Are sects -- especially Nichiren sects -- based on belief systems rather than religious inspiration/aspiration?

I hadn't really thought about the distinction between the two (belief vs. religion) until I read an interesting interview on Salon (hat tip: Tricycle) with James Carse, author of The Case Against Religious Belief:

It sounds like you're saying that belief doesn't need to have any religious associations. You could just as well be talking about Nazism or Maoism or Serbian nationalism.

Exactly. In fact, very passionate believers are often not at all religious. However, it does happen to be the case that people who hold on to beliefs with great passion begin to describe themselves as religious. For example, the Nazis had a kind of pseudo-religious understanding of themselves. Hitler talked about a 10,000-year Reich. That's taken right out of Christian mythology -- the kingdom of God going on forever and ever. The swastika is, after all, in the form of the cross. So Hitler was a passionate believer -- not religious but pseudo-religious -- ascribing to himself some sort of religious aura.

So what is it that holds together a belief system?

A belief system is meant to be a comprehensive network of ideas about what one thinks is absolutely real and true. Within that system, everything is adequately explained and perfectly reasonable. You know exactly how far to go with your beliefs and when to stop your thinking. A belief system is defined by an absolute authority. The authority can be a text or an institution or a person. So it's very important to understand a belief system as independent of religion. After all, Marxism and Nazism were two of the most powerful belief systems ever.

Now, not all Nichiren sects fit this description, but some do. Many sects approach Nichiren's teachings as a belief system rather than a religion.

And if you continue reading the interview, you'll probably begin to wonder if Nichiren Buddhism is a religion at all:

In your book, you say the only defining characteristic of religion is its longevity. It has to be around for a very long time to qualify as a religion.

Exactly. That's a very interesting contrast with belief systems. Belief systems have virtually no longevity. Think of Marxism. As a serious political policy, it lasted only about 70 or 80 years. Nazism only went 12 years. And they were intense, complete, comprehensive, passionately held beliefs. But they ran out very quickly. The reason the great religions don't run out as quickly is that they're able to maintain within themselves a deeper sense of the mystery, of the unknowable, of the unsayable, that keeps the religion alive and guarantees its vitality.

The interview offers supersized food for thought. Read it here.