Religion is a broad set of belief systems, practices, and moral codes that define people’s relationships with themselves, others, the supernatural world, and the universe as whole. It typically consists of a central deity or god, a sacred text or scripture, and a set of rules or laws governing behavior that believers are expected to follow in order to maintain a healthy relationship with the divine. Religious traditions also usually include a set of moral coded that help believers choose right over wrong, good over evil, and truth over lies, guiding them to live lives with meaning and purpose.
The concept of religion has long been a subject of intense debate among scholars, philosophers, and theologians. A common assumption is that religion is a single, monolithic thing that is unitary and homogeneous enough to be capable of theoretical explanation. This assumption has generated many different theories of religion, from monotheistic to polytheistic and from functional to essentialist.
It has also become increasingly important for scholars to recognize that definitions are powerful social constructions, that the very way we talk about something shapes its reality, and that different social theories of religion can offer alternative insights into the phenomenon. This awareness has led to a growing emphasis on reflexive research that seeks to pull back the curtain on the assumptions baked into the concept of religion in order to understand its historical realities.
The word “religion” comes from the Latin religio, which means “binding or connecting”. Many religious believers feel a sense of binding together or connecting to a higher power that they believe in, and this feeling can be described as spirituality or faith. A central part of most religions is prayer, ritual, and the practice of piety, which may be combined with a moral code that guides actions and behaviors. Religion is often viewed as a force that motivates people to work for social change, promotes community well-being, and provides guidance for life’s decisions.
Various attempts have been made to develop a definition of religion. Some have taken a lexical approach and tried to identify specific properties that all religions must possess, but this has proven difficult. One problem is that identifying particular characteristics as essential to religion would exclude some peoples and their beliefs from the category. Furthermore, a reliance on a master list of religion-defining features might be ethnocentric.
Other definitions have been more functional and sought to capture a sense of religion as the fundamental motivating force behind all human societies. This approach can be problematic, however, because it may overlook some religions that serve other important functions for their communities, such as promoting social cohesion and encouraging morality. Lastly, it may overstate the influence of religion on society by treating it as if it were the only factor driving social pathologies such as inequality, crime, drug and alcohol addiction, and mental illness. For these reasons, more and more scholars are adopting a polythetic approach to defining religion.