Alston on Religion

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Alston on Religion
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What is religion?

• Notoriously difficult question
• Most definitions work for some religions but not
  others
• Example belief in a god or gods
• Problem How can we talk about Buddhism, Judaism,
  Islam, and Christianity as religions, when they
  are so different?
• Solution Observe the main characteristics of
  what we call religions

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Some ideas to consider

• Religion is the experience of the holy, inspiring
  awe, fear, terror, loveRudolf Otto (p14)
• Religion is what the individual does with his own
  solitarinessAlfred North Whitehead (p15)
• Religion responds to existential questions about
  death and suffering (pp17-18)
• Religion in the largest and most basic sense of
  the word is ultimate concernPaul Tillich
  (pp21-22)
• Religion is a quest for sacred reality in human
  experience (SQ)

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Proposal Religion-making characteristics (RMCs)

• Belief in supernatural beings
• Sacred vs. profane objects
• Ritual acts focused on sacred objects
• Moral code
• Religious feelings

• Prayer
• World view where do we fit?
• Shaping ones life around this world view
• Social group bound by these characteristics

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Definition

• How can we use the RMCs to create a definition
  of religion that works for all?
• Dont have to have all of them
• But need to have enough to a sufficient
  degree
• Example is Communism a religion? Are political
  beliefs a religion? Buddhism? Confucianism?
• Some religions have all the characteristics, but
  many have less
• Method Outline clearest cases first, then less
  clear

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SQs definition (p22)

• Religion is a notion of an irreducible sacred
  reality beyond ordinary experience (p21)
• Made manifest in human experience
• That produces traditions of belief and practice
  (thinking, feeling, and acting)
• And that helps people to order and understand
  their existence

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Application

• Which RMCs are found
• in Buddhism?
• In Judaism?
• In Islam?
• In Christianity?
• Contrast which are found in something that is
  not a religion
• Marxism?

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Tendencies of religion

• Religions can be distinguished into tendencies,
  based on how they think of the sacred and how
  people respond to the sacred
• Sacramental
• Things manifest the sacred (usually a god or
  spirit) focus on ritual
• Prophetic
• Sacred manifested in societyhistorical events,
  messages given by great figures, scriptures
• Focus on belief and morals (faith)
• Mystical
• Focus on immediate experience (consciousness) of
  the sacred

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• No religion has a single tendency
• But each religion usually has a predominant
  tendency
• Christianity is predominantly prophetic
• But Catholicism also has a sacramental tendency