WHAT IS RELIGION?

Religion may be defined as a belief in and worship of a god.

The notion of a god raises many questions and problems such as what and who’s god or goddess, the conflicts over definitions of gods, and the diversion and distraction of our attention to these fictional gods.

Religion may also be defined as a belief system that explains the cause, purpose and nature of life and the universe which is precisely what people have attempted to do for thousands of years.

The phenomenon of religion began long before the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason).

Men and women, priests and priestesses, people profoundly ignorant of our world as we know it today, attempted to explain life with little or no knowledge.

Often, they claimed “divine revelation” (communicating with gods and other supernatural entities) as their source of inspiration, knowledge, and authority.

Think about that for a moment: a claim of communication with supernatural entities as the source of one’s knowledge and authority!

With next to no knowledge and zero science, what else could people do to explain life except to create gods, fabricate creation stories, write books, and form into fiercely tribal religions with rules and theatrical rituals, costumes, and music.

Keep in mind that this is not something that happened in the earlier part of this century.

Or in the 1900s, or two centuries ago in the 1800s.

Hinduism with its multiple gods began sixty centuries ago! Judaism forty centuries ago; Buddhism and Taoism twenty-six centuries ago, Christianity twenty centuries ago, and Islam fourteen centuries ago.

All long before the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment when in the 16th to 18th centuries–just three to five centuries ago–mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, and anatomy emerged and set forth a whole new range of ideas based on reason as the source of authority and legitimacy.

Imagine that, reason as the source of authority and legitimacy! Not divine revelation from some contrived supernatural entity.

Religious creeds, doctrine, and dogma where questioned. Religious authority was challenged. All for very good reasons.