Philosophy Now Forum

"Christianity is not really a religion. Its a philosophy"

Even though he is annoying, I usually watch "The O'Reilly Factor" each evening.

He made the above quoted statement again last night. I immediately wrote it down verbatim. I have heard him make the statement on prior occasions. The contexts have been controversies involving public expressions of Christian belief, symbols, or acts.

O'Reilly makes the statement to end the controversy in Christianity's favor because: religion causes discord among people; philosophy does not.

He made the statement relative to the controversy involving NFL quarterback Tim Tebow's public expressions of Christian belief. http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action= ... wID=3015#4

I wonder if O'Reilly utters the statement as a rhetorical device, or if he substantively believes in the statement. If the latter, isn't O'Reilly actually an atheist?

Comments anyone?

O'Reilly is Catholic- Just ask the nuns who educated him...

Catholic (et.al.) is a Christian religion

"Christianity" is not a Christian religion

can you see the distinction he makes?

-Imp

Impenitent wrote:O'Reilly is Catholic- Just ask the nuns who educated him...

Catholic (et.al.) is a Christian religion

"Christianity" is not a Christian religion

can you see the distinction he makes?

-Imp

i doubt he makes any such fine distinctions as he's a media ratings whore who makes a very low or accurate opinion of his audience.

Christianity is the Christian religion or do the Catholics think Christianity did not exist before Rome? Quick to acknowledge Constantine but short on the Borgias I think.

But as the Catholic Yank is becoming a thorn in the Catholic Church's side, they'll not be liking this idea that its a philosophy as thats for the Buddhists.

About Tim Tebow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMt_qqs8k8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqReTDJS ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwkhJBX1EHE

Sorry Tom,
No speakers, you'll have to tell me what the links mean.

tbieter wrote:"Christianity is not really a religion. Its a philosophy"

Even though he is annoying, I usually watch "The O'Reilly Factor" each evening.

He made the above quoted statement again last night. I immediately wrote it down verbatim. I have heard him make the statement on prior occasions. The contexts have been controversies involving public expressions of Christian belief, symbols, or acts.

O'Reilly makes the statement to end the controversy in Christianity's favor because: religion causes discord among people; philosophy does not.

He made the statement relative to the controversy involving NFL quarterback Tim Tebow's public expressions of Christian belief. http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action= ... wID=3015#4

I wonder if O'Reilly utters the statement as a rhetorical device, or if he substantively believes in the statement. If the latter, isn't O'Reilly actually an atheist?

Comments anyone?

Comparing the ordinary definitions of 'religion' and 'philosophy' may be helpful:
re·li·gion (r-ljn)
n.
1.
a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
Idiom:
get religion Informal
1. To become religious or devout.
2. To resolve to end one's immoral behavior.
[Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religi, religin-, perhaps from religre, to tie fast; see rely.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

phi·los·o·phy (f-ls-f)
n. pl. phi·los·o·phies
1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
8. A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.
[Middle English philosophie, from Old French, from Latin philosophia, from Greek philosophi, from philosophos, lover of wisdom, philosopher; see philosopher.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

As you can see, the crucial difference is that 'religion' contains the element of the 'supernatural'; 'philosophy' involves only the 'natural'.

I suspect that O'Reilly, an intelligent and educated fellow, uses the statement as a rhetorical device. (dishonestly!)

There was some research somewhere, IIRC, that suggested that, even amongst the superstition-prone practitioners of NFL football, quarterbacks were exceptional likely to declare themselves 'guided by God'. Might be to do with those long throws, and believing there will be someone there to catch.
I think the research was quoted by Vance Packard, in 'The People Shapers'.

tbieter wrote:I suspect that O'Reilly, an intelligent and educated fellow, uses the statement as a rhetorical device. (dishonestly!)[/color]

Getta! Away! Tom.

You watch this O'Reilly regularly and I think your assessment right. Although from what I've seen he thinks himself a lot smarter than he is, if we aren't using dollars in the bank as a metric. I think Fux news is playing a very dangerous game in the States, as whilst Murdoch's approach can work with fairly little consequence in the more cynical nations of the English speaking world, its dodgy doing it in the States, coz you're not cynical in general, not enough history and what there is is dominated by Hollywood. So O'Reilly is a larger version of Murdochs print media on broadcast media, he panders to lowest largest mass that'll pay but I think they ignore or don't care about the actual political consequences of doing this.

The philosophy of the religion says: Thou shalt not kill, Jesus was the son of God, etc.

The rules of the CATHOLIC religion say: You have to go to mass every Sunday, you must go to confession to cleanse your soul of sin, etc.

I imagine other Christian religions have their own quirky rules, but the overall philosophy is the same. I think this is the distinction which was being made.

this video about bill oreilly is very funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Iq4rA4RZ8

Is religion a philosophy?

Religion -> involves ethics (thou shall not kill), involves (yes) logic (the study of valid reasoning in religions usually involves any reference to a religious work or a priest), involves epistemology (i.e. knowledge is derived by mystical enlightenment, prophets, messages from God, the interpretation of signs etc.), ontology (Christians have especially been quite concerned about the case of infinity in God and how it should be understood, like, "what does omnipotent mean? If God was all-powerful, could he create a rock for which he could not himself carry?"), judiciary (you all know about laws in religion), politics (the resolve of disagreements, the resolve of difference in interest)... and so on.

To put it simply: to "define" the difference between philosophy and religion is hard but not impossible. I'm going to give possibly the simplest difference ever: at the time any school of thought stops giving you new answers and new questions, it starts being a religion. Before that, it is philosophy, whatever far-fetched it is.

This puts however certain religions in the intersection, like Buddhism, because in Buddhism you can mostly change the original thought to new better one, but there are some concepts which are unchanging and only allows minor questioning, like Nirvãna is unfortunately quite mysterious and offers very bad reasoning, it kind of stops, and at that point, when it can offer no new clarifications, it kind of becomes a religious dogma.