Cogent Dream
That's not splitting hairs at all. Organised religion is an institution with standardised teachings and beliefs. Personal faith is a belief in whatever the heck you want because it's personal.
Since you like facts so much let's post up the definition of religion
re·li·gion
[ri-lij-uhn] Show IPA
noun
1.
a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2.
a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3.
the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4.
the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5.
the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.
Seems like your definition of religion being "explaining the unexplainable" is a straw at best and lies on the a
faulty outdated premise.
Quote:
Also, ethical stories not claiming to be factual is not trivial. Do you think a tortoise and a hare actually raced each other to prove a point to humanity? The purpose and event are separated by abstract and reality. If you were to apply this to religion, it would be tantamount to saying that in reality, god existing or not existing is just splitting hairs.
While most religions do posit the existence of non-corporeal beings such as gods and spirits, their existence is accepted within a religion framework since they are elements of the mythos. Whether they exist or not is irrelevant since the point to mythos is not to prove the existence of said beings, but to convey a cultural teaching from one generation to the next. Example, evolution and the creation story in Genesis. If the literal telling of the creation stories were what was important, then the teaching of evolution would have made the creation stories irrelevant to Christianity and Judaism since evolution actually describes what happened where as the creation stories in Genesis don't. But neither of these religions depend on the creation stories of Genesis to be literal, just the teaching that the mythos conveys.