The four Characteristics of Religion.

Belief System: Several beliefs fit together into a fairly complete and systematic interpretation of the universe and the human beings place in it. (Also called a worldview)

Community: The belief system is shared, and its ideals are practised by a group.

Central myths: Stories that express the religious beliefs of a group are retold and often reenacted.

Ethics: Rules about human behaviour are established. Often viewed as having been revealed from a supernatural realm (socially generated guidelines)

1. "[Religion is] the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." (William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience)

2. "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."  (b) [Religion is] "the self-validation of a society by means of myth and ritual." (Émile Durkeim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life)

3. "[Religion is] "the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary, and a concern that in itself provides the answer to the question of the meaning of our existence." (Paul Tillich) and

4. "[Religion is] a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, persuasive, and long lasting moods and motivations.... by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."  (Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System")