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Religion is any cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, world views, texts, sanctified places, ethics, or organizations, that relate humanity to the supernatural or transcendental.
If there is no god, supernatural or transcendental entity, can a system defined as religion exist?
if one does not believe in the supernatural and the transcendental can one still be religious?
On the other hand one can believe in the supernatural and the transcendental and not belong to any religion.
What do you think?
You can certainly have spirituality to relate/connect humanity with the supernatural/transcendental, without the demands and compromises of religion. It's the purely natural, personal, and inward way, instead of the outwardly way of dictates and rules from other people.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 04-01-2022 at 01:43 PM..
If there is no god, supernatural or transcendental entity, can a system defined as religion exist?
if one does not believe in the supernatural and the transcendental can one still be religious?
On the other hand one can believe in the supernatural and the transcendental and not belong to any religion.
What do you think?
There is an ongoing debate about whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. And I guess part of that debate is does there have to be an actual god involved.
A good question however some definitions may need to be tweeked in abswering that. According to Wikipedia there are some non theist religions. Ill post the link but have no persinsl.opinion on this topicfor a variety of reasons
If there is no god, supernatural or transcendental entity, can a system defined as religion exist?
if one does not believe in the supernatural and the transcendental can one still be religious?
On the other hand one can believe in the supernatural and the transcendental and not belong to any religion.
What do you think?
I think you're conflating the "supernatural or transcendental" with god. To transcend the human condition, the mundanity of life, etc., doesn't require a god. If something outside of nature existed, it would not have to include god, either. Most people who dabble in such hobbies are theists, but not all are.
I don't recall if it was you or someone else discussing this topic in recent days where I mentioned that Buddhism, Taoism, and a handful of other modern religions are either silent about deities, or deity-optional (usually depending on variations in sects or personal practices).
More primitive proto-religions like animism don't have gods as such, but spirits that inhabit various objects or aspects of nature. These spirits can be the spirits of ancestors or just tree spirits, cloud spirits, lake spirits or or the like. They are not gods in either name or in anything like the concept of the monotheistic gods. A lake spirit's power and influence would be confined to its lake, for example.
From there, things evolve to polytheism, with some pantheon of gods sharing power and influence with humans, sometimes even intermarrying with humans, in-fighting among themselves, etc.
From there, monotheism develops. With a single god, that god has ALL power and authority, but also, inherently must claim to be the One True God, which means all other gods must be false. The thinking of theists today tends to assume monotheism (usually for the Abrahamic deity or the quasi-pantheon of the Trinity) without any regard for the many other god concepts and religious concepts that don't even HAVE or require gods.
The only religion with the living God is the religion with the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ, so there are countless religions without God ........ I used to go to a dry of the Spirit of God church, and I left as I learned everything they had ...... Still, God has to exist as there won't be an earth or a universe without the Living God
The only religion with the living God is the religion with the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ, so there are countless religions without God ........ I used to go to a dry of the Spirit of God church, and I left as I learned everything they had ...... Still, God has to exist as there won't be an earth or a universe without the Living God
Does Judaism not have the same God as you believe in and it soes not go through Jesus Christ. Please explain how if it is the same God only one is living?
If there is no god, supernatural or transcendental entity, can a system defined as religion exist? if one does not believe in the supernatural and the transcendental can one still be religious?
On the other hand one can believe in the supernatural and the transcendental and not belong to any religion.
What do you think?
Apparently yes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GldnRule
The link that was posted stated:
"Atheists now legally protected in US under religious freedom bill signed by Barack Obama"
So...I added additional information and perspective.
Even the lawyer defending the case I noted said, “Up is down, and atheism, the antithesis of religion, is religion.”
"It is difficult”, continued Fahling, “not to be somewhat jaundiced about our courts when they take clauses especially designed to protect religion from the state and turn them on their head by giving protective cover to a belief system, that, by every known definition other than the courts’ is not a religion, while simultaneously declaring public expressions of true religious faith to be prohibited.”
As per a official legal ruling organization of the U.S. Government...Atheism is a Religion.
Which would figure...because it is.
If there is no god, supernatural or transcendental entity, can a system defined as religion exist?
if one does not believe in the supernatural and the transcendental can one still be religious?
On the other hand one can believe in the supernatural and the transcendental and not belong to any religion.
What do you think?
Never heard of pastor or priest who is atheist? They like the "smells and bells" of religion. They like the community, and frankly, the paycheck. Certainly there are people, and systems that cater to those that desire those things.
Never heard of pastor or priest who is atheist? They like the "smells and bells" of religion. They like the community, and frankly, the paycheck. Certainly there are people, and systems that cater to those that desire those things.
Apart from atheist, the believers and spiritually inclined find the “smells and bells” very much part of their religious experience and a step towards spiritual evolution. We dont know what people have in their minds, we can barely decipher what is going on in our own.
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