Religion at the heart of Human Identity
A human’s identity can be traced back to many sources of influence such as culture, class, race/ethnicity, parents, or even the geographic location of a person. It is hard to contemplate that so many influences in a person’s life can create a single identity and not several identities. Consider a car which has several components to it. Each component has its own function that makes the car operate but all these components collectively need gasoline as an input to make the car function. What is the core that collectively drives a human’s identity? The simple answer to this question is religion. Religion is the core that interlocks all influences towards human identity to construct a single identity. In order to justify this statement the definition of religion should be studied in this context. Religion is “A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion” (The American Heritage, 2007). This definition also includes Atheism because atheist have principles and causes which they pursue and devout to consciously or subconsciously. The question of whether a person believes in the supernatural is not of question here. In this sense every human has a religion that they pursue.
Bibliography
1) “religion. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved September 27, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion
2) Mitchell, Claire (2006). The Religious Content of Ethnic Identities. Sociology, Volume 40(6): 1135–1152, 12.
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4) Mitchell, Claire (2005). Behi ...