Redefining Religion

Ophelia Benson: "It's interesting how willing people often are to redefine religion in order to defend it, and how thoroughly they're willing to redefine it for that purpose. In fact they do such a thorough job of it that one would have thought there was nothing left that needed defending. Who would bother to argue against feelings of awe or wonder, or an appreciation of stories and myths and poetry? I certainly wouldn't, in fact I think those are fine things. But they're not what I take religion to be, and I don't think they're what people generally mean when they talk about religion, either."

Dawkins is on the same page as Ophelia: "If God is a synonym for the deepest principles of physics, what word is left for a hypothetical being who answers prayers, intervenes to save cancer patients or helps evolution over difficult jumps, forgives sins or dies for them?... You have redefined science as religion, so it's hardly surprising if they turn out to 'converge'."