Religion

Religion is another catch-all "word of convenience" that confusingly combines different things into one name. As a result, most people assume that other religions (as in, not their own religion) are similar to their own religion (but different enough to be heretical).

Much confusion lies below the surface - for example, is Confucianism a religion? (Indonesian law deems it so.) Is Buddhism a religion if it does not worship gods? Is Stoicism is a philosophy, not a religion, when the ancient Greeks believed in gods? Daoism is often differentiated into two types: philosophical Daoism ("Daojia") and religious Daosim ("Daojiao") - is it a philosophy or a religion?

By creating the word, "religion," people sought to label what others believed and practiced into a same "category" of what they themselves believed and practiced. In this way, people try to make sense of the world, for better or for worse.

Generally, we can divide the world religions into two main categories:

• Theism: worshipping god(s)
• Cultivation: training the spirit

Theism

Theism is any kind of worship of a god or gods. "Gods" refer to any kind of metaphysical beings, usually of the more powerful sort - but can range from minor spirits, to local nature deities, to major powers. The key word in theism is following - people follow their god's commands, without thought, hoping to gain rewards.

Monotheism
Due to the influence of Abrahamic religions, the West tends to divide theism into monotheism (one god) and polytheism (many gods), but this is more an issue of nomenclature and self-supporting-bias (due to the perception that monotheism is superior); after all, Abrahamic religions like Christianity in fact have entire pantheons of metaphysical beings, both good and evil, and even half-breed mixes with humans - they just choose to not call these "gods." A theism with only one metaphysical being in the whole cosmology - a true monotheism - is exceedingly rare.

That said, self-designated monotheism is quite common today, including many Abrahamic religions (Christianity and Islam foremost), but also Dharmic religions like Sikhism and some branches of Hinduism (which can be interpreted in a monotheistic way). Even in Japan, as the native Shinto religion became largely ritualistic and devoid of substance, new sects called Sect Shinto emerged in the 19th century, which are for the most part pseudo-monotheistic (as in, they mainly worship one supreme god) versions of Shinto.

Strict monotheism is generally characterized by intolerance - after all, its default belief is that only their god is correct, and all others are heretical. Many wars and conquests were waged with monotheism as a trigger (before) or as a justification (after). Some wars were between slightly different sects of the same monotheistic religion.

Polytheism
Many gods was the default religion in ancient times; even the Abrahamic religions started out as polytheism (e.g. God had a wife named Asherah), until 2nd Temple Judaism changed that, removing all their other gods, and persecuting Jews who still worshipped them.

Generally in polytheism, whether Greek, Norse, Egyptian, etc., gods represented various aspects like war, love, the sea, the hearth, death, and so forth. In that sense, polytheism was not generally intolerant, as worshippers of one goddess of love often considered another people's goddess of love as another incarnation or avatar of the same; for example, the Greek Aphrodite was considered the same as Egypt's Isis when the two cultures interacted with each other (and people often took up worship of the exotic version as well).

Cultivation

Other religions often do not worship gods at all; instead, they engage in training of the self. Cultivation refers to various systems designed to train an adept's abilities, in order to elevate themselves spiritually. The key word in cultivation is growth - people train the body, breath, and mind in order to evolve, so naturally those who have trained longer and harder have attained greater skill. We could call these adepts "artisans of the metaphysical."

This sort of "religion" is represented by some sects of Buddhism, Daoism, and others; some religions like Hinduism often combine theism with cultivation (e.g. the Shaivist sects); esoteric sects of Abrahamic faiths can involve some cultivation as well, e.g. Jewish Kabbalah and Muslim Sufism and even Quakerism.

Although called "religion," the training aspects often do not involve gods at all, and thus these parts are often extracted for non-religious public consumption: from Hinduism we get yoga, from Daoism we get taijiquan ("tai-chi"), and from Buddhism we get mindfulness meditation; all these have been scientifically researched and shown to have various benefits toward physical and mental health.

Because cultivative religions often do not involve worship of gods, some prefer to call these philosophies instead.

In general, cultivation can be divided into various levels:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Mental
• Spiritual

This division is generally cross-cultural, and can be seen in similar form in China, India, Greece, etc.

Religion is a very interesting subject, and there is much that can be learned from it, but humankind needs to take care to avoid its destructive tendencies borne from intolerance.