Religion: Choking You Out or Reconnecting You?

Religare = to reconnect

Yesterday, I posted an article I had written in Spanish at the end of June, but I wanted it to be available to English speakers also. In that article, I discussed why religion and spirituality are different.

A concise summary

To summarize, religion and spirituality are separated by dogma. Spirituality consists of beliefs that are shared by a community of people that may or may not belong to an organized group. Religion consists of undeniable principles that define who belongs to a community; if a person denies central principles of a religion, the leaders of the religion will correct that person and, ultimately, excommunicate the person if they don’t recant their denial.

Etymology of the word

In today’s article, I’ll go further in illustrating the differences between religion and spirituality. The main difference may be seen in the word itself. There is currently a debate regarding the exact origin of the term “religio,” which is where our word “religion” comes from. Some scholars argue that the word “religio” means “to reconnect.” An ancient Roman writer named Lactantius held this view because he believed “religio” came from the word “religare” (if you are a Spanish speaker, you can see the word “ligar” or “bind” here clearly). Cicero, another important Roman writer, believed that “religio” came from the word “relegere,” meaning “to re-read” or to “carefully consider religious rituals.” Of the two, I think Lactantius may have been right.

Why the etymology of the word matters here

The origin of the term is important because the roots of something gives us an insight into the essence of something. Religion is organized because it is concerned with connecting humankind to God. The basic assumption is that there was a disconnect that occurred in the very early years of humanity, and now there needs to be a well-organized and conscious attempt to bridge that gap. 

Consider any religion you’ve ever heard of. Chances are that they have a well-defined body of teachings regarding the nature of reality and worship that is systematic or orderly. Christians of all stripes have rules regarding what can be done in the worship meeting as well as core teachings that cannot be denied. Muslims have the Five Pillars of Islam and surahs that are chanted in prayer. Jews have the 13 Principles of Faith that the devout recite daily or frequently. You get the idea, right? Religion is characterized by certain limits on belief, ritual, and everyday behavior. There is a binding that the religious believer agrees to in order to belong to their particular religious community. Why? Because being a part of that community helps the individual connect to God.

Why bind yourself willingly?

Religious believers restrict themselves by these codes because they believe that there are consequences for not adhering to them. Though this may be denied by fervent believers, it remains true. For some, they follow the rules because they don’t want to suffer in Hell forever, but for others, they don’t want to be excommunicated from the only community they’ve known. Others may mention that the rules exist as a guide to human behavior that preserves society; humans that have no restrictions to their behavior become problematic, to say the least.

The believer's connection to God rests, in large part, on their belonging to a community that preserves the revelation from God. Separation from that community represents an alienation between that person and God. They are alone and salvation cannot be vouchsafed for them.

Okay, got that?

Tomorrow I’ll write regarding how spirituality differs with that...stay with me.