I usually sum up my own definitions with three levels.

Polite form:

  • faith is a belief in any unprovable truth
  • religion is a codification of specific faiths
  • church is an organization sharing a religion

    • I am very accepting of other peoples' faiths and even their religions. I've informally studied quite a few religions, treating them as mythologies, just because every Genesis-like story and every Leviticus-like rulebook has some interesting comparative value. However, I'm deeply distrustful of any church, thanks to the introduction of mob psychology to an otherwise straightforward subject.

    Hardline cynic's form:

  • faith is the personal rationalization of dogma
  • religion is a codification of mythological law
  • church is the courtroom to judge the outsider

    • I express these solely to extend a fertile ongoing conversation here. I don't put bumper stickers on my car, as that just gives someone else a reason to hate me. I rarely describe my faith or religion or church to people, because most people don't want their faith to be challenged. I find proselytization to be obnoxious, and the dogmatic indoctrination of children to be horrid.

    "Orthodoxy means not having to think." --Orwell

    --
    [ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

    In reply to Re: Symantics, Shemantics by halley
    in thread Religion in the Monastery. by benn

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