A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth.^[1] It may be expressed through prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, among other things. It may focus on specific supernatural, metaphysical, and moral claims about reality (the cosmos, and human nature) which may yield a set of religious laws, ethics, and a particular lifestyle. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience.

The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system,"^[2] but it is more socially defined than personal convictions, and it entails specific behaviors, respectively.

The development of religion has taken many forms in various cultures. It considers psychological and social roots, along with origins and historical development.

In the frame of western religious thought,^[3] religions present a common quality, the "hallmark of patriarchal religious thought": the division of the world in two comprehensive domains, one sacred, the other profane.^[4] Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion is also often described as a "way of life" or a life stance.

Definitions of religion

Religion has been defined in a wide variety of ways. Most definitions attempt to find a balance somewhere between overly sharp definition and meaningless generalities. Some sources have tried to use formalistic, doctrinal definitions while others have emphasized experiential, emotive, intuitive, valuational and ethical factors. Definitions mostly include:

• a notion of the transcendent or numinous, often, but not always, in the form of theism
• a cultural or behavioural aspect of ritual, liturgy and organized worship, often involving a priesthood, and societal norms of morality (ethos) and virtue (arete)
• a set of myths or sacred truths held in reverence or believed by adherents

Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in "God" or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, "a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.”^[8] According to this definition, religion refers to one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's thoughts and actions.

There is a tendency in the sociology of religion to emphasize the problems of any definition of religion. Talal Asad has gone so far as to say ”there cannot be a universal definition of religion … because that definition is itself the historical product of discursive processes”^[9]

Other religious scholars have put forward a definition of religion that avoids the reductionism of the various sociological and psychological disciplines that reduce religion to its component factors. Religion may be defined as the presence of a belief in the sacred or the holy. For example Rudolf Otto's "The Idea of the Holy," formulated in 1917, defines the essence of religious awareness as awe, a unique blend of fear and fascination before the divine. Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as a "feeling of absolute dependence."

Classification

Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutual influence. Abrahamic religions originate in the Middle East, Indian religions in India and Far Eastern religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are African diasporic religions, which have their origins in Central and West Africa.

• Abrahamic religions are by far the largest group, and these consist primarily of Christianity, Islam and Judaism (sometimes the Bahá'í Faith is also included). They are named for the patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice of monotheism. Today, around 3.4 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around South-East Asia. Several Abrahamic organizations are vigorous proselytizers.^[14]
• Indian religions originated in Greater India and tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma and karma. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, South East Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Indian religions mutually influenced each other. Sikhism was also influenced by the Abrahamic tradition of Sufism.
• East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Do (in Japanese or Korean), namely Taoism and Confucianism, both of which are asserted by some scholars to be non-religious in nature.
• African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 18th centuries, building of traditional religions of Central and West Africa.
• Indigenous tribal religions, formerly found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths, but persisting as undercurrents of folk religion. Includes African traditional religions, Asian Shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions, Chinese folk religion, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as "Paganism" along with historical polytheism.
• Iranic religions (not listed below due to overlaps) originated in Iran and include Zoroastrianism, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeanism, Manichaeism). It has significant overlaps with Abrahamic traditions, e.g. in Sufism and in recent movements such as Bábísm and the Bahá'í Faith.
• New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19th century, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions: Bahá'í, Hindu revivalism, Ayyavazhi, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.

The generally agreed upon demographic distribution of the major super-groupings mentioned is shown in the table below:

Cultural tradition	Religious category	Number of followers	Date of origin	Main regions covered
Abrahamic religions 3.6 billion	Christianity	1.9-2.1 billion[15]	1st c.	Worldwide except Northwest Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Central, East, and Southeast Asia.
	Islam	1-1.3 billion[15]	7th c.	Middle East, Northern Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Western Africa, Indian subcontinent, Malay Archipelago with large population centers existing in Eastern Africa, Balkan Peninsula, Russia, Europe and China.
	Judaism	14.5 million[15]	1300 BCE	Israel and Jewish diaspora (meaning mostly North America and Europe)
	Bahá'í Faith	7.4 million[15]	19th c.	Dispersed worldwide with no major population centers
	Rastafari movement	700,000[16]	1930s	Jamaica, Caribbean, Africa
Indian religions 1.4 billion	Hinduism	828 million[15]	Varies by tradition	Indian subcontinent, Fiji, Guyana and Mauritius
	Buddhism	364 million[15]	c. 500 BCE	Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Indochina, regions of Russia.
	Sikhism	23.8 million[15]	15th c.	Indian subcontinent, Australasia, Northern America, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Western Europe.
	Jainism	4.3 million[15]	c. 800 BCE	India, and East Africa
Far Eastern religions	Taoism	Varies[17]	Spring and Autumn Period (722 BC-481 BC)	China and the Chinese diaspora
	Confucianism			China, Korea, Vietnam and the Chinese and Vietnamese diasporas
Ethnic/tribal
	Chinese folk religions	Varies[17]	Varies by tradition	China
	Shinto traditions			Japan
	African traditional and diasporic religions	100 million[18]		Africa, Americas
	Other ethnic religions	300 million[18]		India, Asia
Other each over 500 thousand
	Juche	23 million[19]	1955	North Korea
	Chondogyo	3 million[20]	1812	Korea
	Tenrikyo	2 million[21]	1832	Japan, Brazil
	Cao Đài	2 million[22]	1925	Vietnam
	Ahl-e Haqq	1 million[23]	14th century	Iraq, Iran
	Seicho-No-Ie	800,000[21]	1929	Japan
	Yazidism	700,000[24]	12th century or older	mainly Iraq
	Unitarian-Universalism	630,000[25]	1961	United States, Europe

See also

Main lists: List of basic religious topics and List of religious topics

• International Association for the Scientific Study of Religion
• Code of Hammurabi
• List of religious populations
• Religions by country
• Wealth and religion
• Religion and happiness
• Religious conversion
• Entheogen

Notes

References