Last updated: Sep 6th, 2010

Welcome to cazort.net religion.

What is religion? A lot of people use the term religion to refer to organized religion, and the term spirituality to refer to personal spiritual experiences that may fall outside the bound of organized religion. Often, implicit in the use of these terms is a judgment that spirituality is "good" (based on individual experience and a search for truth), and religion is "bad" (it is usually labelled as dogmatic and closed-minded). I think this black-and-white categorization is unwarranted and glosses over some of the deeper issues in religion and spirituality.

I personally believe that the community, cultural, and institutional aspects of religion can be positive and, in some respects, are an essential and integral part of religion. To some degree, I see the religious vs. spiritual dichotomy as an outgrowth of the over-emphasis on individualism in American society. I consider myself religious even though I tend to be skeptical and critical of many aspects of organized religion, including religious communities that I participate in.

Topics:

• Language in Religion - How can we get past language and look at meaning?
• Student vs. Member - Should we be members of a religion, or students of a religion?

Links:

• Sermons of Steve & Mary Hammond, Peace Community Church, Oberlin, Ohio - I find these sermons very meaningful and relevant.
• Kelly Moltzen's Religion Blog - Discussion of Gnostic Christianity, among other interesting topics.
• Ascension Mission - A website run by the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, with a wealth of resources on Independent Catholicism.