Religion is a set of beliefs about the existence and role of a supreme being, and related rituals, symbols, and practices. Religious beliefs may involve one or more gods, angels, demons, saints, ancestors, spirits, heaven, hell, and reincarnation. Religious practice may involve worship, prayer, meditation, trancelike states, and shamanistic practices. Religion is a social phenomenon that has many functions in societies and individuals. It ideally gives meaning and purpose to life, reinforces social unity and stability, promotes psychological and physical well-being, serves as an agent of social control, and can motivate people to work for positive social change.
Some scholars have offered different definitions of religion. The three most common are monothetic (focusing on the belief in a distinctive kind of reality), polytheistic, and atheistic.
More recently, scholars have begun to focus less on defining the substantive content of a religion and more on its social functions. Emile Durkheim’s concept of religion is one example of a functional approach. In addition, researchers have cited studies such as one that found that religious communes outlasted those motivated by secular ideologies even though the latter often impose more costly requirements on members (Norenzayan and Shariff 2008, 34; Sosis and Ruffle 2003).
Some scholars take this approach further and argue that we should reject the idea of a thing called “religion.” They suggest that the term came into use in modern times and that it is based on the notion of European colonialism, which has led to its modern semantic expansion.