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Many people categorize
religion as only relating to one's preference and or belief in the arena of
one's spirituality. However, religion is one's perception or view of the world
in which we live and in one's belief in the arena of theological perspective of
one's life; rather a believer of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Naturalism, and Chinese traditional religion or a believer there is
no higher being or supreme existence beyond this world at all, that is your
religion.
Definitions:
"Every
religion gives a definition of the cosmos that helps its adherents understand
the bigger picture of reality. These definitions are often referred to as
worldviews. A worldview is simply how we view this world, this universe, in
which we live. Therefore religion is a way of understanding the world. The
philosophical systems developed by the Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle were
worldviews. Every mature rational human being has a worldview, whether or not
he is fully aware of it." (Ekstrand, pg. 17).
From my
understanding, rather you are a Christian, or a believer of the existence of
some kind of higher being, or some kind of supreme self existence, or a person
that believes one's life in this world is all there is, that is your view of
the world; thus, your religious worldview. So, to say you are not religious is
a fallacy as everyone has a worldview and a theological view of their life in
this world in one way or another.
Even an
atheist has a worldview and thus, a religion. According to Donald W. Ekstrand in his book CHRISTIANITY The Pursuit of Divine Truth,
"The first premise of naturalism is that God does not exist; it sees
the universe as all there is. By definition, naturalism excludes supernatural
agency or activity; thus it is essentially an atheistic worldview. It is a
philosophical paradigm whereby everything can be explained in terms of natural
causes. Naturalism’s basic presupposition is that the material universe is the
sum total of reality, that the universe in which we live contains no transcendent
reality; as such, it is an impersonal universe. A naturalistic worldview
assumes that the material which makes up the universe has never been created,
but has always existed." (pg. 39).
In my
opinion, to leave out the emphases of one's theological perspective in this
life is to say one has no understanding of the world in which we exist, no
worldview; thus, a fallacy. There are four groups of religions, Monotheism (one
God), Polytheism (many gods or goddesses), Pantheism (thousands levels of
existence), and Naturalism (only the natural world exist). Note; Naturalism is
one of the four; thus, a religion. So, in knowing this would one say I'm not
religious? Well, if you live in this world you are destined to have a lens of
some kind of this world or your not human. And what you think of your
existence in this world is your theological perspective of your life and if you
don't think then you must be dead. So, what do you think? Does religion equal
worldview plus theology? And, bigger question: What is your religion?
Further
reading on this topic:
The Merits of Using “Worldview” in
Religious Education by Jacomijn C. van der
Kooij, Doret J. de Ruyter, & Siebren Miedema
What is the Nature of Religion? Worldview by Scott Aniol
VU University AmsteVU University Amster
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