Religion is not about a belief in "God". Religion is about a cultural belief. The affiliation of one's belief is dictated by his culture. Our relationship with our family is a cultural related matter. Our religious belief is heavily influenced or is dictated by our parents. Our religious belief is never independent. So therefore when our parents said that they beleive in (the claim) of "God" we cannot refuse and we are obliged to say..."I believe in "God". So therefore, religion is a cultural belief. polscie
If you don't mind, I removed the red bolded text. Weird fonts make me read the text as if it was said by crazy people. The affiliation of one's belief is not necessarily dictated by culture. I appreciate that it's very common, in order to place religion completely in the cultural belief box, it would have to be necessary. Definitions are the "necessary and sufficient" traits an object has to have to fit into the word. If the shoe doesn't fit, it would be incorrect to say that religion _is_ a cultural belief. You could say that religion often is a cultural belief, I don't think anyone will contest that. They're probably never independent, as you say, but that doesn't qualify using words as strong as "is".
A great bridge to build! It is why I find it is the pukes that label anyone not like them as 'atheists'. Funny part is, no matter the culture, an underlying awareness of empathy that each can comprehend: LOVE! Another is 'math' (the universal language) And then within each culture, most have a form to the responsibility of: 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' The identity to 'god' can be a functioned word like 'love' but the identification of 'god' itself varies and how the cultures cause beliefs to impose 'religion'. cool thread
My parents don't go to church and never dictated anything to me. I chose to go to church because I believed their is something more out there.
