What is Religion Essay

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Jessica Augustine
Religion 100-001
Dr. Curtis
20 September 2011
What is Religion? What is religion? Is it a coping mechanism? Is it a person’s set of beliefs? Is it a life style or a state of mind? For hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, people have tried to define religion. Rather than people trying to define religion, I believe that religion defines people. Religion is a way for humans to fulfill their innermost desires. If you look through history, what is it that people are always chasing after? Power. From the Romans to Christopher Columbus to James K. Polk’s concept Manifest Destiny, humans are always seeking to gain more power. By selecting their religion people are obtaining the most power they can have on earth. They now have the power to say who their god is. Being an autotheist will fulfill a person’s desire for power more than anything else. Autotheism is defined as a person’s elevation of himself into being his own god. There is no greater power than being your own god. You believe that you have control over everything in your life and that everything else is powerless to stop you. You may ask how being a polytheist would fit into this definition of religion. Polytheism is the worship of or belief in more than one god. By being a polytheist you are giving yourself the power to say who or what god is and who or what god is not. This is very much so an autotheistic concept. Thus, being a polytheist and selecting your god gives you just as much power as an autotheist who selects themselves as god. In all things there are exceptions. There is one religion that does not fulfill the human desire for power. The monotheistic religion Christianity deprives humans of all power. Christians do not decide who their god is. Rather, God reveals Himself to them. Excepting the Lord, Jesus Christ requires complete emptying of self and giving up all power. Christians give their lives to God and let him be in control of
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