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{{short description|Sacred belief system}}
{{Religion}}
{{about|a cultural system of behaviors, practices and ethics|other uses|Religion (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Religionsmajoritaries.png|thumb|380px|]]
{{redirect|Religious|the term describing a type of monk or nun|Religious (Western Christianity)}}
A '''religion''' is a set of beliefs regarding the origin, nature, and purpose of existence, usually including a belief in [[supernatural]] entities, such as [[deity]]s or [[spirit]]s that have power in the natural world. Religious practices include the rituals and devotions directed at the supernatural. Often religions believe in the spiritual nature of humans. There are many different religions or [[sect]]s, each with a different set of beliefs. Some beliefs are also concerned with the moral behavior of humans.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion Reference Dictionary - Religion]</ref>
{{distinguish|Religious denomination}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Spirituality sidebar|expanded=religion}}
{{Religion by Country}}
'''Religion''' is a [[social system|social]]-[[cultural system]] of designated [[religious behaviour|behaviors]] and practices, [[morality|morals]], [[worldview]]s, [[religious text|texts]], [[shrine|sanctified places]], [[prophecy|prophecies]], [[ethics in religion|ethics]], or [[religious organization|organizations]], that relates humanity to [[supernatural]], [[transcendence (religion)|transcendental]], and [[spirituality|spiritual]] elements.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion|title=Religion - Definition of Religion by Merriam-Webster|access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morreall |first1=John |last2=Sonn |first2=Tamara |title=50 Great Myths of Religion |chapter=Myth 1: All Societies Have Religions |date=2013 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley]]-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-470-67350-8 |pages=12–17}}</ref><ref name="Nongbri" />


Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the [[Divinity|divine]],{{sfn|James|1902|p=31}} [[Sacred|sacred things]],{{sfn|Durkheim|1915|p=}} [[faith]],<ref name="Tillich, P. 1957 p.1">Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1).</ref> a supernatural being or supernatural beings<ref name="vergote"/> or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life".<ref name="Paul James and Peter Mandaville 2010">{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Paul |last2=Mandaville |first2=Peter |year=2010 |name-list-style=amp |title=Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions |url=https://www.academia.edu/4416072 |publisher=Sage Publications |location=London}}</ref> Religious practices may include [[ritual]]s, [[sermon]]s, commemoration or veneration (of [[deities]] and/or [[saint]]s), [[sacrifice]]s, [[festival]]s, [[Banquet|feasts]], [[trance]]s, [[initiation]]s, [[funeral|funerary services]], [[matrimony|matrimonial services]], [[meditation]], [[prayer]], [[music]], [[art]], [[dance]], [[Community service|public service]], or other aspects of human [[culture]]. Religions have [[sacred history|sacred histories]] and [[narrative]]s, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and [[Religious symbol|symbols]] and [[holy places]], that aim mostly to give a [[meaning of life|meaning to life]]. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the [[creation myth|origin of life]], the [[religious cosmology|universe]], and other things. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of [[religious belief]]s.<ref name="iep.utm.edu">[http://www.iep.utm.edu/faith-re/ Faith and Reason] by James Swindal, in the ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.</ref>
== Religious beliefs ==
Each religion has different ideas about these things. Each religion also has a "[[moral]] code" which is a set of beliefs about how humans should act. Each religion usually has their own type of "devotions" when people worship or pray. They often have [[ritual]]s (special things that are always done in the same way) for certain times of the year or certain times of a person's life. Other words that are used for religion are "faith" and "belief system".<ref>The words "belief system" may not necessarily refer to a religion, though a religion may be referred to as "belief system".</ref> Altogether, followers of religion can be known as 'believers', or 'the faithful'. Few people follow more than one religion at a time.


There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide.<ref>{{cite book |author1= African Studies Association|author2=University of Michigan|title=History in Africa |date=2005 |page=119 |volume= 32}}</ref> About 84% of the world's population is affiliated with [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], or some form of [[folk religion]].<ref name=EB2012 /> The [[Irreligion|religiously unaffiliated]] demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, [[atheism|atheists]], and [[agnosticism|agnostics]]. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs.<ref name="Pew Global Unaffiliated 12/2012">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-unaffiliated.aspx |title=Religiously Unaffiliated |work=The Global Religious Landscape |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]: Religion & Public Life |date=18 December 2012 }}</ref>
The largest religions are [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Taoism]], [[Sikhism]], [[Judaism]] and [[Jainism]]. There are many [[List of religions|other religions]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html|title=Major Religions by adherents|access-date=2009-10-26|archive-date=2008-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615140203/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> People who do not believe in any gods are called [[atheism|atheists]]. People who say that there is no evidence are called [[agnosticism|agnostics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious|title=Secular, Nonreligious, Agnostic, Atheist|access-date=2009-10-26|archive-date=2008-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615140203/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="AtheismAgnosticismSEP">{{cite book|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/|title=Atheism and Agnosticism|year=2022 |publisher=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>


The [[Religious studies|study of religion]] encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including [[theology]], [[comparative religion]] and social scientific studies. [[Theories of religions|Theories of religion]] offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, including the ontological foundations of religious [[being]] and [[belief]].<ref>{{Cite book | year= 2018 | last1= James | first1= Paul | author-link1= Paul James (academic) | chapter= What Does It Mean Ontologically to Be Religious? | title= Religion in a Secular Age: The Struggle for Meaning in an Abstracted World |editor=Stephen Ames |editor2=Ian Barns |editor3=John Hinkson |editor4=Paul James |editor5=Gordon Preece |editor6=Geoff Sharp| chapter-url= https://www.academia.edu/37278937 | publisher= Arena Publications | pages= 56–100}}</ref>
=== God ===
[[File:Rome basilica st peter 011c.jpg|thumb|upright|220px|Statue of [[Saint Peter]] holding the keys of the kingdom of heaven. ([[Gospel of Matthew]] ({{bibleref2|MT|16:18–19|RSVCE|16:18–19}})]]
In many religions, one of the main beliefs is that there is a "deity" (or [[Deity|god]]) who is a great [[Creation myth|creator]] spirit. In many religions, there is just [[Monotheism|one deity]] that the people believe in. In other religions, there are [[Polytheism|many deities]] who each have different roles in the [[universe]]. In many religions, there are other types of spirits. These may include [[angel]]s, [[devil]]s and other such things which can be both good and bad.


==Concept and etymology==
Giving honour to God, the gods or the spirits is an important part of most religions. While this may often be done privately, it is also often done with gatherings of people and [[ritual]]s. These rituals are often based on old [[tradition]]s, and may have been done in almost the same way for hundreds, or even thousands of years.
[[File:Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius - Google Art ProjectFXD.jpg|thumb|The [[Buddha]], [[Laozi]], and [[Confucius]] in a [[Ming dynasty]] painting]]
[[File:Huxisanxiaotu.jpg|thumb|"[[Three laughs at Tiger Brook]]", a [[Song dynasty]] (12th century) painting portraying three men representing [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]] (Daoism), and [[Buddhism]] laughing together.]]


{{See also|Religio|History of Religion}}
[[File:Mother Teresa.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mother Teresa of Calcutta was known for her Christian kindness.]]
''Religion'' (from O.Fr. ''religion'' religious community, from L. ''religionem'' (nom. ''religio'') "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods, sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity",<ref>{{OEtymD|religion}}</ref> "obligation, the bond between man and the gods"<ref>''[[Shorter Oxford English Dictionary]]''</ref>) is derived from the Latin ''[[Religio|religiō]]'', the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to [[Cicero]], connects ''{{lang|la|lego}}'' read, i.e. ''re'' (again) with ''lego'' in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The definition of ''religio'' by [[Cicero]] is ''cultum deorum'', "the proper performance of rites in veneration of the gods."<ref>Cicero, ''De natura deorum'' II, 28.</ref> Julius Caesar used ''religio'' to mean "obligation of an oath" when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Caesar |first1=Julius |translator-last1=McDevitte |translator-first1=W.A. |translator-first2=W.S. |translator-last2=Bohn |title=The Works of Julius Caesar: Parallel English and Latin |date=2007 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=978-1-60506-355-3 |pages=377–378 |chapter=Civil Wars – Book 1|quote= Sic terror oblatus a ducibus, crudelitas in supplicio, nova religio iurisiurandi spem praesentis deditionis sustulit mentesque militum convertit et rem ad pristinam belli rationem redegit." – (Latin); "Thus the terror raised by the generals, the cruelty and punishments, the new obligation of an oath, removed all hopes of surrender for the present, changed the soldiers' minds, and reduced matters to the former state of war."- (English)}}</ref> The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder used the term ''religio'' on elephants in that they venerate the sun and the moon.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pliny the Elder |chapter=Elephants; Their Capacity |title=The Natural History, Book VIII |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D1 |publisher=Tufts University |language=en |quote={{lang-la|maximum est elephans proximumque humanis sensibus, quippe intellectus illis sermonis patrii et imperiorum obedientia, officiorum quae didicere memoria, amoris et gloriae voluptas, immo vero, quae etiam in homine rara, probitas, prudentia, aequitas, religio quoque siderum solisque ac lunae veneratio.}}" "The elephant is the largest of them all, and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man. It understands the language of its country, it obeys commands, and it remembers all the duties which it has been taught. It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, and equity; it has a religious respect also for the stars, and a veneration for the sun and the moon."}}</ref> Modern scholars such as [[Tom Harpur]] and [[Joseph Campbell]] favor the derivation from ''{{lang|la|ligare}}'' bind, connect, probably from a prefixed ''{{lang|la|re-ligare}}'', i.e. ''re'' (again) + ''ligare'' or to reconnect, which was made prominent by [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], following the interpretation given by [[Lactantius]] in ''Divinae institutiones'', IV, 28.<ref>In ''The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light.'' Toronto. Thomas Allen, 2004. {{ISBN|0-88762-145-7}}</ref><ref>In ''[[The Power of Myth]],'' with Bill Moyers, ed. Betty Sue Flowers, New York, Anchor Books, 1991. {{ISBN|0-385-41886-8}}</ref> The medieval usage alternates with ''order'' in designating bonded communities like those of [[monastic orders]]: "we hear of the 'religion' of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece|Golden Fleece]], of a knight 'of the [[Order of Aviz|religion of Avys]]'".<ref name="Huizinga Middle">{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |title=The Waning of the Middle Ages |date=1924 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=86|title-link=The Autumn of the Middle Ages }}</ref>


In classic antiquity, 'religio' broadly meant conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation, or duty to anything.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religio |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0060%3Aentry%3Dreligio |website=Latin Word Study Tool |publisher=Tufts University}}</ref> In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root ''religio'' was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts; never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge.<ref name="Harrison Territories" /><ref name="Roberts Jon">{{cite book|last1=Roberts|first1=Jon|editor1-last=Shank|editor1-first=MIchael|editor2-last=Numbers|editor2-first=Ronald|editor3-last=Harrison|editor3-first=Peter|title=Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science|date=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-31783-0|page=254|chapter=10. Science and Religion}}</ref> In general, ''religio'' referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family, neighbors, rulers, and even towards God.<ref name="50 great" /> ''Religio'' was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods, but as a range of general emotions such as hesitation, caution, anxiety, fear; feelings of being bound, restricted, inhibited; which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context.<ref name="religio roman">{{cite book |last1=Barton |first1=Carlin |last2=Boyarin |first2=Daniel |title=Imagine No Religion : How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities |date=2016 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-7120-7 |chapter=1. 'Religio' without "Religion" |pages=15–38}}</ref> The term was also closely related to other terms like ''scrupulus'' which meant "very precisely" and some Roman authors related the term ''superstitio'', which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame, to ''religio'' at times.<ref name="religio roman" /> When ''religio'' came into English around the 1200s as religion, it took the meaning of "life bound by monastic vows" or monastic orders.<ref name="Huizinga Middle" /><ref name="50 great" /> The compartmentalized concept of religion, where religious things were separated from worldly things, was not used before the 1500s.<ref name="50 great" /> The concept of religion was first used in the 1500s to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities.<ref name="50 great">{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths about Religions|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-470-67350-8|pages=12–17|chapter=Myth 1: All Societies Have Religions}}</ref>
=== Human spirit ===
 
Another main belief is that humans have a "soul" or spirit which lives on after their body has died. The person's spirit is on a journey through life that continues after death. Most religions believe that what a person does during their lifetime will affect what happens to their spirit in the [[afterlife]]. Many religions teach that a good person's spirit can reach a special place of peace and happiness such as [[Heaven]] or [[Nirvana]], and that a bad person's spirit can travel to a place of pain and suffering such as [[Hell]]. Still other religions believe in [[reincarnation]] - that instead of going either to Heaven or Hell, spirits of the dead return to earth in a new body.
In the ancient Greece, the Greek term ''threskeia'' was loosely translated into Latin as ''religio'' in late antiquity. The term was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in the writings of Josephus in the first century CE. It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others; to cultic practices. It was often contrasted with the Greek word ''deisidaimonia'' which meant too much fear.<ref name="threskeia greece">{{cite book |last1=Barton |first1=Carlin |last2=Boyarin |first2=Daniel |title=Imagine No Religion : How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities |date=2016 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-7120-7 |chapter=8. Imagine No 'Threskeia': The Task of the Untranslator  |pages=123–134}}</ref>
 
The modern concept of religion, as an abstraction that entails distinct sets of beliefs or doctrines, is a recent invention in the English language. Such usage began with texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of [[Christendom]] during the [[Protestant Reformation]] and globalization in the age of exploration, which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non-European languages.<ref name="Harrison Territories">{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Peter |title=The Territories of Science and Religion |date=2015 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-18448-7}}</ref><ref name="Roberts Jon" /><ref name="Religion enlightenment">{{cite book|last1=Harrison|first1=Peter|title='Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-89293-3}}</ref>
Some argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non-Western cultures.<ref name=dubuisson>{{cite book|first1=Daniel|last1=Dubuisson|title=The Western Construction of Religion : Myths, Knowledge, and Ideology|date=2007|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=978-0-8018-8756-7}}</ref><ref name="Fitzgerald"/> Others argue that using religion on non-Western cultures distorts what people do and believe.<ref name="Smith Meaning and End">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Wilfred Cantwell |title=The Meaning and End of Religion|date=1991|publisher=Fortress Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0-8006-2475-0}}</ref>
 
