I think of rationality as somewhat similar to Buddhism to some respects.
Depending on how we talk about it, Buddhism both is and isn’t a religion. It isn’t in the sense that there’s some core teachings about suffering and how to deal with it that aren’t really what I would call a religion so much as a teaching about a way to live life. In this respect it’s quite similar to rationality.
It is in the sense that there’s lots of religions built up around venerating the Buddha for giving us Buddhism and to support people who practice Buddhist teachings. Note, though, that this isn’t exactly the same thing as the core teachings themselves.
I see rationality in a similar place as stoicism was in the late Roman period: a way of living one’s life that many adopt, but that also isn’t really what we’d call a religion. We could build up religions around it to revere its founders, for example, but we haven’t. Obviously a religion does a lot more than that, as you note (and I know, since I practice Zen), but my point is mainly just to show that there’s some separation between religion and the teachings embedded within a religion and rationality today looks to me a lot like teachings without a religion around them.
I think of rationality as somewhat similar to Buddhism to some respects.
Depending on how we talk about it, Buddhism both is and isn’t a religion. It isn’t in the sense that there’s some core teachings about suffering and how to deal with it that aren’t really what I would call a religion so much as a teaching about a way to live life. In this respect it’s quite similar to rationality.
It is in the sense that there’s lots of religions built up around venerating the Buddha for giving us Buddhism and to support people who practice Buddhist teachings. Note, though, that this isn’t exactly the same thing as the core teachings themselves.
I see rationality in a similar place as stoicism was in the late Roman period: a way of living one’s life that many adopt, but that also isn’t really what we’d call a religion. We could build up religions around it to revere its founders, for example, but we haven’t. Obviously a religion does a lot more than that, as you note (and I know, since I practice Zen), but my point is mainly just to show that there’s some separation between religion and the teachings embedded within a religion and rationality today looks to me a lot like teachings without a religion around them.