Create Debate Defines Religion
Either try to come up with your own, post someone else's, or your favorite dictionary's, then upvote the best one(s) you see posted so far...
Definitions voted highest will be edited into this debate description.
Religion:
1) X) a: The human habit of forming ideological alliances with one another, regarding issues commonly accepted as being of highest importance. b: An institution,organization, or group based on such alliances
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I think there can be, and are, religions that eschew supernaturalist concepts. Examples? I do know that some schools of Zen Buddhism attempt to stay away from the more supernatural aspects inherent in other Buddhist sects, but I would argue that Buddhism can be either a religion or a philosophy or a religion, and loses its religiosity when it casts aside its supernatural elements. Also, if religion is not necessarily reliant on supernatural components, what would the word used to describe such a supernatural philosophy. Would there be none? Is there no value in differentiating between naturalistic and supernaturalistic philosophies? 1
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A system of belief that deals with but is not limited to god(s), the supernatural, clergy, faith, tithing, church, spirituality, well-being, moral values, scripture, prophecy, messiahs, mythology, magic, ritual, and the like. Religion is just philosophy + some superstitious mumbo-jumbo, essentially. 1
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That guy sure knows what he's talking about. Haha. No, my definition of religion is a lot more complex than that, as I think you know, though I suppose that's not a bad summary version. Personally the more complex the better, when it comes to definitions. I think all of the definitions you listed here work and are applicable. I think with something as intangible and subjective as belief systems one can't really give a simple one line definition and encompass the concept. Accordingly, when determining what a belief system is, when have to look at several definitions as being applicable simultaneously and not just one. It reminds me of diagnosing the mentally ill using the DSM. You have to look at all the aspects of the symptoms and all the aspects of the criteria for mental illness and make a judgement based on that. There are symptoms that are common to several different disorders, and if we only focus on one symptom or one criteria for mental illness, we'll probably get the diagnosis wrong. 1
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In his youtube series "Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism", user AronRa claimed (and I am paraphrasing here) that "all philosophies described as a religion by both their detractors and supporters make claims regarding what happen to people after their physical bodies die." I am not sure if this is strictly true, but it does fit with all religions I know of. How the religion handles this concept varies wildly, but it seems to be one of the only universal components of all religion. At a different point in the series he offers that all religions require faith. And since no concept of "afterlife" happenings can be fully confirmed or denied objectively, faith would be requisite. So, I guess that my answer would go something like this: "A collection of beliefs and practices stemming from particular, faith-based notions disputing the finality of death." 1
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