The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries,<ref name=Nongbri1>{{cite book |last1=Nongbri |first1=Brent |title=Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept|page=152 |quote=Although the Greeks, Romans, Mesopotamians, and many other peoples have long histories, the stories of their respective religions are of recent pedigree. The formation of ancient religions as objects of study coincided with the formation of religion itself as a concept of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.|date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15416-0}}</ref><ref name="Religion enlightenment1">{{cite book|last1=Harrison|first1=Peter|title='Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment|url=https://archive.org/details/religionreligion00harr|url-access=limited|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=[https://archive.org/details/religionreligion00harr/page/n11 1]|isbn=978-0-521-89293-3|quote=That there exist in the world such entities as 'the religions' is an uncontroversial claim...However, it was not always so. The concepts 'religion' and 'the religions', as we presently understand them, emerged quite late in Western thought, during the Enlightenment. Between them, these two notions provided a new framework for classifying particular aspects of human life.}}</ref> despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nongbri |first1=Brent |title=Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept |chapter=2. Lost in Translation: Inserting "Religion" into Ancient Texts |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15416-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths about Religions|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-470-67350-8|page=13|quote=Many languages do not even have a word equivalent to our word 'religion'; nor is such a word found in either the Bible or the Qur'an.}}</ref> For example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and [[Judaism]] does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.<ref>Hershel Edelheit, Abraham J. Edelheit,  [https://www.questia.com/library/book/history-of-zionism-a-handbook-and-dictionary-by-abfaham-j-edelheit-hershel-edelheit.jsp History of Zionism: A Handbook and Dictionary], p. 3, citing [[Solomon Zeitlin]], ''The Jews. Race, Nation, or Religion?'' (Philadelphia: Dropsie College Press, 1936).</ref> One of its central concepts is ''[[halakha]]'', meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law, which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life.<ref name="WhitefordII2008">{{cite book |last1=Whiteford |first1=Linda M. |last2=Trotter II |first2=Robert T. |title=Ethics for Anthropological Research and Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeokAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |year=2008 |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-1-4786-1059-5 |page=22}}</ref> Even though the beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world, ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals.<ref name="Burns Jewish">{{cite book|last1=Burns|first1=Joshua Ezra|editor1-last=Omar|editor1-first=Irfan|editor2-last=Duffey|editor2-first=Michael|title=Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-118-95342-6|chapter=3. Jewish ideologies of Peace and Peacemaking|pages=86–87|date=2015-06-22}}</ref> Even in the 1st century CE, Josephus had used the Greek term ''ioudaismos'', which some translate as Judaism today, even though he used it as an ethnic term, not one linked to modern abstract concepts of religion as a set of beliefs.<ref name=Nongbri /> It was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity.<ref name="Burns Jewish" /> The Greek word ''threskeia'', which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus, is found in the New Testament. ''Threskeia'' is sometimes translated as religion in today's translations, however, the term was understood as worship well into the medieval period.<ref name=Nongbri>{{cite book |last1=Nongbri |first1=Brent |title=Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15416-0}}</ref> In the Quran, the Arabic word ''[[Din (Arabic)|din]]'' is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up to the mid-1600s translators expressed ''din'' as law.<ref name=Nongbri />
 
The [[Sanskrit]] word [[dharma]], sometimes translated as religion,<ref name="14.1A: The Nature of Religion">{{cite web |title=14.1A: The Nature of Religion |url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Book%3A_Sociology_(Boundless)/14%3A_Religion/14.01%3A_The_Nature_of_Religion/14.1A%3A_The_Nature_of_Religion#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20the%20Sanskrit%20word,and%20ceremonial%20and%20practical%20traditions.&text=Some%20religions%20place%20an%20emphasis%20on%20belief%20while%20others%20emphasize%20practice. |website=Social Sci LibreTexts |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en |date=15 August 2018}}</ref> also means law. Throughout classical [[South Asia]], the [[Dharmaśāstra|study of law]] consisted of concepts such as [[Prāyaścitta|penance through piety]] and [[Ācāra|ceremonial as well as practical traditions]]. Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Toshio |last=Kuroda |author-link=Toshio Kuroda |translator=Jacqueline I. Stone |url=http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/477.pdf |title=The Imperial Law and the Buddhist Law |access-date=2010-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030323095019/http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/477.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2003 |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |pages= 23.3–4 |date=1996}}</ref><ref>Neil McMullin. ''Buddhism and the State in Sixteenth-Century Japan''. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1984.</ref>
 
Though traditions, sacred texts, and practices have existed throughout time, most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and [[world religions]] first entered the English language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Peter |title=The Territories of Science and Religion |date=2015|page=101 |quote=The first recorded use of "Boudhism" was 1801, followed by "Hindooism" (1829), "Taouism" (1838), and "Confucianism" (1862) (see figure 6). By the middle of the nineteenth century these terms had secured their place in the English lexicon, and the putative objects to which they referred became permanent features of our understanding of the world. |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-18448-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Jason Ananda |title=The Invention of Religion in Japan |date=2012 |page=12|quote=The early nineteenth century saw the emergence of much of this terminology, including the formation of the terms Boudhism (1801), Hindooism (1829), Taouism (1839), Zoroastri-anism (1854), and Confucianism (1862). This construction of "religions" was not merely the production of European translation terms, but the reification of systems of thought in a way strikingly divorced from their original cultural milieu. The original discovery of religions in different cultures was rooted in the assumption that each people had its own divine "revelation," or at least its own parallel to Christianity. In the same period, however, European and American explorers often suggested that specific African or Native American tribes lacked religion altogether. Instead these groups were reputed to have only superstitions and as such they were seen as less than human.|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-41234-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths about Religions|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-470-67350-8|page=12|quote=The phrase "World Religions" came into use when the first Parliament of the World's Religions was held in Chicago in 1893. Representation at the Parliament was not comprehensive. Naturally, Christians dominated the meeting, and Jews were represented. Muslims were represented by a single American Muslim. The enormously diverse traditions of India were represented by a single teacher, while three teachers represented the arguably more homogenous strains of Buddhist thought. The indigenous religions of the Americas and Africa were not represented. Nevertheless, since the convening of the Parliament, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism have been commonly identified as World Religions. They are sometimes called the "Big Seven" in Religious Studies textbooks, and many generalizations about religion have been derived from them.}}</ref> No one self-identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths about Religions|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-470-67350-8|page=14|quote=Before the British colonized India, for example, the people there had no concept "religion" and no concept "Hinduism." There was no word "Hindu" in classical India, and no one spoke of "Hinduism" until the 1800s. Until the introduction of that term, Indians identified themselves by any number of criteria—family, trade or profession, or social level, and perhaps the scriptures they followed or the particular deity or deities upon whose care they relied in various contexts or to whom they were devoted. But these diverse identities were united, each an integral part of life; no part existed in a separate sphere identified as "religious." Nor were the diverse traditions lumped together under the term "Hinduism" unified by sharing such common features of religion as a single founder, creed, theology, or institutional organization.}}</ref> "Hindu" has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref name=brian111>{{citation|last=Pennington|first=Brian K.|title=Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7drluePK-acC&pg=PA111|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803729-3|pages=111–118}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lloyd Ridgeon|title=Major World Religions: From Their Origins to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFKBAgAAQBAJ |year= 2003|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-42935-6|pages=10–11}}, Quote: "It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient, and in a sense this is true (...). It was formed by adding the English suffix -ism, of Greek origin, to the word ''Hindu'', of Persian origin; it was about the same time that the word ''Hindu'', without the suffix -ism, came to be used mainly as a religious term. (...) The name ''Hindu'' was first a geographical name, not a religious one, and it originated in the languages of Iran, not of India. (...) They referred to the non-Muslim majority, together with their culture, as 'Hindu'. (...) Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion, the word came to have religious implications, and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion. (...) However, it is a religious term that the word ''Hindu'' is now used in English, and Hinduism is the name of a religion, although, as we have seen, we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us."</ref> Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of religion since there was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this idea.<ref name="Invention Japan">{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Jason Ananda |title=The Invention of Religion in Japan |date=2012 |pages=1, 11–12 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-41234-4}}</ref><ref name="japan Galen">{{cite book|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Phil|last2=Galen|first2=Luke|last3=Pasquale|first3=Frank|title=The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-992494-3|pages=39–40|chapter=2. Secularity around the World|quote=It was only in response to Western cultural contact in the late nineteenth century that a Japanese word for religion (shukyo) came into use. It tends to be associated with foreign, founded, or formally organized traditions, particularly Christianity and other monotheisms, but also Buddhism and new religious sects.}}</ref>
 
According to the [[philologist]] [[Max Müller]] in the 19th century, the root of the English word religion, the [[Latin]] ''[[:wikt:religio|religio]]'', was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, [[pietas|piety]] (which [[Cicero]] further derived to mean diligence).<ref>[[Max Müller]], ''Natural Religion'', p. 33, 1889</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2340976 Lewis & Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'']</ref> [[Max Müller]] characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law.<ref>[[Max Müller]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA28&id=aM0FAAAAQAAJ&as_brr=4 Introduction to the science of religion]''. p. 28.</ref>
 
==Definition==
[[File:16 religionist symbols.png|thumb|Religious symbols from left to right, top to bottom: [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Judaism]], the [[Baháʼí Faith]], [[Eckankar]], [[Sikhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Wicca]], [[Unitarian Universalism]], [[Shinto]], [[Taoism]], [[Thelema]], [[Tenrikyo]], and [[Zoroastrianism]]]]
{{Main|Definition of religion}}
Scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. There are, however, two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.<ref>Vgl. Johann Figl: ''Handbuch Religionswissenschaft: Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen.'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, {{ISBN|3-7022-2508-0}}, S. 65.</ref><ref>Julia Haslinger: ''Die Evolution der Religionen und der Religiosität,'' s. [[Religion#Religionsgeschichte|Literatur Religionsgeschichte]], S. 3–4, 8.</ref><ref>Johann Figl: ''Handbuch Religionswissenschaft: Religionen und ihre zentralen Themen.'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, {{ISBN|3-7022-2508-0}}, S. 67.</ref><ref>In: Friedrich Schleichermacher: ''Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der evangelischen Kirche.'' Berlin 1821/22. Neuausg. Berlin 1984, §&nbsp;3/4. Zit. nach: [[Walter Burkert]]: ''Kulte des Altertums. Biologische Grundlagen der Religion.'' 2. Auflage. C.H. Beck, München 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-406-43355-9}}, S. 102.</ref><ref>Peter Antes: ''Religion, religionswissenschaftlich.'' In: EKL Bd. 3, Sp. 1543.  S. 98.</ref>
 
===Modern Western===
The concept of religion originated in the [[modern era|modern]] [[Western culture|Western]] era.<ref name="Fitzgerald">{{Cite book|first=Timothy|last=Fitzgerald|title=Discourse on Civility and Barbarity|url=https://archive.org/details/discourseoncivil00fitz|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|pages=[https://archive.org/details/discourseoncivil00fitz/page/n57 45]–46}}</ref> Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages.<ref name="Nongbri" /><ref name="50 great" /> Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition.<ref>McKinnon, AM.  2002).  [http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/3073/1/McKinnon_Definition_of_Religion_author_version_no_format.pdf "Sociological Definitions, Language Games and the 'Essence' of Religion"]. ''Method & Theory in the Study of Religion'', vol 14, no. 1, pp. 61–83.</ref><ref>Josephson, Jason Ānanda. (2012) ''The Invention of Religion in Japan.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 257</ref> Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.<ref name="dubuisson"/><ref name="Fitzgerald"/>
 
An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion.<ref>{{cite journal | last=McKinnon | first=A.M. |date=2002 |title=Sociological definitions, language games, and the 'essence' of religion | journal=Method & Theory in the Study of Religion | volume=14 | issue=1 | issn=0943-3058 | doi=10.1163/157006802760198776 | pages=61–83 |url=http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/3073/1/McKinnon_Definition_of_Religion_author_version_no_format.pdf |access-date=20 July 2017| citeseerx=10.1.1.613.6995 }}</ref> They observe that the way we use the concept today is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside the West (or even in the West until after the [[Peace of Westphalia]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Wilfred Cantwell |date=1978 |title=The Meaning and End of Religion |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Row}}</ref> The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states:
{{quote|The very attempt to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode, what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurately, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when downgraded culturally, is formative of the [[dichotomy|dichotomous]] Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity and all else, between the creator and his creation, between God and man.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=King |first=W.L. |date=2005 |article=Religion (First Edition) |editor-link=Mircea Eliade |editor-first=Mircea |editor-last=Eliade |title=The Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|MacMillan Reference US]] |edition=2nd |page=7692}}</ref>}}
 
The anthropologist [[Clifford Geertz]] defined religion as a
{{quote|[…] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."{{sfn|Geertz|1993|pp=87–125}}}}
 
Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that
{{quote|[…] we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is accomplished. We just know that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it.{{sfn|Geertz|1993|p=90}}}}
 
The theologian [[Antoine Vergote]] took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency. He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion, which he defined as
{{quote|[…] the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings.<ref name="vergote">Vergote, A. (1996) ''Religion, Belief and Unbelief. A Psychological Study'', Leuven University Press. (p. 16)</ref>}}
 
[[Peter Mandaville]] and [[Paul James (academic)|Paul James]] intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence/transcendence, spirituality/materialism, and sacredness/secularity. They define religion as
{{quote|[…] a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is ''lived'' as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.<ref name="Paul James and Peter Mandaville 2010" />}}
 
According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions, there is an experiential aspect to religion which can be found in almost every culture:
{{quote|[…] almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences […] toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience—varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture.<ref>MacMillan Encyclopedia of religions, ''Religion'', p. 7695</ref>}}
 
===Classical===
[[File:Будажап Цыреторов.JPG|thumb|Budazhap Shiretorov (Будажап Цыреторов), the head shaman of the religious community Altan Serge (Алтан Сэргэ) in [[Buryatia]].]]
[[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] in the late 18th century defined religion as ''das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl'', commonly translated as "the feeling of absolute dependence".<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0034412504007462|title='Feeling of absolute dependence' or 'absolute feeling of dependence'? A question revisited|journal=Religious Studies|volume=41|pages=81–94|year=2005|last1=Finlay|first1=Hueston E.}}</ref>
 
His contemporary [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit."<ref>[[Max Müller]]. "Lectures on the origin and growth of religion."</ref>
 
[[Edward Burnett Tylor]] defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings".<ref name="archive.org">Tylor, E.B. (1871) ''[https://archive.org/stream/primitiveculture1tylouoft#page/424/mode/2up Primitive Culture: Researches Into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. Vol. 1]''. London: John Murray; (p. 424).</ref> He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or [[idolatry]] and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.
 
In his book ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]'', the psychologist [[William James]] defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".{{sfn|James|1902|p=31}} By the term divine James meant "any object that is god''like'', whether it be a concrete deity or not"{{sfn|James|1902|p=34}} to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.{{sfn|James|1902|p=38}}
 
The sociologist [[Émile Durkheim]], in his seminal book ''[[The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life]]'', defined religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".{{sfn|Durkheim|1915|p=}} By sacred things he meant things "set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them". Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.<ref group=note>That is how, according to Durkheim, Buddhism is a religion. "In default of gods, Buddhism admits the existence of sacred things, namely, the [[Four Noble Truths|four noble truths]] and the practices derived from them" {{harvnb|Durkheim|1915|p=}}</ref> On the contrary, a sacred thing can be "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred".{{sfn|Durkheim|1915|p=37}} Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them.{{sfn|Durkheim|1915|pp=40–41}}
 
Echoes of James' and Durkheim's definitions are to be found in the writings of, for example, [[Frederick Ferré]] who defined religion as "one's way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively".<ref>Frederick Ferré, F. (1967) ''Basic modern philosophy of religion''. Scribner, (p. 82).</ref> Similarly, for the theologian [[Paul Tillich]], faith is "the state of being ultimately concerned",<ref name="Tillich, P. 1957 p.1"/> which "is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man's spiritual life."<ref>Tillich, P. (1959) ''Theology of Culture''. Oxford University Press; (p. 8).</ref>
 
When religion is seen in terms of sacred, divine, intensive valuing, or ultimate concern, then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g., those made by [[Richard Dawkins]]) do not necessarily disturb its adherents.<ref>Pecorino, P.A. (2001) [http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/pecorip/scccweb/etexts/phil_of_religion_text/CHAPTER_10_DEFINITION/The-Definition-of-Religion.htm ''Philosophy of Religion. Online Textbook''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619213234/http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/pecorip/scccweb/etexts/phil_of_religion_text/CHAPTER_10_DEFINITION/The-Definition-of-Religion.htm |date=19 June 2013 }}. Philip A. Pecorino.</ref>
 
==Aspects==
 
===Beliefs===
{{Main|Religious beliefs}}
Traditionally, [[faith]], in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs, have been a subject of interest to philosophers and theologians.<ref name="iep.utm.edu"/> The origin of religious belief as such is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Zeigler |first=David |date=January–February 2020 |title=Religious Belief from Dreams? |magazine=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |location=Amherst, N.Y. |publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=51–54}}</ref>
 
====Mythology====
{{Main|Mythology}}
The word ''myth'' has several meanings.
# A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;
# A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or
# A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being.<ref>Joseph Campbell, ''The Power of Myth'', p. 22 {{ISBN|0-385-24774-5}}</ref>
 
Ancient [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religions, such as those of [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], and [[Scandinavia]], are usually categorized under the heading of [[mythology]]. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or [[culture]]s in development, are similarly called myths in the [[anthropology of religion]]. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. [[Joseph Campbell]] remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as ''other people's'' religions, and religion can be defined as mis-interpreted mythology."<ref>Joseph Campbell, ''Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor''. Ed. Eugene Kennedy. New World Library {{ISBN|1-57731-202-3}}.</ref>
 
In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group whether or not it is objectively or provably true.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/myth|title=myth|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref> Examples include the [[resurrection]] of their real-life founder [[Jesus]], which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the [[symbol]]ism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is what is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.
 
