1. Alston on Religion

2. What is religion? Notoriously difficult question
Most definitions work for some religions but not others
Example: belief in a god or gods
Problem: How can we talk about Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity as “religions”, when they are so different?
Solution: Observe the main characteristics of what we call religions

3. Some ideas to consider
Religion is the experience of the holy, inspiring awe, fear, terror, love—Rudolf Otto (p14)
Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness—Alfred North Whitehead (p15)
Religion responds to existential questions about death and suffering (pp17-18)
Religion “in the largest and most basic sense of the word is ultimate concern”—Paul Tillich (pp21-22)
Religion is a quest for sacred reality in human experience (SQ)

4. Proposal: Religion-making characteristics (RMC’s)
Belief in supernatural beings
Sacred vs. profane objects
Ritual acts focused on sacred objects
Moral code
Religious feelings
Prayer
World view: where do we fit?
Shaping one’s life around this world view
Social group bound by these characteristics

5. Definition
How can we use the RMC’s to create a definition of religion that works for all?
Don’t have to have all of them
But need to have “enough” to a “sufficient” degree
Example: is Communism a religion? Are political beliefs a religion? Buddhism? Confucianism?
Some religions have all the characteristics, but many have less
Method: Outline clearest cases first, then less clear

6. SQ’s definition (p22)
Religion is a notion of an irreducible sacred reality beyond ordinary experience (p21):
Made manifest in human experience
That produces traditions of belief and practice (thinking, feeling, and acting)
And that helps people to order and understand their existence

7. Application Which RMC’s are found:
in Buddhism?
In Judaism?
In Islam?
In Christianity?
Contrast: which are found in something that is not a religion:
Marxism?

8. “Tendencies” of religion
Religions can be distinguished into tendencies, based on how they think of the sacred and how people respond to the sacred
Sacramental
Things manifest the sacred (usually a god or spirit); focus on ritual
Prophetic
Sacred manifested in society—historical events, messages given by great figures, scriptures
Focus on belief and morals (faith)
Mystical
Focus on immediate experience (consciousness) of the sacred

9. No religion has a single tendency
But each religion usually has a predominant tendency
Christianity is predominantly prophetic
But Catholicism also has a sacramental tendency