As the Founders intended, religion should be a central factor in the life of America. It should not be crowded out of the public sphere by government. Congress, especially the Senate, should take a lead role in debates about the role of religion in the lives of people and the content of our culture. This is a time of serious concern about the decline of religious belief and practice in our society. It is time to explore new avenues for the revival of religion and its contribution to a strong and healthy American community.
The word “religion” is often used to describe a family of beliefs and practices centered on the idea that there is a supernatural world and that humans have a special relationship to it. These traditions often include sacred texts, prayer, ritual, and moral codes of behavior that govern a person’s relationships with other believers, outsiders, and the supernatural universe.
Many critics, however, reject the notion that there is a single thing called religion. They point out that the term was invented in western antiquity and that its modern semantic expansion went hand in hand with European colonialism. They argue that the concept of religion should be treated as a polythetic category whose members are characterized by a variety of distinct properties.
The most familiar approach to this issue is that offered by Emile Durkheim and Paul Tillich. Their functional definitions of religion focus on the social and axiological functions that a form of life serves. Durkheim defines religion as whatever system of practices unites a number of individuals into a moral community (whether or not the practices involve a belief in unusual realities). Tillich defines religion as that which organizes a person’s values and gives direction to his or her life.