===Practices===
{{Main|Religious behaviour|Cult (religious practice)}}
The practices of a religion may include [[ritual]]s, [[sermon]]s, commemoration or veneration (of a [[deity]], [[God (male deity)|gods]], or [[goddess]]es), [[sacrifice]]s, [[festival]]s, [[Banquet|feasts]], [[trance]]s, [[initiation]]s, [[funeral|funerary services]], [[matrimony|matrimonial services]], [[meditation]], [[prayer]], [[religious music]], [[religious art]], [[sacred dance]], [[Community service|public service]], or other aspects of human culture.<ref name="OD">[http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mythology Oxford Dictionaries] mythology, retrieved 9 September 2012</ref>
 
===Social organisation===
Religions have a societal basis, either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants, or with an organized [[clergy]], and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership.
 
==Academic study==
{{Main|Religious studies|Classifications of religious movements}}
A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion: [[theology]], [[comparative religion]], [[history of religion]], [[evolutionary origin of religions]], [[anthropology of religion]], [[psychology of religion]] (including [[neurotheology|neuroscience of religion]] and [[evolutionary psychology of religion]]), [[law and religion]], and [[sociology of religion]].
 
Daniel L. Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion, focusing on various aspects of religion: [[animism]] and [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]], by [[Edward Burnett Tylor|E.B. Tylor]] and [[J.G. Frazer]]; the [[Psychoanalysis|psycho-analytic]] approach of [[Sigmund Freud]]; and further [[Émile Durkheim]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Max Weber]], [[Mircea Eliade]], [[E.E. Evans-Pritchard]], and [[Clifford Geertz]].{{sfn|Pals|2006}}
 
[[Michael Stausberg]] gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion, including [[Cognitive science of religion|cognitive]] and biological approaches.{{sfn|Stausberg|2009}}
 
===Theories===
{{Main|Theories of religion}}
[[Sociology of religion|Sociological]] and [[Anthropology of religion|anthropological]] theories of religion generally attempt to explain the [[origin of religion|origin]] and [[social function|function of religion]].<ref>{{harvnb|Segal|2005|p=49}}</ref> These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of [[religious belief]] and [[Religious behaviour|practice]].
 
====Origins and development====
{{Main|History of religion}}
[[File:Yazilikaya B 12erGruppe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Yazılıkaya]] sanctuary in [[Turkey]], with the twelve gods of the underworld]]
The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices.
 
According to [[anthropologists]] John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success—and many movements come and go with little long-term effect—has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement."<ref>{{cite book |title=Social & Cultural Anthropology |url=https://archive.org/details/socialculturalan00mona |url-access=limited |last1=Monaghan |first1=John |last2=Just |first2=Peter |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-285346-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/socialculturalan00mona/page/n136 126]}}</ref>
 
The [[development of religion]] has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their [[law]]s and [[cosmology]] to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places, religion has been associated with public institutions such as [[education]], [[hospital]]s, the [[family]], [[government]], and [[politics|political]] hierarchies.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book |title=Social & Cultural Anthropology |url=https://archive.org/details/socialculturalan00mona |url-access=limited |last1=Monaghan |first1=John |last2=Just |first2=Peter |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-285346-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/socialculturalan00mona/page/n134 124]}}</ref>
 
Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune."<ref name=autogenerated1 />
 
====Cultural system====
While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in [[religious studies]] courses, was proposed by [[Clifford Geertz]], who simply called it a "cultural system".<ref>Clifford Geertz, ''Religion as a Cultural System'', 1973</ref> A critique of Geertz's model by [[Talal Asad]] categorized religion as "an [[anthropology|anthropological]] category".<ref>Talal Asad, ''The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category'', 1982.</ref> Richard Niebuhr's (1894–1962) five-fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture, however, indicates that religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems, though not without some interplay.<ref>Richard Niebuhr, ''Christ and Culture'' (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1951) as cited by Domenic Marbaniang, "The Gospel and Culture: Areas of Conflict, Consent, and Conversion", ''Journal of Contemporary Christian'' Vol. 6, No. 1 (Bangalore: CFCC, Aug 2014), {{ISSN|2231-5233}} pp. 9–10</ref>
 
====Social constructionism====
{{Main|Theories about religions#Social constructionism|l1=Social constructionism}}
One modern academic theory of religion, [[social constructionism]], says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all [[spirituality|spiritual]] practice and [[worship]] follows a model similar to the [[Abrahamic religions]] as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.<ref name="vergote 89">Vergote, Antoine, ''Religion, belief and unbelief: a psychological study'', Leuven University Press, 1997, p. 89</ref> Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, and Jason Ānanda Josephson. The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures.
 
====Cognitive science====
{{Main|Cognitive science of religion}}
 
Cognitive science of religion is the study of religious thought and behavior from the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barrett |first1=Justin L. |title=Cognitive Science of Religion: What Is It and Why Is It? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00042.x |website=Religion Compass |access-date=10 January 2021 |pages=768–786 |language=en |doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00042.x |date=2007}}</ref> The field employs methods and theories from a very broad range of disciplines, including: [[cognitive psychology]], [[evolutionary psychology]], [[cognitive anthropology]], [[artificial intelligence]], [[cognitive neuroscience]], [[neurobiology]], [[zoology]], and [[ethology]].  Scholars in this field seek to explain how human minds acquire, generate, and transmit religious thoughts, practices, and schemas by means of ordinary cognitive capacities.
 
Hallucinations and delusions related to religious content occurs in about 60% of people with [[schizophrenia]]. While this number varies across cultures, this had led to theories about a number of influential religious phenomenon and possible relation to psychotic disorders. A number of prophetic experiences are consistent with psychotic symptoms, although retrospective diagnoses are practically impossible.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nicholson|first1=PT|title=Psychosis and paroxysmal visions in the lives of the founders of world religions.|journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences|volume=26|issue=1|date=2014|pages=E13–14|doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.12120412|pmid=24515692}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Murray|first1=ED|last2=Cunningham|first2=MG|last3=Price|first3=BH|title=The role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered.|journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences|volume=24|issue=4|date=2012|pages=410–426|doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11090214|pmid=23224447}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Weber|first1=SR|last2=Pargament|first2=KI|title=The role of religion and spirituality in mental health.|journal=Current Opinion in Psychiatry|date=September 2014|volume=27|issue=5|pages=358–363|doi=10.1097/YCO.0000000000000080|pmid=25046080|s2cid=9075314}}</ref> Schizophrenic episodes are also experienced by people who do not have belief in gods.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Reina|first1=Aaron|title=Faith Within Atheism|journal=Schizophrenia Bulletin|date=July 2014|volume=40|issue=4|pages=719–720|doi=10.1093/schbul/sbt076|pmid=23760918|pmc=4059423}}</ref>
 
Religious content is also common in [[temporal lobe epilepsy]], and [[obsessive-compulsive disorder]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Favazza|first1=A|editor1-last=Sadock|editor1-first=B|editor2-last=Sadock|editor2-first=V|editor3-last=Ruiz|editor3-first=P|title=Kaplan and Sadocks Comprehensive Texbook of Psychiatry|publisher=Wolters Kluwer|edition=10th|chapter=Psychiatry and Spirituality}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Altschuler|first1=EL|title=Temporal lobe epilepsy in the priestly source of the Pentateuch|journal=South African Medical Journal|date=2004|volume=11|issue=94|page=870|pmid=15587438}}</ref> Atheistic content is also found to be common with temporal lobe epilepsy.<ref name="Heilman">{{cite book|last1=Heilman|first1=Kenneth M.|last2=Valenstein|first2=Edward |title=Clinical Neuropsychology|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-19-538487-1|page=488|quote=Studies that claim to show no difference in emotional makeup between temporal lobe and other epileptic patients (Guerrant et. al., 1962; Stevens, 1966) have been reinterpreted (Blumer, 1975) to indicate that there is, in fact, a difference: those with temporal lobe epilepsy are more likely to have more serious forms of emotional disturbance. This typical personality of temporal lobe epileptic patient has been described in roughly similar terms over many years (Blumer & Benson, 1975; Geschwind, 1975, 1977; Blumer, 1999; Devinsky & Schachter, 2009). These patients are said to have a deepening of emotions; they ascribe great significance to commonplace events. This can be manifested as a tendency to take a cosmic view; hyperreligiosity (or intensely professed atheism) is said to be common.}}</ref>
 
===Comparativism===
{{Main|Comparative religion}}
Comparative religion is the branch of the [[study of religions]] concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world's religions. In general, the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as [[ethics]], [[metaphysics]], and the nature and form of [[salvation]]. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the [[sacred]], [[numinous]], [[spirituality|spiritual]] and [[Divinity|divine]].<ref>"Human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, and divine" [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] (online, 2006), cited after {{cite web |url=http://www.religionfacts.com/religion/quotes.htm |title=Definitions of Religion |website=Religion facts}}</ref>
 
In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification<ref name="EB" /> of the [[Major religious groups|main world religions]] includes [[Middle Eastern religions]] (including [[Zoroastrianism]] and [[Iranian religions]]), [[Indian religions]], [[East Asian religions]], African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.<ref name="EB">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497215/classification-of-religions/38029/Normative Charles Joseph Adams, ''Classification of religions: geographical'', Encyclopædia Britannica]</ref>
 
==Classification==
{{Main||History of religion}}
[[File:Prevailing world religions map.png|thumb|upright=2.05|A map of [[List of religious populations|major denominations and religions of the world]]]]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of [[comparative religion]] divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called world religions. Some academics [[Study of religion|studying the subject]] have divided religions into three broad categories:
# [[world religions]], a term which refers to [[Transculturation|transcultural]], international religions;
# [[indigenous religions]], which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and
# [[new religious movements]], which refers to recently developed religions.<ref>Harvey, Graham (2000). ''Indigenous Religions: A Companion''. (Ed: Graham Harvey). London and New York: Cassell. p. 6.</ref>
 
Some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited.<ref name="pennington">Brian Kemble Pennington ''Was Hinduism Invented?'' New York: Oxford University Press US, 2005. {{ISBN|0-19-516655-8}}</ref><ref>Russell T. McCutcheon. ''Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion''. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001.</ref><ref>Nicholas Lash. ''The beginning and the end of 'religion'.'' Cambridge University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-521-56635-5}}</ref> The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms (i.e. religions).<ref>Joseph Bulbulia. "Are There Any Religions? An Evolutionary Explanation." ''Method & Theory in the Study of Religion'' 17.2 (2005), pp. 71–100</ref>
 
===Morphological classification===
Some scholars classify religions as either ''[[Universalizing religion|universal religions]]'' that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, or ''[[ethnic religion]]s'' that are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts.<ref name="Hinnells">{{Cite book |title=The Routledge companion to the study of religion |last=Hinnells |first=John R. |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-33311-5 |pages=439–440 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGspjXKxIf8C |access-date=17 September 2009}}</ref> Others reject the distinction, pointing out that all religious practices, whatever their philosophical origin, are ethnic because they come from a particular culture.<ref>Timothy Fitzgerald. ''The Ideology of Religious Studies''. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2000.</ref><ref>Craig R. Prentiss. ''Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity''. New York: NYU Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8147-6701-X}}</ref><ref>Tomoko Masuzawa. ''The Invention of World Religions, or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-226-50988-5}}</ref> Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Jainism are universal religions while Hinduism and Judaism are ethnic religions.<ref>https://www.soas.ac.uk/ijjs/archive/file32517.pdf</ref>
 
===Demographical classification===
{{Main|Major religious groups|List of religious populations}}
The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5.8 billion people and 84% of the population, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism (with the relative numbers for Buddhism and Hinduism dependent on the extent of [[syncretism]]) and traditional folk religion.
 
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
|- style="background:#666688;"
! Five largest religions
! 2010 (billion)<ref name="EB2012">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/ |title=The Global Religious Landscape |access-date=18 December 2012|date=2012-12-18 }}</ref>
! 2010 (%)
! 2000 (billion)<ref name="EB2000">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Turner |first=Darrell J. |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/715463/Religion-Year-In-Review-2000 |title=Religion: Year In Review 2000 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=16 June 2012}}</ref><ref>but cf: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#religions</ref>
! 2000 (%)
! Demographics
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  [[Christianity]]
|  2.2
|  32%
|  2.0
|  33%
|  [[Christianity by country]]
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  [[Islam]]
|  1.6
|  23%
|  1.2
|  19.6%
|  [[List of countries by Muslim population|Islam by country]]
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  [[Hinduism]]
|  1.0
|  15%
|  0.811
|  13.4%
|  [[Hinduism by country]]
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  [[Buddhism]]
|  0.5
|  7%
|  0.360
|  5.9%
|  [[Buddhism by country]]
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  [[Folk religion]]
|  0.4
|  6%
|  0.385
|  6.4%
|
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#e0e8ee;"
|  Total
|  5.8
|  84%
|  4.8
|  78.3%
|
|}
 
A global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59% of the world's population identified as religious, 23% as [[irreligion|not religious]], 13% as convinced [[atheism|atheists]], and also a 9% decrease in identification as religious when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.<ref name="gia">{{cite web |url= http://www.wingia.com/web/files/richeditor/filemanager/Global_INDEX_of_Religiosity_and_Atheism_PR__6.pdf |title= Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism |publisher= WIN-Gallup International |date= 27 July 2012 |access-date= 24 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120906165952/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/richeditor/filemanager/Global_INDEX_of_Religiosity_and_Atheism_PR__6.pdf |archive-date= 6 September 2012}}</ref> A follow-up poll in 2015 found that 63% of the globe identified as religious, 22% as not religious, and 11% as convinced atheists.<ref name=GallupInt2015>{{cite web|title=Losing our Religion? Two-Thirds of People Still Claim to be Religious|url=http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/290/file/290.pdf|website=WIN/Gallup International|publisher=WIN/Gallup International|date=13 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430232945/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/290/file/290.pdf|archive-date=30 April 2015}}</ref> On average, women are more religious than men.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/7689-women-religious-men.html|title=Women More Religious Than Men|work=Livescience.com|access-date=14 July 2013}}</ref> Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for [[syncretism]].<ref>Soul Searching:The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers – p. 77, Christian Smith, Melina Lundquist Denton – 2005</ref><ref>Christ in Japanese Culture: Theological Themes in Shusaku Endo's Literary Works, Emi Mase-Hasegawa – 2008
</ref><ref>
[http://www.christianpost.com/news/new-poll-reveals-how-churchgoers-mix-eastern-new-age-beliefs-42215/ New poll reveals how churchgoers mix eastern new age beliefs] retrieved 26 July 2013
</ref> A 2017 [[Pew Research Center|Pew]] projection suggests that Islam will overtake Christianity as the plurality religion by 2075. Unaffiliated populations are projected to drop, even when taking disaffiliation rates into account, due to differences in birth rates.<ref>{{cite news |title=Islam set to become world's largest religion by 2075, study suggests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/05/muslim-population-overtake-christian-birthrate-20-years |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=5 April 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Changing Global Religious Landscape |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-religious-landscape/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |work=[[Pew Research Center]]'s Religion & Public Life Project |date=5 April 2017}}</ref>
 
==Specific religions==
{{Main|List of religions and spiritual traditions}}
 
===Abrahamic===
[[File:Molnár_Ábrahám_kiköltözése_1850.jpg|thumb|The patriarch [[Abraham]] (by [[József Molnár (painter)|József Molnár]])]]
[[Abrahamic religions]] are [[monotheistic]] religions which believe they descend from [[Abraham]].
 
