A large percentage of people on Earth believe in religion, and that belief plays a significant role in their daily lives. This fact raises many questions, not least about the nature of religion itself. What is religion, and how is it different from culture or philosophy or tradition? The answer to these questions can be complex and multifaceted, but it must also be simple enough to allow us to discuss the topic easily. This is why we have a number of definitions of religion.
Most scholars and sociologists define religion as a set of beliefs, practices and values that give meaning to people’s lives. This is known as a “functional” definition of religion, and it is contrasted with substantive definitions that focus on specific beliefs or worldviews. For example, the anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as “a system of symbols that acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of reality that they become convincingly real.”
The functional view of religion is very broad, and it encompasses everything from social control to psychological well-being. It can even serve as a basis for moral/ethical, economic and political reasoning. But, in modern times it has a hard time finding a niche, with endless philosophies and ideologies competing for attention, magnified by instantaneous media and pushed together by globalization. Consequently, some people are turning away from traditional religions.
One criticism of functional definitions of religion is that they are ethnocentric. By focusing on beliefs, personal experience and the dichotomy between the natural and supernatural, they may fail to consider religions that are nontheistic or that emphasize immanence and oneness, such as some forms of Buddhism and Jainism.
A more nuanced criticism of functional definitions of religion is that, by focusing on beliefs and behaviors, they exclude the many spiritual experiences that are not measurable with scientific methods. Moreover, these experiences may not be consciously perceived as religious but may have a profound effect on a person’s outlook and behavior. These types of experiences include dreams, mystical experiences and altered states of consciousness, all of which are a part of some people’s religions. A more comprehensive approach to the study of religion would therefore take these factors into account. This is why some anthropologists and sociologists have begun to use an expanded definition of religion that includes both beliefs and experiences, but without limiting the category to any particular beliefs or practices. This definition is sometimes referred to as the “three Cs” of religio: the conviction that there is an unseen order in the universe, the importance of social interaction and the value of community. This is a definition that has broad relevance and is beginning to gain acceptance among scholars, though it does not enjoy universal support.