RETHINKING RELIGION THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL APPROACH TO INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF UNDERSTANDING RELIGION IN THE NAGA SOCIETY

Abstract

Religion in society has been a complex study for both academic and non-academic disciplines. Defining religion had become an issue since the beginning of world religions. This issue will continue to remain in society, unless world religions avoid imposed definition of religion from the world religions’ perspective. This research aims to study about how religion had been defined by many scholars theologically, politically, culturally, contextually, and how such different approaches never reach the consensus of understanding toward defining religion. In many cases, the definition of religion was imposed by scholars who have power of knowledge and intellectual in the discipline of world religions. The power of defining religion from the world religions’ perspective becomes challenging for people, such as indigenous people who continue to practice their religion from the origin of their fore-parents until today. Religion defined by world religions from the transcendental perspective had led to discrimination against other indigenous religions in various parts of the world, such as the Naga people in India.