What Do We Mean By Religion?

I believe a lot depends on what we mean by religion. What we practice today in the name of religion are a host of rituals that we perform often mindlessly. Then there is spirituality or the message of the scriptures which have at its core Truth, Love, Respect, Understanding, Compassion and other positive attributes that teach us to become better human beings. This means that true religion is one which promotes good and respects other forms of worship. It is only when we look at religion in this light that we can understand why religion and politics are inseparable.

If Presidents and politicians are to leave their morality, ethics, respect and compassion at home then we have a chaotic state of affairs. What politics should not be mixed up with are the rituals we practice and the competition we have injected into our understanding of our religion. There is no religion that has the whole truth nor one that is better than the others. In this sense I can understand why President Jackson refused to sign a Day of Prayer into law. We do need to leave rituals to religious leaders. The question is can our religious leaders rise above rituals and learn to respect all the different ways to God?

By Arun Gandhi  |  November 18, 2008; 11:33 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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