unit 2(handouts)英语国家文化.docVIP

Unit 2 Religion Article 1 What is religion—can religion be defined? When someone is asked ‘What is religion?’, they usually point to a mosque or church or Hindu temple or Sikh gurdwara and say that people who go there have ‘got’ religion! But this is drawing attention to the places of worship and members of the various religions; it is not telling us what religion is. Can it be distilled from a study of these religions? Some scholars have tried to do it but an essence of religion fails to appear so most seek to understand its effect on society. We will begin with stating s