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CHAPTER VI the PHENOMENON of RELIGION We Have Seen That CHAPTER VI THE PHENOMENON OF RELIGION We have seen that Marx considered religious criticism to be the basis of all criticism. This means that the depth and quality of our criticism of other aspects of social life depends to a great extent on our understanding of the phenomenon of religion. This calls for a thorough investigation of the phenomenon of religion, its different manifestations and variations which are as varied and diverse as there are peoples and cultures. From the dawn of consciousness, from the time man began asking questions concerning the meaning of life and existence, there had been some form of religion. It is man alone who is capable of being religious, it is one of his species-characteristicso Ernst Bloch says, "It is not the individual child who paints, but something universally childlike in him. And it is not the common man who sings, but common needs or a common spring in him.There is as it were a collective soul at work which makes the child paint and the common man singo So also it seems that in man there is something religious that makes the particular individual and groups religious. Religion seems to belong to the very core of- hviman existence, 1, Definitions of Religion To define religion is one of the most difficult tasks that could be undertakeno A survey of some of these attempts would, though it may not give us a precise definition of religion. 282 would, help us to xinderscand the phenomenon better. Heniry Brooks Adams says# "To the highest attractive energy# man gave the name of divine, and for its control he invented the science called Religion, a word which meant, and still means, the cultivation of occult forces whether in detail or 2 mass.” According to a Dictionary of 20,000 foreign words and phrases published in the USSR, "Religion: a fantastic faith in gods, angels and spirits...a faith without any scientific foundation. Religion is being supported and maintained by the reactionary circles. It serves for the subjugation of the working people and building up the power of exploiting bourgeois classes."^ However for Hillaire Belloc, "Every major question in history is a religious question.... It has more effect in molding life than nationalism and common language."^ For a great scientist like Thomas Alva Edison, religion is "damned fake... Religion is all bunk,"^ But for the equally eminent scientist Albert Einstein, religion had a different meaning and perspective. He says, "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slightest details we are able to perceive with our frain and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God,"^ For him religion and science were complementary, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science 7 is blind," John Morley said, "All religions die of onie 283 Q disease# that of being found out." But it is not easy to find out what makes man religious and the fact that religion has not died yet# means that it has not been found. There had been numerous attempts to find it out, because as Virgil says, “Happy is he who has been able to know the cause of things, and has trampled beneath his feet all fears/ and inexorable Fate, and the roar of greedy 9 Acheron," Since hiiman existence is a search for the ultimate, a "movement of transcendence in which man seeks a fully authentic presence to his being through a dynamic and authentic presence to the Being of the Absolute,the search must go on. The characterisation of religion by Rudolf Otto (1869- 1937) as the experience of the mysterium tremendum et fascinans has almost become a classic description of religion. According to him it is a mystery, and experience of the wholly other, something that is set over against man, it is something that makes him tremble and at the same time fascinates him. According to Joachim Wach (1898-1955), Otto's description will ultimately defy any attempt to describe, analyse and comprehend 12 the meaning scientifically, Wach basing on Otto, himself says "Religion is the experience of the Holy,"^^ The same sentiments with regard to religion are expressed by H.H, Price, 14 when he says that religion is the feeling of the 'sublime'. It is a combination of fear and love. Something awe-inspiring 284 in the presence of which one feels diminished and yet finds a certain fulfilment and exaltation in being thus diminished, John Baillie says, that "religion is essentially a relation between two terms or more exactly, a communion between two personal existence# the human soul and God,*'^^ For Erich Przywara# "religion is the relation between absolute God and relative man."^^ R.C. Gandhi, modifying Whitehead's definition of religion, says that "it is what man does with his self- consciousness, not his solitariness. In self-consciousness we discover the possibility of exploratory communication, the possibility of calling upon God without being under an obligation to first establish his reality," 17 Geddes Mac Gregor defined religion as that which is characterized by interest in, concern for, encounter with, sense of absence from, sacrifical love of, commitment to and joy over that which is judged to be more important than anything else in one's experience and which so conceptualized is taken to be a symbol of that which lies at the heart of all experience. 18 Gunter Lewy who investigated the role religion plays in revolutions, defined religion as "a cultural institution, a complex of symbols, articles of faith, and practices adhered to by a group of believers that are related to, and commonly invoke the aid of, superhuman powers and provide answers to questions of ultimate meaning," 19 For Tolstoy, "true religion is a relation, accordant with reason and knowledge, which man established with the Infinite Life surrounding him, and it is 285 such as binds his life to that Infinity, and guides his 20 conduct," Auguste Sabatier writes, "Religion" is a commerce, a conscious and willed relation into which the soul in distress enters with the mysterious power on which it feels that it 21 and its destiny depends," Lactantius claims that, "religion,, 22 alone distinguishes us from animals." Moses Maimonides considers "people who have no religion,,,, as irrational 23 beings, and not as human beings,** Calvin maintains that "worship of God,., is the only thing which renders men superior 24 to beasts." Lord Herbert Cherbury asserts that "religion 25 is the ultimate difference of man,., (not) rationality,** Eric Fromm defines religion as "any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion," 2 6 Thomas O'Dea says, "Religion is man's response to breaking points at which he 27 experiences ultimate and sacred power," Thus as Leszek Kolakowski says that "various definitions are thus permissible; however those which imply that religion is 'nothing but’ an instriiment of secular— social or psychological— needs (e.g,, that its meaning is reducible to its function in social integration) are illicit; they are empirical statements (false, I believe) and may not be 28 admitted in advance as parts of a definition," The definition he gives is "The socially established worship of eternal reality, 286 From the many attempts that have been made to define religion# it is clear that religion is a very complex phenomenon to understand. It defies any attempt to define it in a narrow conceptual framework. Thus an understanding of religion calls for a many-sided approach to this phenomenon. In the following section we shall attempt a many-sided approach to the problan of religion. We shall start with a self-understanding of religion and then turn our attention to the understanding of it from the point of view of the individual (psychology)# society (sociology) and culture (anthropology). 2. Self-Understanding of Religion "That which those sciences concerned with Religion regards as the object of Religion is# for Religion itself# the active and primary Agent in the situa­ tions or, in this sense of the term the Subject. In other words# the religious man percieves that with which his religion deals as primal# as originative or casual; and only to reflective thought does this become the Object of the experience that is contemplated. For Religion# then# God is the active agent in relation to man# while the sciences in guestion can concern them­ selves only with the activity of man in his relation to God; of the acts of Himself they can give no account whatever,"30 Thus from the perspective of the religious person# the man who studies religion deals only with its secondary aspects. When religion is made a part of science like sociology or psychology# again, it is removed from the reality of reli'gion itself. In this section we deal with thinkers who have made religion their prime concern. Max Muller (1823-1900) was 287 one of the first thinkers to make religion the exclusive object of his studies. He considered religion a "mental faculty to apprehend the inifinite through nature apart from the senses and reason.Cornelius P. Tile (1830- 19 02) could be considered a pioneer in the study of the ' science of'religion' , One of his endeavours was to understand and trace the development of the 'religious 32 idea'. In this he attempted to understand those actions and words of human beings which manifest man's belief in the superhuman and serve to bring him into relation with it.
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