Why did I just say all that? Legitimate question. To break the ice of discussing a very interesting root word.
Religion.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME religioun (< OF religion) < L religiōn- (s. of religiō) conscientiousness, piety, equiv. to relig(āre) to tie, fasten (re- re- +ligāre to bind, tie; cf. ligament) + -iōn- -ion; cf. rely
1150–1200; ME religioun (< OF religion) < L religiōn- (s. of religiō) conscientiousness, piety, equiv. to relig(āre) to tie, fasten (re- re- +ligāre to bind, tie; cf. ligament) + -iōn- -ion; cf. rely
religion
Religion 'binds' us, trapping us
c.1200, "state of life bound by monastic vows," also "conduct indicating a belief in a divine power," from Anglo-Fr. religiun (11c.), from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem (nom.religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," in L.L. "monastic life" (5c.); according to Cicero, derived from relegare "go through again, read again," from re- "again" + legere "read" (seelecture). However, popular etymology among the later ancients (and many modern writers) connects it with religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." Another possible origin is religiens "careful," opposite of negligens. Meaning "particular system of faith" is recorded from c.1300. Modern sense of "recognition of, obedience to, and worship of a higher, unseen power" is from 1530s. Religious is first recorded early 13c. Transferred sense of "scrupulous, exact" is recorded from 1590s.
(copied from dictionary.com)
Religion, quite possibly, comes from a root word meaning 'to bind' (and interestingly enough, so does 'rely'! How cools that?!)
What irony!
Religion 'binds' us together, heals us
Isn't it fascinating the way that can be taken more than one way!!!? On one hand, you could say that religion is the thing that 'binds' society together. It's the social glue that keeps us from coming undone into shear chaos and rules of the jungle anarchy. It keeps us sane. It's like the cast, sling or wrap that keeps an injury from becoming worse. It very well may come from the same word that 'ligament' comes from--the means that keeps our bones and joints in place and working properly.
If there has ever been a flagrantly anti-intellectual movement it is religion. What other system of thought has systematically denied and suppressed information and whole fields of study, e.g. evolution, embryonic stem cell research, heliocentrism, etc. I don't need to list out the historical wars that it has perennially caused. A paraphrase of something Stephen Weinberg said--good people do good things and bad people bad things, but it takes religion to make a good person do bad things. Religion silences the questions, inventions, innovations, explorations and intrepid scientific spirit that has made our species so great and instead substitutes a pale, weak, impotent myth for the glorious reality of possibilities. "Don't ask questions, just believe, just do as we say."
In the end, both are true.
But what makes the difference?
Why is it sometimes salubrious and others pernicious?
I find these to be more useful ways to look at religion:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/comment/1175422#comment-1175422
http://www.economist.com/comment/1175826#comment-1175826
I love it! Excellent! Thanks so much for sharing that! I'd like to post the content of those links you shared:
ReplyDelete"The best definition of religion I’ve heard came from a priest. During a homily he asserted simply that being religious is merely doing something repeatedly, e.g., one may brush one’s teeth religiously.
I note this from http://www.etymonline.com re: religion:
* relegare "go through again, read again," from re- "again" + legere "read"
This makes sense to me as a Deist. And too many people I’ve known have found spirituality and religion to be different constructs, including that priest.
I’ve come to see religion as a powerful form of memory, carrying repeatedly within a person, a group, and across generations, certain important ideas.
Perhaps religion, for better and for worse, has a place in keeping alive certain core values and structures required by societies for survival.
Compare this to a modern ocean of politically tortuous, monstrously expansive, and utterly unknowable bureaucratic codes and laws which seek to determine human behavior instead.
In my opinion:
The extent to which internalized, prosocial values exist in a population is inversely proportional to the number of laws and regulations it feels it must have to survive.
It seems that as a society’s values corrode and weaken from within, it attempts to compensate with externally imposed laws and rules. Can such a society persist?"
Cicero's analysis appears to be the earliest on record and may be more accurate by virtue of temporal proximity to the word's origin.
This document is also useful:
http://academic.regis.edu/tleining/Word%20Docs/1%20CK,%20ch.%201%20Defin...
A "ligare", or "binding" quality is described 3-4 centuries later. Though qualitatively different, interestingly this is not incompatible with a memory function.
-good people do good things and bad people bad things, but it takes religion to make a good person do bad things.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most hopelessly stupid statements that new atheists have come up with. How about money? How about nations and politics? etc.
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and here's my view of this with a metaphor. In climbing you have the climber, the rope, the anchor point, and the belayer. If I'm the climber, the rope is religion. It binds us back to God. The top of the mountain is God and the belayer is Christ. The lord has said, "I the lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. This solves the problem of why religion can be both a help to societies but also cause war. When we do what the lord says and rely on him we will ascend the mountain, but if we do not keep all the commandments and covenants God has given we will surely fall. The rope (religion) binds us by the commandments we keep and covenants that we make with God. This may include the covenants we make at baptisms and temple covenants we make to include being sealed to our spouse (Covenants are binding agreements between God and man). I believe that as we keep these covenants we will thrive, and so will our world, but when we break these covenants we fall. The reason bad people do bad things in the name of religion is because they have distorted what they think is right. The key factor is "rely." When man creates religion based on what he thinks he is not relying on God he is relying on his ideas. True religion means being bound to God and relying on God. Anyway, this was an interesting read and got me thinking. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and here's my view of this with a metaphor. In climbing you have the climber, the rope, the anchor point, and the belayer. If I'm the climber, the rope is religion. It binds us back to God. The top of the mountain is God and the belayer is Christ. The lord has said, "I the lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. This solves the problem of why religion can be both a help to societies but also cause war. When we do what the lord says and rely on him we will ascend the mountain, but if we do not keep all the commandments and covenants God has given we will surely fall. The rope (religion) binds us by the commandments we keep and covenants that we make with God. This may include the covenants we make at baptisms and temple covenants we make to include being sealed to our spouse (Covenants are binding agreements between God and man). I believe that as we keep these covenants we will thrive, and so will our world, but when we break these covenants we fall. The reason bad people do bad things in the name of religion is because they have distorted what they think is right. The key factor is "rely." When man creates religion based on what he thinks he is not relying on God he is relying on his ideas. True religion means being bound to God and relying on God. Anyway, this was an interesting read and got me thinking. Thanks
ReplyDelete