Faith and religion

Submitted by Seamus Dafydd Dives MacNemi (United States), Oct 2, 2009 at 02:53

There is faith and there is religion and there is a difference between the two. Faith springs from the inside of the individual as a means of confronting the difficulties of life. Religion, on the other hand, is imposed from without. Faith has no cultural attachments. Religion is purely a cultural phenomenon. When we understand this then we begin to be able to rise above the limits of mere tribalism and when we do the whole scenario changes for us. The trouble with many in the Muslim world today is that they are imprisoned in a mindset defined by their culture which has not changed significantly in the last two hundred years. The technological improvements brought by the west have had little impact upon the basic social order and the mind set of the people remains basicaly tribal and tribal laws and customs trump all other considerations.

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