- Whenever religion is discussed it refers to something
spiritual (outside the real world but connected to it) -
a divine presence, symbol, principle, or idea which influences,
or endeavours to influence, human social life and people's
inner strength and emotions, whether through their behaviour
or through their relations with other societies. Such religion
impacts the strength of the human society in which its adherents
live. It devolves from such a definition that any religion
which does not express itself institutionally - does not
demand action or a certain conduct, or restraint from a
certain conduct or behaviour, and exerts no influence on
the world or on the quality of societal life - cannot be
recognised as a religion. In the same way, any organised
human activity designed to advance some principle or idea
which does not extend beyond a limited intellectual circle
devoid of influence on the world of action and values, or
the worldview of a specific thinker in raw or published
form, is excluded from the definition of religion. On the
other hand, any faith which includes belief in some deity,
spirit, totem, or image and expresses itself through rites
and rituals and/or requires conformity to a certain code
of behaviour is considered a religion. Communism, for example,
which constitutes itself as a political movement in opposition
to and/or infiltration of the ruling power, or establishes
itself as a ruling government in its own right, falls into
the category of religion. Likewise, to the extent that such
ideals as democracy, conservatism, liberalism, anarchism,
atheism, natural living, modesty, family purity, and abortion
rights lead people to a communal activity or to the prevention
of such, these are also to be considered religions. Although
such activity may be ritual or moral, it will always come
to expression on a societal level and impact the quality
of human life. Nationalism and civil religion also influence
social and/or political life - or seek to do so - and are
thence included under the definition of religion for the
purposes of this Part as well. The institutionalised zionist
movement of the twentieth century - up to and following
the establishment of the State of Israel - is consequently
defined as a religion, as is the Palestinian nationalist
movement and all other nationalist movements.In consequence
of this broad definition and the purpose of this Part -
to examine any and all religions which impact societal life
and guide human beings in a certain social direction - no
distinction will be made here between religions on the basis
of their "truth" content. The question asked by
anthropologists researching primitive African religions
and cultures regarding which criteria they should apply
to their study is well known: Should they evaluate the primitive
religion or culture according to the subjects' own norms
or should they employ the modern scientific standards in
which they themselves have been educated? This issue is
irrelevant for the present purposes, since determining which
religion is true or whether religions in general are true/contain
truth is not under discussion here. For the purposes of
this Part, messianic faith is no better or profounder than
idol worship - or the contrary. Only one valid criterion
exists: The exertion and extent of a particular religion's
influence. Our focus is moreover upon religion in general
rather than upon specific religions. The question "Why
religion?" is an eternal question, unconnected to any
particular time or phenomenon and immaterial to competition
or rivalry between individual religions. The only criterion
by which an entity may be included in or excluded from the
definition of "religion" is whether or not that
particular framework exerts an impact on societal life.
If it does, it is considered to be a religion, equal among
equals. When Marx defines theistic religion as "the
opium of the people" our reply to him is: "Stand
in line with the rest of the religions. For the purposes
of our present discussion, you rank as one of them."
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