Is religion a theory?

Question

In the dictionary it say that a theory is speculation a guess or conjecture, would this not apply to the existence of a god.

Answer 1

No, it is not. It's rather its opposite. Religion lays claims to certainty whereas theory calls for doubts and questionings. Religion address a person's conscience and will; theory seeks after one's thirst for knowledge and our desire to probe the veracity of claims. As a result, religion aims at securing obedience, while theory fuels freedom and liberation.

Answer 2

It's a belief. It's not a theory because theory's need some sort of empirical evidence (even though a good deal of people in this world would say that religion has substantial evidence, and I laugh at them). The study of religion is theology.

Answer 3

No it is not. A theory is a conclusion or explanation based on a set of facts and of course it can be altered if new facts come to light. A religion is a belief or set of beliefs devised by someone and based on events or ideas. It generally does not alter if facts come to light that indicate it is wrong it tends to alter as is convenient for the people in charge to alter it. A typical example is that the catholic church once taught that the sun went round the earth. They even tortured Copernicus when he showed clearly that the earth went round the sun but when the evidence for this became so overwhelming that they were in danger of losing credibility (Which would have reduced their income of course) they changed that belief

Answer 4

yes, but not a scientific one! ;)

In common usage, people often use the word theory to signify a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation. In this usage, a theory is not necessarily based on facts; in other words, it is not required to be consistent with true descriptions of reality. True descriptions of reality are more reflectively understood as statements that would be true independently of what people think about them.

In science, a theory is a proposed description, explanation, or model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation.

In light of these definitions, I would file religion under 'conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation.'

Answer 5

I would say its several theories. Ultimately anything that makes a prediction or a statement and then attempts to prove this statement or prediction is a theory .

So"God made the world" is a theory although abstract if anything.

Religion itself is the belief in these theories much like a particular route of science will be a belief in that route .

Answer 6

Religion cannot be a theory. A theory is a proven hypothesis, and accepted scientific truth. I am not aware of any religion that places a clear hypothesis to be tested through experimentation to ascertain correctness.

Do not confuse religion and science, they are not the same.

Answer 7

Nope a theory suggests more of a scientific measure of something. Religion is a belief that you either have or you don't have.

Anyways your sure to get strong answers from both set's of "extremists"

Answer 8

Evolution is not a theory in the sense that god's existence is a theory. Evolution is a fact, god is nonsense.

Does that answer your question?

Answer 9

Yup, it's pure conjecture - and a very silly theory.

Answer 10

"Theory" is usually used where there is some empircally testable proposition put forward as a result of other factors that have been established to be true/ false/ probable.

Religion is nowhere near this level of sophistication.