Tim Hammerquist
9/6/2003 9:51:00 AM
Daniel Carrera graced us by uttering:
>> I was using the word to describe people who think that
>> "something can make a better world" without giving rational
>> explainations, only based on their belive that this will
>> happen. This is religion.
>
> Is that also a standard definition of the word "religious"? I
> have never heard it. But I think we just showed that I don''t
> necessarily know what this word means.
In my group of friends we had a lot of people saying, "What does
X mean?" We always kept a dictionary around for just that sort
of thing. In that spirit, the following is from Webster''s
Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913). Note the "Note:"
especially.
| Religion \Re*li"gion\ (r[-e]*l[i^]j"[u^]n), n. [F., from L.
| religio; cf. religens pious, revering the gods, Gr. ''ale`gein
| to heed, have a care. Cf. Neglect.]
| <snip>
| 4. Strictness of fidelity in conforming to any practice, as
| if it were an enjoined rule of conduct. [R.]
|
| Those parts of pleading which in ancient times
| might perhaps be material, but at this time are
| become only mere styles and forms, are still
| continued with much religion.
| --Sir M. Hale.
|
| Note: Religion, as distinguished from theology, is
| subjective, designating the feelings and acts of men
| which relate to God; while theology is objective, and
| denotes those ideas which man entertains respecting
| the God whom he worships, especially his systematized
| views of God. As distinguished from morality, religion
| denotes the influences and motives to human duty which
| are found in the character and will of God, while
| morality describes the duties to man, to which true
| religion always influences. As distinguished from
| piety, religion is a high sense of moral obligation
| and spirit of reverence or worship which affect the
| heart of man with respect to the Deity, while piety,
| which first expressed the feelings of a child toward a
| parent, is used for that filial sentiment of
| veneration and love which we owe to the Father of all.
| As distinguished from sanctity, religion is the means
| by which sanctity is achieved, sanctity denoting
| primarily that purity of heart and life which results
| from habitual communion with God, and a sense of his
| continual presence.
HTH,
Tim Hammerquist
--
Hackers who anthropomorphize are expressing not a vitalistic view
of a program behavior but a mechanistic view of human behavior.
-- Jargon File 4.3.1