But they don't stop there, they don't leave us grounded. Our religious tradition has at its core a commitment to freedom that allows us to keep growing and changing. Unlike tomato plants, or teeth, we can stay connected to our roots, and fly free at the same time. The word religion comes from the Latin word religare . It's the same root word that gives us ligament, and ligature, and it means to bind together.
Religion is that which binds things together, which binds people together.
It is a primary source of human community and the place people have always looked when they are trying to struggle with the big picture. The idea of being bound together, in that context, sounds very warm and fuzzy to me - the same idea as those roots holding me close. I take great comfort and joy in knowing that my life is bound up with so many other lives, that I am not alone. But there is another connotation of being bound together. Because any time I am bound together with others, I am to some degree restricted.