What's the real Meaning of Religion? Not what most think.
The first part is Re- 'Again.' The part people don't like is the last part is also the same source of the words logos and legion. Don't get your knickers in a knot over this. I will prove it and you can search yourself.
Ligio and Legio are the same words. Just spelled differently.
Ligion is from Ligio and Legion from Legio.
Both come from Old Latin legere.
Legere can be used as "read, gather, army, collect, and speak."
Legion = an Army ( a collective of soldiers/warriors ).
It also linked to Lexicon from Latin lexicon, from Greek lexikon," from neuter of lexikos "pertaining to words," from lexis "a word, a phrase; reason; way of speech, diction, style."
is akin to Lex (law) and grom Latin legalis "pertaining to the law," from lex (genitive legis) "an enactment; a precept, regulation, principle, rule; formal proposition for a law, motion, bill; a contract, arrangement, contrivance." from the root leg as in legere and legal.
In Greek it occurs legein "to say, tell, speak, declare; to count," originally, in Homer, "to pick out, select, collect, enumerate;" lexis "speech, diction;" logos "word, speech, thought, account."
Logos also is where we get the word Logo used in the context of an image as a condensed from of Logogram as a combination of logo- 'word, expression, concept' + gramma 'written, marked, drawn, etched.'
So, the literal meaning of Religion is 'Collect Again.' It had nothing to do with concepts of beliefs. It was used as a term in Imperial Roman ideology to regather and reunite all the territories that were once under the Roman Empire that returned to independence after the Roman Empire collapsed under its own weight.
Combined with Rome's second run as the Roman Catholic Church, it retained the Imperial motivations. When one considers the meaning of Catholic it becomes a phrase rather than an identity. It is from Greek katholikos, from phrase kath' holou "on the whole, in general," from kata "about" + genitive of holos "whole" and in Latin is usually expressed in the concept of Universal or "All Encompassing" in the sense of a desire to control and rule the whole world.
So Roma katholikos relegere would mean and does mean 'The Whole simply "Reunite the whole of Rome." Thus, its a goal more than identity, yet when one asks "what does religion really mean, they get all sorts of "definitions by association' rather than the base meaning of "collect again." It's called hiding a true motive.
Definitions by Association
One of my biggest gripes about modern dictionaries is the intentional failure to state things like they are and failure to grasp definition comes from meaning or the definition itself is meaningless. Or as I generally say, "a definition by association is no definition at all."
Case in point, as for a definition of religion you get things like:
Belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods.
A particular system of faith (literally devotion/trust) and worship.
a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
Then it might include something like " Latin religare ‘to bind’ which is half true when considering all that has been presented. It is why some go off the deep end and turn around and proclaim their beliefs are not religion because religion is bondage and bondage is slavery but then the same will complain about someone not being bound to their particular frame of beliefs.
Also the above is more on beliefs and the word faith does not mean belief either. Modern academics are bent on making the majority of people dumber so they are easier to manipulate and have no real tangible hopes or dreams, much less access to correct information.
Note:
Belief literally is a combination of words meaning "By Life" as in those things you live by and by extension, shape your world view and moral or ethical compass. Its loosely stated as "what one holds to be important." While true to a point on the last part, it does not give the based meaning of 'By Life/What one Lives By.' This leave it to also be subjectively applied erroneously.
Faith comes from the same source of Fidelity and means 'trust, reliability, pledge and promise." That is the basis of the word "faithful" meaning truthful, devoted, reliable, and why it is used as a word for loyalty, truthfulness, honesty, and accuracy in fulfilling duty or adhering to facts. But it is not the same as belief.
One can believe someone is faithful and be wrong. One can disbelieve someone is faithful and be wrong. However, faith and belief are NOT interchangeable because they are distinct and nuanced and actually different in linguistics and origins.
Perhaps the proper definition would be: "A collection of concepts, doctrines, opinions and beliefs one may apply personal fidelity to."
At least with this basic definition it covers all the proper relative bits without a bunch of needless and often contradictory concepts subject to misrepresentation, confusion and distortion driven by opinions rather than impersonal objective facts.
