Armstrong: What is Religion?

[RabinoBoricuaVirtual]

Absolutely Correct! Religion has very little to do with theology. Rather, it has to do with understanding that we were created to do only good, to love our fellow human beings, to bless them, to have mercy of those who suffer, and to be humble before all (Micah 6:8).

[besicmusik]

@RabinoBoricuaVirtual That would have been a perfect explanation and statement if you had left out the ( Micah 6:8) I do not need a book, a higher being or anyone/anything to tell me that punching a fellow human in the face or stealing is bad. It's called common sense and you either have it or you turn to religion to take dictation. Sad.

[RabinoBoricuaVirtual]

@besicmusik

My friend, It's a Jewish thing; you wouldn't understand. But, hey! thanks for the comment. Shalom

[bearnurse1]

@HectorYLaComay she is English and was raised Roman Catholic.  She was a nun for awhile before she became an author.

[drrobertoboogie97]

Relgion is not even wrong.

[cristian12melendez]

Religion teaches us how to relate with each other centering on the eternal world, the transcendent world, the dwelling place of the Divine Being, whether we call Him God or by some other name.

- Divine Principle

[1macboo]

OK, but the language and culture of the founders of these three Abrahamic faiths are mid-eastern/oriental , which is why reading scriputre in a literal rather than metaphorical manner has lead to countless problems, the west has completely made a mess out of the teachings of these faiths by reading out of cultural context. :-)

[fyodormd]

Armstrong's meanderings on "what religion really is", wherever your agreement, have next to no relevence to the public political debate. The only churches which aren't a generation away from extinction in the west are the charismatic independents, and their worshippers - that's what they do on Sunday, Karen, semantic quibbling over - do not invoke the "religion" Armstrong travels the circuit talking about. These people are quite unsuited for Armstrong's liberal theology (if, that's what it is).

[dogblessamerica]

@fyodormd However, the majority of Western Europeans, who are predominantly Agnostics or Atheists, might be more inclined to take the church seriously if it was more like Karen's idea of spirituality. American style a-yipping and a-hollerin', a-shakin' and a-jabberin' ain't gonna cut it with us.

[RabinoBoricuaVirtual]

Here's true religion, in less than 80 words: God is the Sower, the world is His garden, & each of us is a tree He himself planted.Torah, N.T., & Quran are God's fertilizers, the life giving fluids with which He waters our lives, hoping one day we will repent, & start yielding good fruit (love, mercy, righteousness & humility).Our yielding good fruit bless our neighbor, & pleases God, who rewards us with Heaven; bad fruit displeases God, hurt our fellow human beings, and robs our reward.Shalom

[pmallon64]

1. IMO this is the problem with Karen Armstrong. She has been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. T.L.E. is very closely associated with creative output and religious sensations.(It's the same diagnosis which Dostoevsky and Muhammad have been given.) This, I believe explains her deep interest in religion. She describes the "religious" or "mystical" ecstasy which studying these traditions bring her. She is a woman deeply in love with religion and as a result of this she REFUSES to divorce her

[pmallon64]

2...own scholarly, nuanced, conception of religion from the more simple, infantile conception of what believers THEMSELVES understand *and have always understood* their religion to mean. Johlibaptist is right about her conception of religion lacking power/substance. Her religion, with all it's aesthetics intelligence, and spirituality is like an empty box covered in jewels; beautiful, but lacking the substance and emotional power which draws people to religion in the first place.

[MightyCarnac]

If the imposition of religious conformity is peculiar to Western Christianity one has to wonder what Moses was so upset about when he came down from the mountain with the tablets.

Sorry Karen, we love you but you don't get to re-create religion in your own image or in Buddha's. Religion is many things to many people and intellectual conformity has been part since long before Western Christianity -- like it or not.

[bearnurse1]

She's right that believing the right things is an obsession of western religion. She of course never mentions that it is an obsession of modern Islam also. Far be it for her to ever say anything critical about Islam, we wouldn't want to hurt the sensitive Muslims little feelings, now, would we? I can understand her reluctance to criticize Islam, she doesn't want to receive death threats which she certainly would if she did criticize Islam.

[WafflesMalone]

@bearnurse1 you're a dumbass. islam is a western religion. it comes from the line of david. think before you speak next time PLEASE.

[1macboo]

@WafflesMalone Israel is not in Europe, not now...not then.

[WafflesMalone]

@1macboo when people say "western religion" they are referring to christianity, judaism, and islam. even though none of them originated in europe.

[bearnurse1]

@WafflesMalone You need to listen to the video again and get YOUR facts straight. Karen said specifically that "believing the right things" is an obsession of christianity. So, I was right to point out that she did not mention that is an obsession of Islam also.

[Johlibaptist]

Armstrong's religion is a form of religion but it has no power or substance.

[aomega3]

Interestingly, it is these same Western religious institutions who quibbled over doctrinal beliefs that managed to produce hospitals, universities and innumerable charities before there ever were liberal scholars. Also, Buddhists have very particular notions of the "self" and the goal of self-actualization. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these metaphysical concepts "teachings" (doctrines) which inform a person's path in life?

[1Skeptik1]

@aomega3 - Karen fairly makes the observation religion brings out the best and worst of our kind.

[Ulrna]

Correct ;)

I have always thought that the fate (of the bible), applies to "faithful to the regulations of the juristic and agricultural rules" within the bible. the Neolithic tradition. :)

[MemphisMyoho]

"The purpose of the Buddha's appearance in this world lay in his behavior as a human being."

Enlightenment = Faith = ACTION.

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

NOT abstruse doctrinal constructs, but behaving decently toward ourselves and each other. Simple? You bet. Easy? Hell no.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

Less "believing" and more action, please.

[Christisms]

I like her view of what religion is suppose to be verses what it often ends up being.

[busyhive]

Read her book ! - A history of God by this speaker , a very enlightening understanding of what religion really is .