What is religion?

1. What is Religion?
History of Religions and the
ambiguity of “religion”

2. Ambiguity of Religion
• Academic study of religion implies uncertainty
– Have different ideas of the essential attributes of
religion
– Department of Religion at SU
Different than other subjects of study

3. Religion and the mind
• Diseased metal state—religion as a
psychological delusion
– ???
• Ultimate clarity—religion as enabling people
to see the entire universe clearly
– ???

4. Religion and society
• Religion as a social glue
– Connecting people together in to a society
– ???
• Religion as a solitary pursuit of truth
– What people do alone to give them meaningful
lives
– ???

5. Religion and death
• Religion is a creation of the reality of death
and a way of engaging the dead
– ???
• Religion is a way of overcoming death and
limits
– ???

6. Ambiguity of Religion
• The idea that religion is many things at once is
not shared by the wider society
• Religion is quite specific
– What does religion refer to in the media?
– Definite and not ambiguous

7. History of Religions
• For HR religion is a cipher, a mystery in and of
itself
– By it’s very nature religion cannot be deciphered
• Describing religion is to reveal its influence
and not to destroy it
• Religion is everywhere, in all human societies

8. Religion and US culture
• Plurality of religion is a fundamental freedom
of the U.S.
• Freedom OF religion
• Freedom FROM religion
• Academic study of religion is most important
in defending this freedom

9. Religion and Plurality
• Harvard’s Pluralism Project
– http://www.pluralism.org/
• InterFaith Works—dialogs on race
– http://interfaithworkscny.org/blog/
• Parliament of World Religions
– http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/

10. Pluralism and Controversy
• What is controversial about religious
pluralism?
• Why study religion?
– http://www.studyreligion.org/why/index.html

11. Why study religion?
• Don’t have to be religious to study it.
• Bill Maher on religion (warnings!)
– http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc9yw5_bill-
maher-on-religion-from-his-new_fun
– Religulous film
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gxc0XEoQpQ
• Hates religion but acknowledges it’s power in
people’s lives
– Has done a lot for the study of religion

12. Seeming oppositions
• Social Glue:
Emile Durkheim, c. 1915 " . . . is a unified
system of beliefs and practices relative to
sacred things, that is to say, things set apart
and forbidden--beliefs and practices which
unite into one single moral community called
a Church, all those who adhere to them."

13. Oppositions—continued
• Solitary knowledge
• Alfred North Whitehead, c. 1927
• " . . . is what the individual does with his own
solitariness; and if you were never solitary,
you were never religious.”

14. Finitude
• Karl Marx, 1844
• " . . . is the sigh of the oppressed creature. . . .
• " . . . is only the illusory sun which revolves
around man as long as he does not revolve
around himself.
• " . . . the fantastic realization of the human
essence because the human essence has no true
reality. The struggle against religion is therefore .
. . the fight against the other world, of which
religion is the spiritual aroma.

15. Finitude—continued
• Cornell West, 1994
• [means] " . . . ligare, to bind; religare, to rebind in the midst of
deep crisis, in the midst of scars and bruises and wounds and
heartaches and heartbreaks and sadness and sorrow. We can also
begin anthropologically and look at religion from a more basic level:
we frivolous, two legged, linguistically conscious creatures, born
between urine and feces, we must weave some webs of meaning
and significance as we face inevitable and inescapable extinction.
We are not here that long. In order to make this short sojourn
meaningful, of some significance, we must come up with some
sense of a story, a narrative, a ritual in a community, some bonds of
affection, some networks of support, some cords or ties of empathy
and sympathy and compassion."

16. Cornell West
• Poverty tour with Tavis Smiley
• On Colbert
– http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-
report-videos/185684/september-24-
2008/cornel-west

17. Charles H. Long
• Co-founder of the History of Religions
• Charles H. Long, 1986
• " . . . will mean orientation--orientation in the
ultimate sense, that is, how one comes to
terms with the ultimate significance of one's
place in the world. . . . . The religion of any
people is more than a structure of thought; it
is
experience, expression, motivations, intention
s, behaviors, styles, and rhythms."

