I did a study on the etymology of "religion" and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the word back to an old Latin word religio meaning "taboo, restraint." A deeper study discovers the word comes from the two words re and ligare. Re is a prefix meaning "return," and ligare means "to bind;"

So in other words (by my definition/deduction), "return to bondage."

IMO I believe in a God force (which to me is the spirit of life that exists in all living things, not a man with a beard sitting on a throne in the sky)

however i truly do not and never will believe in a need for religon. That is simply my opinion    

I accept that everyone has thier own (different) understanding on the matter and however different each persons concept may be, each persons perception and input is valuable and valid and (so long as their belief causes no harm to the universe) They have the right to have it and be respected for it.

So i will listen to others beliefs and state my own if i see fit but i will also try not o impose my own beliefs on those who have a different perception from myself  

Religion can be about spirituality.  Religion can be about community.  While we can reject the spirituality in religion, it is hard to reject community.  Have those who do not believe in the community of religion now found it elsewhere?  The internet comes to mind?

Well said...i hadn't realy thought of that aspect spiritalk. I guess in early days of religion there was not much else to do socialy (other than congregate as a community at church) but now as you say we have internet, coffee shops, sport days and all kinds of community social activities  

At one time the church was the social centre of life.  With the inclusion of so many other options, it has lost a lot of that community focus.

Dear All,

To me Creator is not about bondage or return to bondage....  If that was so, we would never have been given free will in the first place.  To me Creator is about Love for that which He Created, for without Him (and the free will He gave us) none of us would be here and able to critisize Him....(ain't that a peach!)

Religion however is to me about bondage...and Religion is a man made concept in my opinion.  More people have died because of Religion and Religious Beliefs than because of any natural disaster that ever hit this planet.  Religion is about conformity to the rules and laws laid down by a few, in order to control the many, and it breeds intolerance and fanatacism...  

Whereas my Creator is a Being of diversity....  If my Creator was about conformity, all flowers would be roses, all dogs would be Rottweilers and all people would be whatever "One Religion" dictated.

I believe Creator created diversity because we all have to learn the lesson of love and tolerance....

It is easy to love those who think like you, who look like you, who act like you and who feel like you....those with whom you have everything in common...those you connect to....

It is a bit harder to love those who oppose your thoughts, feelings, desires and norms...  Those you would rather critisize and condemn...

The paradox here is that it is normally those we consider "unloving" and/or "unlovable" who need our love and understanding the most...

We all know how to water a plant, before it shows signs of wilting...  but we tend to pour out our love on those we feel "deserve" it... those that are "lovable"...and yet it is those we despise who need the water of love and the dew of understanding the most....

Creator is Love and Love is Creator...   Diversity is my lesson in love, and Tolerance my teacher...

I have learned through the Blessings of Creator to love others, even if I sometimes don't accept their actions and morally disagree with them...it is a blessing to be able to seperate the actor from his actions...and love him not because of what he does for me...but inspite of what he does to me...

love and rainbows

Raka