Much in what he says …

… We Don’t Know What We Are Talking About When We talk about Religion – Medium. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

That the word religion is used in all sorts of imprecise ways, even by those who think of themselves as religious, is certainly true. But I think Rudolf Otto was on to something in The Idea of the Holy. For Otto, religion is grounded in an experience of the numinous, what he calls the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, the fearful and fascinating mystery of the Wholly Other, which inspires fear because of its power, but fascinates because it is merciful.