What's this?

Hello, mysterious and possibly non-existent crowd of readers!

Please distinguish in my posts between religion and Religion - by the first, I mean beliefs that are explicitly and by nature not rationally based - the latter, capitalized one will refer to actual Religions: Judaism, Buddhism, etc.

A large portion of my "Intro to religious Studies" course is maintaining an online blog, so you can expect about twenty posts over the next ten weeks.

The class focuses not so much on the claims that various religions make, but on the nature of religion itself - looking at it as a social phenomenon, as an evolutionary adaption or side-effect, and as something that is perhaps separate from what we commonly conceive as "religions":

In our first class, Mr. Smith gave a definition of religion by Clifford Geertz. According to Geertz, religion is "a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."

I have a mixed impression of this definition - on the one hand, I understand this view of religion, and it is precisely why I am wary of applying the term "religious" to myself. However, I dislike his choice of words. It is rather negative, seemingly based on the assumption that religion and true fact are mutually exclusive - or that Religions consist only of this type of religious belief.

As a Christian convinced by experience and logic (and I wouldn't exclude the possibility of Divine guidance) of the factual truth of the Bible - historically, scientifically, philosophically, etc. - I will take this class as an opportunity to reexamine the foundations of my beliefs, to defend these against challenges by my instructor or my classmates, and also to find if there are facets of my views that are weakly founded or contradictory (That is, in addition to gaining a better understanding of how "religiousness" functions and affects people).

Without further ado, I present to you my blog: Truth and Belief - What is religion.

Cheers!

Benny W.