What is Religion, anyway?

[crow]

It seems many people are very down on the whole idea of religion.
It's not hard to see why.
But is this a reaction to the current state of religion, or to the idea of religion, itself?

I am not religious, in the usual sense, while at the same time being very religious, in another sense.
I live by rules, morals, ethics and scruples, which I rarely - if ever - violate.
Most of these things have close similarities with Christianity, as practiced when I was young, but which now are more or less extinct. There is no denying that such attitudes are beneficial to the one practicing them. They work. Yet this is no 'official' religion, but rather a way of life.

I suggest that religion, itself, is blameless, for all its current ills and hypocrisies. It is people who insist upon destroying it, as a valid and useful adhesive for binding together a civilization.

[Wild]

But is this a reaction to the current state of religion, or to the idea of religion, itself?

Lately, to religion itself. People like their "muh freedumb!" these days.

I have to remind myself that modernity turns everything into shit - abandoning religion would be like abandoning civilization just because our current one sucks.

[Undermind]

A religion is healthy when it focuses on the sacred and promotes reverence for the important things in life. The reason there has been a mass exodus away from the churches in the modern era is because it has lost sight of this.  When the idol, symbol, or narrative becomes more important than message, religion loses any benefit it had to society in the first place.

[aquarius]

Religion is like a simplification of philosophy for the not so philosophical, though it can and often does produce better results in those who hold true to it. The disintegration of tradition in western civilization goes hand in hand with Christianity. I doubt if there's even a church around that teaches a pure and untainted form of it.

[crow]

Great responses. Thanks to you all. I often wonder about stuff like this.

[FIAT]

The disintegration of tradition in western civilization goes hand in hand with Christianity. I doubt if there's even a church around that teaches a pure and untainted form of it.

Pure and untainted Western Christianity: http://ddata.over-blog.com/0/46/19/78/Centres-de-Messe.pdf
You simply have to know where to look.