Definitions HQ

Religion (n.) for ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Hegel is not just human consciousness of God but the absolute's own consciousness of itself, still dim and embodied in human minds.

Religion (n.) without ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠philosophy cannot see the limits of its own images: either it takes them as undistorted truth, reading the Bible literally, or it concludes that God is to that extent unknowable.

Religion (n.) cannot ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be an invention foisted on a people by scheming priests; unless it woke some echo in them, they would never accept it. It is always a veiled picture of the truth.

Religion (n.) cannot ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be replaced by philosophy, for Hegel: union with God in thought continues only while union in heart and feeling persists, and the rational state needs its citizens' instinctive sense of its authority.

Religion (n.) built ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠on reason alone rests, as Lessing saw it, on timeless truths, so that Exodus, Incarnation and Resurrection become stories for the childhood of the human race, like cautionary tales told to children.

Religion (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a means to keep the natives quiet would be a serious misreading of Hegel: not all can be philosophers for the same reason not all can be civil servants, the specialization every vocation demands.