Defining Religion: Can it be Done?

At the beginning of this course everyone was asked to upload a discussion post of their definition of religion. Originally the definition of religion that I cultivated after being prompted by the assignment was as stated. 

“Religion is a structured way of thinking about God or gods whether that be belief or disbelief. Religion generally includes specific morals, beliefs, and world views.”

Emily Ager

This image reflects the first definition I had on religion. It was very simple and left out many possibilities

Prior to the discussions in this course and reading, my ideas about religion was through a western christian lens. This was exposed through class discussion about more eastern ways of thinking of religion. Aside from class discussion, the course reading provides valuable insight to religion and how it is viewed by a variety of people. 

In Daniel Pals’s, Introduction he discusses the process by which religion has been discussed and thought about by a variety of individuals throughout time. In particular, Muller paper on the science of religion was a new way of thinking of both science and religion. Muller’s idea meant “the time had come to take a less partisan approach” to the study of religion (1). Prior to this the study of religion had been about proving religion true or false. This is similar to my first creation of my definition of religion. I used the words belief or disbelief which implies that it can proven true or false. Now, everyone can determine for themselves what is true for them but using terms such as this when defining religion can leave a large portion of religion out. Muller challenges people including myself to think of religion from an academic perspective.

In McCutcheon’s paper he explores the idea of the academic study of religion. He believes that the study of religion is “fundamentally a anthropological enterprise” (1). However, he does acknowledge that the anthropological approach was not the only way to study religion to others include “confessional, religious, or theological approach” (1). McCutcheon’s statements about religion being studied from an academic study can be drawn to the ideas that Muller had when discussing the science of religion. When looking at religion from an academic perspective McCutcheon states that

“it is not concerned to make normative judgements concerning the way people ought to live or behave”

McCutcheon, 1

This quote stuck out to me due to the way it throws out the true or false study of religion narrative. Since, my first definition relied heavily on the normative judgments when making a new definition I wanted to stray from this idea. I turned to the Religion and the problem of definition by Craig Martin. Martin explores the problems with nailing down a definition of what religion is. Since, the definition of religion has changed so drastically changed over the past seven centuries and over that time has been very complicated throughout that time. Martin points out that in politics what is “included and excluded from the definition of religion varies depending on the politics of the definer”(4). When brainstorming my next definition for religion I found it puzzling on what to include and exclude. I found myself turning back to this quote by Martin.

The definition of religion can serve a purpose for the person defining it because it lying on a subjective topic. When trying to conform religion to a universal definition that everyone will agree upon is futile. and exclusion of their said practices. I choose to define religion not from a true or false approach but a more anthropological one. However, my second definition of religion came about very slowly. I found the more I learned about religion the harder I found to define it.

Religion can be community, spirituality, concerned meaning of life, faith, a belief system, supernatural, and many more. Religion encompasses worldwide practices from a variety of people.

Emily Ager

In conclusion of my journey trying to define religion has been extremely difficult. However, I have enjoyed expanding my mind to get out of a conveniently western way of thinking of religion. I believe that as I continue to learn about religion my definition will evolve even more. This is due to the more knowledge about a topic the more information a person is exposed to and it can change their view. When trying to put a definition of religion into a visual format I choose the images below.

This image reflects my second definition of religion. I chose this image do it the vast variety of words surrounding religion to showcase how people interpret religion differently.