Lesson 4.5

We’ve spent the whole semester learning that it is extremely difficult to define the word religion and what essentially is a religion. We’ve come to the phrase that religion is what people do, and that is a broad statement in of itself.

So who are we to determine what is allowed to be a religion and what is not allowed to be a religion? Or to say what is the correct religion and what is the wrong religion?

A major part of my childhood was spent on Star Wars and playing games. For a while in my youth, Jediism was very much what I did. But people being against it as a religion as a whole, I think, is because of how it originated. But now you can even learn Klingon as a second language in many well known universities — so, in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter that it came from a movie series? Or a TV series? What about Harry Potter? But no one is claiming that as a religion, that I know of, so I guess that’s okay since it doesn’t impede on another’s religious views. Oh, wait. . .

All religions were once considered a new religion. A modern religion. Christians were once targeted in Rome for being Christian, and now the Christianities are a very popular religion. Maybe once space travel is more common and accessible, Jediism might be a dominating religion. Who’s to know?

Thinking about these “new” religions, Jediism, Satanism, Wicca, I think we need to consider what they are actually preaching. Being a good person? Appreciating nature? What goes around comes around? Are they encouraging people to be kind to one another? To ask for consent? To focus on yourself sometimes? A calm mind? To be accepting? How different are these modern religions compared to the “traditional” religions in the big picture? Are we really trying to limit people from practicing a religion that encourages human decency? Is there perhaps a bigger issues we need to address then?

We have discussed plenty of times at the beginning of the semester that it is next to impossible to create a checklist of what something needs in order to be a “real” religion. Texts? Beliefs? Culture? People? A belief in the supernatural or paranormal? An effect on how people live their day to day lives? A place to practice their religion? Prayer? Rituals? If we cannot really define what counts as these things, then we cannot truly define religion. Things change, religions change. It is only normal and human for more religions to pop up as information continues to be accessible at our fingertips.