Tim Fairchild wrote:
Christianity was once a very small minority. I'm sure it was seen as a cult by some (many?).
Yes, absolutely.
I don't see how numbers apply.
They do. It's one of several properties that define a religion.
How many jedi were there? How many scientlogists?
One of the arguments that scientologists use to claim to be a religion is numbers. And other people counter that those numbers can't be accurate. And fact is, that for something to be considered a religion, numbers do matter.
But once again, numbers was never part of my reasons why I don't think the force was a religion in the movies.
Look, the word "religion" is not as flexible as you seem to think. I don't pretend to know all the things that make up a religion. I only mentioned numbers as an example.
Of course, numbers alone is not the whole story. Atheism has large numbers, and is a belief system (the belief in the non-existance of god). Confusionism is also a belief system. Humanism is a belief system. But those aren't religions.
In any event, it looks like we're falling on the definition of language. And since the word religion does have some fuzzyness, I guess we're not likely to get anywhere.
Cheers, Daniel.
