`` As if - the explanation of Emergence

Under Construction


Religion


Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense - Carl Sagan


Index


  1. Defining Religion

  2. Monotheism

  3. Polytheism

  4. Addons

Defining Religion


Religion is the binding together of people by the means of belief. The 'lig' in religion has the same root as in ligament. But that is just the word, the label we happen to use to describe it. Religion is actually many things to different people, but at the core of religion is belief; this is what ties people into the same group, be it a church, a university, or a country, and it is that tying together that confers such political power on religion, making it a useful tool to rulers everywhere.


In most cases, the justification for any religion is an appeal to some unprovable external power - a God or gods, and these often have their origins in creation myths, the stories we tell ourselves in an attempt to explain how the World, and ourselves, came to be. It matters not whether the myth is an old tradition, or a new scientific story, they all give rise to belief - in some people. However, there is little difference between belief in Father Christmas, and belief in scientific conjecture, only a qualitative difference in the evidence, the reasons to believe. Here, at least, Science usually has the upper hand, because it has better connections between theory and evidence. Despite this, the material evidence is always the material Universe, so any story told about things beyond the material will always be beyond true scientific justification.


Philosophy, on the other hand, treads paths beyond material science, hence philosophy gives us some chance at exploring beyond the material, and so towards understanding of religious territory, and thereby gives us a chance to sort the wheat from the chaff.


Monotheism


Since ancient Egyptian times there have been attempts to drive religions down the road to monotheism, a belief in only one god. This has been highly successful, such that nowadays the most widespread religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam; all monotheistic.



Polytheism


Predating monotheism, probably because the stories originated in many separate tribes, we find polytheism, the belief in multiple gods. Such beliefs were prevalent in ancient societies such as Rome, Greece, Babylon, Egypt, and remain with us in modern India in the form of Hinduism.


Addons


People behave very democratically when it comes to their own beliefs, and so nothing stops them from creating new religions; since the latter years of the Nineteenth Century we have seen the rise of new religions, often claiming to be old religions [revived], one such example being Paganism [aka Wicca], thanks in large measure to Aleister Crowley , Gerald Gardner , and Alex Sanders , with their various takes on witchcraft.


Despite all of the foregoing, religion does give us something useful - a tool - a that is that religion gives us a perspective on Existence that embraces more than just the material world. For me, this leads to a belief that no gods as persons can be true gods, rather, that gods are the abstract [the spirit] that we enact [channel] whenever we do, think, feel, or know, anything at all. Gods, for me, are change in progress, within us.



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