The meaning of the word religion

dictionary.com/browse/religion

In my own words:
Religion = Importance.
The purpose of the earth and human life.

You can have importance without religion.
However, people can be rather bad with words and names.
So ‘religion’ shares meanings and clumps them up.

If I had my way “religion” as a word would no longer exist.

They’d just invent another word for it and carry on annoying the rest of us.

That’s probably true.

First line on link; “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe”

would be better if it went; ‘a set of philosophies concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe’

but its the belief thing that’s subjective and interpretive, then in contradiction, historically [and with some even today] the believers are told that that is THE truth.

its the same in all religions even paganism.

Subjects might not fit into the class of objective,
but as i said elsewhere, subjects are naturally occuring.
Our human nature comes from Nature herself.
And subjects are expressions of human natures.

Yes, of course. And they have already invented many other words for it ( viewtopic.php?f=5&t=187385 ).

Hopefully my post is not too redundant.

It has to be “a set of beliefs” because the collective noun must include all kinds. Reasoned convictions, philosophical systems, general superstition and unquestioning faith.
As long as the practice continues - as long as there are churches and canons, icons and ordained clergy, rituals and holy scriptures - we need a word to describe it. Once organized religion is no longer a significant factor in the world, that word will not figure much in ordinary conversations (will still be required for historical and sociological documents).

If organized religion should dissipate and be replaced by individual spirituality, or animism, or the awe of the universe, or meditation or contemplation… well, we already have words for all those things, ready to be applied as appropriate.

Religion certainly doesn’t equal importance in my vocabulary. While I do have a system of priorities - a ranking of important subjects - my immediate reaction to a church is something like : That would make a really good concert hall, or I could subdivide that into a dozen apartments for medical students, or whatever use the building suggests. Importance, for humans, ought to taking care of our environment and one another in practical ways, not collecting heaven-miles.

my complaint was at the said contradiction and lack of subjectivity in the notion of e.g. belief one truth or the truth.

religion lies with the Latin word religare, which means “to tie, to bind.”
some say: Religion, Religiere or Reconnect.

both are correct, but the 1st seems a lot more accurate

True … to “retain/restrain the legion/gathering”.
And thus hated today so as to allow for a much more extreme global union/restraint/binding in their place.

We have only one root for the word “religion”, and this root is a Latin root.

Religion is the kindergarten of spirituality. It can bind like minded people together or it can be seen as bondage to oppressive, outdated views on the nature of human reality.
IMHO, any religion worth its salt would instruct one on the divinity of ecosystems–on the need to see human variety of expression as integral parts of plenitude–as necessary parts of the Whole.

Religion (or the phenomenon wherefore that word is used) should not be underestimated. It seems to be everywhere - unfortunately or fortunately, whether one likes it or not.

Religion should be about the integration of the I and the we. As seen from only one of these perspectives, it can amount to idolatry.

Politics is also or should be also about the integration of the I and the we. In certain times religion and politics are not distinguishable.

True.

Religion= cult.

This is the most possible narrow view of what religion is and does.

According to Peter Sloterdijk religions are misunderstood spiritual exercise systems.