Merriam-webster.com defines Religion as:
* The belief in a god or in a group of gods
* An organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods
* An interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or a group
- Service and worship of God or the supernatural/ Commetment or devotion to religious faith or observance
- A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
- Scrupulous conformity
- A cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
Wikipedia states Religion as such:
"
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or theUniverse. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people derive morality, ethics,religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.[1]
Many religions may have organized
behaviors,
clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership,
holy places, and
scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include
rituals,
sermons, commemoration or veneration of a
deity,
gods or
goddesses,
sacrifices,
festivals,
feasts,
trance,
initiations,
funerary services,
matrimonial services,
meditation,
prayer,
music,
art,
dance,
public service or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain
mythology.
[2]
The word
religion is sometimes used interchangeably with
faith,
belief system or sometimes
set of duties;
[3] however, in the words of
Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social".
[4] A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, and 36% are
not religious, including 13% who are
atheists, with a 9 percent decrease in religious belief from 2005.
[5] On average, women are more religious than men.
[6] Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for
syncretism."
So overall we get this concept that religion is an idea and attitude towards ones personal set of beliefs and practices. The word itself has the distinct feature of being applied to, and along with, other elements that rely on a general or broad view of the term.
Religion could be football or Christianity. It depends on how seriously some takes that attitude and idea. Organized religion would be a religious faith, specifically Christianity, Catholicism, LDS, Judaism, Islam, and others.
Someone could however, recognize that living life is a religion. It contains its own set of practices, such as waking up and cleansing themselves, cleaning their teeth, putting on proper attire, seeking out resources to make ones life better. This is a religion, as one must believe that life is important enough to follow these practices, ideas, and beliefs, to warrant it's existence.
If you believe yourself to be real and true, you then rely on faith that your senses do not generally trick you into thinking otherwise. If you believe in yourself, then it follows that you must practice certain traditions in order to fulfill your obligations, which enhance and continue the existence you experience.
Your art could be your religion, in that you find a source of inspiration in it. Creation is to you an act of serving yourself and a higher form of something, possibly the potential of reality, You practice certain traditions such as taking care of your utensils and tools, cleaning up after yourself, painting or drawing a certain way, expressing yourself through that creation, providing your creation whether free, or for a price in order to share it with others.
Religion is not an ugly word, and far too often people associate it with organized religion in the sense that it is a narrow opiate, designed to manipulate our actions, or keep us in line, or cause us to stop questioning the world around us. Even that concept is a generalization of an organized religion. No two Christians or Muslims will necessarily see the world in the same regard. They may both have minute difference of opinion with reference to something specific in their belief. Those tiny details can mean a lot however.
Far too often the term puts a bad taste in peoples mouths. It leaves them feeling tainted somehow...other times it fills people with a whole knowing of things. It can wash over someone like love and caring. To know you are connected with others under the same banner of faith, can be a very comforting thing.
Omnism in and of itself is a multifaceted religion. Its surface standard is a religion, while the personal template one follows as an Omnist, is yet another aspect of religion both independent, and apart of Omnism. As a Christian Omnist you can basically have two religions. Your direct religion, Christianity, provides you with specific tenants and practices you follow, as well as perspectives you adhere to, while as an Omnist, you follow the idea set by Omnism that your direct religion, is connected to other religions, and that while you practice your traditions and serve your direct faith, you pay tribute and homage to other religions and belief systems in doing so.
Religion is all around us, and more often than not, has no name. No label to attach to it. These are the natural religions of reality and existence.
People do not need to fear the word religion, and they most certainly do not need to fear or feel disdain for those who proudly serve a direct faith of some sort. The point of Omnism is to learn, see through everyones eyes. Understand every view point and know that it is all part of the same system. We all share the same universe, and view it in different realities, through different lenses.
It may have originated as a term denoting the reverence for the bond between man and god/s, but we are human beings, and despite arguments against, evolution is part of this changing universe. It doesn't negate the creation through god or gods, it enhances and adds to it. But as human beings, our words, our meanings, our art, our religions, change. They evolve. As we do, in so many different ways.
Spirituality is an internal search for what is sacred. Religion is an external expression of that search.
