Religion is a cultural system of beliefs and practices that are held by individuals or groups. It may consist of ideas about a higher power, a judgement after death, and other spiritual beliefs. It can include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, feasts, matrimonial and funerary services, trances, meditation, prayer, music, art, and dance. Religion can also be a social glue, bringing people together in common purpose and providing a sense of community. However, it can also cause division and stress, particularly when religious beliefs conflict with other ideas or experiences.
Some researchers have used the term to refer to a set of specific beliefs, such as Christianity or Islam, while others use it broadly to mean any belief in spiritual beings. A more general definition of religion would include all human belief in the supernatural and the existence of gods, angels, spirits, or godlike powers, but this would exclude most peoples and cultures from its scope. Edward Burnett Tylor defined it as “the belief in spiritual beings, irrespective of their names and natures”.
Sociologists of religion have looked at religion as a phenomenon that binds together societies, promoting harmony, morality, and social cohesion. Anthropologists have studied the development of religion in tribal and primitive societies, trying to understand its origins and functions.
Psychologists have also studied the nature of religion, and some have sought to explain its emergence. Freud argued that it developed out of the unresolved feelings of an individual for his or her mother and father, and of hatred toward a rival. He postulated that this led to the formation of religions as a way of resolving these conflicts, and of incest taboos and other forms of interfamily sexual restrictions.
Other scholars have tried to explain the nature of religion by looking at its internal dynamics, such as those of its myths and symbols. Psychoanalysts, such as Wilhelm Reich and Erich Seligman, have argued that religion is the result of unconscious forces that are repressed in the conscious world. They have suggested that religious symbols and experience can give rise to a new zest for life, or a sense of heroism.
In sociological discussions of the concept of religion, many writers have analyzed it to determine whether it has necessary and sufficient properties or if it is a prototype-like concept. These debates have often been ad hoc, and it is possible to take either a polythetic or monothetic approach.
Sociology, anthropology, and literary and other studies of religion examine a religion cross-sectionally to see its basic patterns and structures. They may also study its institutions, and the beliefs and values that are embodied in them, and elicit its myths and other traditions. This multidisciplinary approach allows for the comparison of different religions to find their similarities and differences. It also enables the analysis of the effects of religion on the lives of its followers.