My last article got a variety of responses, but one in particular stood out because it was so fundamental: what exactly do I mean by religion? Specifically, the confusion seems to be about what defines religion’s role in a society. Without understanding this, it’s hard to see why I claim that religion is a necessary phenomenon. I’d like to begin by proposing the following: in any society, religion’s role is to make truth-claims which result in certain actions being considered right and good, and others being considered wrong and bad. Questioning the common religion is considered subversive (or at least something […]