The excerpt below was extracted with permission from the book You Educate according to what you like, by Filipe Fontes, Faithful Editor.
Most people, many of us, define religion in this way.
- Imagine asking someone to define a religious person.
- I would not find resistance if I defined them as: someone who believes in the existence of a personal God who created the universe and then seeks to relate to that God.
- Through the knowledge of a sacred text.
- Prayers.
- Participation in certain rituals.
- Community life.
- Etc.
- As one who believes in the existence of a spiritual world inhabited by disembodied spirits.
- And that the physical world is the environment in which these spirits.
- Temporarily embodied.
- Pay their own mistakes.
- Gradually improving.
- And therefore in body and soul with the practice of good works in social services.
- Or.
- Finally.
- As a person who sustains the existence of an impersonal superior force.
- A kind of universal harmony.
- In which man participates through contact.
- With certain elements of nature.
- And for this reason he is tirelessly dedicated to knowing and organizing his life around the possible impact of each of these natural elements.
But, if he defined the religious individual in the image of a university materialist professor, he argues that rational knowledge of the world is the definitive way to experience courage and recognition, and therefore devotes all his time, resources and energies to the project. cultivate; or that of an individual who understands that a man’s security is derived from the assets he owns and therefore feels secure when he views the income of his investments on his bank statement, on the computer screen; eventually, I would find resistance.
The reason why early images tend to be more easily accepted as a definition of a religious man than these is that they resemble the criterion we usually use to define religion: the object with which the individual establishes a relationship. religion as belief and devotion to a transcendent object, that is, beyond concrete reality.
However, when we consider the study of religions as a social manifestation, we learn that, throughout human history, not only transcendent objects, but also immanent objects – those that are part of concrete reality – have been the target of religious beliefs and devotion Historically, many
Human groups have placed their trust and have dedicated themselves to the elements of nature, such as the celestial stars, for example: the sun, the moon and the stars, which still occurs today in some indigenous tribes. Other human groups have treated some animals as sacred objects. This happened in ancient Egypt and today continues to happen in some branches of Hinduism, finally, other human groups used to recognize certain men, or certain functions that they performed, as trustworthy and dedicated, this happened in ancient Rome, where the emperor was revered . and he was someone who appreciated the divine nature.
What these examples show is that defining religion as a relationship with exclusively transcendent objects is not appropriate, religion is a relationship that has historically involved any object, whether transcendent or immanent.
So how can religion be defined more appropriately, by the kind of relationship that the individual establishes with any object. What all the images of religion presented so far in the text have in common is that they all present man in his most fundamental form, his relationship with the absolute. Religion is the relationship of trust and devotion established by an individual or group with a particular object, from which that individual or group hopes to obtain the final answers about: meaning, meaning, value, recognition, pleasure, security, etc.
Let’s go back to the imaginary situation at the beginning of this topic. As for the object, there is a difference between the individual who believes in the existence of a personal God and consecrates himself to Him, and a materialist who rejects the existence of God and, understanding that value and security derive from rational knowledge, is totally dedicated. to this experience of the world. The former is involved in a relationship with a transcendent object, while the latter is involved in a relationship with an immanent object. However, when it comes to the type of relationship, there is no distinction between them. The first and the second believe and surrender. The first is consecrated to God, and he does so because he believes himself a source of meaning, security and fullness. The second is dedicated to knowledge, and it does so because it believes that knowledge is what guarantees everything. Likewise, it can be said that the relationship that an individual has with money, when he experiences security after seeing the high performance of his financial investments, in terms of type, is similar to that of the man feeling secure after attending a meeting. of prayer. They have different purposes, but both are involved in a relationship of a religious nature.
Is it true that this is the most appropriate definition of religion, how do your university studies seem to demonstrate it as a social phenomenon? it is also true that the most frequent criticism of the Christian education project is insufficient, for this redefinition of religion has at least two implications: the first is that, from it, religion is not seen as an experience of some , but as an experience common to all human beings; the second is that, understood as the relationship from which we obtain the fundamental answers to our existence, it becomes seen as the one that directs our experience of the world as a whole, including how we do education, that is, in the light of this definition, the relationship between religion and education is not an optional relationship That is why, the Christian school education project , far from trying to unite two things that should remain separate, simply recognizes that they have always been together. classified as a religion.
Christian school education is often criticized. One of them, perhaps the main one, is that he is trying to unite two things that must remain separate: education and religion In this pamphlet, the author states that education and religion are always together and that the Christian school education project only recognizes Parents, teachers, pastors and anyone interested in the relationship between education and religion can use this short text , but this is such a fundamental issue.
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