*audrey assad* | Religion is not a dirty word.

Religion is not a dirty word.

Sorry for the nerdity that is about to ensue, but I was homeschooled and I can make fun of myself for it, so bear with me. :)

I like the English language, and I respect it enough to be frustrated by words being used wrong by giant numbers of people, so I’m taking a stand on behalf of the word “religion”, which I believe is one of the most grossly mis-used and incorrectly defined words in America.

Here’s how it’s defined by http://thefreedictionary.com;

“Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.”

I have no qualms about calling Christianity a religion; because it is one by definition, just like Islam and Judaism are. I don’t feel any need to re-define the word ‘religion’ to mean “archaic legalism” and then distance myself from it in order to offer an option to those around me looking for something deeper than that. Christianity is not only a religion, but I believe it to be the truest one among all the others.

Imagine you had an apple. You thought it was better than all the other apples in the world. You tried to get people to buy your apples instead of buying other apples by insisting that they were not apples at all, but a different fruit entirely. Some people might buy them, but they would bite into them and find that they were apples after all. You can sell Christianity as “a relationship, not a religion” all day long, but that doesn’t change the fact that Christianity is a religion. It would be more accurate to say that Christianity is a “religion and a relationship.”

Religion’s not a dirty word. Legalism is. I think that’s a very important distinction. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?