In fact it's a much more complicated and amorphous set of things including relationships, communities, actions as well as words and beliefs.
Except that relationships and communities don't require religion; they can just as well be built around something else--a common interest or culture, for example. So I don't think of them as "part of religion" but more as entities that accrete around many different things, one of which is sometimes religion. At which point the religion part of religion, for me, is religious words and beliefs--many of which turn out to be commandments of one sort or another.
What is the 'something else'? I don't think there's anything which is an adequate yardstick of the type you describe.
The something else is:
- parents - friends - teachers - the media - things we have studied, formally or informally - our gut instincts - books we have read - our own experiences - the reported experiences of others - our desires
And
-our own good sense about what hurts and doesn't hurt people (and to a lesser extent animals) and what are fair and unfair ways to behave. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" is actually not too bad as a rule of thumb.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-06-30 09:22 pm (UTC)Except that relationships and communities don't require religion; they can just as well be built around something else--a common interest or culture, for example. So I don't think of them as "part of religion" but more as entities that accrete around many different things, one of which is sometimes religion. At which point the religion part of religion, for me, is religious words and beliefs--many of which turn out to be commandments of one sort or another.
What is the 'something else'? I don't think there's anything which is an adequate yardstick of the type you describe.
The something else is:
- parents
- friends
- teachers
- the media
- things we have studied, formally or informally
- our gut instincts
- books we have read
- our own experiences
- the reported experiences of others
- our desires
And
-our own good sense about what hurts and doesn't hurt people (and to a lesser extent animals) and what are fair and unfair ways to behave. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" is actually not too bad as a rule of thumb.