If we look at history, since the axial age every period and every place somehow confirm the ambiguity of religion. Significant personalities, in various cultures, have evaluated religion with contradicting judgments. Some linked it to the best within human beings, saying that it is precisely religion, which helps to complete the development of an individual as well as the development of humankind by discovering the spiritual dimensions of life. Thus, religion should be the treasure of human culture, the best within it. Others, on the other hand, asserted that religion led people to infatuation, dependence and in the end to violence and murder in religious conflicts and wars. Thus, religion was a sign of immaturity, the worst and therefore most useless element of a culture. Probably no other sphere of life, perhaps with the exception of politics, is perceived in such a radically contradicting way as religion. Why is this so? Does religion contribute to peace or to violence? Does it help to build bridges between cultures and hostile groups and thus contribute to the extension of a dialogical approach to otherness? Or does it support exclusivist language and thought, prejudices and barriers, and so exacerbate existing tensions? People need a spiritual dimension in life. The spiritual development of individuals and of humankind, however, is a very fragile process as well. Mistakes in it have taken a heavy toll. Persecuting “bad religious teachings” or “heresies” in the name of the right one does not seem to be a good solution. Problems with sects, esoteric and new religious movements represent one example connected with the ambiguity of religion. Some expressive events like the collective suicide of members of a California group, the drama of the Order of the Solar Temple, and the carnage caused by the Aoum Sect in Japan gave rise to great anxiety or intolerance as reactions to the world of sects. How can we protect society from such groups, but at the same time not restrict religious freedom? This question is so important that the Council of Europe dealt with it twice and issued some recommendations (Council of Europe 1992, 1999). The freedom of conscience and religion is guaranteed byArticle 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but there is no accepted legal definition of religion. 7 The ambiguity of own and alien Religion is a multidimensional phenomenon, a complex reality; and therefore it is not possible to find precise borders between the religious aspect and other aspects of the life of an individual or of a society. They influence each other and so it is difficult to come to genuine reasons for some observable facts. The psychic structure of people influences their religious behaviour. There are many aspects, which can be analysed: the difference between witnessing and manipulation; the role of the subconscious in religious experience; religious behaviour as a defensive mechanism on occasions of unmanaged troubles. Spirituality Studies 1 (1) Spring 2015 117 (5)
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