This is somewhat of an opinion question. I don't necessarily want a dictionary answer, but rather what you all think.

Are religions and faiths the same thing?

I'll withhold my answer to this question for a bit to see what you think.

-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan

Faith is your own personal belief, whether that be the Christian doctrine, or even something personal, such as, say, there are 12 gods, one for each month, and they manifest themselves in cockroaches. Just a random example.

Religion is, however, organized faith, in other words, a group that says that this is what you should believe and whatnot. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, all of these are religions, and of course there are more specific denominations. While your faith can be Christianity, it doesn't have to be a religion.

That's how I see it.

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Faith is simply trust or confidence in someone/things/beliefs. In spiritual terms, it is your trust in God/gods/supernatural beings/cockroaches. It would be like a "relationship" with that being.

An organized religion is when you have moral codes/laws, practices/rituals, values, institutions, etc. for a particular group of beliefs.

I believe that a religion is just a group of beliefs, like a philosophy, and faith is just a personal trust/confidence in them.

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Some people are like Slinkies.. They're not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

Not bad responses. I consider a faith to be a belief or belief system. A Religion is an organization that may be founded around a faith.

From that, I ask this. Is it possible to have a prayer, grounded in faith, that does not promote a religion?

The U.S. Constitution's first Amendment speaks about the establishment of religion, but doesn't mention faith. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ...". We see in the news, however, many attempts to equate faith with religion. For example we've seen attempts to remove the words "Under God", at most a statement of faith, from the U.S. pledge of allegiance because it "establishes religion".

Do you think that this is simply a bad interpretation of the Amendment or do you think that this is due to a bigger attack on religion in the U.S.?

For those who don't live in the U.S., are you seeing such things where you live?


-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan

In Canada I find that religion is fading fast...we are not even saying the LOrd's PRayer in the schools anymore....because it might "offend" somebody.

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SEX IS NOT A SIN!
LICK IT UP


GIGGLES

What a surprise, a Christian prayer that all kids would be forced to say might offend some people! That doesn't make any sense! [/sarcasm]

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Hey Diablo, I think the key word that ruins your statement here is forced. Now I don't know about Canada (I'll let Giggley Girl defend her own nation), but when there used to be prayer allowed in the U.S. schools, every student could choose to not pray if they disagreed with the prayer (nobody was forced). For that matter, it has been proposed that different students could lead on different days to prevent exclusion, and atheists could either remain silent or make a speech or whatever.

Also, granted the Lord's Prayer is a Christian prayer, but that is referring to a Faith, not a religion, so would such a prayer violate the First amendment's clause that clearly speaks about religions but not faith?

-- Jeff

__________________
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan

I think faith is something which you do willingly and conciously through out your life. Religion is what your parents and society inculcated in you since childhood.

Both of these go together, they basically mean the same thing to me, I have faith in my religion, I am following it as such it has come to me and I have complete faith in it and no queries.I am not following it blindly but my religion is teaching me all good things.

Faith is what you believe in while for religion is what the community dictates you on what to believe. Faith is in your own perspective on how you see things. Religion is the thing that our parents or elders or some influential people ask as what to do.