Defining Religion

Religion (ri-ljn) is an organized system of beliefs and practices centered on the sacred. It includes spirituality, morality, and social community. Religion is one of the world’s oldest human traditions and provides hope, comfort, and a sense of purpose in times of crisis and difficulty. It also helps individuals build stronger communities and encourages a culture of fairness and compassion.

Some definitions of religion are so broad that they include beliefs and areas of study that most people do not regard as religious. These are called monothetic definitions. For example, Edward Tylor defines religion as belief in spiritual beings and Paul Tillich defines it as ultimate concern—both are single criterion monothetic definitions.

A more recent approach to defining religion is the functional definition introduced by Emile Durkheim. This definition describes the set of practices that unite a group of people into a single moral community, regardless of whether those practices involve belief in unusual realities.

It is important to remember that any definition of religion must account for the fact that all cultures have some form of religion. While some scholars have treated the concept of religion as a pan-human phenomenon, most recognize that it cannot be understood as a universal category without also accounting for the fact that the term is used differently in different cultures.

We need to be careful not to enlarge the scope of religion so broadly that we end up with a list of activities that all societies have engaged in and call them “religion.” The President should appoint and the Senate should confirm judges who are sensitive to this issue and will ensure that government does not occupy the space that belongs to religion.