: : A bit of background, so you'll know what's my "point of view":
: : I'm a Jew, and not a religious one. Furthermore- I'm from Israel. I don't know how much any of you know about our political/social situation, but you should know that when I refer to religion it's the real pagan-hardcore staff, the "stone - those - who - not - believe - exactly - what -we - do" type of religion, whereas you seem to refer to a more philosophical/moral type of religion the "it's more important to be a moral person then to believe in God" religion

: I tend to think of "religion" in terms of a person's "pivitol axis" in life, which I suppose I picked up somewhere along the way at the University. But then, there were many ideas: this is simply the one which made most sense to me. Whatever your life revolves around is your god, your religion, your idol. You can, IMHO be an atheist but if your life revolves around communism and spreading it's ideals, then you are in fact a highly religious person. Money can be a religion, sex, power, self, to name the most common religions of the world. After that would probably come various ideologies, both "religious" ones in the classic sense, but secular ideologies as well. In my Religion in Literature course at CSULB, one of the books we read was "Ordinary People." We discussed how the entire family revolved around the oldest son, the HE was essentially their religion, and thus the disorientation when he died. The shrink played the part of the priest in the story, etc, etc... I hope you can see what I'm saying.

: I think there is also much to be said with the difference between a "sacred" orientation to the world as opposed to a "secular" orientation. It actually still has little to do with organized religion however, and more to do with infusing meaning into existence, a rich, romantic view of life. The two best books I can think of on this topic are Eliade's "The Sacred and the Profane" and Mander's "In the Absense of the Sacred."

: : (a side question to Christians out there- does it matter if Jesus was the son of god? think about it before answering).

: You do realize that if you put 10 Christians into a room and ask this question, that you will receive a dozen different answers? :-)

: Blessings,

: Lady G.

: Yes, it does matter whether Jesus was the son of God. Have you ever read C.S. Lewis's trilemma argument? Jesus was either a charlatan, a lunatic, or what he said he was, the son of God. "But let us have no more of that patronizing nonsense of Him (Jesus) being a great human teacher. He did not leave that option open to us; He did not intend to." In other words, Jesus's moral claims were and are not unique. Moral teachers before him espoused similar views. What made Jesus unique was His claim to be divine. If what He said was true, then it makes all the difference in the world and it is of the utmost importance to get into a right relationship with Him. If what He said was false, then Christianity is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity, and all should revile it. I know what Tolkien's answer would be to your question.