Religion is a broad taxon of beliefs and values that form part of cultural traditions. These beliefs usually include some notion of the supernatural and the idea that people can become closer to God or other spirits. Most religions also have some kind of ethical code that dictates how people should treat other believers, outsiders and the divine.
Scholars have a variety of approaches to studying Religion. Some try to explain how religious beliefs and practices work, with a focus on institutional structures. Others look at how people’s mental states influence their perception of the world and how they respond to it. Still other scholars study the psychology of religion, attempting to understand the various motivations and drives that motivate religious beliefs and behaviors. This includes Sigmund Freud (Oedipus Complex, Illusion), Carl Jung (Universal archetypes), Erich Fromm (Need for Stable Frame), Gordon Allport (Mature and Immature Religion), Rudolf Otto (Mystical Experiences) and William James (Personal Religious Experience and Pragmatism).
Anthropologists and sociologists tend to take a more generic approach to religion. They view it as a social genus, a category concept that exists in all cultures. They look for patterns in how religions develop, such as their tendency to divide the world into two comprehensive domains, one sacred and one profane.
Clifford Geertz, another anthropologist, defines religion as a system of symbols that establishes powerful and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing them with an aura of factuality. This is a functional approach that recognizes that religion fulfills certain vital functions in human society, such as providing people with a framework for moral behavior.