Friday, 3 October 2014

Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice,
Catherine Bell, Oxford University Press, 2009, page 19

Theoretical descriptions of ritual genrally regard it as action and thus automatically distinguish it from the conceptual aspects of religion, such as beliefs, symbols and myths.

Clearly, people have and use ritual at home - the way they squeeze the toothpaste tube and clean their teeth - and at work: the queue for and conversation around the coffee machine or water dispenser. But do we consider our religious activities and beliefs as ritual and is that different from our secular lives?