Religion vs Philosophy
Religion and philosophy are two different topics altogether. Religion is all about practices and customs whereas philosophy is all about metaphysics.
Religion is a belief; it has a set of code of conduct, principles, ethics and morals to follow in one’s life. There are several religions in the world. It only means that people of the world follow different kinds of religion that frame different sets of principles, ethics, morals and codes of conduct to follow for the people that belong to them.
Thus you have Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Sikhism and Jewish to mention some of the religions of the world. Each of these religions prescribes a separate set of principles, ethics and morals along with customs to follow by the people of the particular religion.
Philosophy on the other hand speaks about the realization of the supreme truth. It deals with the topic of life after death. It speaks about the existence of the soul and life hereafter. Philosophy establishes the divine nature of man. It teaches the absolute truth that each soul is potentially divine.
Religion insists on the performance of rituals whereas philosophy does not emphasize the ritualistic aspect of life. Philosophy is in fact construed to be a way of thinking. This is the reason why philosophers are called as thinkers whereas propagators of religions are called leaders.
If you are philosophical then you need not perform rituals and other rites connected with religion, but on the other hand, if you are religious you cannot do away with the performance of rituals and rites. They become part and parcel of your life. This is the basic difference between religion and philosophy. Hence it can be said that religion and philosophy are mutually exclusive and they cannot co-exist.
In Brief:
Religion is a belief in a supreme power and worship of it as the creator and controller of the universe without reasoning whereas philosophy is a pursuit of wisdom by intellectual search and logical reasoning. Philosophy of religion questions the very existence of the supreme power.
Religions discipline the people through a set of code of conduct, principles and ethics whereas philosophy relies on the moral self-discipline.
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