What should religion be based on?

Is there a God? If so, what is She like?

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Philosophy Explorer
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What should religion be based on?

Post by Philosophy Explorer »

Love, fear, trust, the Bible? Current trends would be another possibility.

What do you think?

PhilX
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Blaggard »

Truth or at least honesty and perhaps a lack of hypocrisy, it's never been tried before though...
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Immanuel Can
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Immanuel Can »

Why would anyone even want a "religion"? Wouldn't we all just wish for truth?
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A_Seagull
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by A_Seagull »

Religion is based on lies and more lies.

The purpose of religion is to achieve power and control for its instigators. This is achieved through instilling fear through lies and propaganda.

Of course theists will adamantly deny this, but in the process they are just adding to the lies.

I have no doubt that the world would be better off if no one had invented religion.
mickthinks
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by mickthinks »

I think the question is anti-religious, and I wonder who Phil imagined would try to answer it.
marjoram_blues
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by marjoram_blues »

Philosophy Explorer wrote:Love, fear, trust, the Bible? Current trends would be another possibility.

What do you think?

PhilX
'What should religion be based on?'

You pose interesting questions, PhilX.
Before answering a 'should', I'd like to know what you mean by 'religion' and what you think it is based on.

Is it something like this, from wiki:
A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that aim to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people may derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion
David Handeye
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by David Handeye »

Religion should be based on transcendality. From latin "re-ligo", to tie, to unite. To tie your spirit to a transcendental entity. This is religion.
marjoram_blues
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by marjoram_blues »

Definition of religion in English:
noun
[mass noun]
1The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods: ideas about the relationship between science and religion.

1.1 [count noun] A particular system of faith and worship: the world’s great religions

1.2 [count noun] A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion: consumerism is the new religion

Origin
Middle English (originally in the sense 'life under monastic vows'): from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) 'obligation, bond, reverence', perhaps based on Latin religare 'to bind'.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... h/religion
Definition 1 - 'religion' as a belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power.
This would seem to be based on human need for the existence of a Supernatural SuperPower to explain the origin, mysteries and tragedies of life. Someone to talk to, to question to rail against...to pray to.

Do we really need this kind of 'religion'? Clearly, some do, others don't.
If you do, then 'what should it be based on?'. Isn't this a circular question?
If you don't, then 'what should it be based on?' It is baseless.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Immanuel Can »

These sorts of definitions have proved philosophically unhelpful, however useful they might be for common parlance. Books have been written trying to define the "essence" of religion (Paden and Eliade come to mind immediately), but these remain contested definitions.

So what is "religion"? No one really knows. Proponents say one thing, detractors say another. No one agrees on any core that has a) sufficient breadth to embrace all that could potentially be called "religion," plus b) sufficient specificity to exclude things that should definitely not be called "religions." For that matter, people do not even agree on whether Atheism is religious or not.

Thus the term is not really informative: so it's very hard to say what an undefined quantity should be "based on."

A more useful way to go is simply to ask, "What is true?" For unless whatever we mean by "religion" is based on a truthful account of what exists, it wouldn't matter what it is "based on." It would simply be a different variety of delusion.
marjoram_blues
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by marjoram_blues »

Asking 'what is true?' brings even more definitional problems. Never-ending bones to chew on...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
Truth is most often used to mean being in accord with fact or reality,[1] or fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal.[1]

The commonly understood opposite of truth is falsehood, which, correspondingly, can also take on a logical, factual, or ethical meaning. The concept of truth is discussed and debated in several contexts, including philosophy and religion. Many human activities depend upon the concept, where its nature as a concept is assumed rather than being a subject of discussion; these include most (but not all) of the sciences, law, and everyday life.

Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars, philosophers, and theologians.[2] Language and words are a means by which humans convey information to one another and the method used to determine what is a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth: what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that faith-based and empirically based knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
________

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/
Truth is one of the central subjects in philosophy. It is also one of the largest. Truth has been a topic of discussion in its own right for thousands of years. Moreover, a huge variety of issues in philosophy relate to truth, either by relying on theses about truth, or implying theses about truth.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Immanuel Can »

Truth is most often used to mean being in accord with fact or reality
...and yet, this will do nicely. :)

The nature of truth is indeed a matter of philosophical debate, of course, and yes, it is a vexing question; but adding "religion" to the mix simply compounds the problem. For the question "What is truth" is latent in ALL questions, including the question, "What should religion be based on?"

There is no way to avoid the question of truth; but we don't have to mess it up with additional problems like defining religion. That's unlikely to prove helpful in any way.
marjoram_blues
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by marjoram_blues »

So, an everyday kind of definition will 'do' for 'truth' but not for 'religion' ?
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Immanuel Can
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Immanuel Can »

Yes.

For there is no generally-recognized everyday" definition for "religion," but we do have something at least workable for present purposes so far as "truth" is concerned; and if we don't have something workable for "truth," then NO question is decidable at all.
marjoram_blues
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by marjoram_blues »

It is not true that there is no workable definition of 'religion'.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: What should religion be based on?

Post by Immanuel Can »

Go ahead.

Let's hear the definition...
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