Religion is better thought of as:
1. One's Beliefs and practices concerning their personal value hierarchy
2. One's Beliefs and practices concerning the supposedly supernatural
Statement 1
Side Score: 4
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Statement 2
Side Score: 2
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2
points
I was on the fence about this, but I think generally I'd go with statement one. Reason being that many who believe in a religion are simply taking it on faith from the words of men and women without doing any investigating or thinking of their own- and just the same, many atheists simply take what they've heard on faith from the words of men and women, without doing any investigating or thinking of their own. While not everyone is a religious scholar or a scientist, almost everyone is at least potentially capable of checking into some peer review, reading about the procedures done in an experiment, etc. almost everyone is at least potentially capable of picking up a Torah and paging through it, and either 'garnering deep truths' or 'pointing out inconsistencies' as fits their disposition. Most, on both sides, don't. And I think that lack of investigation and reasoning is more religious than most religion is depicted to be. I think religion is faith- regardless of what its in. Side: Statement 1
2
points
1
point
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Religion is a distinct concept not because it a set of value oriented beliefs and practices, but because those values are derived from and enmeshed with a belief in some supposed supernatural entity or power. Consequentially, I find the second statement to be a more fitting way of thinking about what religion is. The first statement is simply too non-specific to religion. Side: Statement 2
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