"Religion" Means Nothing
but it also means everything
“…beware labels when it comes to matters associated with beliefs. And avoid treating religions as if they are all the same animal.” (Taleb, 203)
Religion means something different to Jews in the times of the temple and Jews today. It also means something different to Christians. And it means something entirely different to Salafis (sect of fundamentalist Sunni muslims).
For example, the word Din in Hebrew means ‘law’ and in Arabic means ‘religion’. Early Judaism has always been tribal, and early Islam universal. In Rome, religion was traditions and rituals.
The word “religion” has had countless meanings.
Historically, some religions explicitly separated religion and law, such as Christianity.
“Jesus, with his imperative ‘give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,’ separated the holy and the profane… Neither Islam nor Judaism have a marked separation between holy and profane.” (Taleb, 200)
But the differences are actually much more subtle AND more dramatic than this simplification. Catholics think of religion differently from Protestants. Catholics who go to Church each Sunday think of religion differently from Catholics who only go to church on Christmas and Easter. And even within each of those groups, there’s variation.
If this still isn’t clear, think of the last time someone asked you if you were religious.
Now imagine that person was a priest. Would your answer have changed?
Now imagine that person was a hippie. Would your answer have changed?
This exercise is meant to expose the point that most of us don’t know how to quantify how religious we are. That’s because at a baseline, we don’t even know what religion means.
If I don’t believe in god but I celebrate every holiday, am I religious?
If I believe in god and pray to him but don’t practice any rituals or traditions, am I religious?
The point of asking yourself these questions isn’t to decide on an answer. The point is to recognize that each person can answer these questions differently. Most words associated with belief are dangerous in debates because we have no uniform definition that we all follow.
A protestant having a conversation with a Salafi about religion is useless. The protestant imagines the Salafi speaks about god more metaphorically and symbolically, while the Salafi imagines the Protestant is very literal. Each person’s words are completely misunderstood.
Question of The Day
What does “religion” mean to you?
Your Friend,
Noah “BigNerd” Sochaczevski
PS. I am not a religious expert. I find these words to be true, but would love to hear other opinions or thoughts and be convinced otherwise. Feel free to comment on the Substack App or reply directly by email.