====Judaism====
[[File:Open_Torah_and_pointer.jpg|thumb|The [[Torah]] is the primary sacred text of Judaism.]]
[[Judaism]] is the oldest Abrahamic religion, originating in the people of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel and Judea]].<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web |title=Judaism {{!}} Definition, Origin, History, Beliefs, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Torah]] is its foundational text, and is part of the larger text known as the [[Tanakh]] or [[Hebrew Bible]]. It is supplemented by oral tradition, set down in written form in later texts such as the [[Midrash]] and the [[Talmud]]. Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from [[Rabbinic Judaism]], which holds that God revealed his laws and [[613 Mitzvot|commandments]] to [[Moses]] on [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]] in the form of both the [[Torah|Written]] and [[Oral Torah]]; historically, this assertion was challenged by various groups. The [[Jewish people]] were scattered after the destruction of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] in 70 CE. Today there are about 13 million Jews, about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton61/st02_27.pdf |title=Info |website=www.cbs.gov.il |access-date=22 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026202909/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton61/st02_27.pdf |archive-date=26 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The largest [[Jewish religious movements]] are [[Orthodox Judaism]] ([[Haredi Judaism]] and [[Modern Orthodox Judaism]]), [[Conservative Judaism]] and [[Reform Judaism]].<ref name="britannica.com"/>
 
====Christianity====
[[File:ISR-2013-Jerusalem-Holy_Sepulchre-dome.jpg|thumb|Jesus is the central figure of Christianity.]]
[[Christianity]] is based on the life and teachings of [[Jesus of Nazareth]] (1st century) as presented in the [[New Testament]].<ref name="Christianity">{{cite web |title=Christianity {{!}} Definition, Origin, History, Beliefs, Symbols, Types, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the [[Christ]],<ref name="Christianity"/> the [[Son of God]], and as [[Messiah|Savior]] and Lord. Almost all Christians believe in the [[Trinity]], which teaches the unity of [[God the Father|Father]], [[God the Son|Son]] (Jesus Christ), and [[Holy Spirit]] as three persons in [[monotheism|one Godhead]]. Most Christians can describe their faith with the [[Nicene Creed]]. As the religion of [[Byzantine Empire]] in the first millennium and of [[Western Europe]] during the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated throughout the world via [[Christian mission|missionary work]].<ref name="Spread">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=g2AtOlJMPTUC&pg=PA52|title =Muslim-Christian Relations|publisher = Amsterdam University Press|quote=The enthusiasm for evangelization among the Christians was also accompanied by the awareness that the most immediate problem to solve was how to serve the huge number of new [[Conversion to Christianity|converts]]. Simatupang said, if the number of the Christians were double or triple, then the number of the ministers should also be doubled or tripled and the role of the laity should be maximized and Christian service to society through schools, universities, hospitals and orphanages, should be increased. In addition, for him the Christian mission should be involved in the struggle for justice amid the process of modernization.|access-date = 18 October 2007|isbn = 978-90-5356-938-2|year = 2006}}</ref><ref name="Charity">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WmuV6g0yR3sC&pg=PA77|page=77|author=Fred Kammer|title =Doing Faith Justice|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|quote=Theologians, bishops, and preachers urged the Christian community to be as compassionate as their God was, reiterating that creation was for all of humanity. They also accepted and developed the identification of Christ with the poor and the requisite Christian duty to the poor. Religious congregations and individual charismatic leaders promoted the development of a number of helping institutions-hospitals, hospices for [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrims]], orphanages, shelters for unwed mothers-that laid the foundation for the modern "large network of hospitals, orphanages and schools, to serve the poor and society at large."|access-date = 18 October 2007|isbn = 978-0-8091-4227-9|date = 1 May 2004}}</ref><ref name="Service">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dz_EM2ofIb4C&pg=PA132|title =Christian Church Women: Shapers of a Movement|publisher = Chalice Press|quote=In the central provinces of India they established schools, orphanages, hospitals, and churches, and spread the gospel message in zenanas.|access-date = 18 October 2007|isbn = 978-0-8272-0463-8|date = March 1994}}</ref> It is the [[Major religious groups|world's largest religion]], with about 2.3 billion followers as of 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/05/christians-remain-worlds-largest-religious-group-but-they-are-declining-in-europe/|title=World's largest religion by population is still Christianity|website=Pew Research Center|language=en-US|access-date=27 February 2019}}</ref> The main divisions of Christianity are, according to the number of adherents:<ref name="history.com">{{cite web |last1=Editors |first1=History com |title=Christianity |url=https://www.history.com/topics/religion/history-of-christianity#:~:text=Christianity%20is%20broadly%20split%20into,Catholic%20bishops%20around%20the%20world. |website=HISTORY |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Catholic Church]], led by the [[Bishop of Rome]] and the bishops worldwide in communion with him, is a [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] of 24 Churches ''[[sui iuris]]'', including the [[Latin Church]] and 23 [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic churches]], such as the [[Maronite]] Catholic Church.<ref name="history.com"/>
* [[Eastern Christianity]], which include [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], and the [[Church of the East]].
* [[Protestantism]], separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th-century [[Protestant Reformation]] and is split into thousands of [[Religious denomination|denominations]].  Major branches of Protestantism include [[Anglicanism]], [[Baptists]], [[Calvinism]], [[Lutheranism]], and [[Methodism]], though each of these contain many different denominations or groups.<ref name="history.com"/>
 
There are also smaller groups, including:
* [[Restorationism]], the belief that Christianity should be restored (as opposed to reformed) along the lines of what is known about the [[Apostolic Age|apostolic early church]].
* [[Latter-day Saint movement]], founded by [[Joseph Smith]] in the late 1820s.
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], founded in the late 1870s by [[Charles Taze Russell]].
 
==== Islam ====
[[File:Kaaba,_Makkah6.jpg|alt=|thumb|220x220px|[[Muslim]]s [[Tawaf|circumambulating]] the [[Kaaba]], the most sacred site in [[Islam]]]]
[[Islam]] is a [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] <ref name="Islam">{{cite web |last1=Editors |first1=History com |title=Islam |url=https://www.history.com/topics/religion/islam#:~:text=The%20word%20%E2%80%9CIslam%E2%80%9D%20means%20%E2%80%9C,of%20complete%20submission%20to%20Allah. |website=HISTORY |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> religion based on the [[Qur'an|Quran]],<ref name="Islam"/> one of the [[Islamic holy books|holy books]] considered by Muslims to be [[Wahy|revealed]] by [[God in Islam|God]], and on the [[Hadith|teachings (hadith)]] of the [[Prophets of Islam|Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]], a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE. Islam is based on the unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] prophets of Judaism, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions before [[Muhammad]]. It is the most widely practiced religion of [[Southeast Asia]], [[North Africa]], [[Western Asia]], and [[Central Asia]], while Muslim-majority countries also exist in parts of [[South Asia]], [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], and [[Southeast Europe]]. There are also several [[Islamic republic]]s, including [[Iran]], [[Pakistan]], [[Mauritania]], and [[Afghanistan]].
* [[Sunni Islam]] is the largest denomination within Islam and follows the Qur'an, the ahadith (ar: plural of Hadith) which record the [[sunnah]], whilst placing emphasis on the [[sahabah]].
* [[Shia Islam]] is the second largest denomination of Islam and its adherents believe that [[Ali]] succeeded Muhammad and further places emphasis on Muhammad's family.
* [[Ahmadiyya]] adherents believe that the awaited Imam [[Mahdi]] and the Promised Messiah has arrived, believed to be [[Mirza Ghulam Ahmad]] by the Ahmadi.
* There are also Muslim revivalist movements such as [[Muwahhidism]] and [[Salafism]].
 
Other denominations of Islam include [[Nation of Islam]], [[Ibadi]], [[Sufism]], [[Quranism]], [[Mahdavia]], and [[non-denominational Muslims]]. [[Wahhabism]] is the dominant Muslim [[Maddhab|schools of thought]] in the [[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia]].
 
====Other====
Whilst Judaism, Christianity and Islam are commonly seen as the only three Abrahamic faiths, there are smaller and newer traditions which lay claim to the designation as well.<ref>{{harvnb|Massignon|1949|pp=20–23}}</ref>
[[File:Lotus_Temple_in_New_Delhi_03-2016.jpg|thumb|The [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] Lotus Temple in Delhi]]
For example, the [[Baháʼí Faith]] is a [[new religious movement]] that has links to the major Abrahamic religions as well as other religions (e.g. of Eastern philosophy). Founded in 19th-century Iran, it teaches the unity of all religious philosophies<ref name="bahai.org">{{cite web |title=What Bahá’ís Believe {{!}} The Bahá’í Faith |url=https://www.bahai.org/beliefs/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA6Or_BRC_ARIsAPzuer-NSgdwlEg8SergeoD70_lktTYHo67UU-OURvxGxGAW0fSdu_KOjo8aAgglEALw_wcB |website=www.bahai.org |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as additional prophets (Buddha, Mahavira), including its founder [[Bahá'u'lláh]]. It is an offshoot of [[Bábism]]. One of its divisions is the [[Orthodox Baháʼí Faith]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beit-Hallahmi|first1=Benjamin|author-link1=Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi|editor1-last=Rosen|editor1-first=Roger|title=The illustrated encyclopedia of active new religions, sects, and cults|date=28 December 1992|publisher=Rosen Pub. Group|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8239-1505-7|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc00beit}}</ref>{{rp|48–49}}
 
Even smaller regional Abrahamic groups also exist, including [[Samaritanism]] (primarily in Israel and the West Bank), the [[Rastafari movement]] (primarily in Jamaica), and [[Druze]] (primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel). The Druze faith originally developed out of [[Isma'ilism]], and it has sometimes been considered an [[Islamic schools and branches|Islamic school]] by some Islamic authorities, but Druze themselves do not identify as [[Muslims]].<ref name="Incorporated-1996">{{cite book|author=[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James Lewis]]|title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1615927387|access-date=13 May 2015|year=2002|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Are the Druze People Arabs or Muslims? Deciphering Who They Are |url=https://www.arabamerica.com/are-the-druze-people-arabs-or-muslims-deciphering-who-they-are/ |website=Arab America |publisher=Arab America |access-date=13 April 2020 |language=en |date=8 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East|first=Ronald|last= De McLaurin|year= 1979| isbn= 978-0-03-052596-4| page =114 |publisher=Michigan University Press|quote= Theologically, one would have to conclude that the Druze are not Muslims. They do not accept the five pillars of Islam. In place of these principles the Druze have instituted the seven precepts noted above.}}</ref>
[[File:Beijing_China_Hall-of-Prayer-for-Good-Harvests-01.jpg|thumb|[[Temple of Heaven]] a Taoist temple complex in Beijing]]
 
===East Asian===
{{Main|East Asian religions}}
East Asian religions (also known as Far Eastern religions or Taoic religions) consist of several religions of East Asia which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean). They include:
 
====Taoism and Confucianism====
* [[Taoism]] and [[Confucianism]], as well as Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.
 
====Folk religions====
* [[Chinese folk religion]]: the indigenous religions of the [[Han Chinese]], or, by [[metonymy]], of all the populations of the [[Chinese cultural sphere]]. It includes the syncretism of [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]] and [[Buddhism]], [[Wuism]], as well as many new religious movements such as [[Chen Tao (True Way Cult)|Chen Tao]], [[Falun Gong]] and [[Yiguandao]].
* Other folk and new religions of [[East Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]] such as [[Korean shamanism]], [[Chondogyo]], and [[Jeung San Do]] in Korea; [[indigenous Philippine folk religions]]  in the [[Philippines]]; [[Shinto]], [[Shugendo]], [[Ryukyuan religion]], and [[Japanese new religions]] in Japan; [[Satsana Phi]] in Laos; [[Cao Đài]], [[Hòa Hảo]], and [[Vietnamese folk religion]] in Vietnam.
 
===Indian religions===
[[Indian religions]] are practiced or were founded in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. They are sometimes classified as the ''dharmic religions'', as they all feature [[dharma]], the specific law of reality and duties expected according to the religion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mittal |first=Sushil |title=Surprising Bedfellows: Hindus and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern India |year=2003 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-0673-0 |page=103}}</ref>
[[File:Ganesh,_folk_art,_Bharatiya_Lok_Kala_Museum,_Udaipur,_India.jpg|thumb|Folk depiction of [[Ganesha]] in [[Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal]], [[Udaipur]], India]]
 
====Hinduism====
*[[File:Bhagavan Vishnu.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Lord Vishnu]] [[Hinduism]] is also called ''Vaidika Dharma'', the ''[[dharma]]'' of the [[Vedas]].<ref name="Klostermaier2010">{{cite book|author=Klaus K. Klostermaier|title=Survey of Hinduism, A: Third Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CVviRghVtIC|date=2010|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8011-3| page=15}}</ref> It is a [[synecdoche]] describing the similar philosophies of [[Vaishnavism]], [[Shaivism]], and [[Hindu denominations|related groups]] practiced or founded in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. Concepts most of them share in common include [[karma]], [[caste]], [[reincarnation]], [[mantra]]s, [[yantra]]s, and [[darśana]].<ref group=note>Hinduism is variously defined as a religion, set of religious beliefs and practices, religious tradition etc. For a discussion on the topic, see: "Establishing the boundaries" in Gavin Flood (2003), pp. 1–17. [[René Guénon]] in his'' [[Introduction to the Study of the Hindu doctrines]]'' (1921 ed.), Sophia Perennis, {{ISBN|0-900588-74-8}}, proposes a definition of the term religion and a discussion of its relevance (or lack of) to Hindu doctrines (part II, chapter 4, p. 58).</ref> Hinduism is one of the most ancient of still-active religions,<ref>p. 434 ''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions'' By Wendy Doniger, M. Webster, Merriam-Webster, Inc</ref><ref>p. 219 ''Faith, Religion & Theology'' By Brennan Hill, Paul F. Knitter, William Madges</ref> with origins perhaps as far back as prehistoric times.<ref>p. 6 ''The World's Great Religions'' By Yoshiaki Gurney Omura, Selwyn Gurney Champion, Dorothy Short</ref> Hinduism is not a monolithic religion but a religious category containing dozens of separate philosophies amalgamated as [[Sanātana Dharma]], which is the name by which Hinduism has been known throughout history by its followers.
 
