Religion, in all its forms, is the key to understanding our collective humanity and bridging the divide between people.
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I always thought religion was a crutch to be scorned, an activity that only the weak or hypocritical partook in. Until my life fell apart a few years ago and I needed a crutch to prop me up through the worst of it. Even then as I dabbled in “spirituality” I wasn’t comfortable with the term G-D, and did not become so until I took a first year University Anthropology course on World Religion and had my eyes opened, superficial thoughts challenged, and mind blown. Religion is just one of the many beautiful and complex ways human beings express their longing for meaning and connection here on Earth. I learned there is a skill-set that will allow us to accept the different ways each religion tries to assist their followers in accessing G-D without being so fearful of what we do not recognize or understand. Here I offer you some of the tools that will allow you to get below the superficial and curiously approach what you don’t recognize while looking for the commonality I assure you is there.
I suggest that in our twenty-first century global village of technology, easily accessible international travel, individualistic freedom to blend religious practises, and the subsequent break-down of cultural homogeny through marriage and immigration, the term religion is no longer useful to us. I believe the very word is laden with emotional baggage and misunderstanding. I suggest that a shift to the use of the word religiosity and a focus on human behaviours, their origins and their meanings to the practitioners, is far more useful in developing a practical appreciation for how similar other people are to you.
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When Oprah interviews her guest on Super Soul Sunday, she always ends the interview with what she refers to as the “big questions,” including asking her guest to define religion and spirituality. Inevitably, a common answer will entail a separation between the two notions as though the concept of religion has now become a binary to the concept of spirituality and never the two shall meet. Common answers to Oprah’s question include religion as dogma or rhetoric, religion being the rules and laws of the house of G-D, or a means to an end. Spirituality is often defined by her guests as the relationship that exists between the person and their higher power, conversations with G-D, nature, or the practises that lead to connection and love here on Earth in our daily lives.
“A global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59% of the world’s population identified as religious, 23% as not religious, 13% as ‘convinced atheists,’ and also a 9% decrease in identification as ‘religious’ when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.”
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Why would either Oprah or her audience be interested in understanding another’s viewpoint on the differentiation or similarities of the two concepts? Is it because we suspect, or are becoming more tolerant of the idea, that degrees of interpretation exist within religious practises? Are we ready in our North-American Christian-normative culture to accept that when someone uses the word religion, it may not mean the same thing to them as it does to us? Perhaps our society, which has been bombarded over the last 14 years with the intertwining of religion and violence through our media’s coverage of terrorist attacks, is now distancing itself from the very word religion and the historical ills associated to the idea, whether correctly or incorrectly.
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From Wikipedia: “A global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59% of the world’s population identified as religious, 23% as not religious, 13% as ‘convinced atheists,’ and also a 9% decrease in identification as ‘religious’ when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.” A significant percentage of the world identifies as religious, yet these numbers do not likely reflect those who participate in religious-like behaviours outside the context of religion, nor do they likely capture the portion of the population that identifies as Spiritual or Other. Perhaps most importantly, those statistics also do not capture the interviewees understanding of the question either.
Sociologist Emile Durkheim turned to the study of religion in post-revolutionary Paris, France in the late 1800s to see if he could find behavioural similarities across religions that might be used to unify a fracturing society, without using the term religion. In his quest for a cultural umbrella the citizens could be enticed to stand under together, Durkheim sought to identify religiosity, or the common behaviours of a group, that results not purely from an identification with a religion, but from the practises that arise out of that religion. And indeed, he found, across the board, commonalities in the reasons for the various practises, despite whatever name was given to the ritual.
There is a similar quest observed across cultural and religious divides to obtain what I understand to be a connection to meaning, or guidance from a higher power, and I call the actions performed in that quest religiosity.
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In my course we looked at every major religion, lots of small offshoots most people have probably never heard of, and even more oddly, we looked outside religion to North American sports fans and cultural festivals like Burning Man in order to observe the same human behaviours exhibited by people that one would see within organized religious contexts: gatherings of community members on a cyclical basis; the leaving behind of the “normal world” in search of a transcendent realm; the overflowing of emotion during a festival or ceremony; the use of a token to solidify your allegiance to a specific membership; the acts of supernatural suspicion; and, the desire to connect to a power greater than yourself.
We all seek these human experiences whether we find what we need via the taking of Communion, practising faithful allegiance to our hometown sports team, meditating on the suffering of humanity, leaving daily offerings at a shrine for the local deity who might bless your family with good health, walking in nature, or celebrating the birthday of a specific G-D with a party full of song, dancing and food offerings. There is a similar quest observed across cultural and religious divides to obtain what I understand to be a connection to meaning, or guidance from a higher power, and I call the actions performed in that quest religiosity.
