What is Religion?

This is a video version of a section from my first podcast episode, as well as a kind of remake of the first video on this channel.

#religion #science #academia

[geraldmeehan]

Thank you Filip, I agree that taking a step back and trying to understand religion from an unbiased perspective is essential to actually understanding religions individually and as a whole

[jbkjbk]

Just to be clear, as the phrase is often misunderstood, Marx's "opium of the masses" quote wasn't meant as a blunt definition of what religion is as a whole. He was describing the role he saw religion playing for working people in the increasingly distraught and deprived time in which he lived. He's saying that religion functions as refuge for people to feel something good in a life that is otherwise primarily characterised by pain. He describes it as opium; a painkiller, a medicine. It's a soul and heart in a soulless and heartless world.

It's a criticism of religion, to be sure, but it's not the blunt, edgy, "religion is just like alcoholism, and nothing more" take that people often make it out to be.

[sophonfilm]

As a religious studies major, I completely agree as its one of the 1st things covered in our line of study. Define religion…? I think my favourite ‘definition’ that i have come across so far is… “Religion has its origins in a desire to explain a very confusing world.”

[gotanygrapes]

Dude keep doing what you’re doing, this content is fire.

[sacrificezone]

The reason culture and religion are seen as separate is an anthropological/historical observation. Two distinct cultures may come under the umbrella of the “same religion” yet their cultures remain distinct

[katakesh]

When I tried branching into other beliefs I ran into a lot of these issues.

It became more a philosophy lesson quickly. It became more a lesson on seeing different biases; mine and others, the individual and the society. It mostly seems to be the mental images that create independent cells resonate with the material world. Creating a spiral, itll follow similar beats but it's always seeks diversity; newness. Even when its conservative it's to maintain distinction.

[deanjoseph]

I spend about 18 eighteen hours a day on YouTube. I am a tailor so it keeps my company during the day. With the hundreds of thousands of videos I've watched this maybe the most important one of them all, thanks for making it. It will take far to long to explain why.

[izzymosley]

This is one of the reasons why I hate it when atheist say that all religion is evil because it leads to violence or something when in reality there is so much variety in religious beliefs and religious practices that saying it all leads to one outcome is absolutely ridiculous.

[azamcangame]

I think it's hard to define Religion because it's hard to define human Beings, or more specifically, human psychology.
Because as you have said in the video that religions basically depend upon their adherents, thus due to this reality,
There are as many opinions as men themselves.
Religions are Subjective. People defining them can not be fully unbiased. That's why religions change over time but their main objective always remains behind the scene

[nickoftime]

Great work! This question of “what is religion” is one I found myself pondering just this past week. It started after seeing a tweet I didn’t like (imagine that); it said “religion is a cult”. Obviously I took issue with that statement but then had trouble defining how or why. Certainly religions can be cults and vice versa, but when it came to actually pinning down a definition for what religion is itself, I was at a loss. I really like how Geertz defined it, as you showed. That works. Thank you!

[randomcontent]

Opinion: Good introduction to the problems inherent in religious studies. I went about it backwards, got the religion and am now trying to understand the experience. I really like this channel and appreciate the work of it's creator. Just in case you read this, thank you. John

[danielmoseley]

Alot of people I know (who aren't even particularly religious) that play music have described it as a religious experience on at least one occasion and I definitely think of it that way.

[achristiananarchist]

I've always had some trouble with the waffling around the "religion is about belief" assertion, especially with regards to "orthopraxic" religions. Sure, in such religions individual belief might not be a matter of import to the divine, but the motivation to perform rituals still centers around communal belief. Whether you are being told that God is mad at you, personally, because you don't go to church or believe the wrong things on the inside, or being told that the gods are mad at the community, as a whole, because you didn't come to the lunar festival, belief is still at the core of both of these practices. Social participation in community rituals is still driven by beliefs surrounding those rituals. You might not be shunned for not "believing" the rituals have some effect, but the belief that the rituals have some effect is still what is largely motivating the social pressure for you to perform them. I think the distinction between orthodoxy and orthopraxy is an important one, but I think it's extending it too far to say that orthopraxic religions are completely disconnected from their belief systems. Without an underlying belief in the gods, the rituals to those gods would never even be imagined, and the practice of those rituals, in turn, perpetuates the beliefs that motivated them. At the end of the day, what separates a religious ritual from, say, an Independence Day parade, is that there is an implied belief system that centers supernatural, or at least non-obvious, beings, places, or states of mind. This is true whether *individual* belief is socially important for the religion or not.

[StevenPetermann]

I would say that what distinguishes religion from other communal forms is that it seeks to discover and align itself with the sacred or ultimate profundity grounding this reality. It affirms the reality of this sacred depth and then tries to explore and live by it.

[corsaircaruso]

Always excited to see your videos, sir. I’d love to see you explore the various theories of the origin or origins of religion more specifically.

[misbpdclddugjy]

First time, I found a channel to discuss one of the most important subject i.e religion....with open mind and a rational approach.

[animefurry]

The way I understand Religion is as an Intersection of answers (interpretations) to possible questions in a few different logic pools.

Material Relations (state/economy)
Psychology (mind/soul)
Sociology (culture/ideology)

With a sprinkle (butt load in some cases) of Anti-Empiricist Meta-Physics (Mysticism/Supernatural Beliefs), Ontological Cosmological Myths and Prophecies that justify Hierarchies and Moral systems, quite often as well as Colonialism and Imperialism.

These questions what ever they be, are asked and answerd by both the self and the world.
And these answers build the structures of Religions that one can be in or observe.
Some parts colonize inward, others you project out of the self, but in all the answers that you give and get make your very specific and unique location in the web of Religion.

[comb]

Maybe the English word "Religion" is in itself a limited word, due to how it's been used and abused in the recent era, and it traces back to a word referring to social obligation, which also leaves more questions than answers. Maybe we won't find an answer to "what is religion" due to the nature of language.

That being said, the Arabic word "Deen" has been translated as "worldview" by some who believe that the word "religion" is too limited to be a translation. The Hebrew cognate of the word has been translated as judgement. And a similar-sounding Avestan word, Daena, is also the Zoroastrian concept that has similar meanings to Deen. I believe we should replace "religion" with a concept of worldview"

Under this new "worldview" conception, we should abolish the divide between "Philosophy" and "Religion" because in the end, there's really no difference between them and any attempt to differentiate between "religion" and "worldview" leaves more questions than answers. Like, anyone who tries to explain the difference between Philosophy and Theology never seems to have a proper grasp of either of those concepts, many times having a grasp of neither of them.

[MUBT]

I think one of the most useful reasons for trying to sort a definition at all, is to be able to stand back and see more clearly one's own biases.

[smroog]

EXCELLENT !!!! EXCELLENT !!!! So much information presented as just KNOWLEDGE !!! Simple but so much KNOWLEDGE !! No personal opinions from Filip.
Just information. A True Learning Environment. Thank you.