Religion is a complex topic with a wide range of definitions and opinions. Some people believe that religion is simply a belief in a higher power, while others have a more detailed understanding of the concept. It is important to understand the different beliefs and practices that exist in order to appreciate the diversity of the world’s cultures.
Some scholars have taken a monothetic approach to religion, seeking to uncover the characteristics that define all the world’s faiths. For example, Ninian Smart (of Lancaster University and the University of California, Santa Barbara) has defined religion in terms of seven shared traits: mythic, doctrinal, experiential, ethical, ritual, social, and material.
There is also a polythetic approach to religion, which seeks to find the characteristics that make certain practices religious. For example, Rodney Needham describes religion as “a set of values, ideas, beliefs and emotions that organize a culture’s social cohesion.” It is important to note that a practice does not have to include all these traits in order to be considered a religion.
Finally, there is a third way to think about religion that attempts to move beyond either of these approaches. It is to view religion as a social taxon, a classification scheme that sorts different cultural phenomena into categories according to their underlying similarities. For example, some researchers have found that people who attend religious services regularly tend to be healthier than those who do not. The research may be related to the sense of community and connection that these people feel with their religion.