Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/43

 If we wish to include all these ideas in a formal definition, we may define religion as it is understood by the occidental people generally in the following manner.

Religion is a system with two characteristics :—

First, it is intended to attain some kind of eternal bliss defined by its own ideas regarding God and future life and obtainable by adhesion to certain definite ceremonies and sacraments and by adhesion to the teachings regarding conduct and morals of some definite teacher or school of teachers conveyed by means of some authoritative scripture modelling the sentiments of the followers strongly ; and to which all the laws and customs of the country professing allegiance to it ought to conform.

And secondly, it makes all its followers one strong social group by a community of feelings and interests.

I should like to inform the readers, that this definition when I formed it was intended to be purely objective. The definition did not give my idea of the thing, but my idea of the idea. I was not seeking to explain what "religion” is, but only what "religion" is understood to be by the Western world. My attitude herein was not that of a modern theologian who might wish to explain what God is, but that of a historian desirous of explaining what ideas the ancients had regarding the gods Jupiter or Yahweh.

After framing this definition I realized that it could be made of some value to social science.

When I say that this definition could be useful in social sciences, it should not be supposed that I am going to adopt this as a scientific term for general social science. Such a term would be useful in studying the European civilization, just as the term “Obeah" could be of use in interpreting the civilization of the West Indian negroes.