On 27 Jun 2005, at 5:49 am, Warren Ockrassa wrote:
On Jun 26, 2005, at 10:28 AM, William T Goodall wrote:
On 25 Jun 2005, at 12:36 pm, Andrew Paul wrote:
The question I want answered is what is religion.
(apart from evil of course)
The first thing to note is that there is no single simple
identifier of religion (even obvious candidates like human
sacrifice or temple prostitution are not universal across all
religions)
Though there are correlates. Loosely, the Kama Sutra and the
Christian sacrament/communion can fall into those categories. One
is sex for the purpose of interaction with deity; the other is
ritual deicide/cannibalism. Eat the enemy to get his power; eat the
god to become immortal.
Anyway, here are the thoughts of some professionals on the subject:
I take it that you align with these ideas.
"An acceptable definition of religion itself is difficult to attain.
Attempts have been made to find an essential ingredient in all
religions
(e.g., the numinous, or spiritual, experience; the contrast
between the
sacred and the profane; belief in gods or in God), so that an
"essence" of
religion can be described.
This seems overcomplicated. I think a simpler explanation of
religion is twofold:
It isn't actually though. It's necessary to be that complicated
otherwise:
1. People who have had some experience of something beyond normal
experience: The numinous, the unexpected, the apparently divine or
miraculous, because it doesn't fit into normal experience; and
2. A cadre of individuals who feel the experience they had in (1)
was similar enough that they're of the same stripe.
You've just described UFO abductees. which is not a religion. That's
why the definition I gave was complicated - it has to separate the
religious from the other types of nutter.
You were right; the discussion was both long and boring, but only
so because you haven't posted anything new, interesting or truly
thoughtworthy. Sorry; truly. You're going to have to be more
incisive than this to really make your point, even to an atheist
like myself.
LOL, well it was only part one...
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool
me -- you can't get fooled again."
-George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn.,
Sept. 17, 2002
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