[[File:Shravanabelagola_Bahubali_wideframe.jpg|thumb|The 10th century [[Gommateshwara statue]] in [[Karnataka]]]]
 
====Jainism====
* [[Jainism]], taught primarily by [[Rishabhanatha]] (the founder of [[ahimsa]]) is an ancient Indian religion that prescribes a path of [[non-violence]], [[truth]] and [[anekantavada]] for all forms of living beings in this universe; which helps them to eliminate all the [[Karma in Jainism|Karmas]], and hence to attain freedom from the cycle of birth and death ([[Saṃsāra (Jainism)|saṃsāra]]), that is, achieving [[Moksha (Jainism)|nirvana]]. Jains are found mostly in India. According to Dundas, outside of the Jain tradition, historians date the [[Mahavira]] as about contemporaneous with the [[Buddha]] in the 5th-century BCE, and accordingly the historical [[Parshvanatha]], based on the c. 250-year gap, is placed in 8th or 7th century BCE.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=30–31}}
** [[Digambara]] Jainism (or sky-clad) is mainly practiced in South India. Their holy books are [[Pravachanasara]] and [[Samayasara]] written by their Prophets [[Kundakunda]] and [[Amritchandra]] as their [[Jain Agamas (Digambara)|original canon]] is lost.
** [[Shwetambara]] Jainism (or white-clad) is mainly practiced in Western India. Their holy books are [[Jain Agamas (Śvētāmbara)|Jain Agamas]], written by their Prophet [[Sthulibhadra]].
 
==== Buddhism ====
 
*[[File:Open_front_door_over_Wat_Mixay_and_praying_bhikkhus,_Vientiane,_Laos.jpg|thumb|Wat Mixay Buddhist shrine in [[Vientiane]], Laos]] [[Buddhism]] was founded by [[Gautama Buddha|Siddhartha Gautama]] in the 5th century BCE. Buddhists generally agree that Gotama aimed to help [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] end their [[dukkha|suffering (dukkha)]] by understanding the [[dharma|true nature of phenomena]], thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth ([[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]), that is, achieving [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana]].
**[[Theravada]] Buddhism, which is practiced mainly in [[Sri Lanka]] and Southeast Asia alongside folk religion, shares some characteristics of Indian religions. It is based in a large collection of texts called the [[Pali Canon]].
** [[Mahayana]] Buddhism (or the Great Vehicle) under which are a multitude of doctrines that became prominent [[Buddhism in China|in China]] and are still relevant [[Buddhism in Vietnam|in Vietnam]], [[Buddhism in Korea|Korea]], [[Buddhism in Japan|Japan]] and to a lesser extent [[Buddhism in the West|in Europe and the United States]]. Mahayana Buddhism includes such disparate teachings as [[Zen]], [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]], and [[Soka Gakkai]].
** [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism first appeared in India in the 3rd century CE.<ref>Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony (2000), Buddhist Thought: A complete introduction to the Indian tradition, Routledge, {{ISBN|0-203-18593-5}} p=194</ref> It is currently most prominent in the Himalaya regions<ref>Smith, E. Gene (2001). Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-179-3}}</ref> and extends across all of Asia<ref>''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', {{ISBN|4-7674-2015-6}}</ref> (cf. [[Mikkyō]]).
** Two notable new Buddhist sects are [[Hòa Hảo]] and the [[Navayana]] ([[Dalit Buddhist movement]]), which were developed separately in the 20th century.
 
====Sikhism====
[[File:Miniature_of_Guru_Nanak_from_Astronomical_treatise.jpg|thumb|An 1840 miniature of [[Guru Nanak]]]]
 
* [[Sikhism]] is a [[panentheistic]] religion founded on the teachings of [[Guru Nanak]] and ten successive [[Sikh gurus]] in 15th-century [[Punjab region|Punjab]]. It is the [[Major religious groups|fifth-largest]] [[organized religion]] in the world, with approximately 30 million Sikhs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sikhism: What do you know about it?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/sikhism-what-do-you-know-about-it/2012/08/06/19131ef6-dff1-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_gallery.html|access-date=13 December 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Zepps |first=Josh |title=Sikhs in America: What You Need To Know About The World's Fifth-Largest Religion |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/sikhs-in-america_n_1748125.html |access-date=13 December 2012 |newspaper=Huffington Post |date=6 August 2012}}</ref> [[Sikh]]s are expected to embody the qualities of a ''Sant-Sipāhī''—a saint-soldier, have control over one's internal [[Five Thieves|vices]] and be able to be constantly immersed in virtues clarified in the [[Guru Granth Sahib]]. The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith in ''[[Waheguru]]''—represented by the phrase ''[[ik Onkar|ik ōaṅkār]]'', meaning one God, who prevails in everything, along with a [[praxis (process)|praxis]] in which the Sikh is enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings.
 
===Indigenous and folk===
[[File:Chickasaw Stomp Dance Demonstration.jpg | thumb|220x124px | right | Chickasaw Native cultural/religious dancing]]
[[File:Image from page 976 of "Bulletin" (1901).jpg | thumb|220x124px | right | Peyotists with their ceremonial tools]]
[[File:SB - Altay shaman with drum.jpg | thumb|220x124px | right | Altay shaman in Siberia]]
[[File:文澳_城隍廟.jpg|thumb|Temple to the [[City God (China)|city god]] of Wenao in [[Magong]], Taiwan]]
[[Indigenous religions]] or [[ethnic religion|folk religions]] refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by [[shamanism]], [[animism]] and [[ancestor worship]], where traditional means "indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…".<ref>J.O. Awolalu (1976) [http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/uploads/ArticlePDFs/268.pdf What is African Traditional Religion?] Studies in Comparative Religion Vol. 10, No. 2. (Spring, 1976).</ref> These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe; they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts.<ref name="pew global">Pew Research Center (2012) [http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape.aspx The Global Religious Landscape. A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010]. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.</ref> Some faiths are [[syncretic]], fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices.<ref name="CIA">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html |title=Religions |author=Central Intelligence Agency |work=World Factbook |access-date=3 January 2013}}</ref>
* [[Australian Aboriginal mythology|Australian Aboriginal religions]].
* Folk religions of the Americas: [[Native American religion]]s
 
Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e.g. in China.<ref name="pew global" />
 
===Traditional African===
[[File:Brooklyn_Museum_1992.133.4_Figure_of_Shango_on_Horseback.jpg|thumb|[[Shango]], the [[Orisha]] of fire, lightning, and thunder, in the [[Yoruba religion]], depicted on horseback]]
{{Main|Traditional African religion}}
{{Further|African diasporic religions}}
[[Traditional African religion|African traditional religion]] encompasses the traditional religious beliefs of people in Africa. In West Africa, these religions include the [[Akan religion]], [[Dahomey mythology|Dahomey (Fon) mythology]], [[Efik mythology]], [[Odinani]], [[Serer religion|Serer religion (A ƭat Roog)]], and [[Yoruba religion]], while [[Bushongo mythology]], [[Mbuti mythology|Mbuti (Pygmy) mythology]], [[Lugbara mythology]], [[Dinka religion]], and [[Lotuko mythology]] come from central Africa. Southern African traditions include [[Akamba mythology]], [[Masai mythology]], [[Malagasy mythology]], [[San religion]], [[Lozi mythology]], [[Tumbuka mythology]], and [[Zulu mythology]]. [[Bantu mythology]] is found throughout central, southeast, and southern Africa. In north Africa, these traditions include [[traditional Berber religion|Berber]] and [[ancient Egyptian religion|ancient Egyptian]].
 
There are also notable [[African diasporic religions]] practiced in the Americas, such as [[Santeria]], [[Candomble]], [[Haitian Vodun|Vodun]], [[Lucumi religion|Lucumi]], [[Umbanda]], and [[Macumba]].
[[File:Templo_de_fuego,_Baku,_Azerbaiyán,_2016-09-27,_DD_34.jpg|thumb|Sacred flame at the [[Ateshgah of Baku]]]]
 
===Iranian===
[[Iranian religions]] are ancient religions whose roots predate the [[Islamization]] of [[Greater Iran]]. Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities.
 
[[Zoroastrianism]] is based on the teachings of prophet [[Zoroaster]] in the 6th century BCE. Zoroastrians worship the [[Creator deity|creator]] [[Ahura Mazda]]. In Zoroastrianism, good and evil have distinct sources, with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda, and good trying to sustain it.
 
[[Mandaeism]] is a [[monotheistic]] religion with a strongly [[Dualistic cosmology|dualistic]] worldview. Mandaeans are sometime labeled as the Last [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]].<ref name="Mandaens">{{citation|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515385-9|url=http://mandaeannetwork.com/Mandaean/books/english/2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|4}}
 
[[Religion in Kurdistan|Kurdish religions]] include the traditional beliefs of the [[Yazidi]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVVsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PAPR8|title=The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World|last1=Asatrian|first1=Garnik S.|last2=Arakelova|first2=Victoria|date=2014-09-03|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-54429-6|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Birgül">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql4BAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion|last=Açikyildiz|first=Birgül|date=2014-12-23|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85772-061-0|language=en}}</ref> [[Alevi]], and [[Ahl-e Haqq]]. Sometimes these are labeled [[Yazdânism]].
 
===New religious movements===
{{Main|New religious movement}}
{{see also|List of new religious movements}}
* The [[Baháʼí Faith]] teaches the unity of all religious philosophies.<ref name="bahai.org"/>
* [[Cao Đài]] is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, established in [[Vietnam]] in 1926.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cao Dai {{!}} Vietnamese religion |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cao-Dai |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Eckankar]] is a pantheistic religion with the purpose of making God an everyday reality in one's life.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Eckankar? Eckankar is Love, Wisdom and Freedom |url=https://www.eckankar.org/explore/what-is-eckankar/ |website=Eckankar |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref>
* [[Epicureanism]] is a Hellenistic philosophy that is considered by many of its practitioners as a type of (sometimes non-theistic) religious identity. It has its own scriptures, a monthly "feast of reason" on the Twentieth, and considers friendship to be holy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Epicureanism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy |url=https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_epicureanism.html#:~:text=Epicureanism%20is%20a%20system%20of,pain%20(%22aponia%22). |website=www.philosophybasics.com |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref>
* [[Hindu reform movements]], such as [[Ayyavazhi]], [[Swaminarayan Faith]] and [[Ananda Marga]], are examples of new religious movements within Indian religions.
* [[Japanese new religions]] ''(shinshukyo)'' is a general category for a wide variety of religious movements founded in Japan since the 19th century. These movements share almost nothing in common except the place of their founding. The largest religious movements centered in Japan include [[Soka Gakkai]], [[Tenrikyo]], and [[Seicho-No-Ie]] among hundreds of smaller groups.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Religious Movements: New Religious Movements in Japan {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/new-religious-movements-new-religious-movements-japan |website=www.encyclopedia.com |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref>
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], a [[Nontrinitarianism|non-trinitarian]] Christian Reformist movement sometimes described as [[millenarian]].<ref>http://www.thearda.com/timeline/movements/movement_23.asp</ref>
* [[Neo-Druidism]]<ref>{{cite web |title=What does neo-druidism mean? |url=https://www.definitions.net/definition/neo-druidism |website=www.definitions.net |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> is a religion promoting harmony with nature, and drawing on the practices of the druids.
* There are various [[Neopagan]] movements that attempt to reconstruct or revive ancient [[pagan]] practices.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neo-Paganism {{!}} religion |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neo-Paganism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> These include [[Heathenry (new religious movement)|Heathenry]], [[Hellenism (religion)|Hellenism]], and [[Kemeticism]].
* [[Noahidism]] is a monotheistic ideology based on the [[Seven Laws of Noah]],<ref>{{cite web |title=7 Noahide Laws » Judaism Humanity Noahidism |url=https://noahideworldcenter.org/7/ |website=The Seven Noahide Laws |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> and on their traditional interpretations within Rabbinic Judaism.
* Some forms of [[parody religion]] or fiction-based religion<ref name=Davidsen2013>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/14755610.2013.838798|title = Fiction-based religion: Conceptualising a new category against history-based religion and fandom| journal=Culture and Religion| volume=14| issue=4| pages=378–395|year = 2013|last1 = Davidsen|first1 = Markus Altena|hdl = 1887/48123|s2cid = 143778202|hdl-access=free}}</ref> like [[Jediism]], [[Pastafarianism]], [[Dudeism]], "Tolkien religion",<ref name=Davidsen2013 /> and others often develop their own writings, traditions, and cultural expressions, and end up behaving like traditional religions.
* [[Satanism]] is a broad category of religions that, for example, worship Satan as a deity ([[Theistic Satanism]]) or use Satan as a symbol of carnality and earthly values ([[LaVeyan Satanism]] and [[The Satanic Temple]]).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Editors |first1=History com |title=Satanism |url=https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/satanism |website=HISTORY |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Scientology]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Escobedo |first1=Dan Gilgoff and Tricia |title=Scientology: What exactly is it? |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/22/us/believer-what-is-scientology/index.html |website=CNN |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]], in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience and understand painful or traumatic events and decisions in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects.
* [[UFO Religion]]s in which extraterrestrial entities are an element of belief, such as [[Raëlism]], [[Aetherius Society]], and [[Marshall Vian Summers]]'s ''New Message from God''
* [[Unitarian Universalism]] is a religion characterized by support for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and has no accepted [[creed]] or [[theology]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Unitarianism and Universalism - English Unitarianism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Unitarianism/English-Unitarianism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wicca]] is a neo-pagan religion first popularised in 1954 by British civil servant [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner]], involving the worship of a God and Goddess.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wicca {{!}} History, Beliefs, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wicca |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
 
==Related aspects==
 
===Law===
{{main|Law and religion}}
The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since 1980.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witte |first1=John |year=2012 |title=The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=327–354 |doi=10.1017/s0956618x12000348}}</ref> Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non-establishment, but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective.<ref>Norman Doe, ''Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction'' (2011).</ref><ref>W. Cole Durham and Brett G. Scharffs, eds., ''Law and religion: national, international, and comparative perspectives'' (Aspen Pub, 2010).</ref> Specialists have explored themes in Western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, and discipline and love.<ref>John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, eds., ''Christianity and Law: An Introduction'' (Cambridge U.P. 2008)</ref> Common topics of interest include marriage and the family<ref>John Witte Jr., ''From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition'' (1997).</ref> and human rights.<ref>John Witte, Jr., ''The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism'' (2008).</ref> Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elizabeth Mayer |first1=Ann |year=1987 |title=Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East |journal=American Journal of Comparative Law |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=127–184 |jstor=840165 |doi=10.2307/840165}}</ref> and pagan Rome.<ref>Alan Watson, ''The state, law, and religion: pagan Rome'' (University of Georgia Press, 1992).</ref>
 
