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My theory of religion is something that brings motivation, satisfaction and a reason to your life. Something that helps identify yourself and gives you strength to overcome obstacles in your life whether it be good or bad. Religion is a set of rituals that you learn since birth.

CM

One point that caught my attention the most from Prothero’s interview was you cannot understand what is really going on in a country without understanding religion. Religion differs from various parts and regions of the world because it is influenced by culture; and cultural beliefs are diverse and varies from one group of people to another. As for myself, coming from a Chinese family, although I was not born and raised in China, I can understand many current and historical major events of the country because many religious views such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism were taught to me by my parents. In China, actions and thoughts of the people are still influenced by religious factors today. For example, according to one of the beliefs of Confucianism, the father should always be the one to make important decisions for the family; thereby, he should be the most highly respected person in the household. Below the father, the son plays the other largest role in the family as compared to the daughter or mother. Therefore, for many years, Chinese people have always valued males more than females in the family.

SM

MP

Definition:

After watching this really interesting interview my own definition of religion seems to have evolved quit a bit and become much broader and would involve everyone on this planet. Religion is based on rituals, important beliefs and passions one might have which could be expressed individually or as group. Everyone has a passion or believe in something important. It could be a sport, a genre of music, movies or even something transcendent.

Response to the argument:

The problem with this interview and my own definition is that I don’t know what the word "secular" mean anymore. Since it seems like religion is practice by everyone in some ways, not obviously the main religions as we know them; Christianity, Islam, Judaism… then how do we define secularism? Which I think is important to know for political reasons.

KD

From what I’ve gathered from the readings and video clips thus far, it seems that almost anything ritualistic can be classified as a religion. Bellah talks about how communication, philosophies, science, and even academic lectures are religious in a sense, because a religion is a set of rituals more than a belief system. So in that sense, the everyday patterns and behavior of an individual is sort of like their religion. He said at one point that, an “institution we lay down our lives for” has a religious aspect and deep meanings, which leads me to believe that religion goes far beyond a belief system, and that even atheists and agnostics can be religious and “philosophies” like Confucianism are in a sense religions as well. There seems to be a very blurred line between the religious and the secular, and between philosophies and religions. Bellah argues that the lines are arbitrary and meaningless, and prior to this class I would have immediately disagreed with him. Although we have only had a handful of lectures and readings so far, though, I’m starting to feel that he is on to something, and that the line between the religious and the secular isn’t so definite after all.

- Kalin Dobbs

KR

A definition that caught my attention from Bellah’s interview was his quote of one of Paul Tillich’s definitions of religion, “one’s ultimate concern.” From that I thought of the word Obsession; whether it is for material things, a feeling or even a person – the act of being obsessed, could be viewed as a religion. Rituals would be attached to the cultivating of the obsession with the end goal being the attainment of said obsession. The religion of Obsession could be practiced alone or with a group of people that have like obsessions, and to that end, follow a “lifestyle” that is indicative of aligning themselves with the obsession in an effort to manifest either the essence or reality of it.
On Religion and Secularism

I appreciated the definitions regarding religion and secularism that were discussed in the interview. Robert Bellah said, “It was not really so much a war against secularism per se as it was a war between groups which considered themselves Christian.” Regardless of what side of the “fence” a person stands it seems to me that they attach themselves to what they have been taught is important or “right” or they experience some sort of discomfort and the search to alleviate that discomfort or maybe the search to expand is a better way of saying that, they identify with religion or secularism. In many ways, this seems to me, paradoxical. And in that search for “ones ultimate concern” MARK JUERGENSMEYER sums it up well, as much of what we think we are about is in fact something else altogether. He says, “They would be shocked to learn that the motives for their extreme religiosity are not religious, but really more sociological.”

JH

Gathered from an interview by Mark Juergensmeyer with Robert Bellah is the theory that religion is about the most important things in our lives and how we express them, and because of this it is inescapable. Robert Bellah proposes these ideas during his interview as well as discussing the historic and current relationship between philosophy, reason and religion. Using examples like the intuitive use of body language in Memedic culture and the earliest philosophical and scholarly ideas manifested by the Greeks, Bellah explains how religious attributes have been weaved into our lives throughout human history. He describes the transition from religious ideas to rational theory; how reason and philosophy were driven by enlightenment – striking visions of the truth – from both Plato and Buddha. They both used rationality to convince their people of their ideas; not just of concrete ideas of the physical world but abstract philosophies as well. They were trying to explain the truth. The deepest questions about life were being discussed, much less answered, both in religious narrative and through classical reasoning. Throughout history, about 2500 years ago during Axial Age, the fresh waters of rationality and the deep waters of religion began to blend. This is a large part of Bellah’s interview. Religion is about finding what is important to an individual or group, what values are upheld, and how these values are expressed through manipulations of the physical world. The material world is full of symbols that reflect or relate to values and meanings that are essential to human life and existence.

Bellah did not mention Secularism as much as he gave examples of how religion has been found in ancient and modern eras. He mostly laughed or smiled when the word "secular" was used. I think this is because of Bellah’s interpretation of religion. To use some of his language, he believes that it pervades all aspects of our lives. With that notion, secular does not exists. Secularism is the exclusion of religion, and if religion pervades all aspects of human life then Bellah is asking the right question: "what is this word ‘secularism’?" If the Greeks coined secularism during a time when rationality and ideas were gaining popularity, then it was probably an attempt to separate government from religion, or, to separate a rational institution from certain religious groups or practices. But if reason, rationality and philosophy were all attempts to find the truth and organize our way of life around that, then weren’t Buddha and Upanishad’s on track? They attempted to reach the truth through enlightenment and organize rituals and practices around that. It sounds like coining secularism was an attempt to make government and reason seem "higher" than religion, or to make interpretation less acceptable. It may have been an attempt to separate the powerful from the powerless. That is in my opinion, so far.

-Jana Heath
HUMAN 40 1:15

LH

My theory of religion is something that is deep and meaningful to you on a level that you find difficult to explain, and provides you with some sort of satisfaction. For some it could be going to church or meditating, for myself it would be cooking for people or working with food. This makes sense, because people would not be into something that did not bring them some sort of satisfaction, in many ways it’s almost selfish. I say selfish, because we all want the reward at the end for Christians it’s Heaven and for me it’s the perfect chocolate soufflé and the joy of eating it, and receiving the praise for making it.

SB

From my perspective religion is a set of practices that a group of people follow and live by strong morals they believe in.

JM

In response to the interview on “Rethinking Secularism & Religion in a global age”, I have to admit it was a bit over my head.
Learning about religions and philosophy is still a little foreign to me. I am slowly trying to understand what this all means. I honestly had to look up Plato, Secularism and Confusionism to get a better understanding of what this all means; I’m still left a little uncertain. But what I can write about and answer the question of explaining my point of view of either “theory” or “explanation” of religion of my own and why I think it makes sense; I’ll try my best.

I believe in religion since to me it does make sense. Whether it’s a theory or not, is up to who wants to believe that. I was raised as a Roman Catholic and I have rituals that were instilled in me since birth. I continue to practice my faith because I believe in it. I understand there are many religions, rituals and things of importance, but who really defines what makes sense is the person believing in it. This is such a complicated topic with so many opinions that it’s really hard to understand them and make complete sense of it all. But what makes sense is if you believe in a higher power then that is your religion no matter what your denomination. Instead of criticizing and trying to denounce other religions, we should all respect each others religions and beliefs and accept our differences.

-Jasmine Martinez