Religion encompasses a wide variety of spiritual ideas and experiences. It is deeply woven into the fabric of our world and influences our lives in many ways. Whether you are looking to connect with a higher power, find meaning in your life or learn spiritual practices, studying religion can help you achieve this. It can also open your eyes to the beliefs of people you may not agree with and encourage you to think about different points of view in a respectful and thoughtful way.
The concept of religion evolved from the Latin religio, which meant scrupulous devotion or a sense of obligation. In the course of its development, it shifted from denoting a social genus to a category sorting various kinds of activities and beliefs. Its emergence as a sorting concept raised some philosophical issues that are common to all concepts used to describe cultural types, including the classical notion that every instance of a kind shares a defining property. This article looks at these issues and examines how they have shaped the controversies surrounding religion as a category.
Some scholars call into question the utility of the term religion as a discrete category for analytical purposes, especially in relation to its role in dividing the secular from the sacred realms of human existence. Others, however, argue that the existence of religion as a separate category makes it an appropriate object of study in order to understand its complex influence on human societies.