With the Scientistic Worldview pushing the Traditional worldview out the door, it seems to me that the word "Religion" has lost all meaning. Because of this, it's also tough to find a good definition that isn't clouded by the Scientistic Worldview. However, here is one that I find fits pretty well.

So now that the word has lost all meaning it seems that just about anything can walk in the door and replace Religion with something else. An aside comment in Tuesdays with Morrie had the (fictional) narrator doing an honors thesis on how football has become a religion. This is absolutely absurd. Football isn't sacred and doesn't unite people into a single moral community. Yes, it does, arguably, bring people into a single community (unless they're rooting for rival teams), but what kind of moral community would this bring? Yes, there are rules to the game and certain things (hitting after the whistle, for example) that are considered poor sportsmanship, but this isn't the basis for a moral society!

The other day I was walking through the mall that's connected to my office building and saw the T-Shirt in the picture.


So even something like music can "replace" Religion. I suppose the sentiment here is that a person feels so strongly about music (and, implicitly then, so poorly of Religion) that they have replaced Religion with music. I'm sure the intention is more to raise music up than to put Religion down, but it necessarily does both.

I suppose this irritates me because a friend and ex-mentor of mine once said "Science is my Religion", which I think sums up the Scientistic worldview perfectly. People have been so put off by the dogma and practice of Religion that they've lost all hope in Religion and allowed things from other realms to displace it.

When will people realize that the practice of religion (and, truly, the evils that have come from it) don't - or shouldn't - diminish the power and effectiveness of the Religion itself?