Religion beyond Philosophy

Religion has many dimensions
1. It is an organized body of knowledge that men and women may seek to address their questions on what is the meaning and purpose of life.It is philosophy. It may be in accessible to many because of the abstract topics discussed and the arcane vocabulary.This form of religion is purely personal and intellectual.

2. It is about a set of prescribed rituals which individuals and communities follow. Rituals perform an important function of structuring life , so that we have some thing to follow whatever is the occasion. Whether it is birth or death or marriage, we do not need to design a new way of coping with it, there is a ritual in place which every one knows. For most mundane events, rituals assign a sophistication and profound meanings.

3. Religion is an organization of people , some times loosely structured, some times extremely bureaucratic and command and control driven. It is the organizational identity that make us see always 'us' against 'them' and everything is a competition , a fight to ensure the survival and superiority of our tribe over enemy. Our organizational identity is in conflict with other organizational identities. For example I am am member of religion as well as a member of a nation and what is the pecking order when the religion and the nation do not always agree. Some times it is about my membership in a group I choose against membership in a group I am born into like a girl choose a religion over her family.

Overlapping organizational identities are difficult to reconcile, when their values and norms are different Companies face it all the time when they take over other firms, within a firm, there is always this conflict between the departments.

The trouble with religions is with its organizational form.

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