Part III A: Religion: The Sacriest Word Of All!: Is it one size fits all?

              It is safe to say that just about everyone who reaches an age where they are contemplating life, it’s meaning and purpose, has formulated a definition of religion.  One of the questions I ask my students the first day of class is, “How would you define religion?”  As with faith, there are multiple answers which range from, defining religion to be a set of ideas that people are brought up to believe, to a way for governments to control us, to a God ordained way of life.  All the answers my students give have some merit based on the definition I will give.  Religion is man’s attempt to explain the behavior of mankind; his interaction with the world around him and the idea (possibility or impossibility) of as well as man’s relationship to, a supernatural- spirit realm and Supernatural, Spiritual gods or God.  Or for those who are squeamish with the concept of supernatural, let us call it metaphysical.

              It is important to state that the definition of religion is not as close to absolute as the definition of what science should be.  That is not to say that one cannot find absolutes in their religion.  The western mindset pertaining to religion is somewhat of an individualistic mindset that allows the individual to freely express religion on their own terms.  This is why I used the definition above; it allows the individual to have free expression of their beliefs as well as allowing for the possibility of gods or a supreme god who mandates a set of beliefs, rituals; sacred acts to appease said gods or god.  The definition even allows for a loving relational God. 

              Religion has evolved over time along with the best definition for it.  Though it is debatable where the American founding fathers stood on particular religious thoughts and expressions, though the European ideology of church being governed by the state caused many different expressions of religious belief to be birthed, one thing stands as fact. The Christian religion has been utterly influential throughout the western world since Constantine made Christianity the main religion of the Roman Empire.

              In our ever shrinking world because of the ease of global transportation, the internet, multicultural cities and other factors western religious thought and expression is easily found worldwide.  Eastern and Middle Eastern religious ideologies, thoughts and expressions have come to be more influential in the west because of these same factors.  This is interesting because of the very nature of religion.  Most people who take their religion seriously consider it to be something personal and sacred.  What do we do when we come across someone whose religious ideology don’t line up similarly to our own?  Is pluralism the answer, or should we live and let live?  These types of questions are very important for those who consider religion to have value (of course all adhere to one set of religious values or another whether they recognize their religion or not).

             Of course there is the atheistic religion that is permeating western society.   I have interacted with many atheists over the course of the last few years and their beliefs are as wide spread as any other religions.  Some, who call themselves atheist are more agnostic and atheist.  Meaning, they do not state empirically that their is no god, only that there is no god presented that they can accept (or something along those lines).  Others are much more ardent in their belief that there is no god.  Yet each atheist has a belief system concerning morality and rights and wrongs.  They all have a belief system concerning consequences for their actions.  They all have a thought on how the universe began etc... etc... etc...

              Since this work is intended to focus on faith and not on religion the answer to these questions posed above will not be addressed fully, though posing the questions and dealing with the whole “religions” part of life is important when talking about faith.  Whatever ones religious beliefs are it is important to remember that being sensitive to ones fellow man and operating from a stand point of compassion is the best way to address some of these sensitive topics.