letting them rot in the intersections to

Defining Religion The most fundamental question when examining a religion is "what is religion?" That is a distinctly hard question to answer considering that what is ordinarily considered to be religion is not all it is, and what many consider not to be religion may be near religious (i.e. sports). The truth is that there are no genuine answers to the question of "what is religion".

Religion is constructed on faith and belief of an individual even though it is the individual choice to follow it or not. It has stirred a lot of debates for years; those who are trying to prove that God exists throughout history and follow to modern day. While, those who are atheist are trying to prove their point of God does not exist. There are still more and more theories and debate over the subject of religious view. It is a matter of theism versus atheism; new and old philosophers have joined the debate and all with different sides to another philosopher’s theory or view on the matter. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the reasons given by Louis Pojman of why religion is good or bad, as well as evaluating Bertrand Russell argument about religion. This can define the meaning of life and the creation of life as we know it. It can change views or switch sides for there is always another explanation to exactly what religion is all about and having a superior ruler that created all.

There are several important ideas and most interesting thoughts that are poised by Smith that communicated to me directly. Some of the most important ideas that Smith depicted were a result of events that he experienced. He was able to observe traits from others who believed they “knew” a religion and he was actually able to explain to them the difference in sentences and phrases that one was able to understand and comprehend. It is important for one to not only study a religion and practice it but for one to be devoted to the religion. Religion is a part of life, and to live you must have religion in your life. In his article he continuously states that he is not defining the religion although he may not realize that he actually is. He is defining the religion as a concept in which an outside reader is able to understand. “The man of religious faith lives in this world. He is subject to its pressures, limited within its imperfections, particularized within one or another of its always-varying

One day my cat turned to me and asked: “What on earth is religion?” In a sense, this question can be answered with endless possibilities. My definition of religion would be a collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values. I am a christian and to me being a christian means realizing that you are not able to be perfect, and that everyone sins. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He died for our sins. God sent Him to earth to die for us and the sins of the world. When you accept Jesus as the Son of God and as your personal Saviour, He comes to live in your heart and soul. Jesus also gives us a gift called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the part of God that can be with us at all times. He

This class has focus on a lot of different topics that connect the whole world. We live in a globalized world where people have different cultures, race religion, food, language etc.., One of the most recent topics we have talk about in class is Religion. Around the world, people practice different types of religion it could either be catholic, Islam, Christianity, etc., most of these religions worship to different Saints, but at the end of the day they all believe in one God. We have people in Latin America who believe in La Virgen de Guadalupe, they honor every December 12th of every year because people have a lot of faith on her. In the other part of the world we have are Islam and they believe in other saints which is fine that’s what makes the world unique.

A definition of Religion is and can be academically useful. It’s the same as with science as it is with religion, the ability to have a definition, creates academic validity for the subject. One has the ability to point to a certain section or a topic of a book and then support themselves with a fundamental definition. Now the problem that arises in religious studies is that the definition is not always accurate or consistent. Many different academic scholars and writers have their own beliefs and reasoning as to what religion is and thus they tend to create their own definitions. Which is why if one reads Mircea Eliade’s, The Sacred and the Profane, and then goes on to read Edward Burnett Tylor’s, Primirive Culture, they would be presented with two entirely different definitions of religion. For example Eliade essentially defined religion as “the one unique and irreducible element – the element of the sacred” (Pals 272) in relation to that of the profane. This definition created by Eliade fit in perfectly with his theories of religion. Essentially, Eliade believed that the daily life of a person was connected to this idea of the sacred, by the appearance of the sacred, known as “hierophany,” or “theophany” if an appearance of a god occurs. Then Eliade attempts to provide validity to the definition he has created by using the “archaic man.” The archaic man wished to return to a lost paradise, free from historic time as a way to escape their insignificance. The archaic man

     According to the American College Dictionary, religion is a noun defined as the quest for the values of the ideal life. This definition is vast and general, allowing for a variety of interpretations by people from all cultures. There is no single path to follow in order to lead an ideal life, only personal beliefs and experiences. Religion is non-finite so there is no way of determining a boundary (Smart, 5). In my quest for a true understanding of what religion is I explored my own traditions and religious beliefs as well as life experiences. Slowly, with the added insight from the text and videos, my own definition of religion has begun to take shape.

Ritual and expectancy: Not all the rituals of primitive people were centered on anxiety. Rituals were also  performed to bring health, offspring, productivity of the soil, fertility of cattle, healing from disease, security from natural disasters. Primitive people were more dependable upon ritual to make a secure environment of life.

What is religion? Each person’s definition of religion is different. Each person’s faith is different. This is a question that has been asked for centuries, and regardless of the answer given there is no right or wrong answer. Religion can be defined as a group of people who have shared beliefs who feel their life has purpose or meaning. This feeling or belief that their life has meaning can come from outside of themselves, as well as within. Taking this one step further, these shared beliefs put into action in the form of worship, can be easily identified because they happen regularly. It can be said the Primal religions were in fact not religions. Some may argue Confucianism is not a religion. Others may say Taoism is not a

The Problem of Definition of Religion The study of religion is problematic. There are so many dimensions to religion (belief, practice, experience, knowledge and consequences) that it is impossible to provide a conclusive definition. Most sociologists do not believe in God. Functionalist views on Religion -------------------------------