Iris Narrido

Political Science 4B
Philo 106 11:05 AM – 12:05 PM D205
“What is Religion?”
Religion sounds like a simple word, yet it is so difficult to define. In day-to-day
conversations, people throw the around casually and everyone just seems to understand what it
means. However, when people are asked to define the word, it is observed that there is a variety
of answers. For example, an anthropologist like Edward Burnett Tylor (1871) said that religion is
“a belief in spiritual beings”, or an evolutionary biologist like Richard Dawkins (2006) said that
“religion is a virus”. The difference in their views may be alarming but as what Robert Crawford
(2003) stated, the concept of religion is so complex because its definition varies in different
places and time periods.
Context is pretty much a key to understanding religion. Aside from the many different
types of religion in the world, Crawford also mentioned that religion can be defined in a
functional (defining it based on what it does) or in a substantive way (defining it based on what it
is). Therefore, furthering the thought that is a challenge to provide a uniform definition for the
word “religion”. Still, all views and opinions about it are accepted and there are no wrong
definitions.
A month ago, if someone were to ask me the question, “What is religion?”, I would have
based my answer on Karl Marx’s ideologies. I would have agreed that religion promotes the
oppression of the less fortunate by capitalists. However, I decided that I would not let my views
become politicized. Therefore, I subscribed to the idea of religion mainly being a system of
belief. Specifically, I see it as an open structure because I believe that it is completely up to us
whether we follow or don’t follow everything stated by the religion we believe in. In addition, I
also believe that we can incorporate values and virtues from different religions into our daily
lives even though we do not strictly follow those religions.
In conclusion, I stand by the thought of religion being a very difficult word to define.
Nevertheless, I believe that it is completely up to the person as to how he or she makes it to be.
Since the world is filled with people in different walks of life, it is expected that the word will
also have a diverse collection of meanings and perceptions.

References:
Crawford, R. (2003). What is Religion?. Taylor & Francis
Dawkins, R. & Clements, A. (2006). The God Delusion. Channel 4
Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology,
Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom (2nd ed., Vol. 1). J. Murray