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How does language limit us rather than connect us in the religious sphere? Language is inherently birthed out of cultural significance and woven into the binding fabric of that society. Therefore, the language any culture uses to paint the broad strokes of their story will not necessarily translate for the convenience of an outsiders reference; the point of language is to communicate with members of your own tribe. Aristotle declared: “men created the gods after their own image” which would mean those gods spoke the same language as the men who gave rise to them. And this inevitably trips us up in our view of religions that do not speak the Christian-normative language we know in North America.
I surmise that the point of language is to share my thoughts with someone outside my brain but also to help me organize and compartmentalize my chaotic existence in the Universe. We know from the field of psychology that North America is an individualistic society, whereas Asia is a collectivist society. That point of reference alone will lead to an emphasis or understanding of words that may not translate into a different society with a different enculturation. When we apply terms like cult, spirituality, or relationship in an attempt to clarify for ourselves or others what our thoughts or experiences of religiosity are, we are using language to separate and delineate a belief system, which is challenging due to the transcendent nature of faith itself. How can you shove something as epic and elusive as faith into a tidy box with one or two generic labels?
Nothing about the human experience, including religious beliefs or practises, is as simple as we want it to be.
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How can we have conversations about the enormity of religion or religiosity without agreeing to some basic language which globally we do not have for various reasons? As Westerners left Europe to explore the world, and encountered people who exhibited behaviour that required interpretation, the onlookers overlaid their Christian point of view during their observation and reporting. We still do that today when we see religion practises different from our own. Psychologists understand that in research both the observer and subject have potential biases at play that can impact the objectiveness of the research results, and that is when both parties speak the same language. When we view another culture’s practises looking for meaning or evidence of religion, we must always be mindful of our engrained belief system, of which language is a part of.
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Nothing about the human experience, including religious beliefs or practises, is as simple as we want it to be. “Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for syncretism.” (Wikipedia) You can observe through studies and readings on world religions that there are very few pure or traditional religions left in the world, perhaps only Islam and Judaism, but even within those seemingly rigid religious ideals there is breakdown into less strict practises that bring more grey into the picture than black and white.
Can you think of any elite interests the North American business folk might have in mind when pushing the Christian agenda? Do you know how much money circulated in the economy over the 2015 holiday season?
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Religion is a part of the enculturation of society and in North America we hold a predominantly Christian viewpoint. Christmas and Easter are good examples. These are Christian celebrations of Christian stories. In North America our governments have accepted Christianity to the extent that there are legislated holiday’s celebrating the faith. No other religion in North America has such a designation, despite Christianity being practised by approximately only one-third of the worlds population. The Jewish are not getting Hanukkah as a holiday, the Hindu’s do not get Diwali off as a day to spend with their families, nor do Muslims or any other religion have a day of faith set aside in this culture. Yet, their faith is every bit as important to them as the Christian faith is to its followers. So the next time you read about or hear about someone declaring war on Christmas, or freaking out over a certain coffee companies to-go cups, check your Christian privilege and get some global perspective.
It is also critical to understand that practical matters in religion must not be viewed in isolation. Karl Marx describes his base/superstructure model of society as one in which the elites control the economic base or means of production in society, while also having their hands in the superstructure or culture of any given society by their control over that culture, predominantly via media and big business. Religion is a part of that culture. Marx further surmises that ideology, a term frequently associated to religion, refers to the various forms of culture, but is “fostered as a ‘false consensus’ in the minds of average people so they came to support elite interests rather than their own.” Can you think of any elite interests the North American business folk might have in mind when pushing the Christian agenda? Do you know how much money circulated in the economy over the 2015 holiday season?
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In readings on the history of various religions we find evidence of how the one “correct” religion (read Christian) was forced onto the heathens the explorers encountered in their travels, and how the conflict between ideologies without the benefit of common language led to new ideas, subversive practises, or the annihilation of entire peoples. In less violent collisions of theology, the Afro-Atlantic religions developed when slaves used the force-fed ideas of Christianity they recognized to mask their motherland practises from the slave owners. We know gang members in Mexico have created a new Saint to protect themselves, Santa Muerte, which is vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church, and the Nicaraguan poor used enforced Catholicism as a springboard for revolution. These observations can only be understood within the context of the dominant culture as a whole during the time applicable while respecting the human ability for adaptation.
In order to explore our commonalities we must delve below the superficial and attempt to understand what a practitioner is seeking to find through their efforts.
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Religion, in a more simple time with cultural homogeny may have been black and white, but that is no longer the case after centuries of global interaction and swelling global populations. We must be cognizant of the socio-economic conditions and political influences at play in order to understand the development of a new religion like Rastafarianism, the rise of a new charismatic leader, the evolution of religious practise (google Protestantism if you want to get a scope for diversity in Christianity), or the blending and merging of different practises (syncretism).