Studies have focused on [[secularization]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferrari |first1=Silvio |year=2012 |title=Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=355–370 |doi=10.1017/s0956618x1200035x}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Palomino |first1=Rafael |year=2012 |title=Legal dimensions of secularism: challenges and problems |url= http://eprints.ucm.es/12247/|journal=Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice |volume=2 |pages=208–225 }}</ref> In particular, the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bennoune |first1=Karima |year=2006 |title=Secularism and human rights: A contextual analysis of headscarves, religious expression, and women's equality under international law |journal=Columbia Journal of Transnational Law |volume=45 |page=367 }}</ref>
 
===Science===
{{Main|Faith and rationality|Relationship between religion and science|Epistemology}}
[[Science]] acknowledges [[reason]], [[empiricism]], and [[evidence]]; and religions include [[revelation]], [[faith]] and [[sacredness]] whilst also acknowledging [[Philosophy of religion|philosophical]] and [[metaphysical]] explanations with regard to the study of the universe. Both science and religion are not monolithic, timeless, or static because both are complex social and cultural endeavors that have changed through time across languages and cultures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stenmark |first1=Mikael |title=How to Relate Science and Religion: A Multidimensional Model |date=2004 |publisher=W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. |location=Grand Rapids, Mich. |isbn=978-0-8028-2823-1}}</ref>
 
The concepts of science and religion are a recent invention: the term religion emerged in the 17th century in the midst of colonization and globalization and the Protestant Reformation.<ref name=Nongbri/><ref name="Harrison Territories" /> The term science emerged in the 19th century out of [[natural philosophy]] in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature ([[natural science]]),<ref name="Harrison Territories" /><ref name="Cahan Natural Philosophy">{{cite book|editor1-last=Cahan|editor1-first=David|title=From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science|date=2003|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-08928-7}}</ref><ref name="WSACM">{{cite book|editor1-last=Numbers|editor1-first=Ronald|editor2-last=Lindberg|editor2-first=David|title=When Science and Christianity Meet|date=2003|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-48214-9}}</ref> and the phrase religion and science emerged in the 19th century due to the reification of both concepts.<ref name="Harrison Territories"/> It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged.<ref name="Harrison Territories" /> In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin roots of both science (''scientia'') and religion (''religio'') were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues, never as doctrines, practices, or actual sources of knowledge.<ref name="Harrison Territories" />
 
In general the [[scientific method]] gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop [[theories]] through elucidation of facts or evaluation by [[experiment]]s and thus only answers [[physical cosmology|cosmological]] questions about the [[universe]] that can be observed and measured. It develops [[theory|theories]] of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement, or even rejection, in the face of additional evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as ''[[de facto]]'' verities in general parlance, such as the theories of [[general relativity]] and [[natural selection]] to explain respectively the mechanisms of [[gravity]] and [[evolution]].
 
Religion does not have a method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures and it is an attempt to find meaning in the world, and to explain humanity's place in it and relationship to it and to any posited entities. In terms of Christian theology and ultimate truths, people rely on reason, experience, scripture, and tradition to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe. Furthermore, religious models, understanding, and metaphors are also revisable, as are scientific models.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tolman |first1=Cynthia |title=Methods in Religion |url=http://akbar.marlboro.edu/~mahoney/vhs/SciRelCourse/Religion_methods.html |website=Malboro College |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904013431/http://akbar.marlboro.edu/~mahoney/vhs/SciRelCourse/Religion_methods.html |archive-date=4 September 2015}}</ref>
 
Regarding religion and science, [[Albert Einstein]] states (1940): "For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.<ref name="The New Republic">{{cite news |last1=Coyne |first1=Jerry A. |title=Einstein's Famous Quote About Science and Religion Didn't Mean What You Were Taught |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/115821/einsteins-famous-quote-science-religion-didnt-mean-taught |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=The New Republic |date=5 December 2013}}</ref> Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action; it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts<ref name="The New Republic"/>…Now, even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determine the goals, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Personal God Concept Causes Science-Religion Conflict |journal=The Science News-Letter |date=21 September 1940 |first=Albert |last=Einstein |volume=38 |issue=12 |pages=181–182 |jstor=3916567 |doi=10.2307/3916567}}</ref>


=== Morality ===
=== Morality ===
{{Main|Morality and religion}}
"Morals" are the way a human behaves to other [[human]]<nowiki/>s. Most religions make rules about human morals. The rules of how people should act to each other are different in different religions.
Many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. These include the [[Jainism#Core beliefs|Triple Jems of Jainism]], [[Judaism|Judaism's]] [[Halacha]], [[Islam|Islam's]] [[Sharia]], [[Catholicism|Catholicism's]] [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canon Law]], [[Buddhism|Buddhism's]] [[Eightfold Path]], and [[Theological Aspects of the Avesta|Zoroastrianism's]] good thoughts, good words, and good deeds concept, among others.<ref>{{cite book|title=Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe|last=Esptein|first=Greg M.|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2010|isbn=978-0-06-167011-4|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/goodwithoutgodwh00epst/page/117 117]|url=https://archive.org/details/goodwithoutgodwh00epst/page/117}}</ref>
 
Religion and morality are not synonymous. While it is "an almost automatic assumption."<ref name="The Elements of Moral Philosophy">{{cite book |title=The Elements of Moral Philosophy |editor-last2=Rachels |editor-first2=Stuart |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-07-803824-2 |edition=7 |location=New York |editor-last1=Rachels |editor-first1=James}}</ref> in Christianity, morality can have a [[Secular morality|secular basis]].
 
The study of religion and morality can be contentious due to ethnocentric views on morality, failure to distinguish between in group and out group altruism, and inconsistent definitions of religiosity.
 
=== Politics ===
====Impact====
Religion has had a significant impact on the political system in many countries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion and Politics {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/rel-poli/ |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> Notably, most Muslim-majority countries adopt various aspects of [[sharia]], the Islamic law.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sharia Law |url=https://www.mpvusa.org/sharia-law |website=Muslims for Progressive Values |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> Some countries even define themselves in religious terms, such as [[Iran|The Islamic Republic of Iran]]. The sharia thus affects up to 23% of the global population, or 1.57&nbsp;billion people who are [[Muslim world|Muslims]]. However, religion also affects political decisions in many western countries. For instance, in the [[United States]], 51% of voters would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who did not believe in God, and only 6% more likely.<ref>[https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/02/economist-explains-18?cid1=cust/noenew/n/n/n/20160229n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/email The Economist explains: The role of religion in America's presidential race], ''The Economist'', 25 February 2016</ref> Christians make up 92% of members of the US Congress, compared with 71% of the general public (as of 2014). At the same time, while 23% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, only one member of Congress ([[Kyrsten Sinema]], D-Arizona), or 0.2% of that body, claims no religious affiliation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/27/10-facts-about-religion-in-america/|title=10 facts about religion in America|last=Lipka|first=Michael|date=27 August 2015|publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=9 July 2016}}</ref> In most European countries, however, religion has a much smaller influence on politics<ref>[https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/04/europe-religion-and-politics Europe, religion and politics:Old world wars], The Economist, 22 April 2014</ref> although it used to be much more important. For instance, [[same-sex marriage]] and [[abortion]] were illegal in many European countries until recently, following Christian (usually [[Catholicism|Catholic]]) doctrine. Several [[List of atheists in politics and law|European leaders are atheists]] (e.g. [[France]]'s former president [[François Hollande|Francois Hollande]] or Greece's prime minister [[Alexis Tsipras]]). In Asia, the role of religion differs widely between countries. For instance, [[India]] is still one of the most religious countries and religion still has a strong impact on politics, given that Hindu nationalists have been targeting minorities like the Muslims and the Christians, who historically belonged to the lower castes.<ref>Lobo, L. 2000 [http://americamagazine.org/issue/276/article/religion-and-politics-india Religion and Politics in India], ''America Magazine'', 19 February 2000</ref> By contrast, countries such as [[Religion in China|China]] or [[Religion in Japan|Japan]] are largely secular and thus religion has a much smaller impact on politics.
 
====Secularism====
[[File:Ranjitsingh.gif|thumb|upright|[[Ranjit Singh]] established [[Ranjit Singh#Secular Sikh rule|secular rule]] over [[Punjab region|Punjab]] in the early 19th century.]]
 
{{Main|Secularism| Secularization}}
Secularization is the transformation of the politics of a society from close identification with a particular religion's values and institutions toward nonreligious values and [[secular]] institutions. The purpose of this is frequently modernization or protection of the populations religious diversity.
 
===Economics===
[[File:Religion economy.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Average income correlates negatively with (self-defined) religiosity.<ref name="gia" />]]
{{Main|Economics of religion}}
{{Further|Religion and business|Wealth and religion}}
One study has found there is a negative correlation between self-defined religiosity and the wealth of nations.<ref name=WIN-Gallup>{{cite web |last=WIN-Gallup |title=Global Index of religion and atheism. |url=http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf |access-date=12 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021065544/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> In other words, the richer a nation is, the less likely its inhabitants to call themselves religious, whatever this word means to them (Many people identify themselves as part of a religion (not irreligion) but do not self-identify as religious).<ref name="WIN-Gallup" />


Sociologist and political economist [[Max Weber]] has argued that Protestant Christian countries are wealthier because of their [[Protestant work ethic]].<ref>Max Weber, [1904] 1920. ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]''</ref>
For some religions, following a "path" of goodness, truth and duty is very important. This is called [[Tao]] in [[China]]. In the teachings of [[Judaism]], people were told to "love your neighbour as yourself". In the teachings of [[Jesus]], people were told to think of every single person as their "neighbour" and treat them with love.


According to a study from 2015, [[Christians]] hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by [[Muslims]] (5.8%), [[Hindus]] (3.3%) and [[Jews]] (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification [[Irreligion]] or other religions hold about 34.8% of the total global wealth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/453467/christians-hold-largest-percentage-global.html6 |title=Christians hold largest percentage of global wealth: Report|publisher=deccanherald.com|date=2015-01-14}}</ref>
Not every religion teaches people to be kind to all other people. In many religions, it has been common for people to believe that they have to act kindly only to some people and not to others. In some religions, people believed that they could please a god by killing or [[human sacrifice|sacrificing]] another person.


===Health===
== Traditions ==
{{Main|Impacts of religion on health}}
[[File:Shane Claiborne Early Church Our Community Place Harrisonburg VT March 2008.jpg|thumb|The man on the left is teaching others about his religion]]
[[Mayo Clinic]] researchers examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality, and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mueller |first1=Paul S. |last2=Plevak |first2=David J. |last3=Rummans |first3=Teresa A. |title=Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice |url=https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)62799-7/fulltext |website=Mayo Clinic Proceedings |access-date=11 January 2021 |pages=1225–1235 |language=English |doi=10.4065/76.12.1225 |date=1 December 2001}}</ref> The authors reported that: "Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide."<ref name="Religion and Medicine">{{cite journal |first1=Paul S. |last1=Mueller |first2=David J. |last2=Plevak |first3=Teresa A. |last3=Rummans |title=Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice |journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings |volume=76 |issue=12 |pages=1225–1235 |url=https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)62799-7/pdf |quote=We reviewed published studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes. We also reviewed articles that provided suggestions on how clinicians might assess and support the spiritual needs of patients. Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide |access-date=13 November 2010 |doi=10.4065/76.12.1225|pmid=11761504 |year=2001 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
=== Teaching ===
A religion is passed on from one person to another through teachings and stories (which are often called "myths") which may be written down like the [[Bible]], or [[Oral tradition|told from memory]] like the [[Dreaming (spirituality)|Dreamtime]] stories of [[Indigenous Australians|Australian Aboriginal]] people. In many religions, there are people who take the role of "priest" and spend their lives teaching others about the religion. There are also people who take the role of "pastor" and spend their life caring for other people. A person may be both a priest and a pastor. They are called by different names in different religions.


The authors of a subsequent study concluded that the influence of religion on health is largely beneficial, based on a review of related literature.<ref>{{cite journal |last2=Hill |first2=Peter C. |title=The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Mental and Physical Health |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |date=February 2001 |first1=Kevin S. |last1=Seybold |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=21–24 |doi=10.1111/1467-8721.00106|s2cid=144109851 }}</ref> According to academic James W. Jones, several studies have discovered "positive correlations between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Religion, Health, and the Psychology of Religion: How the Research on Religion and Health Helps Us Understand Religion |journal=Journal of Religion and Health |year=2004 |first=James W. |last=Jones |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=317–328 |doi=10.1007/s10943-004-4299-3|s2cid=33669708 |url=http://dergipark.gov.tr/bilimname/issue/3501/47580 }}</ref>
=== Symbols ===
[[Symbol]]s are used to remind people of their religious beliefs. They are also used or worn as a sign to other people that the person belongs to a particular religion. A symbol might be something that is drawn or written, it might be a piece of clothing or jewellery, it might be a sign that a person makes with their body, or it might be a building or monument or artwork. Picture symbols for different religions are shown in the box in the introduction to this article.


An analysis of data from the 1998 US General Social Survey, whilst broadly confirming that religious activity was associated with better health and well-being, also suggested that the role of different dimensions of spirituality/religiosity in health is rather more complicated. The results suggested "that it may not be appropriate to generalize findings about the relationship between spirituality/religiosity and health from one form of spirituality/religiosity to another, across denominations, or to assume effects are uniform for men and women.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.008|pmid=16359765|title=Gender differences in religious practices, spiritual experiences and health: Results from the US General Social Survey|journal=Social Science & Medicine|volume=62|issue=11|pages=2848–2860|year=2006|last1=Maselko|first1=Joanna|last2=Kubzansky|first2=Laura D.}}</ref>
=== Witness and conversion ===
In many [[religion]]<nowiki/>s, it is thought important that people should show other people that they are following a particular religion. This might be done in a general way by wearing a [[symbol]] or a type of clothing. Many people [[believe]] that it is important to tell other people about their religion, so that they can believe as well. This is called "witnessing".
[[File:Sikhs on the move!.jpg|thumb|left|These Sikhs in Canada wear a head-dress of turban or head scarf as a symbol and witness to their religion.]]
There are many ways to witness. A young person might simply say to their friends "I do not use drugs or get drunk because of my religion". This is a witness. A person may tell their classmates, workmates and friends about their beliefs. A person might go to other people's houses and talk about their beliefs, or invite the people to join in the rituals of the religion, such as going to church or to a religious festival. A person might have printed material such as books or leaflets that they give to other people to read. A person might travel to a different country to teach, to work in a health service or to help people in some other way. (People who do this are called "missionaries".) These are different ways that people witness to their religion.


===Violence===
When a person hears a witness and decides that they will join the religion, this is called a "conversion". Usually a person decides to join a religion because they like what they have read or been told, and they believe that they are hearing the truth. They join the religion because they choose. However, throughout history there have been many times when people have been forced to join a religion by violence and threats. This is still happening today.
{{main|Religious violence}}
{{See also|Islam and violence|Christianity and violence|Judaism and violence}}
[[File:UA Flight 175 hits WTC south tower 9-11 edit.jpeg|thumb|[[United Airlines Flight 175]] hits the South Tower during the [[September 11 attacks]] of 2001 in [[New York City]]. The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated [[Terrorism|terrorist attacks]] by the [[Islamic terrorism|Islamic terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] on the [[United States]] on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.]]


