Religion

Religion is belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. Because in no field of human endeavor has the tool of language proved so inadequate in the communication of ideas as it has in dealing with the fundamental questions of man's predicament in life, in death or in final judgment and retribution, the exact distinction between philosophy and religion is difficult to discern. According to Ludwig von Mises, liberalism "is no religion because it demands neither faith nor devotion, because there is nothing mystical about it, and because it has no dogmas."

Views
The three most popular monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, hold that there is one perfect, omniscient and omnipotent God who frequently, or even continually, intervenes in human affairs. Mises notes that the praxeological implications of this are self-contradictory. Of course, praxeology has only ever claimed to deal with human action, not divine action.

Mises also notes the difficulties of productively arguing with theists: The essential problem of all varieties of universalistic, collectivistic, and holistic social philosophy is: By what mark do I recognize the true law, the authentic apostle of God's word, and the legitimate authority. For many claim that Providence has sent them, and each of these prophets preaches another gospel. For the faithful believer there cannot be any doubt; he is fully confident that he has espoused the only true doctrine. But it is precisely the firmness of such beliefs that renders the antagonisms irreconcilable. Each party is prepared to make its own tenets prevail. But as logical argumentation cannot decide between various dissenting creeds, there is no means left for the settlement of such disputes other than armed conflict. The nonrationalist, nonutilitarian, and nonliberal social doctrines must beget wars and civil wars until one of the adversaries is annihilated or subdued. The history of the world's great religions is a record of battles and wars, as is the history of the present-day counterfeit religions, socialism, statolatry, and nationalism.