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I believe religion has survived in humanity for as long as it has because it is a useful cultural phenomena to human beings; however, I also think there is a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding, along with poor interpretations and incorrect labelling around the world which is leading to conflict. How much more compassion could we hold for our neighbours who experience G-D differently than us if all major world religions were taught at the high school level, if a complete separation of state and church occurred and religion was returned to the private sphere of life, and/or if governments encouraged international travel and cultural exploration through directly linked tax cuts for overseas volunteer work?
American Poet Maya Angelou said: “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Understanding the varying practises of religion, or religiosity around the world, is an integral part to understanding our collective humanity and bridging the divide between people. In order to explore our commonalities we must delve below the superficial and attempt to understand what a practitioner is seeking to find through their efforts. I promise you there you will find the same as dwells in you.
Photo: Rebecca Clare – La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
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I personally do not have a lot of patience to devote to articles of faith, which by definition, comprises the majority of religious thought. I do understand the comfort and inspiration that religious ecstasy provides some individuals, and that of the anecdotal stories of inspiration and fortitude told by folks who used faith to overcome difficult times, but the machinations of contrived realities, even if some are positive, do not strike me as something that needs understanding, rather, something that needs temporary tolerance in the market place of ideas. So yes, I understand religion.
With so much water under the ‘religion’ bridge (much of it muddy or maybe blood-stained would be more true) its not simple to get clear perspective on the word without going back to its roots. For me religion is an activity a relationship. Its in the way I am with that which I cherish as grand, contains a quality of other worldly-ness of a universal and unifying nature. People are religious about many things – aspects of life they hold as sacred or in reverence. The footy, wine, gardening, work, TV, online gaming, work, food … and so on endlessly.… Read more »
Religion without a connection to God is no more then a written exercise. “Faith” is what I like to call “religion” in that I am rich in my faith, it’s all encompassing. My faith guides me through my spiritual life in that if it weren’t for my faith, I wouldn’t be where I’m at in my spiritual journey. My faith centers me in a society of mixed signal and self centeredness. Religion alone would be like a master carpenter that’s never picked up a hammer but is well educated on what a job entails. It’s through his feel, touch, sight… Read more »
There needs to be a distinction between religion and organized religion. There are many people who identify with an organized religion, but they don’t practice all of the rules / customs / beliefs of that religion as defined by the religious hierarchy. There is another distinction that needs to be made. There have been passages in the Bible that talk about show belief. Cain tried to out do Able in the eyes of God so his sacrifices weren’t as pleasing to God because his intent was selfish self aggrandizement. We see the same thing with the ricj man making a… Read more »
Even among religions there are brands. I noticed it first being raise as Catholic and Filipino. Yes we learned and mostly the Catholic faith, but we also put food out on a deceased relatives birthday. This probably stems from a tribal belief that your ancestors are going to get you / ancestor workup. We know many Catholics have had abortions and see little conflict between their official religion and what they believe. Call it progressive Catholicism. Even in the martial arts there is a philosophy, but I suppose that could be looked at as a religion or even spirituality when… Read more »
The author has raised some important questions. I agree with the description that the word ‘Religion’ is laden and its root meaning has been corrupted. From this corruption we have seen a history (and practice) of ongoing conflict and misunderstanding – rather than a common-union and celebration.
It is time to restore our understanding of the word ‘Religion’ in its simplicity, in its root meaning of re-turning, re-bonding or re-connecting within, to live life in connection and expression of our shared Divinity – that dwells within us all.
Religion is a topic many of us avoid talking about because it can be so divisive – we all have our own views of what religion is about and many religions protect their own or are exclusive. This article asks some great questions. For me The Way of the Livingness is the one religion that encompasses all equally and inspires us to feel the deep connection we all have within. There is no dogma, no fixed way of being, just an acceptance that we are all equal Sons of God and that Religion, Science and Philosophy are one and the… Read more »
Well Shawn. That’s true. But I was just quoting a well known cliche that seemed to fit with the beginning time of the article. Although with hellfire raining down on you are you really sure there are atheists? Have you been there? Speak of your experience please.
Well. Interesting. There are no atheists in foxholes. At any rate, there is nothing wrong by itself in religion. It is a concept you can either grasp or not. I can grasp Christianity. I cannot grasp Islam. Makes no sense to me but it doesn’t matter. Its all about mindfulness. Otoh, I am deeply spiritual that trancends on any relied practice. Because I have experienced something more than dogmatic practice. And this experience makes no difference if you are Islamic or Christian or Hindu. Because it needs or wants NO specific practice to get there. Where religion causes a problem… Read more »
Except that there are Atheists in fox holes. Some buried in Arlington, as well as entire groups of the military dedicated to Atheists and/or Humanists. That’s a cliche and nothing more.
The “silly” belief you speak of Mark of raising your hand 3 times being the only way is not different than Christians taking Communion and thinking that is the only way. It is all about INTERPRETATION when it comes to religion; the end game is the same. That is the message I am trying to get out.
And no one who is truly of faith is going to kill you; again, interpretation and homicidal maniacs, which you can find in any faith and without faith.