RELIGION- THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

What is religion? In a book about religion, Christianity and the New Testament, it might well be a good idea to start out with a clear idea of what we are looking at. It is only too obvious today that there are different religions, churches, denominations and sects. So let us ask ourselves, what is "religion", what does it mean when we say that a person is "religious " and don't all the religions worship the same God in their own way, in any case? One could argue that it is obvious what religion is. After all, I am religious, I believe this and that and I do such and such, therefore that is what makes something a religion and therefore RELIGION itself. It may be so. But let us try an analogy: a capitalist might define "economics " as "the interchange of goods and services in a free market. " That would be an answer of sorts, but an answer that simply ignores Marx's analysis of human exploitation, Keynes's advocacy of state involvement in the economy, the experience of millions of people in rigidly-controlled command economies... the list is endless. Clearly, one cannot simply extrapolate such a general statement about either economics or religion from one's own beliefs and experiences. Even so, might it not be possible to take one's own experience, strip it down to its most basic essentials, see whether those same essentials also apply to other religions and create a workable definition o