Religion is man’s voluntary subjection of himself to the Supreme Being and his ultimate hope for happiness and perfection. It exists, in its highest form, in heaven, where men worship and praise God with absolute conformity to His holy will. It also exists on earth, though crudely conceived in lower grades of culture, as the feeling of helplessness in the face of forces over which man has but feeble control and a conviction that in friendly communion with God he can find aid and salvation.
It involves a system of values, a concept of order in the universe, and a pattern of behaviour based on that concept. It may also involve ritual as an aid to emotions and expression of the valuation, and it may also include teachings and practices that are designed to bring about the valuation.
For most religions, however, the central purpose of life as project is not to achieve a religiously acceptable standard of behaviour but to prepare for an ultimate destiny. The most important goals are proximate and can be attained within this life (a wiser, more fruitful, more charitable or successful way of living) but others have to do with the final condition of the individual person and even of the cosmos itself.
Religions can be sources of social unity and cohesion, but, as history shows, they can also promote religious intolerance and even hatred, with the result that individuals or whole communities or nations are prepared to persecute and kill their opponents. These two aspects of the nature of religion are what distinguishes it from other phenomena such as magic, art or science.