Critics like [[Hector Avalos]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence |first=Hector |last=Avalos |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, New York |year=2005}}</ref> [[Regina Schwartz]],<ref name=ReginaSchwartz>{{cite book |title=The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism By Regina M. Schwartz |url=https://archive.org/details/curseofcainviole00schw |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1998}}</ref> [[Christopher Hitchens]] and [[Richard Dawkins]] have argued that religions are inherently violent and harmful to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders.<ref name="Hitchens 2007">{{Cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=God is not Great |publisher=Twelve |year=2007}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}<ref name="Dawkins 2006">{{Cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The God Delusion |publisher=Bantam Books |year=2006}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}
In most countries of the world, people are free to belong to whatever religion they choose. This is generally thought of as a basic [[Human rights|human right]]. However, there are parts of the world where it is illegal (against the law) to witness to any religion except the one accepted by the government of the country. People who belong to other religions may be threatened, put in [[jail]] or murdered.


Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent, arguing "religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical." He asserts that "violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion" and that "virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary."<ref name="CruelCreeds1">{{cite book |last=Eller |first=Jack David |title=Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History |year=2010 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-218-6 |quote=As we have insisted previously, religion is not inherently and irredeemably violent; it certainly is not the essence and source of all violence.}}</ref><ref name="CruelCreeds2">{{cite book |last=Eller |first=Jack David |title=Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History |year=2010 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-218-6 |quote=Religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical. Violence is one phenomenon in human (and natural existence), religion is another, and it is inevitable that the two would become intertwined. Religion is complex and modular, and violence is one of the modules—not universal, but recurring. As a conceptual and behavioral module, violence is by no means exclusive to religion. There are plenty of other groups, institutions, interests, and ideologies to promote violence. Violence is, therefore, neither essential to nor exclusive to religion. Nor is religious violence all alike... And virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary.}}</ref>
[[File:OCD Zelle.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Discalced Carmelites|Carmelite nun]] meditating on the Bible]]


==== Animal sacrifice ====
=== Ritual ===
Done by some (but not all) religions, [[animal sacrifice]] is the [[ritual]] killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a [[deity]]. It has been banned in [[India]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/india-court-bans-animal-sacrifice-hindu-temples |title=Indian court bans animal sacrifice |last=France-Presse |first=Agence|newspaper=The Guardian |date=2014-09-02 }}</ref>
[[Ritual]]s are an important part of the tradition of many religions. In many religions, it is the tradition for people to meet for a celebration on one day in every week. There are also major celebrations that may be held only at certain times of the year, for example, on the birthday of a person who is honoured in that religion. Some religions have celebrations for different seasons of the year, or when the sun or moon is in a certain part of the sky.


=== Superstition ===
In nearly every religion, the important stages of a person's life have a religious celebration. Birth, naming, reaching an age to think for oneself, reaching adulthood, marriage, childbirth, sickness and death are all celebrated by some religions. Having a celebration or special traditions when a person dies is very common.
{{Further|Superstition|Magical thinking|Magic and religion}}
Greek and Roman pagans, who saw their relations with the gods in political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods (''deisidaimonia''), as a slave might fear a cruel and capricious master. The Romans called such fear of the gods ''superstitio''.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Veyne, Paul |title=A History of Private Life I: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium |date=1987 |page=211}}</ref> [[Ancient Greek]] historian [[Polybius]] described superstition in [[ancient Rome]] as an ''[[instrumentum regni]]'', an instrument of maintaining the cohesion of the [[Roman Empire|Empire]].<ref>Polybius, [[The Histories (Polybius)|The Histories]], VI 56.</ref>


Superstition has been described as the non-rational establishment of cause and effect.<ref>{{cite journal |name-list-style=amp |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~kfoster/FosterKokko2008%20Proc%20B%20superstition.pdf |author=Kevin R. Foster |author2=Hanna Kokko |title=The evolution of superstitious and superstition-like behaviour |journal=Proc. R. Soc. B |volume=276 |date=2009 |issue=1654 |pages=31–37 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2008.0981 |pmid=18782752 |pmc=2615824 |orig-year=Published online 9 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728042608/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~kfoster/FosterKokko2008%20Proc%20B%20superstition.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2010 }}</ref> Religion is more complex and is often composed of social institutions and has a moral aspect. Some religions may include superstitions or make use of magical thinking. Adherents of one religion sometimes think of other religions as superstition.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Religion Explained |last=Boyer | first = Pascal |year=2001 |chapter=Why Belief |author-link=Pascal Boyer |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wreF80OHTicC&q=%22fang+too+were+quite+amazed%22&pg=PA297|title-link=Religion Explained |isbn=978-0-465-00696-0 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Nailed : ten Christian myths that show Jesus never existed at all |last=David |first=Fitzgerald |isbn=978-0-557-70991-5|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=701249439|date = October 2010}}</ref> Some [[atheists]], [[deists]], and [[skeptics]] regard religious belief as superstition.
It is the traditions that are about death that give the earliest evidence of religious beliefs. Scientists have discovered that 120,000 years ago, [[Neanderthal]] people started burying their dead. Early [[Homo sapiens]] put tools and other things into graves with the bodies, as if they could use them in the afterlife. From 40,000 years ago, many of the objects in graves are small artworks. Scientists believe that these objects were put there for religious reasons.


The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] states that superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).  "Superstition," it says, "is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22" (para. #2111)
[[File:Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu. Carey Linde.jpg|thumb|left|Leaders in two religious institutions, the Dalai Lama (Buddhist) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu ([[Anglican Church|Anglican]])]]


===Agnosticism and atheism===
=== Groups and institutions ===
{{Main|Atheism|Agnosticism|Irreligion|Antireligion|Humanism}}
An [[institution]] is one name for an organization. Many religions have organizations that manage the way that people who follow the religion are to act. The organization might [[employment|employ]] religious leaders, [[education|educate]] people into the ideas of the religion, manage money, own buildings and make rules. Many religions have sub-groups which are called [[denomination]]s. In Islam, for example, there is [[Ahmadiyya]], [[Sunnism]], [[Shi'ism]] and [[Sufism]].
{{See also|Criticism of atheism}}
The terms [[atheist]] (lack of belief in any gods) and agnostic (belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods), though specifically contrary to theistic (e.g. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) religious teachings, do not by definition mean the opposite of religious. There are religions (including Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism), in fact, that classify some of their followers as agnostic, atheistic, or [[nontheism|nontheistic]]. The true opposite of religious is the word irreligious. [[Irreligion]] describes an absence of any religion; [[antireligion]] describes an active opposition or aversion toward religions in general.


===Interfaith cooperation===
=== Buildings ===
{{Main|Interfaith dialogue}}
[[File:Panigrahan in Hindu wedding.jpg|thumb|A traditional Hindu wedding]]
Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Structure of Religion in the U.S. {{!}} Boundless Sociology|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/the-structure-of-religion-in-the-u-s/|access-date=2020-08-08|website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref> many religious practitioners{{who|date=July 2016}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Raja Juli |first1=Antoni |title=The Role of Religion in Peacebuilding in Conflict-Torn Society in Southeast Asia |url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_345401/s4187186_phd_sumbmission.pdf?Expires=1610295553&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=hUJPv-OD7l7Jpt4ccMX7BNlW4QFHnj8-GboiYteu5igkrj5sG4AkHix54sEaPg1oo8y7JSVMxwJL~A~09lqYk5VZSsCsLGG5IdiBquOyIyNX8LtILuovzgJe9Fta1uQWoTsrpQlxb~XgW5Zc2b1GdzBxHYGNj62-mNpflOVRltbgemo8IeIot75xdcQr03KIX8L57V4sspfryKXa7aWdbe6QR7NId7VVrhsD-CRp6JDo-s-jnxKYhionmqASyeryiUCYwCpBzyqaMXPQ~fLccofFFJFVkfPd2wazbxO4AIcEbW8MHb4oiOavkqwG9SUrbQ-D8mkIbJsQ6xEAdGRDJA__ |publisher=The University of Queensland,Australia |access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref> have aimed to band together in [[interfaith]] dialogue, cooperation, and [[Religion and peacebuilding|religious peacebuilding]]. The first major dialogue was the [[Parliament of the World's Religions]] at the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition|Chicago World's Fair]], which affirmed universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures.<ref>{{cite web |title=1893 Chicago {{!}} parliamentofreligions.org |url=https://parliamentofreligions.org/parliament/1893-chicago |website=parliamentofreligions.org |access-date=10 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with [[Christian–Jewish reconciliation]] representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=Leroyce |title=Introduction to the Study of Religion |date=2018 |publisher=EDTECH |isbn=978-1-83947-363-0 |page=6 |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Introduction_to_the_Study_of_Religion/A-TEDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+20th+century+has+been+especially+fruitful+in+use+of+interfaith+dialogue+as+a+means+of+solving+ethnic,+political,+or+even+religious+conflict,+with+Christian%E2%80%93Jewish+reconciliation+representing+a+complete+reverse+in+the+attitudes+of+many+Christian+communities+towards+Jews&pg=PA6&printsec=frontcover |access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}}


Recent interfaith initiatives include A Common Word, launched in 2007 and focused on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acommonword.com/|title=A Common Word Between Us and You|work=acommonword.com}}</ref> the "C1 World Dialogue",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.c1worlddialogue.com/|title=konsoleH :: Login|work=c1worlddialogue.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128195027/http://www.c1worlddialogue.com/|archive-date=28 January 2011}}</ref> the Common Ground initiative between Islam and Buddhism,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islambuddhism.com/|title=Islam and Buddhism|work=islambuddhism.com}}</ref> and a [[United Nations]] sponsored "World Interfaith Harmony Week".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home|url=https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/|access-date=2020-08-08|website=World Interfaith Harmony Week|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/world-interfaith-harmony-week-resolution/|title=» World Interfaith Harmony Week UNGA Resolution A/65/PV.34|work=worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com}}</ref>
Most religions have special buildings where people meet. They are often called [[temple]]s. In [[Judaism]], they are called [[synagogue]]s. In [[Christianity]], they are called [[church]]es. In [[Islam]], they are called [[mosque]]s. In [[Buddhism]] there are [[pagoda]]s, temples and monasteries. In [[Hinduism]] they are called [[Mandir]]s. People often try to make their religious building as beautiful as possible. Some religious buildings are great works of [[architecture]].


===Culture===
=== Art and music ===
Culture and religion have usually been seen as closely related.<ref name="14.1A: The Nature of Religion"/> [[Paul Tillich]] looked at religion as the soul of culture and culture as the form or framework of religion.<ref>Edward L. Queen, ''Encyclopedia of American Religious History, Volume 1'' Facts on File, 1996. p. vi.</ref> In his own words:
People often make artworks that are about their religion, or that are used in religious [[celebration]], or are put in a religious building. Religious art comes in all [[shapes]] and sizes, from tiny pieces of jewellery to huge statues and [[paintings]]. Artworks often give important clues to [[historian]]s about different ancient religions that are not well understood.
<blockquote>Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning-giving substance of culture, and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself. In abbreviation: religion is the substance of culture, culture is the form of religion. Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture. Every religious act, not only in organized religion, but also in the most intimate movement of the soul, is culturally formed.<ref>Paul Tillich, ''Theology of Culture'', Robert C. Kimball (ed), (Oxford University Press, 1959). p.42</ref></blockquote>
[[Ernst Troeltsch]], similarly, looked at culture as the soil of religion and thought that, therefore, transplanting a religion from its original culture to a foreign culture would actually kill it in the same manner that transplanting a plant from its natural soil to an alien soil would kill it.<ref>Eric J. Sharpe, "Religion and Cultures", An inaugural lecture delivered on 6 July 1977 by Eric J. Sharpe, Professor of Religious Studies in the University of Sydney. Accessed at [https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/ART/article/download/5496/6167 Openjournals] on 22 June 2018</ref> However, there have been many attempts in the modern pluralistic situation to distinguish culture from religion.<ref>See Taslima Nasreen, [https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/i-say-three-cheers-for-ayaan/232289 "I Say, Three Cheers For Ayaan"], ''Outlook, The Magazine'' 28 August 2006. Also, Nemani Delaibatiki, [http://fijisun.com.fj/2017/07/08/religion-and-the-vanua/ "Religion and the Vanua"] ''Fiji Sun'' 8 July 2017 in which the distinctive elements of culture against religion are taken from Domenic Marbaniang, [https://philpapers.org/bbs/thread.pl?tId=959 "Difference Between Culture and Religion: A Proposal Requesting Response"], 12 October 2014.</ref> Domenic Marbaniang has argued that elements grounded on beliefs of a metaphysical nature (religious) are distinct from elements grounded on nature and the natural (cultural). For instance, language (with its grammar) is a cultural element while sacralization of language in which a particular religious scripture is written is more often a religious practice. The same applies to music and the arts.<ref>Domenic Marbaniang, "The Gospel and Culture: Areas of Conflict, Consent, and Conversion", ''Journal of Contemporary Christian'' Vol. 6, No. 1 (Bangalore: CFCC, Aug 2014), {{ISSN|2231-5233}} pp. 7–17</ref>


==Criticism==
Music is often important in religious celebrations. Singing, chanting and playing musical instruments are often part of regular religious gatherings of people. Special music is often used on special occasions. Many famous composers have written religious music. The words of songs that are 3,000 years old are used every day in Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.
{{Main|Criticism of religion}}
Criticism of religion is [[criticism]] of the ideas, the truth, or the practice of religion, including its political and social implications.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Beckford|first=James A.|title=Social Theory and Religion| url=https://archive.org/details/socialtheoryreli00beck| url-access=limited| page=[https://archive.org/details/socialtheoryreli00beck/page/n11 2]| year=2003| publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-77431-4}}</ref>


==See also==
== Related pages ==
{{Portal|Religion}}
* [[Freedom of religion]]
{{col div|colwidth=25em}}
* [[List of religions]]
* [[Cosmogony]]
* [[Index of religion-related articles]]
* [[Life stance]]
* [[List of foods with religious symbolism]]
* [[List of religion-related awards]]
* [[List of religious texts]]
* [[Nontheistic religions]]
* [[Outline of religion]]
* [[Parody religions]]
* [[Philosophy of religion]]
* [[Philosophy of religion]]
* [[Priest]]
* [[Religious denomination]]
* [[Religion and happiness]]
* [[Secular religion]]
* [[Religion and peacebuilding]]
* [[Religions by country]]
* [[Religious conversion]]
* [[Religious discrimination]]
* [[Social conditioning]]
* [[Socialization]]
* [[Temple]]
* [[Theocracy]]
* [[Theology of religions]]
* [[Timeline of religion]]
* [[Problem of why there is anything at all|Why is there something rather than nothing?]]
{{colend}}
 
==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
==Sources==
{{refbegin}}


=== Primary ===
== References ==
* Saint Augustine; ''The Confessions of Saint Augustine'' (John K. Ryan translator); Image (1960), {{ISBN|0-385-02955-1}}.
{{reflist|2}}
* Lao Tzu; ''Tao Te Ching'' (Victor H. Mair translator); Bantam (1998).
* ''The Holy Bible'', King James Version; New American Library (1974).
* ''The Koran''; Penguin (2000), {{ISBN|0-14-044558-7}}.
* ''The Origin of Live & Death'', African Creation Myths; Heinemann (1966).
* ''Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia''; Penguin (1971).
* ''Selected Work'' Marcus Tullius Cicero
* United States Constitution
 
