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What is Religion?
Author: Andrew Sandon  | Posted: 19-10-2006 | Comments: 0 | Views: 1,048 | Rating: (50)  (?) 
What Is Religion?
Religion has existed for thousand years, but still there is no concise and even accurate definition of religion, which would reflect the nature of this phenomenon. Every person has his own understanding of religion interpreting things in a peculiar way. In the world, there are dozens contemporary religions exist, and there were dozens of "dead" religions which disappeared. Nevertheless, it does not diminish their role in general formation process.
Taking into account the nature of religion, it is possible to say that religion is a strict, unwritten code of essential rules (including morals and traditions) established by humans in order to control social life of the society.
Unity of meaning is the main source that allows the construction and experience of religion. As a collective sentiment, religion needs to be upheld and reaffirmed at regular intervals. The concept of religion is not a static one evolving during centuries. Egyptian religion or religion of Ancient Greece do not disappear, they transformed and matured, and became the core for newly developed religions such as Christianity or Catholicism. On the other hand, it is important to underline the fat that understanding of religion is also transformed as a person matured. In childhood, we believe subconsciously in superficial power of some thing beyond our understanding, in adolescence period, we deny everything being unable to join scientific knowledge about the world and unscientific knowledge on which religion is based. When we mature, we understand the limits of our science and, as the most important (if we are not skeptics), develop and coin personal interpretation and understanding of religion. This point of view can be supported by numerous example from every day life. For instance, if you ask truly Christians about the meaning of religion, all of them interpret it differently. It does not mean that they are "poor" believers, but it means that life experience and personal values have a direct impact on our understanding of religion.
I suppose that my definition of religion is a subjective one, because all people are influenced greatly by socialization processes and accident of birth. Also, people who have communicated with their god are not merely people who see new truths of which the unbeliever is ignorant; they are individuals who are stronger, feel more powerful in enduring the trials of existence, or in conquering them. I suppose that my interpretation reflects bias, because knowledge of the religion is discovered through an understanding of the whole congeries of social and communal bonds which determine character, and this in turn depends on an appreciation religious life. Nevertheless, I do not bias against any religion seeing it as a part of the process.
Seeing religion as "an identity presupposed by the unity" does not limit religion to what it has in the past allowing to apply this definition to the present. It is possible to say that the essence of religion has not been changed. Pagan religion or Hinduism share the same core structure, but expressed through different rituals. Ritual plays a crucial role here. In essence, there is little difference between different religions in their object, the results which they produce, or the processes employed to attain these results. The power of ritual dominates in religion.
I suppose that my definition of religion has a sufficient precision, because I try to be as much objective as possible. I do not account on any religion, but interpreted religion as a universal process based on "humans beliefs in abnormal phenomenon".
To answer the question "What is religion?", I can say that religion is a set of abstract rules for anonymous agents to live by, but consists of distributive practices, sanctioned by a tradition of behaviour, within which identifiable agents can achieve some kind of unity with a social whole that exists apart from their choices. This is a universal approach which helps to understand religion as a process free from prejudices and bias.
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