What is religion, and how is it a thing?

[TheLightWithin]

Anthropologists and sociologists or scholars of religion don't always have a solid definition of what religion is, nor is there a single agreed upon way to describe how religion functions.

Here scholar Andrew Mark Henry of Religion for Breakfast broaches this topic
He mentions the lack of "one unified definition" in favor of "a family resemblance definition"
This video is only about 7 minutes long and covers a lot in a nutshell.

 

[TheLightWithin]

Scholar Dan McClellan weighs in on the definitions of religion.
He states "religion does not exist" and it is "a conceptual category" and "it is the map not the territory"
Video 3 minutes long, much of the 2nd half of the video is information on resources.

 

[TheLightWithin]

Dan McClellan weighs in again about the phenomenon of religion, noting our evolutionary history has made us "sensitive to the presence of agency in the world around us" which influences how groups and individuals relate to the world and his idea of how this leads to religion as a phenomenon and that religion is inherent to the human mind.

4 minute video

 

[TheLightWithin]

I always thought a defining feature of religion was belief about, if not a God, then about a supernatural order, possibly including theories about the afterlife and often with theories about supernatural beings, and often theories about human morality.

For some people only their own religion counts as religion. Some people have changed their religions. Some people have invented religions. Some people think Atheism is somehow a religion.

What does anybody else think about the nature and function of religion?

 

[muhammad_isa]

What does anybody else think about the nature and function of religion?

For me, it pertains to Divine guidance .. a seeking of truth, and how it relates
to family and community.

 

[rocala]

What does anybody else think about the nature and function of religion?

This is something that I have often thought about, but never satisfactorily defined. The best I came up with was a system of beliefs concerning the unworldly which includes both a moral code and mystical aspects.

 

[EricPH]

The search for God, the creator of all that is seen and unseen. No matter which god we think we pray to, the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences. We are all connected.

 

[wil]

Short answer without yet watching the videos...the religion is answer to the being pulling at your hem.."Who? What? Why? When? How?" When they tired of I don't know. They either made something up or regurgitated what they heard.

For me personally they (religions) are interesting and often useful lenses to look at life thru.

 

[moralorel]

Religion represents people's opinions about what has happened, is happening, and will happen to humanity. As Wil mentioned, religion is what people often use to explain who, what, when, how, where, and why. Simply put. Religion = opinion.

 

[TheLightWithin]

The search for God, the creator of all that is seen and unseen. No matter which god we think we pray to, the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences. We are all connected.

I've always liked that idea.

 

[TheLightWithin]

Religion represents people's opinions about what has happened, is happening, and will happen to humanity. As Wil mentioned, religion is what people often use to explain who, what, when, how, where, and why. Simply put. Religion = opinion.

I think of religions as theories. I also used to think they were like contracts where you get what you sign on for, and when people claimed their religion overrode all other religions (looking at the most dominant strains in Christianity and Islam) I just couldn't figure it out.