The way we pronounce the word "religion" comes from an Old French word, "religion" meaning, "obligation; the bonds between man and gods; devotion to the gods", which comes in turn from Latin "religio", which is usually taken to mean, "consider carefully, go over again, or choose again."
The reason I say "usually" is because the origins of the Latin are somewhat cloudy. The above definitions are the best educated guesses that scholars can come up with.
Every major theistic worldview, save Christianity, is based upon the presumption that humans need to make ourselves live better lives in order to better ourselves, our communities, our afterlives, or a combination of any of the three.
True Christianity alone is different, because the basis for Christianity is thus: "I am a fallen creature. There is nothing that I can do to save myself. So I trust God to rescue me."
The reason that I say "true Christianity" is because there is a big difference between the Christianity of the Bible and the Christianity that is normally practiced in many churches. I will be highlighting this difference in the future.
There are four different types of religions:
- Abrahamic Religions
- These include the Jewish Faith
- The Christian Faith
- The Islamic Faith
- The Baha'i Faith
- Samaritanism
- Rastafarianism
- The Druze Faith
- As well as the different cults and sects of the aforementioned religions
- Indian Religions
- These include the Hinduistic Faith
- Jainism
- Buddhism
- Sikhism
- Ayyavazhi
- Swaminarayan Faith
- As well as any cults and sects of the aforementioned religions
- Iranian Religions
- Zoroastrianism
- Mandaeism
- Kurdish
- As well as any cults and sects of the aforementioned religions
- Folk Religions
- Any cultural or tribal religions, ranging from the practices of Native Americans, Africans, Aztecs, Southern Asians, Eastern Asians, etc.
And there are the "parody religions", which include the likes of the Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster. However, I will discount these because they are not made to be legitimate sources of faith and are the products of disrespectful people who wish to mock those with more open minds.
The main idea of this introductory post was to give a brief description of what religion is.
In later posts, I will explore the ideas of Religion and Science, Religion and Violence, Religion and Medicine, Religious History, as well as explanations of different religions.
I will be doing this all from as unbiased a view as I can. I am a Christian, so I will be allowing the possibility of the supernatural in all scientific and medicinal pursuits. Miracles will not be my first resort, but it is on the table.
I wish you all the best in your spiritual and intellectual pursuits. Numbers 6:24-26
