Disclaimer

[Doctrine]

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I don't think that any one religion has a monopoly on the "truth", nor on any assumed or actual wisdom. It is the nature of human beings to impose order upon their environment, whether that order is there or not. This is probably the best description of religions, all religions -- methods of imposing order and structure upon our lives.

Now this doesn't mean that there isn't something out there behind a religion. It seems obvious to me that there is. However, if we assume humans to be finite, and whatever it is to infinite, then we can only perceive very narrow views of that reality. Hence, like a conical section (which appears to be a circle when viewed from above, but a triangle when viewed from the side), religions pick up particular aspects of the divine. All are valid to some degree, but none a valid exclusively.

And religions deal with truth, not "fact". The difference is that truth is an emotional thing, whereas "facts" are objective phenomena, which are supposed to be verified empirically. The ultimate effect of religion is in how we behave and live our lives. I follow several religious beliefs, purely for selfish reasons -- by doing so I live a better, happier life. Some of this can be summed up in the following quote from Connie Buffalo:

Q: What's the correct religion to follow?

A: The one you practice.

[Pollchrome dances the jig of life]

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