“Every Church claims that ‘we are the true Church’ and that they have some ultimate authority. We have the infallible Pope;  the inerrant Bible.

The idea that the Truth of God can be bound in any human system; by any human creed; by any human book is almost beyond imagination. God is not a Christian. God is not a Jew or a Muslim, a Hindu or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which Human being have created only to help walk us through the mystery of God. We honor tradition. We walk through the tradition. But the tradition does not define God. It only points to God.

. -Bishop John Shelby Spong

“No one church, its representative or the government has the authority to define religion, to authorize, or substantiate an individual’s religious beliefs”

.…Eileen Dannemann, Director. National Coalition of Organized Women

VLA Comment paraphrased from Ageless Wisdom:

Religion is the name given to the recognition by the “part” of its relationship to the “Whole”.  It is observed that there is a constantly growing demand by the part (individual) for an increased awareness of that Relation (God). Religion is the experience of the “seeking” aspirant to the “sought-for” Divinity. This archetypical drive towards wholeness (God) is natural to mankind, inherent in all individuals. Therefore,  Religion is natural and personalized foremost to the individual and out of that comes human systems, not the other way around!

…Eileen Dannemann, Director. National Coalition of Organized Women