Religion

By:JimHogan,St.IgnatiusHighSchoolCleveland,OH
1. WhatisReligion?
Religion is rejoining ourselves back to the God who has always been joined to us. It is our yes
response to the greatest invitation ever sent. It involves (1) belief in God (2) surrendering to God, and
(3) loving God by loving our neighbor as ourselves. We dont invent religion we discover it as it is
revealed. GK Chesterton wrote, The modern habit of saying Every man has a different philosophy
this is my philosophy as it suits me is mere weakmindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not
constructed to fit a man a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit the cosmos. A man can no more
possessprivatereligionthanhecanpossessaprivatesunormoon.
2. Iseveryonereligious?

No. Each individual has a fundamental choice to make, in their heart of hearts, whether or not God
shouldbe,willbe,atthecenteroftheirlives,insteadofthemselvesbeingatthecenter.TochooseGodis
tobereligious.

Our capacity of faith can bemisapplied.Inapracticalsense, itisnot aquestionofbeingreligiousornot

beingreligious.Itisaquestionoffollowingeitheratruereligionorafalseone.Everybodyisreligious
in the sense that everybody worships a god. Either wesaytoGod,ThywillbedoneorwesayMy
will be done. Either God is ourGodorweareourgodmeaningthatweliveourlifeasthoughweare
the object of highest value. Life comes down to a choice. As St. Augustine explained, The God who
createdyouwithoutyourcooperation,willnotsaveyouwithoutyourcooperation.

Every person has a spiritual tractor beam, a capacity to believe that they will attach to something or
someone. Practically speaking, there is no such thing as an atheist or agnostic. Everybody worships a
god. GK Chesterton said, When people cease to believe in God, it is not that they will believe
nothingitisthattheywillbelieveinanything.

3. Whatisidolatry?

Blaise Pascal said, It is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love,so,failingreal objects,
they must fix on false ones. Idolatry is the worship of a false godnamely, ourselves. It is living out
thecreed,Iammyowngod. Wedonthavetobeconsciouslyworshippinginordertoworship.As St.
Cyprian observed, Whatever a man prefers to god, that he makes a god to himself. That which we
holdmostimportantiswhatweworship.AllinhellsaywhatSatansaysinMiltonsParadise Lost:Itis
bettertoreigninhell,thantoserveinheaven.

4. Whatisatheism?
Atheism declares There is no God. Atheism is the misapplication offaith.Atheismrequiresaleapof
faith faith in nonbelief, faith in ones self instead of in somethingoutsideofonesself.Atheism,atits
heart, is individualism. Do what you will. If God isnt #1, thenbydefault,weare#1.Webecomethe
highest authority. Atheism is,atleastintellectually,idolatry.Havingrejectedthereasonableevidenceof

Gods existence, the atheist compounds his error by therefore rejecting God. As Dinesh DSousa
pointed out, Absence ofevidencedoesnotmeanevidenceofabsence.Meaning,theatheistconclusion
out to openended, rather than closed to Gods existence. Just as absence of evidence of life on other
planetsdoesnotmeanwecanconcludethereisnolifeonotherplanets.
5. Whatisagnosticism?
Agnosticism fixes belief on, I dont know if there is a God. The term agnosis means not
knowledge. Agnosticism is also a misapplication of faith faith in your doubts. Agnostics doubt too
little, not too much. They never doubt their doubts. There, they stop and enshrine their doubts.
Practically speaking, agnosticism is a subtle form of atheism, acting as if there is no God. As long as
they doubt Gods existence, they cant be in a conscious relationship with God. There is no middle
ground in our choice for or against God, like a marriage proposal, like a wagerindecision is a
decision.
C.S. Lewis warns us of growing comfortable with our nonbelief, as Aslan explains in TheLastBattle:
You see, they will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is
only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison and so afraid of being taken in that theycannotbe
takenout.
6. WhatthreeerrorscanbemadeinunderstandingGod?
Deism, Pantheism, and Dualismeach of these is a qualified belief in God. None of these are
theological.
Deism: There is a God, but he is removed from the universe. But wouldnt a God involved in the
universe be superior to one who was removed, detached, or uninvolved? By having a mere thought of
Gods existence right now, isnt God affecting the present moment?Wouldnttheexistenceofmiracles
contradictdeism?
Pantheism: There is a God, butheisfullydefinedbytheuniverse.ButwouldntaGodbeyondlimitsof
the universe be superior to one who was defined by it? If everythingisGod,thenGodisalsosuffering,
evil,cancer,andhatebutthatwouldmakeGodlessthanperfect.
Dualism: There are two gods, but they are in combat with eachother.Buttheoppositeof Godisnotan
evil God it is nothing. Destructive creator makes no sense. To be evil is to belessthanwhatweare.
Godcannotbelessthanwhatheis.
7. WhyaresomanypeopleattractedtoNewAgereligions?

As CS Lewis reminded us, it is the comforts and thrills of religion without all the work. New Age
religion allows a person to immerse themselves in the trappings of religion, yet still remain in charge,
stillremaintheirowngod.NewAgereligionsareanageoldattempttoescaperealreligion.

8. WhatisChristianityandWater?

A term coined by CS Lewis that refers to a watereddown version of Christianity that eliminates or
effectively ignores any of the challenging doctrines of the faith, suchasthoseregardinghell,judgment,

sin, and damnationeffectively trying to remake Christianity into a New Age religionmaking
Christianitymorecomfortableforthosewhodoubtitsdoctrines.