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Religion and History

One of the themes to ponder in the context of secularism is how to approach the idea of ​​the difference between Religion and History. These two domains have this in common, that they speak to us about building narratives, and also establishing causality in chains of events. The sacred narration, represented by the readings of religious texts, reveals an avowed goal, that of bringing the reader to a personal transcendence, to a higher moral level. The idea of ​​reality conveyed by the field of historical research, by the assiduous examination of archeology, documents and their dating, allow us to situate the multiple contexts of the eras studied, as so many comparisons with our contemporary life. It is inevitable to view the past through the glasses of the present. But we like to see ourselves in the mirror of the past. By studying history we rediscover our humanity, fragile, uncertain, and surprising. History often deconstructs heroes and returns them to their human size. Religion does it differently, it does this from within. It is not, she says, that because people were Pharaohs or Cesars and they left gigantic monuments that they were human beings awesome in their humanity. Religion reminds us of this constantly.
Each of these two areas of Religion and History is important, and they should not be put in opposition. There will always be people who are more inclined towards each other, and also people who like both. Only those who are confronted with a one-sided dogmatism, suffer from this multiplicity of which the human mind is capable. The religious and the historical live very well on the same earth, and under the same sky.

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