Questions about Religion
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What does the word religion originally mean and where does it come from?
Religion entered English around the 1200s CE from Old French and Anglo-Norman, carrying the sense of moral obligation, reverence, and sanctity. It derives from the Latin religiō, which Cicero traced to relegere, meaning to go over or consider carefully, while others including St. Augustine favored religare, meaning to bind or connect. In classical antiquity, religiō described general emotions such as hesitation, caution, and anxiety, and was not primarily concerned with gods.
When was religion first used to separate church and state authority?
The compartmentalized concept of religion, distinguishing religious from worldly domains, did not appear before the 1500s. The Peace of Augsburg is a documented early instance, described by Christian Reus-Smit as the first step on the road toward a European system of sovereign states.
How many distinct religions exist in the world today?
There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, account for over 77% of the world's population.
How did Emile Durkheim define religion in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life?
Durkheim defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, meaning things set apart and forbidden, which unite all adherents into a single moral community called a Church. He emphasized that sacred things are not limited to gods and can include a rock, a tree, a spring, or virtually any object.
What percentage of the world population identified as religious in the 2015 global poll?
A 2015 global poll found that 63% of the world's population identified as religious, 22% as not religious, and 11% as convinced atheists.
Why do many languages and cultures have no word equivalent to religion?
The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries through the Protestant Reformation and European contact with non-European cultures during the Age of Exploration. Ancient languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, and Japanese had no term for religion; their closest equivalents, halakha, din, dharma, and others, are better translated as law. Japan had no concept of religion until American warships arrived in 1853 and the government was required to negotiate treaties demanding freedom of religion.