| Religion
has been variously defined as “man’s expression of his
acknowledgment of the divine; a system of beliefs and practices
relating to the sacred and uniting its adherents in a community...;
something which has a powerful hold on a person’s way of
thinking, interests, …”
Although there is no denying that religion has been at the heart
of myriad incidents of violence and intolerance throughout history
and down to the present day, it is also true that religion of
one form or another represents a thread which unites every culture
and civilization.
Italian philosopher and historian Giambattista Vico (1668-1744)
cites “the sentiment or idea of divinity, or the gods
or of God,” as one of the “three basic principles
of all human societies,” the other two being the evolution
of marriage-rites and the burial of the dead.
(Walter Temelini and Rita Bison, Wndsor’s St.Angela
Merici Church (1929-1996). Italian Canadiana, Vol. 13, 1997) |
