Why can't The New York Times' religion columnist define religion?

It's easy if you try

Some argue that religion cannot be specifically defined, some say otherwise.
(Image credit: Simone Golob/Corbis)

One of Leo Strauss' most illuminating essays begins with a provocation: "A social science that cannot speak of tyranny with the same confidence with which medicine speaks, for example, of cancer, cannot understand social phenomena as what they are. It is therefore not scientific."

Something similar might be said about a religion columnist who finds it impossible to define religion.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.