What is "Religion?"

I'm not actually going to write about that question - stay tuned for my paper next Wednesday - but it's a really, REALLY important question to think about. The topic if "religion in schools" is so big, multi-faceted, controversial, unclear, historical, cultural, emotionally-charged, etc. that it's difficult to know where to begin... (Note: if we could define "religion," we wouldn't have so much trouble trying to "separate" it from school).

A couple of brief thoughts regarding some of the material we've discussed in class:

1.) The regards to the "religion" survey Jim handed out on Monday: I'm not quite sure what word I'd use to describe this survey other than with the word, "ridiculous." ("Subjective" doesn't really even do the job - needs more weight). Fortunately, Jim didn't actually want us to fill it out, only to use it as a discussion, so here we go...

* First of all, please note the lovely picture of a cross and flowers to the right of the words, "Survey on Religion." Does it get any more subjective/biased than that?

* Second, since when can something as controversial as "religion" (especially when we struggle even to define the word) be summed up in a series of "drop down menus?" It's not only a joke, but an insult to humanity if you ask me

* My personal favorite: the second to last question on the first side, "Do you believe that ONLY your religion's beliefs are RIGHT?" Ok, so really, who is going to answer "yes" to that question without feeling like a closed-minded, right-wing extremist? What does this question even mean? People choose what they want to believe, and they choose to believe what they think is true. People do not choose to believe in things they think are false, it just doesn't make sense. This doesn't mean that every person is right, as far as absolute truth is concerned, because we all have limited knowledge and limited means through which we can access truth. Two people that hold opposing opinions cannot both be right, (in the grand scheme of truth), however, each person must believe his own opinion to be true (or a least, more true than false); it is logically impossible to believe something that you know is false, because then you wouldn't be able to believe it in the first place. Ok, ok, I'm done.

Wrap-up: "Religion," (whatever it is) cannot be summed up in a "drop-down menu survey." I believe that surface-level, "in-the-box"-type classifications of complex issues such as this do more harm than good.

2.) Creationism vs. Evolution. I admit, there was a time when I would have been willing to "stand up against evolution," but as I have come to realize, these terms are not mutually exclusive. Evolution and "The Big Bang" do not prove that God does not exist, or that God did not, in fact, create the universe. Science cannot prove or disprove God; God is outside of the realm of the "measurable." To argue against evolution (in thinking that it disproves God) only limits God's power and authority. Who are we to say what God can and cannot do?

Because God is an abstract concept, we cannot know God by simply "knowing" God. That is why God created the world and all that is in it: so that we could know God. Biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, mathematics, music, history; the list goes on and on. This is how we can know God: through living our lives, humbly seeking the truth that we know we will never fully grasp (in this life), but knowing that to give up seeking this truth is to give up on life. Evolution does not disprove God, but gives us a glimpse of who God is. (Of course, evolution might be false, but so might a lot of things we think are true. In the words of my grandpa, spoken with a thick, Italian accent, "Whada ya gonna do?")