Etymology of the word "Religion"

By Gary Amirault


Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the word back to an old Latin word religio meaning "taboo, restraint." A deeper study discovers the word comes from the two words re and ligare. Re is a prefix meaning "return," and ligare means "to bind;" in other words, "return to bondage." Do you still want some of that "old-time religion"?

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you! Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?"