Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!usc!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!mukund
From: mukund@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mukund Srinivasan)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Philosophy versus religion
Message-ID: <9754@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 16 Mar 90 22:06:36 GMT
References: <14568@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: bmaruti@wpi (B Maruti)
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester ,MA
Lines: 20
Approved: mukund@phoenix.Princeton.EDU


In article <14568@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> rick@hanauma (Richard Ottolini) writes:
>A PHILOSOPHY is an intellectual abstraction.
>A RELIGION is a way of life, a social system.  Most religions include a
>philosophy.
>A philosophy can grow to cover all aspects of life and guide all of one's
>daily decisions.  Then is would be indistinguishable from a religion.


    I have trouble with this because I seem to see the presence of GOD(s)
  very prominent in RELIGION.  A philosophy need not profess any faith in
  a God, but a religion needs God and doesn't need to set out a way of life.
  Perhaps eastern religions also contain a lot of philisophy apart from a
  belief in God.  In response to my earlier question about religions without
  worship of a God, there have been several positive responses.  It appears
  that these religions acknowledge the existence of God(s), but do not
  require that he should be worshipped.  I wonder if there are eastern
  religions which are atheistic, and if there are, should they be called as
  merely PHILOSOPHIES?


  -Maruti