What makes a religion?

[Rhondazvous]

I feel more and more that religion is used as a tool to achieve political goals. The people at the top don't have to believe any of it, they just need those on the ground to believe it, to motivate them with magical threats/promises.

I suppose ultimately there is no authority for what is and isn't a religion, just like no one can decree someone is or isn't a Christian.

The only real sense would be legal... how is this covered I wonder? I think in America you have to be a certain size to get tax breaks, and pretend you're sort of a charity. But what else do you need? You also get to not show your books, for some reason. So what would the government accept as a minimum before giving you these unfair advantages? How stupid do your beliefs and rituals need to be?

If anything in your doctrines makes sense to a fifth grader of at least average intelligence, you're out of luck.

[Expired]

Defending the indefensible, making excuses for infanticide, ignoring reality, brushing child abuse under the carpet, brainwashing our kids, taking credit for good shit, having candlelit vigils for people who have been murdered in the name of religion, etc etc etc, that's what makes a religion.

[Whateverist]

Nothing pops to mind when I think about what is the essence of a religion. I can try to note similarities in institutions which self-describe as religions. You can look at the social aspects, the community within the greater community. But I don't have any confidence that there is anything in particular which sets religions apart from other social institutions apart from it being the way they themselves describe it.

I'm interested in the kinds of experience an individual can access directly which have nothing to do with institutions. These would be of the sort William James wrote about in a book titled "The Varieties of Religious Experience". It seems in less technological societies there are specialists sometimes called shaman who are charged with making this connection for a community. As far as I know, there is no record of any society in which the religious connection was distributed to the entire community.

Whatever this dimension is, I'm pretty sure that it is what gives rise to institutions of religion. But the further they are from any individual seeking a direct connection, the more boring they become. I think, since "religions" are mostly associated with the institutions which religious experience gives rise to, it would be necessary to analyze the nature of religious experience itself to define what is essential about religions. Unfortunately we know very little about it.

[Rhondazvous]

After all has been said and done, I conclude that the sine qua non of religion is

---

the collection plate

---

[Darwins Disciple]

Religion requires Satan,
although Satan does not require Religion.

[Edwardo Piet]

Satanus Marvellous.

[robvalue]

Yup, every story needs a hero!