Religion Defined |
The Scientific Study of Religion It
is not well known that there is a Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion and that anthropologists and
sociologists have accumulated a considerable amount of information concerning
human behavior as it relates to religion. The
Latin writer Cicero tells us in his book De
Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) that the word religio
is derived from res legare, meaning
“the thing that binds.” It is of course evident that those who share the
same religious practices feel bound together by common beliefs. That, then, is
the first finding of Alfred Radcliffe Brown, the British anthropologist who may
be considered the founder of the anthropology of religion, later joined by
Bronislaw Malinowski and Emile Durkheim. Malinowski was British and Durkheim
French Jewish. As
these and other scholars like Frazer (The
Golden
Bough) proceeded in their studies
it became evident that there is only one religion. This may seem
incomprehensible as we contemplate the numerous religions found everywhere. Yet,
in addition to the function of
drawing religious people together, here are a number of other functions of
religion found in all religion studies by anthropologists. All
religions segregate the common, everyday occurrences from the sacred. Among us
it is the Sabbath and the Holy Days which are sacred. All religions seek to
instill a moral form of life into the believers. Among us the “Ten
Commandments” fulfill part of this function which the Buddhists call “The
Tenfold Path,” which is not related to our Ten Commandments All
religions seek to make the unseen visible. This leads to rituals such as
carrying a Torah scroll around the congregation or lifting up a sacred cup at
Catholic mass or viewing the building of a synagogue, church, or mosque as
sacred, as are languages such as Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic. All
religions read the same prayers, songs, and admonitions over and over again.
Therefore Cicero, at the end of De Natura
Deorum writes that religio is also
related to re ligere or “to read
again.” Another
function of religion is called totemism. This refers to the relationship of the
believers to their ancestors, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the
great scholars of eastern Europe such as “The Chofets Chayim” whose name was
Kagan, or King David, or the great Rabbi Schneerson. Among Christians the “New
Testament” begins with the ancestry of the founder. All
religions seek to instill their beliefs in their children, as is visible in the
“Shema,” which includes the phrase “and you shall teach them diligently to
your children.” By “them” are meant the words
“and you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your might
and with all your soul.” Religion
also divides all mankind into “in groups” and “out groups.” This leads
to endless religious persecutions and wars such as the persecution of the
European Jews by Christians and the Thirty Years War between Protestants and
Catholics from 1618 to 1648. There were always religious wars, so that Lucretius
wrote that famous dictum in his book “De Rerum Natura” or “The Nature of
Things.” “Tantum
relgio produit suadere malorum” or “To how much misery has religion
persuaded us.” There
are a number of other universal functions of religion which also pertain to what
sociologists call “secular religions.” Both Communism and Nazism are secular
religions, as is American liberalism. In America, Thanksgiving is an example of
the secular religion, as is the following paragraph. Study this a few minutes
and you will recognize the language and its meaning. You have said it English
many times: Fidem
meam obligo vuxillo, federalis civitatis Americae, et Res Publica pro stat. Uni
Nationi, non dividende, cum Libertate et iusquiasque, omnibus. Shalom u'vracha. Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including Gender, Sex, & Status (2019). |