What is religion?
It seems like an incredibly familiar term, but when asked for a definition I (like many others) would struggle to find exact words and would instead resort to examples that I have been taught represent religion while growing up. I would probably resort to listing different faiths — Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, etc. — but where to draw the line?
We see that this distinction is famously tricky, and in fact unresolved. When attempts have been made to characterize what we mean by the term “religion” they seem to have drawn arbitrary lines which put some things in the group and exclude others not based around a definition, but rather a more general “feeling” as to whether they think it should be included in the group or not. Seems like we don’t really have a good idea of what we mean when we use the word.
Is it a group of believers? Well, that could just as easily encompass a moms against vaccines facebook group or sports fans who crowd together for the big game because they “believe” their team will win. So that’s out.
Does it call followers to specific actions based upon some written or oral tradition? If that’s the case then I guess I am a part of the religion of organic chemistry, because that is exactly what my lab procedures do.
Well it must involve God in some way right? The rest of these couldn’t possibly fall under religion because they aren’t focused around a divine being. Well, for the most part hinduism is focused on bettering yourself, so would that then be excluded?
It seems to me that the term religion is an arbitrary grouping term that is used to try to keep “religious” viewpoints out of things such as government. Because it is arbitrary, it actually creates the tension that it is trying to avoid, by allowing leaders to accept “religious” things that aren’t too “religious” while condemning the rest to be fanatics with narrow minds.
Introduction to Theology: Charlotte Spraul 
Your response was really great to read — the structure of it, your proposals of what religion could be and then their drawbacks, etc. all contribute to great insight to the question “what is religion?” I especially loved the part you added about Hinduism, because I have heard the same thing argued about Buddhism (whether it is considered a religion or a philosophy), and this really drives home the point that definitions of religion can be either too broad or too vague. Many believe that the belief in some metaphysical being(s) is what separates religion from secular groups, and since you bring up that religion does not have to “involve God in some way,” I am curious as to what you think makes the distinction between religion, secular groups, a group that simply believes and follows something (like the big game and orgo lab examples above)?
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I do think there is an element of looking for greater meaning behind life that religions focus themselves on that separates them from these other groups, but I was hoping to emphasize the dangers of using broad generalizations for definitions.
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Your response brings up some great points I did not mention in my response. I agree that religion is one of those words that we use so often in our daily vocabulary, but it proves difficult to actually come up with an all-encompassing definition of the term. I originally alluded to the idea of a group of followers that believe in a greater force, such as God or gods for other religion. However, you bring up a great point about Hinduism not focusing on a God but it is still obviously a religion. I think that a main difference between followers of a secular group and of a religion is the way that the ground influences your actions. Followers of Christianity tend to make certain decisions that follow the actions of Jesus, while followers of a sports team do not do the same.
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I think what you and Christopher are bringing up is certainly a fruitful discussion, and upon further thought I do think there is some element of searching for something beyond normal humanity which helps unite religions. Whether it is God or gods or some higher human form. I just think that trying to place a strict definition on broad groups of belief causes more harm than good. It leads into “us” vs “them” mentalities that can come from things such as generalizations and stereotypes, so I was trying to point out the dangers of such broad definitions.
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I agree with what Claire said above; I think that religion has to involve something greater than humanity. I think, for the most part, that religions are origin stories, too: almost all religions seek to explain all elements of human existence. In this way, science and religion go hand in hand. Each informs the other about the origins of humanity.
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