Religion is a complex human cultural system that encompasses beliefs, values and practices. It seems to be a universal human need and experience, with about 6.4 billion people worldwide participating in one form or another. It appears that most humans want to believe in a god or in some kind of spiritual power, and most believe that there is some ultimate meaning or purpose to life. Some scholars have tried to analyze and define what is religion, with many focusing on its functional role in a society. Others have tried to analyze and classify it based on its specific elements and features. Most of these attempts have been “monothetic”, arguing that there is one essential feature or property that distinguishes religion from non-religion, but others have taken a more polythetic approach to the concept, allowing for more than one defining property of a religious system.
For example, Edward Tylor’s minimal definition of religion includes belief in a god or spirit, while Paul Tillich uses ultimate concern as a functional criterion to distinguish it from non-religion. While these monothetic approaches are useful, they are not as helpful in analyzing and understanding religion. They also have the potential to be restrictive, since some forms of cultural expression may not fit into the strict definitions that have been proposed.
It is much more helpful to view the phenomenon of religion as a set of social categories, with each religion in its own way belonging to one or more of these categories. Such an analysis allows for the study of specific aspects and features of religions, and it also provides a means to compare religions, since most have certain similar characteristics that separate them from secular or philosophical systems.
Most of the major religions have some common characteristics, including a focus on the supernatural or spiritual, and a code of behavior that is considered ethical or moral. They also tend to have some form of organized structure and hierarchy, and are usually centered on a particular location or region of the world. They have a strong mystical element and often provide rituals and ceremonies that can be both ecstatic and mundane.
Many religions also have a strong educational component, which teaches children to read and write, and in some cases prepares them for higher education. In addition, most religions have contributed to charitable work and have established hospitals, schools and other social welfare institutions. In some instances, they have been the inspiration for art and music, and they have helped to shape the explorations of the natural world that issued into the modern natural sciences. In other instances, they have been sources of fun and entertainment, presenting spectacles that are flamboyant and dramatic, often accompanied by fear or excitement, and they have provided a resource for human imagination and fantasy.