Religion is a cultural system of beliefs, values and practices that may include supernatural teachings and mythologies, a moral code of conduct, rituals, symbols, and holy places. It may also consist of a set of texts and oral histories that recount the origins of the universe, human life and other worldly phenomena. It is often claimed that religious belief grew from human curiosity about the ultimate questions of life and death, as well as fear of forces beyond humans’ control. In many cases, religions provide hope for future life and a spiritual connection with the universe.
Definitions of religion are difficult to pin down. Some approaches take a social-functional approach, such as Durkheim’s definition which turns on the function of building solidarity in a group, or Tillich’s which defines religion as whatever dominant concerns serve to organize a person’s values (whether these concern the existence of unusual realities or not). Others treat it as a metaphysical concept and seek to define it through philosophical inquiry. Frederick Ferre offers a useful and clear example of this in his Basic Modern Philosophy of Religion.
Reflexive scholars have taken a step back from such approaches and are now concerned to examine the constructed nature of what has been assumed to be unproblematically “out there”. These scholars are interested in the ways that the idea of religion is defined, negotiated, and used as a tool by particular groups for their own purposes. They argue that to reduce the phenomenon of religion to any of these functional or philosophical definitions is misleading. What is needed is a full and rich description of the phenomenon and its characteristics.