=== Secondary ===
* Barzilai, Gad; ''Law and Religion''; The International Library of Essays in Law and Society; Ashgate (2007), {{ISBN|978-0-7546-2494-3}}
* {{Citation |last1=Borg |first1=J.  |title=The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |volume=160 |issue=11 |pages=1965–1969 |date=November 2003 |pmid=14594742 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brodd |first=Jeffrey |title=World Religions |publisher=Saint Mary's Press |year=2003 |location=Winona, MN |isbn=978-0-88489-725-5}}
* Yves Coppens, ''Origines de l'homme – De la matière à la conscience'', De Vive Voix, Paris, 2010
* Yves Coppens, ''La preistoria dell'uomo'', Jaca Book, Milano, 2011
* Descartes, René; ''Meditations on First Philosophy''; Bobbs-Merril (1960), {{ISBN|0-672-60191-5}}.
* Dow, James W. (2007), ''[http://www.anpere.net/2007/2.pdf A Scientific Definition of Religion]''
* {{citation |last=Dundas |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Dundas |title=The Jains |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ |edition=Second |date=2002 |orig-year=1992 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 }}
* Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); ''Our Oriental Heritage''; MJF Books (1997), {{ISBN|1-56731-012-5}}.
* Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); ''Caesar and Christ''; MJF Books (1994), {{ISBN|1-56731-014-1}}
* Durant, Will (& Ariel (uncredited)); ''The Age of Faith''; Simon & Schuster (1980), {{ISBN|0-671-01200-2}}.
* {{cite book|last=Durkheim|first=Emile|date=1915|url=https://archive.org/details/elementaryformso00durkrich|title=The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life|location=London|publisher=George Allen & Unwin}}
* {{cite book|last=Geertz|first=Clifford|date=1993|chapter=Religion as a cultural system|title=The interpretation of cultures: selected essays, Geertz, Clifford|location=London|publisher=Fontana Press|pages=87–125}}
* [[Marija Gimbutas]] 1989. ''The Language of the Goddess''. Thames and Hudson New York
* Gonick, Larry; ''The Cartoon History of the Universe''; Doubleday, vol. 1 (1978) {{ISBN|0-385-26520-4}}, vol. II (1994) {{ISBN|0-385-42093-5}}, W.W. Norton, vol. III (2002) {{ISBN|0-393-05184-6}}.
* Haisch, Bernard ''The God Theory: Universes, Zero-point Fields, and What's Behind It All''—discussion of science vs. religion ([https://archive.is/20121204150309/http://www.thegodtheory.com/preface.html Preface]), Red Wheel/Weiser, 2006, {{ISBN|1-57863-374-5}}
* {{cite book|last=James|first=William|date=1902|url=https://archive.org/details/varietiesreligi02jamegoog|title=The Varieties of Religious Experience. A Study in Human Nature|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co.}}
* Khanbaghi, A., ''The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran''  (IB Tauris; 2006) 268 pages. Social, political and cultural history of religious minorities in Iran, c. 226–1722 AD.
* King, Winston, ''Religion'' [First Edition]. In: ''Encyclopedia of Religion''. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 11. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference US, 2005. pp.&nbsp;7692–7701.
* [[Andrey Korotayev|Korotayev, Andrey]], ''World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective'', Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-7734-6310-0}}.
* {{Cite journal |last2=Harvey |first2=John |last3=Nyborg |first3=Helmuth |last1=Lynn |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Lynn |year=2009 |title=Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations |journal=[[Intelligence (journal)|Intelligence]] |volume=37 |pages=11–15 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004 }}
* McKinnon, Andrew M. (2002), [http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/3073/1/McKinnon_Definition_of_Religion_author_version_no_format.pdf "Sociological Definitions, Language Games and the 'Essence' of Religion"]. Method & theory in the study of religion, vol 14, no. 1, pp.&nbsp;61–83.
* Marx, Karl; "Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right", ''Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher'', (1844).
* {{cite journal |last=Massignon |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Massignon |title=Les trois prières d'Abraham, père de tous les croyants |journal=Dieu Vivant |volume=13 |year=1949 |pages=20–23 }}
{{refend}}
* Palmer, Spencer J., ''et al''. ''Religions of the World: a Latter-day Saint [Mormon] View''. 2nd general ed., tev. and enl. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1997. xv, 294 p., ill. {{ISBN|0-8425-2350-2}}
* {{Citation |last=Pals |first=Daniel L. |year=2006 |title=Eight Theories of Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* Ramsay, Michael, ''Abp.'' ''Beyond Religion?'' Cincinnati, Ohio: Forward Movement Publications, (cop. 1964).
* Saler, Benson; "Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent Anthropologists, Transcendent Natives, and Unbounded Categories" (1990), {{ISBN|1-57181-219-9}}
* Schuon, Frithjof. ''The Transcendent Unity of Religions'', in series, ''Quest Books.'' 2nd Quest ... rev. ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993, cop. 1984. xxxiv, 173 p. {{ISBN|0-8356-0587-6}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | first=Robert A | last=Segal | title=Theories of Religion | editor-first=John R. | editor-last=Hinnells| encyclopedia=The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion | year=2005 | location=London; New York | publisher=Routledge | pages=49–60}}
* [[Wilfred Cantwell Smith|Smith, Wilfred Cantwell]] (1962), ''The Meaning and End of Religion''
* {{Citation |last=Stausberg |first=Michael |year=2009 |title=Contemporary Theories of religion |publisher=Routledge}}
* [[Anthony F. C. Wallace|Wallace, Anthony F.C.]] 1966. ''Religion: An Anthropological View''. New York: Random House. (pp.&nbsp;62–66)
* ''The World Almanac'' (annual), World Almanac Books, {{ISBN|0-88687-964-7}}.
* ''The World Almanac'' (for numbers of adherents of various religions), 2005


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|onlinebooks=yes}}
{{commonscat|Religion}}
* {{Cite book |last1=James |first1=Paul |last2=Mandaville |first2=Peter |year=2010 |name-list-style=amp |title=Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions |url=https://www.academia.edu/4416072 |publisher=Sage Publications |location=London}}
* Chopra, R.M., "A Study of Religions", 2015, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi, {{ISBN|978-93-82339-94-6}}
* Noss, John B.; ''Man's Religions'', 6th ed.; Macmillan Publishing Co. (1980). ''N.B''.: The first ed. appeared in 1949, {{ISBN|0-02-388430-4}}.
* [[Ronald F. Inglehart|Inglehart, Ronald F.]], "Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion", ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 99, no. 5 (September / October 2020), pp.&nbsp;110–118.
* Lang, Andrew; ''The Making of Religion'', (1898)
 
==External links==
{{Commons category|Religion}}
{{Wikiquote|Religion}}
{{Wikivoyage|Religion and spirituality}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160110065737/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/us/religion.htm Religion Statistics] from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
* {{curlie|Society/Religion_and_Spirituality}}
* [http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422093857/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |date=22 April 2011 }} by Adherents.com August 2005
* [http://www.iacsr.com/ IACSR – International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion]
* [http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/studyingreligion.html Studying Religion] – Introduction to the methods and scholars of the academic study of religion
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm#05 A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right] – Marx's original reference to religion as the ''opium of the people''.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120215004018/http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss16/gunn.shtml The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of "Religion" in International Law] Harvard Human Rights Journal article from the President and Fellows of Harvard College (2003)
* [http://www.sociologyofreligion.net/ Sociology of Religion Resources]
* [http://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-how-religion-spread-around-the-world-2015-6 Video: 5 Religions spreading across the world]


{{Religion topics|state=expanded}}
== External links ==
{{Medical ethics}}
* [http://www.religionfacts.com/ Religion Facts]
{{World_view}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/ Religion] on the [[BBC]] website


{{Authority control}}
{{religionfooter}}


[[Category:Religion| ]]
[[Category:Religion| ]]
[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Religions| ]]
[[Category:Personal life]]
[[Category:Basic English 850 words]]
[[Category:Main topic articles]]

Latest revision as of 06:01, 29 September 2022

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Religionsmajoritaries.png

A religion is a set of beliefs regarding the origin, nature, and purpose of existence, usually including a belief in supernatural entities, such as deitys or spirits that have power in the natural world. Religious practices include the rituals and devotions directed at the supernatural. Often religions believe in the spiritual nature of humans. There are many different religions or sects, each with a different set of beliefs. Some beliefs are also concerned with the moral behavior of humans.[1]

Religious beliefs[edit]

Each religion has different ideas about these things. Each religion also has a "moral code" which is a set of beliefs about how humans should act. Each religion usually has their own type of "devotions" when people worship or pray. They often have rituals (special things that are always done in the same way) for certain times of the year or certain times of a person's life. Other words that are used for religion are "faith" and "belief system".[2] Altogether, followers of religion can be known as 'believers', or 'the faithful'. Few people follow more than one religion at a time.

The largest religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Judaism and Jainism. There are many other religions.[3] People who do not believe in any gods are called atheists. People who say that there is no evidence are called agnostics.[4][5]

God[edit]

Statue of Saint Peter holding the keys of the kingdom of heaven. (Gospel of Matthew (16:18–19)

In many religions, one of the main beliefs is that there is a "deity" (or god) who is a great creator spirit. In many religions, there is just one deity that the people believe in. In other religions, there are many deities who each have different roles in the universe. In many religions, there are other types of spirits. These may include angels, devils and other such things which can be both good and bad.

Giving honour to God, the gods or the spirits is an important part of most religions. While this may often be done privately, it is also often done with gatherings of people and rituals. These rituals are often based on old traditions, and may have been done in almost the same way for hundreds, or even thousands of years.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was known for her Christian kindness.

Human spirit[edit]

Another main belief is that humans have a "soul" or spirit which lives on after their body has died. The person's spirit is on a journey through life that continues after death. Most religions believe that what a person does during their lifetime will affect what happens to their spirit in the afterlife. Many religions teach that a good person's spirit can reach a special place of peace and happiness such as Heaven or Nirvana, and that a bad person's spirit can travel to a place of pain and suffering such as Hell. Still other religions believe in reincarnation - that instead of going either to Heaven or Hell, spirits of the dead return to earth in a new body.

Morality[edit]

"Morals" are the way a human behaves to other humans. Most religions make rules about human morals. The rules of how people should act to each other are different in different religions.

For some religions, following a "path" of goodness, truth and duty is very important. This is called Tao in China. In the teachings of Judaism, people were told to "love your neighbour as yourself". In the teachings of Jesus, people were told to think of every single person as their "neighbour" and treat them with love.

Not every religion teaches people to be kind to all other people. In many religions, it has been common for people to believe that they have to act kindly only to some people and not to others. In some religions, people believed that they could please a god by killing or sacrificing another person.

Traditions[edit]

The man on the left is teaching others about his religion

Teaching[edit]

A religion is passed on from one person to another through teachings and stories (which are often called "myths") which may be written down like the Bible, or told from memory like the Dreamtime stories of Australian Aboriginal people. In many religions, there are people who take the role of "priest" and spend their lives teaching others about the religion. There are also people who take the role of "pastor" and spend their life caring for other people. A person may be both a priest and a pastor. They are called by different names in different religions.

Symbols[edit]

Symbols are used to remind people of their religious beliefs. They are also used or worn as a sign to other people that the person belongs to a particular religion. A symbol might be something that is drawn or written, it might be a piece of clothing or jewellery, it might be a sign that a person makes with their body, or it might be a building or monument or artwork. Picture symbols for different religions are shown in the box in the introduction to this article.

Witness and conversion[edit]

In many religions, it is thought important that people should show other people that they are following a particular religion. This might be done in a general way by wearing a symbol or a type of clothing. Many people believe that it is important to tell other people about their religion, so that they can believe as well. This is called "witnessing".

These Sikhs in Canada wear a head-dress of turban or head scarf as a symbol and witness to their religion.

There are many ways to witness. A young person might simply say to their friends "I do not use drugs or get drunk because of my religion". This is a witness. A person may tell their classmates, workmates and friends about their beliefs. A person might go to other people's houses and talk about their beliefs, or invite the people to join in the rituals of the religion, such as going to church or to a religious festival. A person might have printed material such as books or leaflets that they give to other people to read. A person might travel to a different country to teach, to work in a health service or to help people in some other way. (People who do this are called "missionaries".) These are different ways that people witness to their religion.

When a person hears a witness and decides that they will join the religion, this is called a "conversion". Usually a person decides to join a religion because they like what they have read or been told, and they believe that they are hearing the truth. They join the religion because they choose. However, throughout history there have been many times when people have been forced to join a religion by violence and threats. This is still happening today.

In most countries of the world, people are free to belong to whatever religion they choose. This is generally thought of as a basic human right. However, there are parts of the world where it is illegal (against the law) to witness to any religion except the one accepted by the government of the country. People who belong to other religions may be threatened, put in jail or murdered.

A Carmelite nun meditating on the Bible

Ritual[edit]

Rituals are an important part of the tradition of many religions. In many religions, it is the tradition for people to meet for a celebration on one day in every week. There are also major celebrations that may be held only at certain times of the year, for example, on the birthday of a person who is honoured in that religion. Some religions have celebrations for different seasons of the year, or when the sun or moon is in a certain part of the sky.

In nearly every religion, the important stages of a person's life have a religious celebration. Birth, naming, reaching an age to think for oneself, reaching adulthood, marriage, childbirth, sickness and death are all celebrated by some religions. Having a celebration or special traditions when a person dies is very common.

It is the traditions that are about death that give the earliest evidence of religious beliefs. Scientists have discovered that 120,000 years ago, Neanderthal people started burying their dead. Early Homo sapiens put tools and other things into graves with the bodies, as if they could use them in the afterlife. From 40,000 years ago, many of the objects in graves are small artworks. Scientists believe that these objects were put there for religious reasons.

Leaders in two religious institutions, the Dalai Lama (Buddhist) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Anglican)

Groups and institutions[edit]

An institution is one name for an organization. Many religions have organizations that manage the way that people who follow the religion are to act. The organization might employ religious leaders, educate people into the ideas of the religion, manage money, own buildings and make rules. Many religions have sub-groups which are called denominations. In Islam, for example, there is Ahmadiyya, Sunnism, Shi'ism and Sufism.

Buildings[edit]

A traditional Hindu wedding

Most religions have special buildings where people meet. They are often called temples. In Judaism, they are called synagogues. In Christianity, they are called churches. In Islam, they are called mosques. In Buddhism there are pagodas, temples and monasteries. In Hinduism they are called Mandirs. People often try to make their religious building as beautiful as possible. Some religious buildings are great works of architecture.

Art and music[edit]

People often make artworks that are about their religion, or that are used in religious celebration, or are put in a religious building. Religious art comes in all shapes and sizes, from tiny pieces of jewellery to huge statues and paintings. Artworks often give important clues to historians about different ancient religions that are not well understood.

Music is often important in religious celebrations. Singing, chanting and playing musical instruments are often part of regular religious gatherings of people. Special music is often used on special occasions. Many famous composers have written religious music. The words of songs that are 3,000 years old are used every day in Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.

Related pages[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Reference Dictionary - Religion
  2. ↑ The words "belief system" may not necessarily refer to a religion, though a religion may be referred to as "belief system".
  3. ↑ "Major Religions by adherents". Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  4. ↑ "Secular, Nonreligious, Agnostic, Atheist". Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  5. ↑ Atheism and Agnosticism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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