Comparing Wilfred Smith's The Meaning And End Of Religion

The idea of reification stems from taking something abstract and making it concrete. Throughout Wilfred Smith's book The Meaning and End of Religion, he stresses his theory about religion being established upon reification. He portrays that each individual has their extent of spirituality and religiousness whether it demands scientific proof or not and that people tend to categorize the aspect of religion into one box. In several religions, there is a tendency for people to associate religious symbols as being sacred instead of seeing it as a representation of something else. Many individuals consider idols to be a means of worshipping or the simple act of rituals such as attending church or special places of glorification. The reification of religion or their symbols implements a person to maintain a religious identity which provokes a person to follow a certain lifestyle. Smith would understand the reification of Confucianism through the character and the intellect Confucius possessed which attracted several followers. In Confucius’s Analects, the importance of ritual and necessity of warmth and care with being a good …show more content…
The poem “The Charge of the Goddess” helps to understand rituals associated with Wicca by making us connect with the goddess through humans, nature and ourselves. The poem conveys how she is embedded within us all our body, mind as well as spirit. She represents the rebirth of religion and is the goddess of the earth who brings forth life. The poem says, “whenever you have need of anything, once in month, and better when the moon is full, you shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of me” (Starhawk 1-5).This represents the amount of control and power the goddess possesses and how much of an impact she has on each individual and the earth through rituals. She represents the strength of women and conveys the associations of death and