Episode 39. Let's look at another philosophical definition of religion. Roy Clouser is a philosopher of religion. We introduced him in the key thought section, where he proposed that religious categories are part of everyone's thinking and that many of these are tacit, that is silent, with people not being aware of them. Clouser describes the philosophical method in Quote 19. Logic requires that religious trust can be either well placed or misplaced, as can non-religious trust. Since beliefs about the divine are, as all other beliefs, either true or false, but not both at once. It follows, therefore, that when two beliefs disagree about what is divine, one or both of them must be at least partly false. It is evident from this passage that Clouser's philosophical method both describes and judges the truth value of religion. He asserts that some beliefs are wrong. And of course this is such a counter-cultural idea today in a post-modern world. Clouser is very helpful, in that he asserts that there are two types of trust. Number one, religious trust and number two, non-religious trust. Clouser asserts that these two types of trust can be misplaced. One form is misplaced religious trust, leading to blind faith. And Clouser is also quick to underline that another form of misplaced trust is non-religious trust, leading to blind unbelief. What I like about Clouser's views is that he's very balanced, giving both sides of an issue. Clouser's definition of religion is that all theories are religious. In the thesis statement of his book, he claims in Quote 20, no theory can avoid pre-supposing something to have the status of divinity. In Quote 21, Clouser defines what he means by the divine. He writes, a religious belief is any belief in something or other as divine. Divine means having the status of not depending on anything else. All religions believe that the divine is whatever is just there. According to Clouser, the divine is something or some things, someone or someones that are self-existent and not dependent on anything or anyone. For example, the divine is the eternal god of traditional religions. And the divine can also be eternal energy and matter of secular belief. In Clouser's definition of religion, he identifies two types of religious beliefs. Core beliefs are statements about the characteristics of the divine. And there are a wide variety of attributes. The divine can be personal or impersonal, singular or multiple, and good, evil, and indifferent. Secondary beliefs are statements about how humans relate to the divine. And there are also a wide variety of relationships. The divine can be loved, hated, can be indifferent, worshipped, or not worshipped. Again, we see Clouser's extremely wide definition of religion. Roy Clouser proposes that there are three basic types of religions. Pagan religions, pantheist religions, and Biblical religions. And these are all based on the arrangement of the divine to the non-divine. Now, a word of caution. To reduce religions to only three types is a bit of a cartoon, because religions are much more complex. But for our purposes, Clouser's categories are a reasonable instructional tool. End of episode.