The Religions of the World

The world contains many diverse religions but the predominant religions can divided into two categories: The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism.  Yet, despite many resemblances between the two major categories of religions, they are also very different making it very difficult to define what religion actually is.

In trying to understand the meaning of religion, a good place to start is with the etymology of the word. According to Cicero, the word religion comes from the Latin relegare meaning "to go through again, to read again"; from re-, "again"  legere, "to read".  However, popular etymology among the later ancients (and many modern writers) connects it with religare, "to bind fast", via the notion of "place an obligation on", or "bond between humans and gods".

So even after looking at the roots of the word, a clearer definition is not possible.  Many claim that religion is associated with the concept of 'holy' and this word comes from 'whole' or together.  In this way, religion could indicate a belief system which focuses on the unity of people who are essentially all one. However, this way of looking at religion does not adequately describe the Abrahamic religions.  

Other people claim that religion is the belief in an ever-living God.  However, this definition ignores religions such as Buddhism, whose followers do not believe in a God.  Another definition of religion, therefore, could be that it is a belief in some kind of conciliation of powers superior to man. However, once again Buddhism would not fit into this definition. 

Possibly, there is nothing which is common to all religions, but intuitively there are similarities and relationships common to them all. Viewing it this way, religion is a concept that does not refer to something which possesses a single defining characteristic.  Perhaps, instead, religion is a complex concept used to refer to things sharing a number of features and thereby exhibiting a number of family resemblances.  Arguably a religion is a belief system that provides an interpretation of the world and the place of human beings within it, based on an account of how life should be lived and an interpretation through sets of rituals, institutions and practices. 

Seen through this lens, it is evident that Buddhism and Christianity both share the characteristics of a holy founder, but the Buddhists unlike Christians do not believe in a God.  Therefore, these religions share family resemblances as well as an important difference.  Then contrast these religions with Hinduism, whose followers do not revere a holy founder, but believe in a God.  If we compare all religions we might nevertheless discover they have nothing in common but that they do have many overlapping resemblances. This definition means that religion is also very vague almost to the point of making it useless.  In fact, there would appear to be many resemblances between religious and secular belief systems. 

So even with a vague concept of religion there still can exist something which is religion.  In fact freedom of religion is identified as a significant human right as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change their religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Also it is important to note that the difference between religious and secular is a very modern concept. Before the nineteenth century religion referred to the basic guiding images and principles of an individual and a culture and religion was identical with style of life. 

Therefore, it is clear that religion is a social construct - in other words it is a fictional entity and every society, throughout all parts of the world, has had religions.  Only the most recent western societies are genuinely secular societies.  When analysing the major Abrahamic religions or the great Eastern religions, it is clear that to study religions is to study a set of traditions and belief systems. 

This blog will analyse and describe the religions on the Anglo-phone world.  These religions vary greatly and often their followers are in conflict with each other.  In this blog we hope to shed light on what the religions in the Anglo-phone world have in common in the hope that we can do our best to bring people together to create peace and harmony.

the Encyclopedia of Philosophy gives us some points to identify a religion:

• Belief in supernatural beings (gods).
• A distinction between sacred and profane objects.
• Ritual acts focused on sacred objects.
• A moral code believed to be sanctioned by the gods.
• Characteristically religious feelings (awe, sense of mystery, sense of guilt, adoration), which tend to be aroused in the presence of sacred objects and during the practice of ritual, and which are connected in idea with the gods.
• Prayer and other forms of communication with gods.
• A world view, or a general picture of the world as a whole and the place of the individual therein. This picture contains some specification of an over-all purpose or point of the world and an indication of how the individual fits into it.
• A more or less total organization of one’s life based on the world view.
• A social group bound together by the above.