Religion meets a psychological need that some people have and it includes belief in the following:
- A supernatural creator god - to try to answer the question "where did everything come from?"
- A supernatural soul that survives death - to respond to some people's fear of death.
- A supernatural after-life - heaven/paradise and hell. (*)
- A holy book - written by men but believed to be "the word of god."
- A prophet or messenger from god. (*)
- A "church" - buildings and a hierarchical priesthood (predominantly male) between people and god. (*)
- "Scholars" or "Learned men" who have to interpret the holy book and define religious rules/laws. (*)
* a few religions may not have these but anything that does not have the first two is not a religion.
One god - so many religions.
reposted from: UK Secularists
my: highlights / emphasis / key points / comments
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