religeon is next to nothing
god..[and thus his creations]..is eve-rything

religeon has yet affected me greatly
in preserving the words of the many messengers
[the holy texts words..alone validate 'religeon']

appart from that they got mostly god all wrong..
they dont got much right about the afterlife
they are too materialistic..
and not near spiritual enough

embed god in your id
religeon is just rite and ritual
[man made ritual]..

a left over from hoping magic words
are doing the magic...[lol]..in latin

its by our works/deeds
we will or we wont..
not fancy obscure/words

Dear Lexi,

Religion, the quest to re-unite with God, is the essence of life, in some more consciously so than in others. As our true identity is God, it is obvious to me that religion is embedded in my (or indeed anyone's) identity. I do however wonder whether this is also what you actually meant and unfortunately "which also means that I know only too well where it falls short" doesn't quite help me to understand your observation that "it is embedded in my identity" from YOUR point-of-view.

Religion in not supposed to give a meaning to "modern Australia" or the like. On the contrary if anything, it strips away the meaning from any materially-based quest. Some religious people say that the only meaningful thing is God, but I go further to say that Meaning is but an indulgence of the mind and as such it is not really necessary and often addictive too.

Can religion be re-invigorated as a vital backdrop to contemporary Australian life? To an extent, temporarily, but ultimately no one can serve two masters!

An interesting question. My response is much the same as Morganzola's: I'm an atheist but a cultural Christian. My ethics are basically derived from living in a Christian society, except that I'm also aware how much Protestant Christianity is also influenced by and contributed to 18th century rationalism etc.

I have been an atheist since I was about 5 or 6 (although of course I didn't know the word then). But I can date the first critical ideas I had about religion by where I lived at the time, and I was conscious throughout a youth of church and Sunday school (like Morganzola, also influenced by my grandmother!) of my underlying disbelief in what I was told, which resulted in a complete departure from church/Sunday school about age 15.

Starting as a teenager, I've read extensively in comparative religion and concluded that Christianity was a development of earlier religions and had no more claim to veracity than any other (just as Islam is a further development again). I studied biological science, moved into archaeology and history, work in heritage and write history. 'Heritage' is what is important to people, and is inherently about culture and cultural beliefs. I see the trajectory of my personal thinking and my work as underpinned by a curiosity and fascinated puzzlement about why the world is what it is, and why people act and believe the way they do.

To conclude, I have never believed there is a 'god' or 'gods', while I recognise that other people have always believed there is. This reality (some people believe, some don't) would suggest to me that there is some brain function controlling 'belief'. I think that religious belief is intrinsic to human cultures and was evolutionary advantageous. Probably doubt/criticism/disbelief is also intrinsic, to maintain checks and balance (ie to limit negative results of belief). So whether we believe or not, religion is embedded in humans.

PS I am rather fond of the Ngatyi (pronounced Nai-tchee), one version of the Rainbow Serpents of Aboriginal religions. I'd recommend 'Two Rainbow Serpents Travelling', by Beckett and Hercus, downloadable from ANU E-Books. The two Ngatyi don't specifically create the land they travel across, they 'name' it (by naming it they bring it into human reality cf parallels with Europeans appropriating land and giving it European names). And the Ngatyi have a sense of humour, which I have always thought was lacking in the Christian god. If we are made in 'god's image', where did we get our sense of humour from?

My apologies for not explaining what I meant by religion. I'm referring to relgion as a universal social institution - in my case
the Catholic Church into which I was Baptized and which has been a part and parcel of my life.

I shall write more later on - but I hope this helps.

lexi quote...""I'm referring to relgion
as a universal social institution""

uni-verse-all?

or do you mean planetary?
or more to the point...localised institution'$..

where the west is pre-dominantly
*for the various xtian based faith based institutes
and the mid east to the mahamoudian..far east buddist..[institutions]

instituted and constituted locally..
to exploit proffit or institute..local control over their local yokal/'followers'

in trying to get to the organised
of the instituted organs

religeons are clearly material realms
with physical penus envey...building ever bigger their mosks/cathedrals/temples..[ie physical stuff]

jesus NEVER neded a creed
only rarely preached in any temple
he came to reveal the learnings of the spirit
not turn followrs into rocks*..[corner stone*rs]

im trying to reply your questions...
quote..""How important is religion in your life?""

regardless of how 'important'
the real inportance is th.."how"..in your life's importancies

'"What influence(if any)has it had on you?""
again its not about us...but should be about you

""it is embedded in my identity,
which also means that I know only too well
..*where it falls short.""

THIS IS THE REAL QUESTION

you are more than your belief
what is more important..that you DO*

what you believe or do
isnt as important as your choice...[that you CHOSE to do]

just cause you 'doudt' your belief
IS NO REASON to doudt that you believe

[or even doudting...
your...dis*belief]

our individual choice is sacred
thus so the belief..that educates our choices