What defines something as a religion?

[Hare_Geist]

I was having a discussion with a friend on MSN who claimed that everyone has a religion and that mine was existentialism. This kind of pissed me off, but instead of brushing his claim off, I decided to look into it and find out what it is that makes something a religion.

1. Does it have to be dogmatic - i.e. expressing rigid opinions? If so, would my belief system be a religion since it has contained a lot of the same tenets over the years but also changed drastically? It has changed a lot and parts have been cast aside, so I don’t think so, but I might be wrong.

2. Does it require faith - i.e. believing something to be real with no evidence whatsoever? If so, then my belief system certainly is not a religion.

3. Does it need a belief in deity - i.e. a god or divine state? If so, mine is also not a religion, since I don’t believe anything like that whatsoever exists.

4. Does it require a large mass of people to adhere to its basic tenets? If so, perhaps mine is a religion since there are a lot of people that hold “existence precedes essence”.

Or is it defined by something else that I’m missing?

I found this definition:

quote:"Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview."

(A worldview is a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe.) Thus we would consider Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Native American Spirituality, and Neopaganism to be religions. We also include Agnosticism, Atheism, Humanism, Ethical Culture etc. as religions, because they also contain a "belief about deity" -- their belief is that they do not know whether a deity exists, or they have no knowledge of God, or they sincerely believe that God does not exist.

But it felt too wide and as if it would then practically include everything.

All in all, for some strange reason, what he said kind of disturbed me. I don’t think it is a religion, more of a individualistic philosophy (but perhaps religion is nothing but bad philosophy, and that’s why it is a religion?). My worldview is basically a form of existential-phenomenology.

So, do I, as an atheist, have a religion or not? If so, I find it strangely disheartening. Why do you think that is, too?

[THUNDERCOCK]

Any belief can become a religion. Atheism, political affiliation, and even science are some things that have become religion in our society.

[boozehound420]

To me, religion is the belief in a supernatural deity that has influenced life. And must be worshiped.

Your own beliefs on the universe and things like this is philosophy

Faggot cock there has no idea what he's talking about. To him anything that a few people believe in is religion. Its not

[This message has been edited by boozehound420 (edited 01-19-2007).]

[Hare_Geist]

quote:Originally posted by boozehound420:

To me, religion is the belief in a supernatural deity that has influenced life. And must be worshiped.

But that leaves out Buddhism. Buddhists don't worship the Gautama, and a lot of them don't believe in a God.

[boozehound420]

quote:Originally posted by Hare_Geist:

But that leaves out Buddhism. Buddhists don't worship the Gautama, and a lot of them don't believe in a God.

And buddhist dont think of it as a religion. Its only claimed to be a religion in statistics. It makes the pie chart look balanced. IF buddhism wasnt on these comparisons with christianity and islam. It would show the world is leading away from religion. Wich is bad for religion

[Hare_Geist]

quote:Originally posted by boozehound420:

And buddhist dont think of it as a religion. Its only claimed to be a religion in statistics. It makes the pie chart look balanced. IF buddhism wasnt on these comparisons with christianity and islam. It would show the world is leading away from religion. Which is bad for religion

So Buddhism is a philosophy then? I guess that if to be defined as a religion, there needs to be a belief in a God involved, then mine definitely isn't a religion.

But is the belief in a God all that is needed for it to be classed as a religion? Because then Karl Jaspers, who adhered to no "religion" but believed in a God would be classed as having a religion and being religious.

[boozehound420]

quote:Originally posted by Hare_Geist:

So Buddhism is a philosophy then? I guess that if to be defined as a religion, there needs to be a belief in a God involved, then mine definitely isn't a religion.

But is the belief in a God all that is needed for it to be classed as a religion? Because then Karl Jaspers, who adhered to no "religion" but believed in a God would be classed as having a religion and being religious.

I think of buddism as a philosophy yes, almost all of its teachings is on how to live your life. Not worship a powerfull being, and do as he ses or ELSE!

ANd about this karl person. Did he believe in a god in the sense that something must have created the universe through the big bang and things, since matter cannot just appear. I call that a philosophy aswell.

defining religion and philosophy has always been contravertial though

[This message has been edited by boozehound420 (edited 01-19-2007).]

[Hare_Geist]

So then a religion is a faith that there is a God who if you do not follow, will condemn you to punishment and a religion is a set of principles on beliefs on how to view the world and act based on “philosophizing” (discussing, testing, searching, etc. etc.)?

If that’s so, then Hinduism isn’t a religion either from what I understand, unless their God Brahman punishes those who do not worship and do as it says.

[boozehound420]

you could say that. But then thats like saying everything thats bad is religion. If its good its philosophy.

Its hard to define it. But it should be catagorized, because science is NOT a religion. I fucken hate when people say that. Maybe some other peoples personal definitions would help clear it up

Maybe it wouldnt matter if science was defined as a type of religion, if organized religion didnt fuck up everything

[This message has been edited by boozehound420 (edited 01-19-2007).]

[Hare_Geist]

I personally think that for it to be religion it has to be somewhat dogmatic and needs a belief in the supernatural. I don’t know why I worry whether or not my belief system can be categorized as a religion, since it doesn’t change it one bit. Perhaps it’s because I have an aversion to religion due to my upbringing as a Christian and seeing a lot of things dreadfully wrong with it, or perhaps it’s because dogmatists are trying to stretch the definition to cover just about any belief so that they feel they have some more justification for their religion and for spreading it.