Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: I'm not sure we have ever had a culture in which religion *hasn't* been a component.

Sacred
Mary Anne — (archived)

The creatures that sacralize time, space, the universe and each other are ourselves. Some of us choose to project that out onto an external, independent deity. I see no evidence of one, but I can't disprove it either, so I tend to let it be. The sacred and the uncanny in ourselves, though... that's something I have experienced, and so won't turn my back on it.

On the other hand, when people attempt to interpret religion as science, or science as religion, I will speak up. The two disciplines are so different that they can't live in the same box without one or both being mangled. I also get a little hot when someone suggests that a particular way of looking at (for want of a better word) metaphysics is the correct way, and especially in a way that threatens to get the law involved. My First Amendment flag comes out then.

If ritual is tough to perform by email, that means a new set of rituals are begging to be invented. ;) It's been done before. God didn't invent yoga, ya know, nor Gregorian chant.

Words are important to me. I think they count. Their use can vary, though. My use of words like "sacred" and "divine" comes from the world of literature rather than the world of theology. Human beings have an emotional core that logic doesn't -- can't -- touch. I think that the religion people have had that core to themselves long enough.

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