18. West and Long at dinner

19. Materiality of religion
• How religious ideas are involved with how we
are connected with the world
• The meaning of our material lives is addressed
in all religions
• How we can appreciate sports as religion

20. How I became Orange
• Not just because I got hired here (1996)
– Just being a student, employee or resident of
Syracuse doesn’t make one orange
• Uncle Andy and Mother Mary
– Dedicate this book to them
– Growing up poor in Syracuse, SU sports was very
important
• Relationship of city to the ‘hill’

21. Becoming Orange—continued
• My sports were skiing, climbing (rock &
ice), mountaineering
– Alumni of U. of Colorado—go Buffs!
• Been coming here since 1980 but moved here
with Sandy Bigtree and twins in 1996
– Played lacrosse with the Onondaga Nation box
lacrosse team “Redhawks” since they were 3 years
old
– SU lacrosse program best in the country
• Because we are in Onondaga Nation territory
– Heartland of the Haudenosaunee

22. Becoming Orange—continued
• Lacrosse players were taking my Native
American Religions class
– Because of the influence of coach Roy
Simmons, Jr. and his families relationship with the
traditional values of the game
• Twins helped me love team sports
– Unlike me, and most probably because they are
twins, they entered the world enthusiasts of team
sports, which I consider to be the real ceremonial
heart of the sporting world.

23. “The Creator’s Game”
by Rod John (1984)

24. Becoming Orange—continued
• Through connections with family and lacrosse
I am Orange
– Includes all SU sports, men/women, high
profile/club
• You have your own story, might begin here at
SU or maybe earlier, or after you leave

25. Advocating for Indigenous Values
• Being Orange is connected to my advocacy of
rights for Onondaga Nation, Native American
rights and excesses of religion against them
• Doctrine of Discovery Study Group
– http://www.doctrineofdiscovery.org
• Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON)
– http://www.peacecouncil.net/NOON/
• Indigenous Values Initiative
– http://www.indigenousvalues.org

26. Indigenous Religions
Religion as Habitation

27. Religion as Habitation
• Sacred places in
religion
– Foundational
• Hierophany
– Manifestation of
the sacred
• Religious
Orientation
– Pride of place,
identity,
homeland

28. What are Indigenous Religions?
• The ceremonial traditions of Native peoples
around the world
– Native American, African, Australian
Aborigines, First Nations Peoples (Canada), etc.
• Negative terms are “primitive,” “tribal,”
“archaic,” “savages,” “heathen,” “pagan,” etc.
– Transformed in to “Indigenous” with a delegation
to the U.N. in Geneva in 1977

29. the Haudenosaunee,
“People of the Longhouse”
• Mistakenly called
“Iroquois”
• Confederation of 6 tribes
– Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga
, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Seneca
• Last traditional
government in US
• Democracy, Women’s
Movement
• No “religion”

30. Onondaga Nation Territory
“People of the Hills”
• Central Fire/Tree
– Grand Council
• 3 Messages
– 1. Creation/ Thanksgivings
– 2. Great Law of Peace
• Matrilineal Clans
– 3. Code of Handsome Lake
• http://www.onondaganation.org/
• 13 “Thanksgivings” in the
year
– Ceremonies
– Address spiritual reality of the
earth as a living being

31. Everyday Importance of Creation for
Indigenous religions
• Not just an event of the past
– Creation is critical for understanding the present
world
– Creation happens all the time
• Organizes the world
– “Founds” the world, makes reality possible
• Form the basis of a human relationship with
the world

32. Deyhontsigwaehs—”They Bump Hips”
• “The Creator’s Game”
• More than a sport it is
also a Thanksgiving
• Played at Onondaga
Lake for Hiawantha
• Foundational event at a
sacred place

33. Onondaga Lake
• Sacred place of the
Haudenosaunee
– Where the Great Law of
Peace was born
• Most chemically
polluted lake in the USA
– Due to industry there
since 19th century

34. Contrasting meanings of sacred places
• Devil’s Tower
• Sacred place for Lakota
(mistakenly called
“Sioux”)
• Where they connect
with the Creator
• “In the Light of
Reverence”