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Re: Religious Variation
Dwight W. Read (dread@ANTHRO.UCLA.EDU)
Thu, 8 Aug 1996 04:36:07 -0700
Kephart writes:
>My own working definition of "religion" is a set of beliefs and behaviors
>associated with the understanding and/or control of forces/events deemed to be
>outside ordinary understanding and control. If this or something like it is
>accepted (and PLEASE note that it is intended to be a working definition
only!!)
>then religion is, indeed, a human universal.
>
But this begs the question of where the notion that there forces/events
outside of ordinary understanding and or control arises. Let me go back to
my previous comment: Is it possible that "religious thought" arises
precisely because the mind/brain "insists" on their being an "origin" for
what is observed, hence it creates a dilemna for itself that can only be
internally resolved by positing "forces outside of ordinary understanding"?
D. Read
dread@anthro.ucla.edu
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