A religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Aspects of religion often include narrative, symbolism, beliefs, and practices that are supposed to give meaning to the practitioner’s experiences of life. Whether the meaning centres on a deity or deities, or an ultimate truth, religion is commonly identified by the practitioner’s prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, among other things, and is often interwoven with society and politics. It may focus on specific supernatural, metaphysical and moral claims about reality, which may yield a set of religious laws and ethics and a particular lifestyle. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience.

What does the term Religion refer too?

The term ‘religion’ refers both to the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. “Religion” is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘faith’ or ‘belief system’, but it is more socially defined than personal convictions, and it entails specific behaviours, respectively. As religion has developed, it has taken many different forms in various different cultures, mainly with continental differences.

Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion is also often described as a “way of life” or a life stance.

Religious Beliefs

Religious belief usually relates to the existence, nature and worship of a deity or deities and divine involvement in the universe and human life. Alternatively, it may also relate to values and practices transmitted by a spiritual leader. Unlike other belief systems, which may be passed on orally, religious beliefs tend to be codified in literate societies; however, religion in non-literate societies is still largely passed on orally. Religious belief can also involve causes, principles or activities believed in with zeal or conscientious devotion concerning points or matters of ethics or conscience, not necessarily limited to organized religions.

Religious Movements

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically-defined categories called “world religions.” However, some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited. The list of religious movements given here is an attempt to summarize the most important regional and philosophical influences, but it is by no means a complete description of every religious community.

Abrahamic religions are practiced all over the world. They share in common the Jewish patriarch Abraham and the Torah as an initial sacred text, although the degree to which the Torah is incorporate into religious beliefs varies between traditions. Religions considered to be part of Abrahamic religions include Judaism Christianity, Islam and the Bahá’í Faith. However, these religions each differ greatly, for example, Judaism only accepts the prophets of the Torah, but also relies on the authority of rabbis. Christianity is centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the Gospels and the writings of the apostle Paul. The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and as Savior and Lord. Islam refers to the religion taught by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE. Islam is the dominant religion of northern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. As with Christianity, there is no single orthodoxy in Islam, but a multitude of traditions which are generally categorized as Sunni and Shia, however there are also some other minor groups. The Bahá’í Faith was founded in the 19th Century in Iran and since then it has since spread worldwide. It teaches unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Hinduism is a synecdoche describing the similar philosophies of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and related groups practices or were founded in the Indian subcontinent. Concepts most of them share in common include karma, caste, reincarnation, mantras, vantras and darśana. Hinduisum is not a monolithic religion in the Romanic sense, but a religious category containing dozens of separate philosophies amalgamated as Santana Dhārma. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Sikh Gurus in 15th century Punjab. Sikhs are found mostly in India.  Islam in India has also been influenced by Indian religious practices. There are now also new Indian religions thanks to the Hindu reform movements, such as Ayyayazhi and Swaminarayan Faith.

Buddhism was founded by Siddhattha Gotama in the 6th century BCE. Buddhists generally agree that Cotama aimed to help sentient beings end their suffering by understanding the true nature of phenomena, thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth, that is, achieving Nirvana.

The list of world religions does not end here, however, and also includes a wide variety of lesser known religious movements such as Jainism, Kurdish religions, American religions, Folk religion, African traditional religion, Australian Aboriginal Culture, Chinese folk religion, Traditional Korean religion and Traditional Japanese religions.

Religion and Science

Religious knowledge, according to religious practitioners, may be gained from religious leaders, sacred texts., and/or personal revelation. Some religions view such knowledge as unlimited in scope and suitable to answer any question; others see religious knowledge as playing a more restricted role, often as a complement to knowledge gained through physical observation. Some religious people maintain that religious knowledge obtained in this way is absolute and infallible.

The scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers cosmological questions about the physical universe. It develops theories of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement in the face of additional evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favourable evidence are often treated as facts (such as theories of gravity or evolution).

Many scientists have held strong religious beliefs and have worked to harmonize science and religion. Isaac Newton, for example, believed that gravity caused the planets to revolve about the Sun, and credited God with the design. In the concluding General Scholium to the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he wrote: “This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” Nevertheless, conflict has repeatedly arisen between religious organizations and individuals who propagated scientific theories that were deemed unacceptable by the organizations. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has in the past reserved to itself the right to decide which scientific theories were acceptable and which were unacceptable.

In the 17th century, Galileo was tried and forced to recant the heliocentric theory based on the church’s stance that the Greek Hellenistic system of astronomy was the correct one. Today, religious belief among scientists is less prevalent than in the general public, with the Pew Research Center finding in 2009 that 33% of American scientists and 83% of the general public believe in God, 18% of scientists and 12% of the public believe in a higher power, and 41% of scientists and 4% of the public believe in neither. Only 7% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences believe in a god.