ABOUT the year 1770 a Greek sea-captain named Mikhaeli Yanni left the island of Mykonos in the Archipelago for a trading cruise on the Syrian coast. He was wrecked near Tripoli, losing everything. In Tripoli he found a countryman named Catzeflis, a secretary to the British consulate, and soon after he married a Syrian girl, but died at Damietta while on a voyage to Egypt, leaving three sons and one daughter. Catzeflis, who succeeded Mr. Cary as British consul, married the daughter. Giurgius, the son of Yanni, became British dragoman, and was allowed to wear a white turban while other Christians wore only black. The Moslems admired him and st…

What is religion? This question has puzzled theologians throughout human history. But how did religion start in the first place? Why did it start? In order to understand some of these issues, let us have a look at the etymology of the word “religion” itself, and see that when and where this word was used for the very first time in the human history.

The word religion was used for the very first time in the Latin language. The actual word used in Latin was “religio”, which changed into religion when came into English. The roots of the Arabic word “Mazhab” or “Deen” can also be traced back to “religio”. In the Latin language, the word “religio” had three basic meanings; which are Faith, Trust & Belief.

If you further analyse these three words, faith, trust and belief; then you realize that there are actually three different characteristics